Page 57 of ‘I Do’ for Revenge

‘Thanks, Maria, but honestly, I’m not even qualified to be doing this. You should find someone who knows—’ Flora stopped mid-sentence because someone had appeared in the doorway of the new offices of the women’s aid centre.

Vito.Her heart palpitated. She was imagining him. So many times in the last couple of weeks, she’d seen a tall, dark-haired figure only to realise that it was a very poor facsimile of the real man. Maria saw her face and turned around. But Maria knew who he was, of course, because he was funding the charity’s new home. Vito was a hero.

Maria went over and Flora could hear the emotion in her voice. ‘Signor Vitale, thank you so much. You have no idea how far your money is going to go to help women and children who need a safe place.’

Vito looked at Maria and shook her hand and murmured something Flora couldn’t hear. Then he looked at Flora and said, ‘It’s down to Flora. You can thank her.’

Maria made a half-chuckle. ‘No matter what I say or do, she insists on coming here to work for us for free.’

Flora’s conscience pricked. Maria didn’t know about her inheritance yet and even though Flora had met the solicitor, she’d only taken enough money to find a small place of her own to rent. Maria had offered her board again, but Flora didn’t want to take a space that could be given to someone who really needed it. She did have every intention, of course, of donating a significant amount to the aid centre, as soon as she’d got her head around the vast amount of money in her solicitor’s bank account with her name on it. ‘Don’t be silly. It’s a pleasure to help. You helped me.’

Maria said, ‘What can we do for you, Signor Vitale?’

So far, Flora had somehow avoided making direct eye contact with Vito, but it was as if he was telepathically communicating with her to look at him. She did, and her insides somersaulted. He looked...different. Somehow undone. She only realised then that he was wearing faded jeans and boots. A T-shirt under a light bomber jacket. And that he was holding a motorcycle helmet in one hand. Pink.

He said, ‘Flora, can I borrow you for a little while?’

Totally bemused and thrown by the dressed-down Vito and the pink helmet, she said, ‘Okay.’

Maria said, ‘You’ve done enough today, go on.’

Flora grabbed her light jacket and pulled it on, following Vito out and down the stairs to the street where a motorcycle was parked, leaning to one side. Some kids were looking at it and scattered. ‘Vito...what’s going on? Is this yours?’ She pointed to the bike.

‘Yes, it is, and do you know something? I’ve never even taken it out for a ride until today. It was a status purchase.’

Flora looked at him. ‘But you do know how to ride it?’

‘Of course.’ He handed her the pink helmet. ‘Here, put this on.’ Flora took the helmet. Was this really happening? Or was she hallucinating? She put the helmet on her head and Vito—who was now sitting on the bike—said, ‘Come here.’

Flora took a step towards him and he fastened the strap under her chin. The feel of his fingers on her skin shot through her like electricity.Real, not a hallucination.She put a hand on his and said, ‘Vito, what are you doing here?’

He looked at her. ‘I just want to talk. Is that okay?’

Flora couldn’t speak. She was afraid to ask what about in case it was just to apologise or...ask her if she wanted to prolong the affair even though she was in love with him and he wasn’t with her—She shut her whirling thoughts down and took a deep breath and then Vito said, ‘Where’s Benji?’

Flora found it ridiculously moving that he’d spared a thought for the dog. ‘Upstairs in his bed. He had a big walk earlier so he was asleep. Maria will keep an eye on him.’

‘Okay, hop on.’ Vito held out a hand and Flora put hers into it, letting him help her to swing onto the seat behind him. She couldn’t stop herself from falling into the groove of the seat, snug behind Vito. He put on his own helmet and said over his shoulder, ‘Put your arms around my waist.’

Flora did so, and found herself slipping even closer to his broad back. The powerful bike throttled to life under them, and then they were off, weaving through the hectic Roman traffic.

It was late afternoon and the city was bathed in golden sunshine. Flora gave up trying to think about what Vito wanted to say or where they were going. She was enjoying the feel of his body against hers and kept her hands tied tight around his torso. She could feel his muscles bunching and relaxing as he drove with sexy confidence.

She realised where they were headed when he started climbing up out of the city onto Janiculum Hill, one of Rome’s famous vantage points with amazing views of the city. There was a large car park and a wall where people stood to take pictures or just take in the view.

Feeling very bemused as Vito stopped the bike and got off, Flora let him help her off. She removed the helmet and he took it and put it with his in a carrier at the back.

Flora looked around at the people and the tourist stalls selling hats, water, pictures... ‘Vito...what are we doing here?’

He took her hand and led her over to the wall, a quiet spot. He let her hand go. She looked at him and realised that he seemed nervous. He looked out over the city and said, ‘I used to come here after my folks died, and after everything was gone but the name of the business. We’d even lost our home and were living in a cheap hotel...did I mention that?’

Flora shook her head. But Vito wasn’t looking at her. He said, ‘I know how terrifying it must have been for you to leave my office that day with nothing but the clothes on your back because after my mother died, that’s pretty much all I had too.’

‘Were you homeless?’ Flora’s guts clenched.

‘For a little while, but I learnt to hustle and managed to scrape together enough to get by and find a hostel and then build up from there.’

Flora’s mind boggled at the amount of work he would have had to put in, to start all over again from nothing. Just his name.