Page 38 of ‘I Do’ for Revenge

Flora looked up to see Vito standing in the doorway in a three-piece suit, hair still damp from a shower, jaw clean-shaven. He looked so gorgeous it almost hurt.

Feeling a little exposed and defensive, she said, ‘I’m not usually so tardy. I’m blaming you for keeping me up late.’ And yet he managed to get up, no problem. She came up on one elbow, holding the sheet to her chest.

Vito leaned against the doorframe with folded arms. ‘There’s a credit card in your name on the table in the hall. Go shopping or make an appointment with a spa and treat yourself. My assistant can book you in. You deserve a break, Flora. It’s nothing to feel guilty about.’

For someone who’d lived her life feeling indebted to the people around her and being as useful as she could be to mitigate that feeling, it was totally counter-intuitive to her to put herself first.

Flora said dryly, ‘I don’t think there’s much left to wax or buff.’ She looked at him, wondering if she was missing some vital piece of ‘mistress’ behaviour. ‘Unless you would like me to do...something else?’

She thought of the fact that she wasn’t shaveddown there, and blushed. He hadn’t seemed to mind, but maybe—

But Vito was shaking his head and coming back over to the bed, sitting on the edge and reaching for the sheet, twitching it away to look at her. Her blood instantly got hot. He said, ‘You are perfect. You don’t need to do a thing. And, as tempting as you are, I’ll have to resist for now. I have a meeting in half an hour.’

He got up again and Flora pulled the sheet back up, lamenting his control. Pushing him out of that control was fast becoming her favourite thing.

‘See you later?’ She hoped she didn’t sound as eager as she felt.

He grimaced slightly. ‘I have a business dinner later. You don’t have to wait up.’

So Flora had a whole day stretching ahead of her to see this fascinating city and get her head around what this was with Vito. Not a bad prospect.

‘Later, then.’

‘Later.’

He looked at her so intensely for a moment that Flora almost imagined that he couldn’t help himself and would—but no, he was gone. She slumped back onto the bed. Benji crawled up and licked her face. She wrinkled her nose. ‘Just us now, Ben, a whole day to explore and amuse ourselves.’

For the first time, because she was used to her own company, Flora felt a little hollow pang of loneliness. But before it could even register she pushed herself up and out of the bed, resolved to make the most of this amazing opportunity in one of the most iconic cities in the world.

After all, this affair with Vito was finite and she would have to get used to being on her own again, sooner rather than later, she had no doubt.

CHAPTER NINE

WHENVITORETURNEDthat evening he felt wrung out, but also couldn’t deny the frisson of anticipation that had been growing ever since he’d made his excuses from the most boring dinner on the planet to come back to the apartment. And now that frisson was getting stronger.

He entered the apartment, pulling open his tie and the top button of his shirt. Clothes had never made him feel as restricted as they had since he’d been with Flora Gavia. A unique experience, as if he just wanted to be naked all the time. He smiled a little grimly at that notion.

He made his way through the softly lit apartment looking for her. He noticed things. Some dog toys on the ground. A pair of her trainers. A top on the back of a chair. More flowers than he would usually have in the apartment. He stopped and looked around. It looked...lived in. A novel concept for Vito when he was used to moving through spaces he inhabited without leaving much of a ripple.

Disconcertingly, it appealed to him. It made him feel somehow—He heard a sound and he looked to the doorway leading to the bedrooms and every coherent thought went out of his head.

Flora was standing there, lit with a golden glow, in a simple but devastatingly provocative silk negligée with thin straps. With one flick of his finger it would fall away from her body.

He was hard in an instant.

She looked a little dishevelled. She’d been sleeping. She said, ‘I thought I heard something.’

Vito regretted not bringing her to dinner. She would have made it so much more interesting. But she would have distracted everyone.Him.He walked towards her. ‘What if I’d been an intruder?’

‘I’m sure Benji would have barked the block down and alerted me.’

The dog in question looked up sleepily from his bed and put his head back down. The most ineffectual guard dog ever.

Vito was just a foot away from Flora now. Her hair was spilling over her shoulders, wild and making his fingers itch. But then he remembered something and put his hand in his inside jacket pocket. He pulled out a long slim box and handed it to Flora. ‘For you. Carrie Black was right. You do deserve a grovelling gift.’

Flora looked shocked. And reluctant. ‘You don’t have to give me anything.’

‘Will you take it if I tell you I went in and chose it myself?’