Chapter 38

He smiled for the first time in hours and hours, one of those sensually amused, very intimate smiles that softened the harshness out of his face, and it swam through her blood as potent as Martha’s home-made rum.

"Amore, having you by my side will be too much of a distraction—as will coming over there and kissing you for suggesting it."

Charley moved; she just had to do it. "Then I’m coming to you," she said, and she covered the space between them, lifting her slender arms around his neck so she could give him the distracting kiss whether he wanted it or not.

He tasted warm like the man of the Caribbean and smelled expensive like the man of Milan. When he didn’t pull away and even slid his hands beneath her jacket to mold her against him, the silly uncertainties she’d brought with her into this apartment melted away.

"Don’t let them bully you," she murmured as their lips reluctantly separated.

"You see this happening, with me?"

No, she was just delaying the moment when he walked away