Emily’s heart was racing. She felt ashamed, and devastated, and desperately lustful all at the same time. “No,” she groaned, her cheeks flushed. Her fingers were still curled into the fabric of his shirt. “I have to go back inside.”
“I understand.” He spoke as he might have to a horse that was on the verge of bolting. He reached down and laced his fingers through hers. He was gentle no
w; reassuring. “When do you finish work?”
“Five o’clock.”
Sabato frowned. “Tomorrow morning?”
“Yes.”
His eyes narrowed with disapproval, and though he didn’t speak, Emily understood what he was objecting to. Defensively, she added, “It’s just a double shift.”
He didn’t like it. This waif of a girl shouldn’t be working twelve-hour days. “Come to my room when you finish.”
Emily shook her head but her mind was screaming yes, yes, yes! His words were sending need and want through her blood. Her cheeks were flushing in anticipation and her eyes were wide. “I really shouldn’t.”
Sabato had never before experienced rejection. Certainly not from a woman. And certainly not from a woman he’d wanted with this magnitude. “Give me one reason. One reason why you shouldn’t come and finish what we just started.”
Emily’s smile was wistful and her voice soft. “I can give you several. Firstly, I’m not interested in a … relationship with anyone. I have enough going on in my life to make it impossible. Secondly, we literally just met. I don’t know if I’ve taken the staff elevator all the way to the twilight zone, but I don’t go in for the kind of thing you’re suggesting. I don’t even know your name, so there’s no way I’d consider going to your room. You could be a bloody axe murderer for all I know.”
Sabato’s laugh sent waves of pleasure rippling through her. “I assure you, I’m not.”
“And third,” Emily continued as though he hadn’t spoken, lifting a finger to his lips to silence him; and her voice trembled with the magnitude of what she was about to reveal. “I’ve never been with anyone before. I’m a virgin. So I’m pretty sure that you don’t really want the complication of being with me. Am I right?”
Chapter 2
She was wrong. So, so wrong. Sabato watched her go with a sense of complete surrealism.
A virgin. In this day and age, at her age, was impossible to understand. She was certainly younger than him; he would have guessed her to be in her early twenties. But still, what had happened in her life to curtail any of the normal teenage experimentation?
His eyes sought her out across the room. She was collecting glasses, her cheeks pink, her lips still a little swollen from their kiss.
He felt himself harden with need. She was a virgin and all he could think about was bringing her to his bed.
The blonde woman, Pia something or other, he’d been speaking to earlier came into view. He regarded her analytically now. She looked so plastic. So false. So utterly unappealing. Her body would be all skin and bone, her skin soft but cold. She wouldn’t come alive for him in the same way the waitress had.
Hell, he was running on libido alone.
The Master of Ceremonies performed a perfunctory introduction, calling Sabato’s attention back to the stage. “Not many hospitals can boast a benefactor as dedicated nor generous as Sabato Montepulciano. For the last five years he has been our principle fundraiser, solely responsible for the construction of the new research institute. In addition to this, his generosity has enabled us to employ ten nurses who are able to visit paediatric patients in regional areas. Please, join me in welcoming to the stage the man who has made this evening possible, Sabato Montepulciano.”
Emily, curious, risked meeting the eyes of the handsome stranger she’d been with earlier. He must be somewhere in the crowd, but she’d been pointedly focussing only on a foot or two in front of her. Now though, interested to see the man who owned the hotel, she looked straight at the stage. And straight into Sabato’s mocking gaze.
Now you know my name, his eyes were taunting her.
She fumbled a glass, catching it right before it hit the ground. She swore under her breath and replaced it on the table. Yes, she knew his name. And she also knew that he was Mister Moneybags himself. Owner of the hotel. Owner of just about the whole damn world.
“Good evening. I hope you are all enjoying yourselves. I know it’s already been a very special night for me.” Emily’s cheeks burned. He was looking straight at her. “But the night is young, there is still time to make it a night to truly remember.” His smile was dripping with sex-appeal. Emily’s insides slicked with red-hot desire. She couldn’t take it any more. She almost ran back into the kitchen and pressed her back against the wall.
Her breath was being pulled from her as if by force. “You are okay?” The French chef.
“Oh. I’m fine, thanks.” She straightened off the wall, her heart thumping heavily.
“Did you enjoy your dinner?”
Emily thought guiltily of the platter of nibbles she’d eaten earlier. She’d been so confused that she’d barely tasted them. “Delicious,” she responded with a smile.
Rhonda appeared from the main area. “Auction’s happening now. Agnes, you’re fine to finish up. Thanks for helping us out of a jam tonight.”