A flicker of darkness crossed his features before he gave the dazzling smile she loved so much and leaned closer to her. ‘We have a whole night to make even better memories.’
* * *
Night had fallen when they left the restaurant, lamps illuminating the streets, the sound of the Pacific clearer.
The longer the meal had gone on, the smaller the restaurant had seemed until it had shrunk to just the two of them. She hadn’t seen anyone else. Her eyes had been only for Stefano. The restaurant had been busy but she couldn’t describe a single diner or even remember the colour of their waiter’s hair.
And Stefano’s eyes had only ever been on her, seducing her, making her heart race so that she forgot she was eating possibly the best pad thai she’d ever tasted.
After the discussion about her mother he’d regaled her with gossip about the industry and his rivals, making her laugh aloud more than once.
But now, with the cool night air on her skin, her thoughts drifted back to her mother.
Her abandonment was a ten-year open wound.
Had her mum made a big deal during her one visit to England about how amazing Australia was in the hope her daughters would join her there? Had she missed them as much as they’d missed her?
She left you without a parent when you were only fourteen years old, Anna reminded herself.
It didn’t change how much she missed her, even now. Stefano was right about that.
She’d been a loving mum, she remembered. Always busy, but always with a smile on her face. Quick to scold, but equally quick to forgive.
Her dad was gone from the earth. She carried an ache in her heart for him she knew would be there for the rest of her life, and accepted it. Welcomed it even, the pain a reminder of the father she had lost but would never forget. It was through no fault of his own that he’d missed the significant events in her life and she knew if he could be watching down on her then he would be.
Her mum was alive and well and missing all those moments by choice.
But she’d been there for Anna’s sixteenth birthday.
Except she hadn’t come back.
‘You’ve gone quiet,’ Stefano mused, his accented voice breaking through her reminiscences.
She squeezed her fingers tighter to his. ‘Sorry.’
‘Don’t be. What are you thinking?’
‘Nothing exciting,’ she said, telling him the first untruth since she’d known him.
‘I don’t believe that what goes on in your brain is ever boring,’ he teased.
‘It’s full of mundane trivia.’
‘What is mundane?’
‘Like boring.’
Without warning he dropped her hand and grabbed her shoulders, pulled her to him and kissed her fully and passionately.
And then just as quickly he broke away and took hold of her hand again. ‘I bet your thoughts are not mundane now.’
He had that right.
By the time they returned to the beach house the only thing on her mind was making love to him.
When they stepped over the threshold, he gave her a long lingering kiss and said, ‘Wait for me in the sunroom while I get us a drink.’
The lights of the sunroom were off, the only illumination coming from the night lights surrounding the swimming pool and bouncing through the wall of glass. It lent the room a romantic quality that perfectly suited her mood and her desire for one last perfect night here.