Page 33 of ‘I Do’ for Revenge
He’d looked at her then, her face in shadow. He’d asked, ‘Do you remember your family at all?’
She’d shaken her head. ‘No, not that much. I was very young.’
Vito wasn’t sure he entirely believed her but he wasn’t about to delve into any more personal territory. He was only interested in the physical. Not the emotional or psychological. When they had arrived back at the apartment Vito had taken Benji from Flora and said, ‘I’ll take him out, you get ready for bed.Mybed.’
When he’d arrived back and gone into his bedroom he’d seen the evening gown carefully draped over a chair and the jewellery neatly lined up on the dresser. Something about that had caught at him, which had annoyed him.
He hadn’t been able to see Flora. But then the curtain by the French doors had moved and he’d gone over to see her standing with her arms on the wall, in a robe, bare feet. Not waiting for him seductively in the bed, like another lover. But here, enjoying the view. That little clutch at his chest again...
Flora moved now beside him in the bed, bringing him back from the ledge of his thoughts. She slid a hand across his chest, nails snagging on a nipple. Vito sucked in a breath. Even now, he felt the impulse to put some distance between them, to send her back to her own bed, to set boundaries...but now her mouth was on his skin and he felt the wet heat of her tongue and the impulse died a fiery death.
She knew where he stood, he’d told her in no uncertain terms there was no possibility of a long-term relationship with him, so why not let the boundaries blur and enjoy the moment?
He drew her up and over him, so her entire body lay over his, breasts against his chest. He could feel the scrape of her nipples. Her hair fell around them in a wild curtain of waves and curls. She looked sleepy but delicious.
He said, ‘Open your legs.’
She did, her thighs going either side of his hips. With his hands and mouth and then his whole body, he brought them to the edge and back countless times, until their skin was slick and Flora was begging incoherently for release, and only then did he thrust so deep that they both fell together in a cataclysm of pleasure so intense that any sense of control Vito had wielded for those brief moments while staving off this pleasure felt like a very hollow victory.
CHAPTER EIGHT
‘WOULDYOULIKEto go to New York?’
Flora looked at Vito from the other side of the dining table where they were having breakfast. A spoon upon which was heaped granola, fruit and yoghurt was stopped halfway to her mouth.
‘Seriously?’
He nodded and wiped his mouth with a napkin. ‘I’m opening a new office there and I’ve been invited to some social events.’
Flora put the spoon back down. There was a fizzing excitement in her belly. ‘I’ve always wanted to go to New York.’
‘Well, then, you’ll just need your passport. We’ll be leaving tomorrow.’
The fizzing excitement leached away. Flora sagged back. ‘I don’t have a passport.’
Vito looked incredulous but then his expression darkened. ‘Let me guess, your beloved uncle didn’t deem it necessary because he didn’t allow you to go anywhere.’
‘Something like that. It’s been on my list of things to do but I hadn’t got around to it yet.’ Flora felt pathetic. Who didn’t have a passport? ‘I won’t be able to go.’
Vito shook his head. ‘Yes, you will. You’ll come with me right now to my office and we’ll do whatever it takes to arrange a passport.’
‘But that can’t be done in a day.’
Vito arched a brow. ‘There’s not much I can’t achieve in a day.’
Now Flora felt stupid. As if a bit of bureaucratic red tape would stand in Vittorio Vitale’s way.
‘Are you sure? I don’t want to cause work for you and your employees.’
Vito held out a hand. ‘Come here.’
Flora’s heart palpitated at the look in his eyes. She still couldn’t really believe that she was here, with this man, and that last night she’d been dressed like a princess from a fairy tale—a fairy tale that had turned into something much more X-rated when they’d arrived back at the apartment.
She got up from her chair and let Vito take her hand, pulling her onto his lap. He said, ‘I know I asked you if you wanted to come to New York but it wasn’t really a question. I need you there.’
Flora’s heart fluttered, but before she could lose herself in a little daydream Vito was saying, ‘After all, we have a plan to execute—show everyone that we’re a couple.’
She went a little cold inside, even though Vito’s arms were around her waist. ‘Of course,’ she said as lightly as she could. She extricated herself from his embrace and went back to the other side of the table again. ‘How could I forget?’