Page 44 of Unveiled As The Italian's Bride
‘You don’t understand.’ Kate detected an edge of desperation in her voice and cleared her throat, badly wanting to leap out of the bed, but well aware that to do so would bring up more tricky questions and rouse more curiosity than she could deal with.
‘Understand this—instead of focusing on all the differences between us....and, yes, there are differences...try focusing on the positives.’
Dante shot her a brooding look from under his lashes. He had said all the right things but the feel of her on the bed next to him...not relaxing. Not at all. He’d never been ruled by his body and cold logic told him that he wasn’t going to allow that to happen now. One of them had to take charge, had to be cool and composed, and it fell to him to be that person. The fewer complications that were introduced into this arrangement, the better, and any sort of sexual undercurrent was a complication.
But never had Dante wanted complications more than he did right now. Never had he just wanted to give in to the demands of his body—to go with the flow. Should he have told her that he found her desirable? Too late to retract that statement.
‘I guess...’
‘We get along,’ he expanded huskily. ‘We’ll learn how to circle one another and deal with situations like this, which are trivial.’
‘Trivial...’
‘And when it comes to the fact that we’re from different backgrounds? Just remember that that doesn’t mean that I’m cut off from the reality of what other lives might look like. Like I’ve explained to you, my life hasn’t exactly been a bed of roses. We both bring different things to the table, but none of that affects the practicalities of this deal. It works on a lot of levels and let’s put that at the forefront instead of undermining it with potential pitfalls. Make sense?’
‘Perfect sense.’
Well, that told her.
How many times did one person need to have cold water thrown over their head before they got the message?
And Dante’s message was loud and clear. Bypass the occasional flattering observation, and any casual shows of intimacy purely driven by a need to keep up appearances, and what she was left with was a guy reminding her that this was a business proposition. So why the constant analysing, theifs, butsandwhys? In the big scheme of things, as he’d said, this was trivial.
She’d edged away from him, and of course he had immediately done the same, but the bed was small. She could breathe him in. Her eyelids fluttered, her nostrils flared and her eyes locked with his.
And still...she wanted to return to what he had said, when he’d let slip that he found her desirable. Why? Was it a case of flattery going to her head? She was so inexperienced. Was that it—that she just didn’t know how to deal with this particular unknown? A sexy guy found her attractive and she just couldn’t let it go, but wanted to worry away at it as though it were a shaky tooth?
The silence settled between them and Dante fidgeted. He was picking something up and, while he didn’t quite know what exactly thatsomethingwas, he was damned sure he didn’t want to deal with it. Did he? No! He had shut the door on having to deal with emotions in any woman after his marriage. He had become adept at steering liaisons in just the direction he wanted, out of harm’s way. He didn’t need complications!
‘What you said earlier...’ Kate breathed.
Dante caught on fast to where she was going with this and killed it dead before it could develop roots and start growing. ‘No need to tread over old ground. I was being honest with you for a reason.’
‘I know,’ she said on a deep breath and in pursuit of an honest clearing of the air between them. ‘You must think that I’m very disingenuous but—’
‘There’s honestly no need for us to go down this particular road.’
‘But there is. I think so. We can skirt round stuff but—’
‘I didn’t see the point in pretending that I was immune to your appeal,’ Dante told her bluntly. ‘You’re an attractive woman. You just have to look in the mirror to see that.’
‘You’ve never said anything like that before.’
‘I have strict codes of behaviour when it comes to people who work for me,’ Dante said shakily. He cleared his throat. ‘I don’t see an attractive woman and find myself compelled to pursue.’
‘Well, I actuallydostill work for you in a manner of speaking...’
‘Slightly different job title. Look, maybe I’m noticing things about you now because—’
‘Because?’
Dante was fast realising that her directness wasn’t confined to asking him questions about himself that he signalled he’d rather not answer. She dug in her heels and, it would seem, was happy to brave his displeasure over any and every matter she wanted to clarify.
‘Novelty? Who knows, Kate?’
‘Novelty...’
She had no idea what sort of women he really found desirable but she imagined that they wouldn’t be slight and unremarkable with barely-there breasts and no hips or curves to speak of. So, yes, she got the novelty value aspect, but it hurt.
