‘Fine. Then I will get this one, and thank you for it, but nothing else.’
‘But—’
‘No.’ She spoke firmly, more firmly than perhaps he’d ever heard from her before. She had her limits. ‘Only this.’ She turned back to him and saw his heated gaze had turned narrowed and considering. ‘I don’t need you to buy me things,’ she told him. ‘And I don’t want to be your pity project.’
His eyebrows rose towards his hairline. ‘Not that again—’
‘Only this,’ she said again, fiercely this time. Then, as the sales assistant murmured that she would go ring it up, she turned back into the dressing room, her heart thudding at having forced a confrontation. If his attentions had been born of pity then she wanted no more of them. At least she’d made that clear.
She reached for the zip on the back of her dress—and realised she couldn’t reach it. She arched her back, stretching her arm till her shoulder socket felt as if it would be dislocated, and still she couldn’t manage to grasp the tip of the zip. Damn.
Reluctantly she opened the dressing room door. Alessandro looked up from his phone, eyebrows snapping together. ‘Where has the sales assistant gone?’ Liane asked.
‘She went to ring up the dress. Why?’
Even more reluctantly, she admitted, ‘I can’t undo the zip on my dress. I was hoping she could help.’
Alessandro rose from the sofa in one fluid movement. ‘I can help.’
Which was what she didn’t want. Couldn’t want. Him touching her. Her melting—and making a fool of herself. She took a quick breath and then nodded, determined not to show her reluctance or her desire. ‘Thank you.’
She turned around and caught her breath as she felt his fingers at the nape of her neck, gentle, caressing. She stayed completely still, willing herself not to respond—and reveal. She held her breath, not wanting to breathe in the subtle male scent of him, knowing it would affect her. She couldn’t bear the thought that he would know how much she responded to him—and that it would amuse him.
His fingers took hold of the zip and gently tugged. Liane remained rigid as he pulled the zip slowly, so slowly, down her back, stopping midway, the fabric whispering against her bare skin, his fingers so tantalisingly close to her flesh.
‘Is that enough?’ His breath fanned against the nape of her neck and she had to keep from shuddering in response as a molten longing spread through her veins and she nearly swayed.
‘Yes, I think so.’ Unsteadily she stepped away, turning around, only to have the dress begin to slide off her shoulders. Panicked, she slapped her hands against her chest to keep it from falling off completely.
She glanced up at Alessandro, and now there could be no mistaking the heat in his eyes. He took a step closer and her breath came out in a shuddery rush as his heated gaze remained trained on her. His hand moved to her hip, fingers barely skimming the dip of her waist as if to help her balance, anchor her there. A shudder of longing escaped her as he bent his head and she closed her eyes, her face tilted to his as she breathed in his citrusy male scent.
Was he actually going to kiss her?
Then the sound of clacking heels.
‘Mr Rossi...?’ the sales assistant called, and then stopped at the sight of them, frozen there together, so close to a kiss. ‘Oh.’
Horrified, Liane bolted back into the dressing room and slammed the door in both Alessandro and the woman’s faces.
What had just happened?
What had just happened?
Murmuring his thanks to the assistant, Alessandro stepped back towards the sofa, running his hands through his hair as he tried to tamp down on the heated desire raging through his body. His fingers tingled where they’d touched Liane. His lips burned as if they’d already tasted her sweetness and fire. The moment when she’d turned, his hand near her waist, his head bent as he’d breathed in her feminine, flowery scent...
He’d been so close to kissing her.
Ever since he’d first laid eyes on her, he acknowledged, he’d been fighting this relentless attraction. Today he’d been trying to hide his desire with a pragmatic terseness. Last night he’d called himself all kinds of a fool for seeking her out, insisting he take her shopping, of all things...
What was happening to him? Why did this slip of a woman affect him so much, make him say and do things he normally never would? He was a man who prized control, restraint, caution—all the things his own father hadn’t. The last thing he wanted to do was lose his head over a woman, any woman. And he wasn’t even going to think about his heart.
The door to the dressing room opened and Liane stood there, dressed in the plain top and skirt she’d worn before, her cheeks flushed but her expression composed. Just.
‘Thank you for the gown,’ she said stiffly as the sales assistant came forward with the dress swathed in a garment bag, draped over her arm. ‘I suppose we should be heading back to the hotel.’
‘We need to have lunch.’ The words popped out before he could think them through, surprising them both. He glanced at the sales assistant. ‘Thank you,’ he said and took the dress.
‘I can eat lunch in my room.’
‘There’s a little bistro near here where I’ve eaten before, on business. I’m sure they’ll have a spare table.’
Liane didn’t reply and Alessandro sent a quick text to secure the reservation. It wasn’t until they were back in the limo that she spoke, her face angled to the window so he could see her profile—the porcelain curve of her cheek, the delicate line of her jaw. ‘I don’t understand you,’ she said quietly.
‘What is there to understand? We’re hungry, so we’ll eat.’ He slid his phone into his pocket, determined to make things simple and not think about the welter of emotions churning inside him.
‘You know that’s not what I mean.’ She turned to face him, her expression grave, her chin tilted at that determined angle. ‘Don’t you?’
Alessandro stilled, doing his best to keep his expression neutral. He did not want to have the kind of discussion Liane seemed to be angling for, and yet even so he admired her courage in pursuing it. He could tell it cost her, and yet still he couldn’t make himself be honest. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘You blow hot and cold,’ she stated with quiet dignity. ‘At first I thought I was imagining it. I was sure I was, because I thought you would never even look at me, especially with Ella around.’
‘What does this have to do with Ella?’ he asked sharply.
Liane gave a little shrug. ‘She’s beautiful, charming, funny, charismatic. Everything I’m not.’
‘That’s not true.’