‘The logistics, Miss Connolly?’ He smiled and kissed her. ‘The logistics are that I’m going to get you a new place. Somewhere I’m a little less likely to lose a wheel whenever I visit.’
‘A new place?’
‘And you can quit your night job. I’ll give you an allowance I think you’ll find more than generous.’
‘An allowance?’
He smiled indulgently. ‘That’s right. Your new role is to be exclusively mine.’
A lump formed in Poppy’s throat. ‘You’re doing that earth-moving thing again,’ she said thickly, unable to take in everything he was saying.
‘Not yet I’m not.’ He nuzzled kisses along her neck. ‘But give me time.’
She laughed. ‘Sebastiano, be serious.’
‘I’ve never been more serious.’ His smile was panther-like. ‘Say yes.’
The car pulled up smoothly outside the villa and Poppy stared at it absently. Her mind was foggy and, even though she knew she shouldn’t, she said the only thing in her head to say. ‘Yes, but—’
Before she could voice her objections about the apartment and the allowance Sebastiano kissed her soundly, rendering the thinking part of her brain obsolete.
* * *
Sebastiano poured more wine in Poppy’s glass as she recounted their trip to Venice, to the delight of his transfixed grandparents. They couldn’t get enough of Poppy. It was as if she had cast a spell over all of them. Even Lukas had been taken by her, and Eleanore had texted him earlier in the day asking for Poppy’s number so they could catch up when she was next in London.
If he wasn’t careful, Sebastiano thought bemusedly, she would become a permanent fixture in his life without him even noticing it.
A cool sense of disquiet brushed over his skin like a spider’s web and he swept it aside.
Poppy already knew that he didn’t do permanent and, after all, it wasn’t his apartment he intended to set her up in.
He grinned as he recalled her shocked face when he had suggested it. All those claims about him not being her type—in the end she had jumped at the chance to sleep with him, as he had her, and she certainly hadn’t put the brakes on things since then, despite her claim that sleeping with him had been a mistake. That had surprised him a little, but hell, who was he to complain?
He slowly twirled the wine in his glass and glanced across at her. She’d worn another one of the outfits he’d provided for her and he loved seeing her wearing his clothes. He loved seeing her smiling as she was now, her eyes sparkly like the bluebird he hadn’t been able to resist getting her on Murano.
His grandmother was talking and he tuned back in before his nonno accused him of daydreaming.
‘That would be lovely,’ Poppy murmured carefully.
Sebastiano frowned, catching her guilty look. He raised an eyebrow. What would be lovely?
She dabbed her mouth with her napkin. ‘I know Simon would love to meet you both too. And Maryann. And I can cook lunch if you like?’
She was going to cook lunch for his grandparents?
Sebastiano’s eyebrow rose higher. What on earth was she talking about?
This wasn’t supposed to be a long-term arrangement; he hoped she realised that. He was happy to set her up in an apartment, visit her whenever he wanted, but as to the rest—as to her playing domestic goddess for his family... And what about her family? He hadn’t even thought about meeting them.
And how exactly was he going to call in on her with her brother hanging around? How would that look to a young teenager? ‘Yes, hello, I’ve just come over to make love to your sister.’
If some guy had tried that with Nicolette, he’d have floored him.
Sweat broke out on his forehead, a sick feeling clawing at his stomach. And why had Poppy jumped at the chance to move into an apartment?
Little Miss I Like Paying My Own Bills hadn’t so much as batted an eyelash when he’d told her. It was almost as if she had been waiting for him to offer it.
He frowned. Had he been taken in by a slick operator? Had he, a man who’d had women try every trick in the book to turn his head, fallen for the oldest one of all? The one who played hard to get?