Tell him now. Tell him why.
She tried to find the words, but the dark fury in his eyes shocked her into silence.
‘You’re not getting a flight home tonight…or tomorrow.’ He grasped her arm, hauled her against him. ‘You’re staying at the villa even if I have to tie you to the bloody bed.’
‘You can’t do that.’ She was so astonished the words came out on a gasp.
‘Don’t bet on it. This isn’t over. And until I decide it is you’re not going anywhere. So you’ll have to call your people and let them know.’
‘My…? What?’ she stammered, her mouth dropping open.
‘Dio!’ He let go of her arm and stalked past her, a stream of what she assumed were swear-words in Italian coming out of his mouth.
Flinging the door open, he shouted something at a colleague. It was only then that she noticed every one in the office beyond was standing up at their desks and gawking at them. Some were whispering to each other, others were gaping in open curiosity. They’d all heard every word. And, knowing her luck, they probably all spoke perfect English.
But as she stood there being stared at, while Gio’s office manager made an announcement to the staff, she simply didn’t have it in her to blush. So she and Gio had made a spectacle of themselves? So what? Frankly, she was past embarrassment and past caring what anyone else thought.
She was too busy trying to figure out Gio’s temper tantrum.
Clearly he hadn’t intended his note to be a thinly veiled invitation for her to go before he got home, as she had suspected.
The news should have pleased her. But it didn’t.
Why was he so angry with her? And what right did he have to order her about like that? Had she really been that much of a push-over that he thought he could treat her like his personal possession? This didn’t feel like good news. Had they ever really been friends? Or had that been an illusion too?
She waited by the desk, folding her arms across her midriff to stop the tremors racking her body as she watched Gio’s employees troop off towards the lifts. Most of them glanced over their shoulders as they left, to get one last juicy look at the crazy lady.
Five long minutes later they were entirely alone, the whole floor having been evacuated.
He propped his butt on the desk, braced his hands on the edge. ‘Now, I want to know what’s going on.’ The stiff tone suggested he was making an effort to keep hold of his temper. ‘Why do you want to go home?’
The question had the Himalayas rising up in her throat to choke her. But she couldn’t
tell him she loved him now. Not until she knew whether she had ever meant more than all the others.
‘Why do you want me to stay?’
I want you to love me.
The plea formed in Gio’s mind and he recoiled.
He couldn’t say that. Now now. Not ever. He didn’t want her love. He didn’t want anyone’s love.
After lying awake for hours this morning, listening to her sleep, he’d forced himself to leave the house in a desperate attempt to put the whole fiasco out of his head.
Unfortunately burying himself in work hadn’t had the effect he’d hoped. Instead of forgetting about her, he’d missed her even more than yesterday. To the point where, when his manager had called to say she’d arrived to see him, he’d broken off an important site meeting to rush back and take her to lunch.
And then she’d told him she was leaving and he’d lost it completely.
He was behaving like a lovesick fool. Which was preposterous. He wasn’t in love. He couldn’t let himself be in love.
‘What do I want?’ he replied. ‘I want what I’ve always wanted.’ He sank his fingers into her hair, drew her mouth close to his, vindicated by the flash of arousal in her eyes.
Her lips parted instinctively, but as he plundered she dragged her mouth away, staggered back.
‘That’s not good enough,’ she said, the deep blue eyes turbulent with emotion. ‘Not any more. I can’t stay just for the sex.’
‘Why not? It’s what we do best,’ he said, unable to prevent the bitter edge in his voice.