Page 54 of Modern Romance May 2026 Books 1-4
‘Enjoyed ourselves?’
She had to acknowledge that she’d hardly been seduced. She’d been in the driver’s seat with her foot flat hard on the accelerator. She’d barely spoken in those moments because she’d not wanted anything to stall those intense sensations. But whathe’dheld back had been serious.
She glared at him frigidly. ‘Why lie?’
‘I didn’t lie. I certainly never said I was ex-services or a courier.’
But he’d omitted vitally important information and thathadbeen deliberate.
‘What exactly was your intention when for all that time you knew who I was?’ she asked. ‘When you knew all along that Iworkedfor you?’
Massimo didn’t know how his simple reconnaissance mission had exploded with such spectacular force. Fireworks were still going off inside him but he’d veered so far off course he couldn’t find the way forward. All he could do was stare. Her hazel eyes flashed fire; her porcelain cheeks filled with reddened fury. She had every right to rage at him, but not everything that had happened had beenplanned. And he sure as hell had never been anyone’s damnedcherry on top. A little something juicy and sweet? That description suited her. Entirely.
For all his warnings to Emiliano,hewas the one who’d messed up. Hell, he’d not acted on impulse like this in years. Now he couldn’t even get her into the car to have this deeply awkward conversation in private. He’d lost all control and he wanted to start over. He wanted theimpossible.
‘If you get in the car, the driver will get out,’ he muttered. ‘At least we’ll then have privacy while we talk and I’ll answer all of your questions.’
She blinked. ‘The driver gets out first.’
He supposed he couldn’t blame her for being so mistrustful. A minute later Lily shot daggers at him as she climbed into the rear passenger seat and slammed the door behind her. Massimo took a moment to breathe before getting in from the other side, his body rebelling against the small distance between them. He’d only intended to find out about her. Instead, he’d devolved—dived headlong into the fastest, hottest sexual encounter of his life. He’d not lost control like that in years, and he was making it worse with every moment now.
‘Why didn’t you say anything?’ she asked again. ‘Youknew who I was, but you didn’t think to be honest with me. Why not?’
Her biting tone spurred him into defensive mode. ‘I was tired, I’d barely woken and you were practically in my lap and—’
‘Are you suggesting you weren’t capable of consent?’ Her pupils flared and her cheeks flushed even more scarlet.
Oh no. He’d beensowilling, because she’d been so overwhelming. She’d shredded his brain in a way that had never happened before and for that, in this instant, he blamed her. ‘You kissed me first.’
‘So I seduced you?’
‘Didn’t you?’ It stung that she had such obvious regrets. ‘You were the one who didn’t want a brake point. You wanted us both to get the chequered flag.’
As fast as possible. And they had. And it had been worth it. Until now.
‘That’s true, I wanted that. I wantedyou,’ she acknowledged. ‘Because I didn’t know who you were. If I had, then I never—’
‘I’ll work something out,’ he said hurriedly, not wanting to hear her vociferously reject him yet again. ‘I’ll arrange—’
The look on her face stopped him in his tracks.
‘Are youthatused to buying anything and everything you want?’ She positively dripped with acerbic judgement.
Honestly, he didn’t have to buy. These days he wasgivenpretty much everything he wanted,becauseof the money he had. Money meant power and influence and control.
‘You can’t buy my silence.’ She leaned forward. ‘You can’t buyme.’
‘That was never my intention.’ He did deals every damned day but somehow he couldn’t see a way through this. Her proximity—her energy—smoked his ability to think.
‘No?’ She mocked him softly. ‘But I bet you want my signature on an NDA. Isn’t that what rich jerks like you do—contract your way out of trouble? Manage reputational risk with an oversize cheque here and there? Pay to make thelittle problemdisappear?’
His lawyers might recommend that but as this was a first for Massimo, he didn’t know and he wasn’t about to ask them. And she wasn’t alittle problem; she was a damned bomb—
‘Do you honestly imagine that I would ever want a single living soul to know what just happened between us?’ She furiously exploded when he failed to answer. ‘Do you think I want to sell my sky-high-sexcapade-with-a-billionaire story to the press?’ She overflowed with scornful derision and kept spitting more. ‘Do you think I’m going to blog about every amazing detail? Do—’
‘I’m glad we agree it was amazing,’ he interrupted coolly.
She gaped. Silenced. Good. His control trickled back. His clarity. He met her furious glare and felt the wicked need to be honest about something. Better late than never after all. ‘Itwasamazing,’ he repeated defiantly.
