taken her.
Which meant what? she wondered, in no doubt that he was referring to more than just her walking about without shoes. Was he referring to the way she still responded to him, even after all he had done? Or to getting herself involved—as he believed—with another man who had supposedly used her? Or both?
‘Oh, I’ve learned, Damiano. Don’t be fooled—I’ve learned,’ she assured him brittly. ‘You were a very good teacher.’
‘I believe in more ways than one.’
With sniping precision she was reminded of how he had accused her of choosing him to initiate her sexually. Crushed, she wondered again what he would say if he knew that there never had been any other man who had shared her bed. Thathe remained her only tutor in the art of making love—and a bitter lesson she had learned because of it too!
The shrill sound of his cell phone cut through the strained little silence. He reached into his breast pocket, flicked open the slim black casing with a competent hand.
‘Sì. Sì.
‘ He turned away from her, speaking to whoever it was in his own language.
She couldn’t understand what he saying, but the tonal quality of his voice slid like silk across her senses. She remembered how he had used it when he had been making love to her, driving her to fever pitch, uninhibited, wild for him.
‘I have to go.’ She hadn’t realised he had finished the call, and felt herself blushing to her roots, imagining he might have guessed what she was thinking. ‘Tell Ben I hope he’s feeling better soon …’ He was retrieving the toy and the box he had discarded on her dresser when he had gone after the little boy just now. ‘And that I’ll let him have this back …’ he waved it in the air ‘… as soon as I can.’
‘You don’t have to do that,’ Riva told him, dismayed and surprised to realise he was taking her son’s request seriously.
He gave her a calculating smile as he moved over to her, saying with a dangerously smooth quality to his voice, ‘Oh, but I do.’
Because then he’d have a reason to come back here, she thought, panicking, scouring her mind for the right words to say that would prevent that happening and finding they just wouldn’t come.
‘And you, Riva …’ A cool finger slid along her jaw, making her breath lock from the frightening excitement even that simple touch produced. ‘Openness inspires a far better working relationship.’
‘As well as betrayal?’
He didn’t stay to acknowledge that breathless little jibe that was torn from her as he let himself out of her flat.
* * *
Damiano’s mind was anywhere but on his executive level meeting as he drove straight to his office after leaving Riva.
He had been wrong about her, he accepted, when he had believed that her recent tiredness, her rushing off early and then her absence today was because of some demanding lover. All along what spare time she had was being taken up by the demands of an energetic three-year-old. Who would have believed it? he thought, amazed. Were there any more surprises this girl could throw at him? he wondered, putting his foot down hard on the accelerator to overtake a rather dawdling motorist, aware that the petite little Riva Singleman was taking up far too much of his mental energies of late.
But who was this man she must have taken up with during the months after leaving
his
bed? Was he someone she had hoped to build a life with? Or had he been just a casual lover—someone with whom to amuse herself—as he had been? And if not—if her relationship with this man had been on a far more serious footing—as she had led him to believe—had her child been planned?
Pulling back into the nearside lane, he shot away, leaving the other vehicle standing. He already knew Riva to be a woman who thought very carefully about what she did. The fact that she’d taken steps to protect herself even whilst she was still a virgin was testimony to that. Yet how contemptibly she had spoken of her
Which meant what? she wondered, in no doubt that he was referring to more than just her walking about without shoes. Was he referring to the way she still responded to him, even after all he had done? Or to getting herself involved—as he believed—with another man who had supposedly used her? Or both?
‘Oh, I’ve learned, Damiano. Don’t be fooled—I’ve learned,’ she assured him brittly. ‘You were a very good teacher.’
‘I believe in more ways than one.’
With sniping precision she was reminded of how he had accused her of choosing him to initiate her sexually. Crushed, she wondered again what he would say if he knew that there never had been any other man who had shared her bed. Thathe remained her only tutor in the art of making love—and a bitter lesson she had learned because of it too!
The shrill sound of his cell phone cut through the strained little silence. He reached into his breast pocket, flicked open the slim black casing with a competent hand.
‘Sì. Sì.
‘ He turned away from her, speaking to whoever it was in his own language.
She couldn’t understand what he saying, but the tonal quality of his voice slid like silk across her senses. She remembered how he had used it when he had been making love to her, driving her to fever pitch, uninhibited, wild for him.
‘I have to go.’ She hadn’t realised he had finished the call, and felt herself blushing to her roots, imagining he might have guessed what she was thinking. ‘Tell Ben I hope he’s feeling better soon …’ He was retrieving the toy and the box he had discarded on her dresser when he had gone after the little boy just now. ‘And that I’ll let him have this back …’ he waved it in the air ‘… as soon as I can.’
‘You don’t have to do that,’ Riva told him, dismayed and surprised to realise he was taking her son’s request seriously.
He gave her a calculating smile as he moved over to her, saying with a dangerously smooth quality to his voice, ‘Oh, but I do.’
Because then he’d have a reason to come back here, she thought, panicking, scouring her mind for the right words to say that would prevent that happening and finding they just wouldn’t come.
‘And you, Riva …’ A cool finger slid along her jaw, making her breath lock from the frightening excitement even that simple touch produced. ‘Openness inspires a far better working relationship.’
‘As well as betrayal?’
He didn’t stay to acknowledge that breathless little jibe that was torn from her as he let himself out of her flat.
* * *
Damiano’s mind was anywhere but on his executive level meeting as he drove straight to his office after leaving Riva.
He had been wrong about her, he accepted, when he had believed that her recent tiredness, her rushing off early and then her absence today was because of some demanding lover. All along what spare time she had was being taken up by the demands of an energetic three-year-old. Who would have believed it? he thought, amazed. Were there any more surprises this girl could throw at him? he wondered, putting his foot down hard on the accelerator to overtake a rather dawdling motorist, aware that the petite little Riva Singleman was taking up far too much of his mental energies of late.
But who was this man she must have taken up with during the months after leaving
his
bed? Was he someone she had hoped to build a life with? Or had he been just a casual lover—someone with whom to amuse herself—as he had been? And if not—if her relationship with this man had been on a far more serious footing—as she had led him to believe—had her child been planned?
Pulling back into the nearside lane, he shot away, leaving the other vehicle standing. He already knew Riva to be a woman who thought very carefully about what she did. The fact that she’d taken steps to protect herself even whilst she was still a virgin was testimony to that. Yet how contemptibly she had spoken of her
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