Page 127 of A Diamond Deal
Anticipation and warmth fizzled out, to be replaced by cold dispassion. Pain from the past had long fingers, and they were wrapping their ice-like bones around her now, so she paled perceptibly. Rubbing her hands together, she paced the suite, wishing she could do something to stem that pain.
But meeting her grandparents had brought it all back to the surface. The way they’d stared at her, as though she were their daughter, finally returned to them. As though…as though she were everything they’d been waiting for. When the truth was, they hadn’t ever bothered to try contacting her. Did they have any idea what that would have meant to Amelia? To know that, while her mother had abandoned her, there were people, besides her father, who wanted her in their lives?
She was still pacing when, a moment later, the buzzer for her suite sounded and her heart kicked up a gear. Thoughts of her grandparents were totally scattered from her mind, replaced by memories of last night. That kiss they’d shared. The heat that had spread through her. The way she’d felt as though he were the only person on earth.
Her pulse surged like a tsunami inside her as she moved quickly towards the door and pulled it inwards, her breath hitching in her throat as she stared out at the man opposite. He wore a dark grey suit, a pale blue shirt, and looked good enough to eat. Heat flushed her cheeks and her knees felt weak.
‘Hi,’ she said, noticing the way his eyes swept over her body first before landing on her cheek as a frown etched across his face.
‘How does it feel?’
She lifted one shoulder. ‘It’s okay. Looks worse, feels a bit better. It was hard to sleep, though. Every time I rolled onto that side, I woke up.’
She was sure she wasn’t imagining the way his eyes flared in response to that. The image of her in bed?
‘Did you want to come in?’
‘No.’ His answer came out quickly. He seemed to want to soften that with a smile, but it appeared more of a grimace. ‘We should go. Are you ready?’
She glanced down at her outfit with a nod. ‘I just need my bag. I won’t be long.’
‘And your ring,’ he reminded her.
She shot him a look. ‘You’re sure?’
‘Until your replacement arrives,assolutamente.’
She bit into her lip. She felt a hint of compunction at having him order a cheap dupe, but it was better than wearing something so priceless and irreplaceable.
She disappeared back into the hotel suite, scooped up her clutch bag, slid the diamond ring in place, then returned to the door, where he was waiting.
‘Let’s go,’ she murmured, ignoring the way her insides were trembling.
The elevator was a form of agony. Being so close to him, in an enclosed space, she couldn’t help but be intimately aware of his entire body, nor to focus on how much she wanted him to reach out and pull her into his arms, to kiss her as he had in the car that night. He didn’t. They swooped to ground level, walked side by side across the lobby, and then they were back in his limousine.
Amelia sat with her hands clasped in her lap and back ramrod straight the whole way there. Every shift he made, every movement, made her aware of him in a way that was making her lose her mind. Tension zipped through her and desire flared in the pit of her stomach.
Meeting his grandfather was important, but, in that moment, she desperately prayed for the car to break down. Something that would strand them together in an enclosed space, so that he might kiss her all over again.
Of course, there was no such luck. His expensive car was meticulously maintained, and it purred and hummed all the way across Rome. She was not remotely familiar with the city, but all metropolises shared certain hallmarks. She knew, for instance, that the buildings had become smaller, the graffiti more prominent, the cars parked on either side less expensive and modern. The car finally drew to a stop outside an unassuming, warmly lit trattoria with green and white striped awnings and small, round tables for two lined up on the footpath.
‘What is this place?’ she asked, instantly captivated.
‘You don’t approve?’
‘Are you kidding? It kind of reminds me of the diner.’
He let out a laugh. ‘In what way?’
‘It looks welcoming. No airs and graces.’
‘It also has, in my opinion, the best food in the entire city.’
She turned to face him, and instantly wished she hadn’t. He’d leaned closer to her, to see out of her window, so, with that one simple movement, she was looking right at his profile. Her throat constricted as her gaze roamed his angular cheekbones then dropped to his stubble-covered jaw, and finally settled on his mouth. That magical, insanely addictive mouth…
He turned slowly, as if he was aware of the risks in that. That in one simple movement, he could bring them back together again.
Her lips parted on a rush of breath and her heart stammered against her ribs. She moved forward infinitesimally, the need for his touch overtaking every other emotion. ‘Massimiliano,’ she murmured, lifting a hand to his chest. Their eyes locked and she felt a surge of desire, a suffocating need, and she was pretty sure he felt it too, going by the way his gaze dropped to her lips and lingered there.
