She stared at him. ‘You went shopping?’
Luca Zattoni? Shopping?
He gave a shake of his head and a wry smile. ‘No. I didn’t exactly go shopping. But I arranged for the supermarket to deliver.’
She blinked at him. ‘What supermarket? And how could they deliver? We weren’t in.’
A flush touched his hard cheekbones. ‘Dan Sutherland’s secretary ordered everything and I gave her a key to the cottage. She nipped here today so that someone was in when they delivered.’
Luca had arranged all that? The least domesticated male on the planet?
Tia was totally speechless and he gave her a gentle push. ‘Go and have a bath.’
Without argument she wandered upstairs and minutes later she slid into a deep bubble bath with a contented sigh. She still couldn’t believe that Luca had really gone to those lengths just for her. It was totally out of character.
Or maybe it wasn’t.
Maybe it was just another indication that she didn’t really know much about him.
Drifting away with her thoughts, she was still trying to make sense of it when the door opened ten minutes later. Tia gave a squeak of embarrassment and slid under the bubbles as Luca strolled in.
‘What are you doing? You promised—’
‘I promised I wouldn’t touch you,’ Luca drawled softly, his eyes darkening as they rested on the gentle swell of her breasts. ‘And I haven’t.’
Not with his hands maybe, but with his eyes…
‘I knocked, but you didn’t answer. I wanted to check that you hadn’t fallen asleep in the bath.’
‘Well, I haven’t,’ Tia muttered, and he gave a slow smile.
‘In that case, why don’t you get dried and come down to supper?’
Not while he was standing there!
Suddenly she was hideously aware of every inch of her naked body and her eyes meshed with his. Oh, dear God, how had she ever thought she’d be able to keep the physical element out of their relationship?
He’d removed his jacket and undone his top button and she could see a hint of dark, curling chest hair at the top of his shirt. And she could remember exactly how his chest looked. How it felt under her eager fingers. The way his muscles curved, strong and sleek, and the way his body hair trailed downwards…
She swallowed and slid further under the water. She needed a cold shower, not a hot bath.
He handed her a towel and from the gleam in his eyes she was fairly sure that he knew exactly what she was thinking.
Damn the man.
How was she going to get dressed and eat supper without breaking her own rules? She was desperate for him to touch her.
But she’d made the rules and now she had to stick to them. No touching, she’d said, and he’d agreed.
It was going to be a difficult evening.
CHAPTER FIVE
WHEN Tia finally plucked up the courage to slink into the kitchen, she was amazed by what she saw.
Instead of relying on the usual harsh kitchen lights, Luca had found some candles and grouped them in the centre of the scrubbed pine table. The subtle, cosy lighting flickered across the room, revealing a tempting selection of mouth-watering dishes which he’d laid out on the table.
The atmosphere was romantic and intimate and she felt inexplicably shy. She really didn’t know this man at all. It was like being with a stranger. The longer she knew him, the more he surprised her.