Page 21 of ‘I Do’ for Revenge

She had to look up. He was so much taller than her. He made her feel incredibly petite. Delicate. He was looking at her. His gaze moving over her face, resting on her mouth. It tingled. She had to swallow. Her throat was dry.

‘What are you doing?’ she asked, trying to break the languor that was spreading through her body.

‘I’m showing you how we might have to...touch. Interact. To make people think we’re together.’

‘Oh.’ Flora’s brain didn’t seem to want to function.

‘You see,’ Vito was saying, ‘I don’t think we’ll have to pretend all that much.’

‘We won’t?’

He shook his head. He lifted his other hand and before Flora knew what he was doing, her hair was loosening from its confinement and falling around her shoulders. Vito was looking at her, running the long strands through his fingers. Flora felt as though she wanted to purr.

Then he said, ‘The truth is that I don’t think either of us will have to pretend.’

She lifted her gaze to his and her heart stopped at the look in his eyes. It was smouldering. This close she could see flecks of gold, like little fires.

He wanted her.

It hit her right in her solar plexus, and deep in her core. Between her legs a pulse throbbed, making her press her thighs together as if that could stem the damp, hot reaction.

She knew it was important to try and hang onto some dignity here. It must be so obvious that she fancied him and he was just a very good actor making her believe that he wanted her too because there was no way it could be real.

Vito tipped Flora’s chin up and his head lowered. Every part of her quivered with anticipation. And when that firm, sexy mouth touched hers, she knew in that instant she’d never be the same again. He was scorching her alive, from the inside out. She’d never felt anything like it.

His hands moved, cupping her face, holding her so that he could entice her to open up to him, which she did on a helpless sigh. And then the scorching became an inferno when his tongue touched hers.

Flora was lost in a swooning dizzy dance. Time had stopped and all that existed was how it felt to be kissed by this man, her whole body being set alight from between her legs to her breasts.

She didn’t even realise she was clutching his arms to remain standing until he pulled back for a moment. Oxygen got to her brain. She opened her eyes. She loosened her death grip on his biceps. Tried to make sense of what had just happened. Vito was watching her, eyes glittering.

There was a sound from the ground. A growling. Flora looked down to see Benji glaring up at Vito. She bent down and scooped him up, as much to do something with her trembling hands as anything else.

She took a step back and eventually said, ‘Wow. I mean, yes, okay, I see what you mean. That was...very convincing. If I didn’t know better I’d think that you did really want to kiss me. But then I’ve never been kissed before so I guess I wouldn’t really know the difference.’

He frowned. ‘I wasn’t trying to convince you of anything. Iwaskissing you for real. I do want you, Flora. The electricity between us is off the charts.’

Her belly swooped alarmingly and her legs felt weak. ‘I... Okay, that’s good, then, isn’t it?’

She sneaked a look at Vito. He was frowning. ‘Wait a second...you just said you’d never been kissed before... Are you innocent?’

Flora’s face burned. Benji was squirming in her arms so she put him down again—the traitor—and stood up. Of course Vito must have noticed her gauche inexperience, even if she hadn’t just admitted it.

There really was nothing to say except to admit the bald truth. ‘Yes, I’m a virgin, if that’s what you mean.’

CHAPTER FIVE

VITOLOOKEDINCREDULOUS. No doubt virgins were as mythical as unicorns in his very cynical world. He said, ‘But...how?’

Now Flora felt self-conscious. She wrapped her arms around herself. A minute ago she’d been melting and now she felt cold. ‘I didn’t have much of a social life. I was home-schooled. When I graduated, my uncle preferred to keep me at the palazzo, helping him and my aunt to host their parties.’

‘You could have left,’ Vito pointed out.

Now Flora felt even more vulnerable. ‘I could have, yes. But somehow, whenever I contemplated it, my uncle always said something that made me feel like I hadn’t paid my dues yet. And when I asked about my inheritance he told me he had it tied up with stocks and shares, trying to make sure I got the most out of it. Then...the marriage deal with you was struck...and for the first time I felt like maybe I finally had a way out. My dues would be paid.’

Vito took a step back. He was shaking his head. ‘This changes everything.’

Flora immediately feared for the women’s aid home. ‘Are you going back on what you promised?’