Gaetano almost said something sarcastic and bit it back just in time, suddenly struggling forhersake to be the man he had been before he got his memory back. He regretted the fact that that humbled, more hesitant version of himself had probably been far kinder and more considerate than he was, in reality. ‘I don’t want to hurt your feelings or you in any way,’ he declared in a driven undertone. ‘That’s not why I’m here.’
‘You’re here for a divorce,’ she reminded him unnecessarily.
‘You sound like Dario. I don’t need that right now,’ Gaetano admitted with an honesty he hadn’t observed in two long years, and the minute he uttered the words he wanted to bite them back because, until she had come into his life, he had never ever admitted a vulnerable moment to anyone, even his late brother.
Seated on the desk, she could not evade his eyes any longer. And for a split second she glimpsed the guy she had loved in the brooding turmoil of his beautiful dark eyes, and it anchored her a bit, made her feel more in control. She studied his lush black lashes, the perfect line of his nose, his shapely mouth in the sea of dark stubble that was beginning to shadow his jawline, and all of a sudden he seemed achingly familiar and her heart was clenching inside her chest again as though he had squeezed it.
He bent and lifted the fallen mop to set it out of his path, his distaste for the item unhidden.
‘It’s just a job!’ she protested as if he had spoken, reading his body language with an ease that made him feel oddly naked because nobody did that around him, absolutely nobody.
‘It’s a job you don’tneedand that’s one reason why I became angry,’ Gaetano murmured fiercely. ‘I am a very rich man and there is no need for you to be employed.’
‘Gaetano—’
Gaetano made an exasperated zipping motion near her mouth with his finger, and she leant forward and nipped his fingertip lightly between her teeth in rebuke. It was something only Lara would do, and he couldn’t help it, he grinned and burst out laughing, all annoyance vanquished.
A little embarrassed that she had got that personal, Lara lifted her flushed face and said, ‘Well, you know I can’tstandthat mansplaining thing you do when you get all serious and pompous and talk like I haven’t got a brain.’
‘And you will naturally agree with me that you don’t need to take a job from someone who does need it to make a point. You don’t need money to survive, not with me around,’ he instructed, clearly not having learned his lesson yet.
‘But you’re not around and we’re getting a divorce.’
‘Forget that. As your husband I am still responsible for keeping you and my child. Quit the job here and now,’ he told her.
‘I can’t do that. I have notice to work if I want to leave.’
Gaetano groaned out loud. ‘OK, strip this back to its most basic. If our marital situation gets into the media, I don’t want to be the king with a wife scrubbing floors because he is too stingy to pay his dues,’ he spelled out.
‘You think it might get into the press about us?’ she gasped in a panicked tone.
‘I can assure you that my staff will do everything possible to keep us out of the newspapers, but we can’t control everything,’ Gaetano pointed out drily. ‘So, please let me take you home now and call an end to this charade!’
‘It’s not a charade...it’s my life!’ she exclaimed, anxiety flooding her expressive face at the prospect of change being forced on her. ‘I don’t want to be unreasonable, Gaetano.’
‘Then don’t be. You give a little, I give a little? That’s how people negotiate what works best for them.’
‘Is that the former hedge-fund manager talking?’ Lara almost whispered. ‘The guy who insisted on teaching me algebra?’
His beautiful eyes gleamed with amusement, and he ran his finger along her full bottom lip. ‘Admit it. I was an extraordinarily good mansplainer.’
And she snorted with laughter and her face lit up. He bent down because even seated on the desk she was still tiny. His hands found her glorious mass of hair and tangled in it as he drew her closer. He was hard as a rock, pulsing with energy and hunger but heknewhe shouldn’t have his hands on her, shouldn’t be that close, only he could not resist the strength of that urge even while he was waiting for her to stop him because, as he had cause to know, Lara was very,veryefficient at stopping a man in his tracks if she chose to. Only on this occasion she defied his expectations by leaning into him, tilting up her incredibly pretty face, those amazing eyes locked to him. Desire shot through him in an unstoppable surge.
Lara closed her eyes when he kissed her. She had never ever wanted anything so much, aside of the very first time they had made love. One lean hand framed her face, long fingers stroking her smooth freckled skin, and her heart was pounding so hard that she was vaguely surprised that it didn’t burst right out of her chest with sheer excitement. His warm firm mouth tasted hers and she kissed him back with fervour, her hands flying up to smooth over his broad shoulders and then lace into his luxuriant black hair. He groaned into her mouth as her tongue met his and eased her closer, pushing his way between her legs until he gained the actual physical contact that both their bodies seemed to be screaming to experience.
She could feel how aroused Gaetano was through the taut fabric of his trousers and a steamy blur of memory almost consumed her as she clenched down deep inside in the place she hadn’t thought about since she had last been with him. Her breasts were tight and swollen, her core hot and damp. She wanted more, had never wanted more so badly but the warning voice that screamed the reminder, ‘divorce’, in the back of her mind refused to be silenced. Stinging regret made her remove her hands from his hair and press them against his chest instead to separate them.
‘We can’t do this...’ she muttered shakily.
Gaetano pushed an unsteady hand through his messy hair and stepped back from her as if he were stepping back from a seriously deep drop on a cliff edge. He knew she was right, and he said nothing because to his mind there was nothing to say. The same attraction that had first drawn them together still lingered but shouldnotbe acted on, he reminded himself grimly. He was letting his body and his almost overpowering emotional state of mind lead him down the wrong path. His big brother had programmed him from an early age to step away, step back, always cool off before he acted on any emotion and Dario at his elbow was a little like a mini-Vittorio, always urging Gaetano to be practical, sensible, self-disciplined and controlled. As if he had ever been anything else, his entire life through...with the single exception of those crazy weeks with Lara, he acknowledged guiltily.
‘We both got upset and there was a bit of a timeslip there,’ Lara mumbled, making excuses for them both when what he really wanted from her was a slap or a kick for his having dared to touch her again. Why? Only punishment would have made him feel less culpable for yet another mistake where she was concerned.
She slid off the desk, her head bent, and scooped up the mop.
‘Let me take you home now, draw a line under this,’ Gaetano muttered tautly.
Fortunately, that gave her something else to think about and she was grateful for it, so grateful not to have to think of how she had surrendered to his lust the instant she was offered the opportunity. The job?