Chapter 6

SHE HAD ALEC DROP her off a little way down the street. She didn't want to risk anyone seeing his car out the front of her home. It wasn't like Jay sat out in the street and spied on her, but she'd learned a long time ago that you could never be too wary with that guy.

Besides, she wasn't sure she wanted Leandro's driver to know which house was hers.

She let herself into the house quietly, shutting the door and sliding the lock into place, slipping off her shoes and tiptoeing through the corridor towards the back bedroom. She paused in the door, her daughter's sleeping body tightening something in her heart, as it always did. Harper was the most important thing in Skye's world. She would never regret the circumstances that had led to her existence.

She crept into the bedroom and pressed a kiss to Harper's sleeping forehead. Despite the cool of the night, she had a little perspiration there from how warmly she was bundled up. Her favourite pajamas were a thick flannelette, and she'd added fluffy socks for good measure. Skye eased the socks from her feet with an indulgent smile, kissed her forehead once more and left the room.

When Skye had been a teenager, her parents had built an extra bathroom on the back of the house. Not large, not luxurious, but enough for her to use. They hadn't had a lot of money, but they'd loved her silly. Now that she was a mom, she understood that. What wouldn't she do for Harper?

She undressed quickly, but with each brush of her hands over her body, memories surfaced, and her body was so sensitive that the water from the shower was like some kind of aphrodisiac. She let out a soft moan, and grinned like the cat who'd got the cream. She almost couldn't believe she'd done it.

It had felt so good to break the ‘rule' that Jay had set for her, to thumb her nose at his awful, controlling ways. Even now, two years after their breakup, how could he think he had any rights over what she did with her life?

She replayed every delicious moment from the night as she showered until the water ran cold. Every kiss, every touch, every whisper and word. And she remembered the promises they'd made each other, that it was just for this one week. One perfect, sensual week. It was like the balm she hadn't known she needed, and that she definitely deserved. She was going to make the most of every lovely minute…

Even though sheneeded the money and had a policy of accepting any and all work she could, when Susanna asked her to do a double shift the next night, Skye barely hesitated before saying she couldn't. She was already on tenterhooks, counting down the minutes until she could get to Leandro again. Her whole body was in a form of agony. Somehow, having been with him and felt that perfection made it so much harder to wait. She wanted more of him. All of him. And tonight, her shift finished an hour earlier. Too late to get home in time to see Harper, but early enough to give them a bit longer.

She texted her mom and said she was working later, to cover someone else, and slipped into the backseat of Leandro's car with a spring in her step.

Back in his luxurious apartment building, she crossed into the lift with the feeling that her insides were being battered by butterflies. She rode the elevator to his floor and stepped out with alacrity, slipping off her shoes and placing her handbag beside them. She looked around just as he emerged from the kitchen, not smiling, his features locked in an expression of urgency.

He moved quickly towards her and drew her to him, kissing her with a passion that took her breath away. Literally. She could hardly breathe, and she didn't care. She kissed him back with the same hunger, the same need, and yet it still surprised her when he lifted her to the sofa instead of the bedroom, his body over hers powerful and strong, his kisses so desperate—as if they hadn't been together in months, not just twenty four hours. But didn't she feel exactly the same? Wasn't her own body crying out for him again already?

He swore as he tried to remove her clothes and found her dress wouldn't give.

"There's a zip," she mumbled against his mouth. "Here." Her fingers gestured to the sides. He undid and removed the dress in one motion and then tumbled her breasts from her bra as he had that night in the hotel, groaning as he buried his face between them first then moved his attention to one, and then the other. His tongue rolled her nipple, his fingers tormented her, his whole body was an object of intense power. She groaned as her own hands fumbled with his clothes, removing his shirt, then his pants and boxers, until they were both naked, on the sofa, a tangle of limbs and passion.

Only, for all its decadence, the sofa wasn't huge, and Leandro was a tall guy. His legs slipped off the edge and she needed more than that. She went with him to the floor, only he moved, catching her waist and shifting her, so her elbows were on the return of the sofa, her body bent over it.

"I want you like this," he murmured, his hands on her butt cheeks, cupping them, worshipping them. "Okay?"

She couldn't believe it, but tears actually clawed at her throat. Every time Leandro showed himself to be thoughtful and respectful, she was reminded forcibly of how Jay had let her down, time and time again, and she'd come to expect it.

She nodded, a little bleary eyed, not trusting her voice to emerge unscathed.

She heard the tell-tale rip of a condom and groaned as he entered her. It was so different to last night. This, being taken from behind, was so intimate, so absolutely all-encompassing, and when he brought his hands around to her front and cupped her breasts, she thought she might spontaneously combust.

"God, Leandro," she groaned, wiggling her hips, and he laughed darkly, moving a hand to her sex, brushing his fingers there as he moved in and out, his rhythm a sign of how desperate he was, how desperate she was too. With a pulse that was unreliably fast, she cried out, pleasure rushing through her, and he knew. He must have felt the way her muscles were spasming around his length, because he paused to give her time to ride the wave, to feel it in every inch of her body, to revel in its perfection, before he started to move again, this time building to a crescendo with her. It was fast and it was desperate, and it was everything she'd ever needed from a lover.

He kissed her right where her spine met her neck, a butterfly kiss, light enough to make her body cover with goosebumps, and then he pulled away from her. She slumped forward on the sofa, her body too weak to move.

"I think I've died and gone to heaven," she said on a soft laugh. When she opened her eyes, he was in the kitchen, but staring at her. Her skin prickled with goosebumps again.

So many men had told her she was beautiful, but he was the only one to really make her feel it, inside and out. Pleasure radiated through her. Finally, she shifted to stand, looking around for her clothes.

She pulled on her underpants but before she could add her bra, he spoke, his voice a husky growl.

"Would you mind not?"

She glanced at him.

"I just want to look at you," he said with a shrug.

Heat flushed her cheeks. He came around the kitchen bench and stalked across to her. "You are a work of art."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm really not."

But she dropped her bra to the floor anyway, blinking up at him. A week ago, if anyone had told her any of this was going to happen, if anyone had told her she was going to act this way, she'd have said absolutely not. But something about Leandro was totally overwhelming and he'd somehow morphed her into a different person, who was capable of living a totally different life. Just for a little while.

"Hungry?"

Was she?

In that moment, she wasn't capable of feeling anything beyond her sensuality.

"Or would you like to swim?"

"Swim? Don't tell me you're hiding a pool somewhere in this place?"

He shook his head. "A spa, on the terrace."

She rolled her eyes. "Of course there's a spa on the terrace. What billionaire pad is complete without such a thing."

He arched a brow. "The more I get to know you, the cheekier you get."

She laughed. She was cheeky. Or at least, she had been before Jay. Was it possible that Leandro was also helping that side of her come back to life?

"Swim, dinner, or bed?"

"All very tempting."

"Equally tempting?"

"Definitely not."

He grinned. "So?"

"Well, you wanted to forget, so tell me: what's going to achieve that for you?"

His eyes bore into hers and for a moment, something between them shifted. He was serious. His features dark. She studied him with interest.

"Come with me," he muttered, and drew her with him to the bedroom. She followed, glad he'd chosen to go behind door number three, because in her heart of hearts, that's what she wanted too.

When she arrivedthe next night, Leandro drew her out onto the terrace. He'd set a table with wine and a platter full of food, but her gaze was naturally drawn to the spa. Steam rose from it and into the night sky and beyond them, Manhattan twinkled like some kind of fairy wonderland. She glanced across at him, wondering if he was wanting her like she was wanting him.

"I didn't want you to feel objectified," he said with a shrug.

"What if that's how I want to feel?" She replied, tapping her foot.

His smile was slow to spread. "Then I can objectify you in the spa. Take off your clothes."

She laughed. "Done." She glanced around out of habit, wondering if anyone would see her, and when it came down to it, she left her underwear in place, because she wasn't much for skinny dipping.

The water was so delightfully warm. As she sunk into it, he poured two glasses of red wine and carried them across. It reminded her of the first night they'd met, when he'd spilled the same coloured wine all over the carpet of the hotel room.

"You got the stain out completely, by the way."

"That spray did the job."

"Yeah, hate to think what chemicals are in that."

"The good ones."

She tilted her lips. "Is there such a thing?"

He stepped into the spa with easy athleticism, taking a seat opposite her, so their legs brushed under water. She sipped her wine and enjoyed the view, tried to ignore the heat that was spreading through her body and pooling between her legs, the tightening of her nipples against the cotton of her bra.

"How long have you worked at the hotel?"

"Your hotel?" She couldn't resist teasing.

"My family's." There it was again. Thunderclap. She heard it in the short, staccato beat of his syllables. The slightly disparaging tone. Was it possible he wasn't close to them?

That didn't make sense. He was filling in for his brother, while he was on his honeymoon. That wasn't something you did if you weren't close. Was it? She didn't know. Skye had no siblings, no cousins she was close to. The relationship dynamic was a mystery to her. But she did know families could be complicated, even when you were close. Being billionaires didn't insulate a person from that.

"About a year and a half," she said, sipping her wine.

"You like it?"

"Yeah. It's a great job." His brows drew down, like he didn't quite believe that. "Don't get me wrong, it's not what I dreamed of when I was a kid. But the hours are good, the pay is decent, and my boss is really accommodating if I need to change shifts."

"What did you dream of doing?"

She looked around the glittering city, sighing. "I wanted to be an architect."

"Really?"

"Can you blame me? I grew up with this," she waved her hand towards the view. "In my backyard. I fantasised about designing skyscrapers for a living."

"So why didn't you?"

Her smile slipped. "It just didn't pan out."

"Why not?"

She massaged her lower lip. "I thought we weren't doing gloomy backstories?"

"We don't have to," he said. "It's up to you."

She flicked a glance to him then looked away, because the wattage in his eyes was too much.

"I met a guy in my first semester of college."

His look showed confusion. "And?"

Right. Of course it didn't make sense to him.

"And," she toyed with the stem of her wine glass before placing it up on the edge of the spa. She sat back, staring at the view, rather than at Leandro's intensely beautiful face. "My relationship just wasn't compatible with schooling."

He frowned. "For what reason?"

"I'm scared to tell you this," she said with a lift of one shoulder.

"Why should you be scared?"

"Because I feel as if someone like you will judge me for decisions I made back then. Decisions I hope I wouldn't make again. Mistakes."

He leaned forward, his face earnest. "Are you trying to tell me you robbed a bank?"

She laughed, despite the heaviness of her thoughts. "Just a few, when I needed the cash," she responded in kind.

"That's okay. We all have flaws."

His grin made her skin lift with goosebumps.

"Jay—my ex—was charming. So charming." She winced. "At least, he was at first. He was handsome and successful, and I got totally caught up in dating him. I thought I was falling in love. I thought he was too."

"But you weren't?"

She shook her head. "Maybe at first?"

"Did it end badly, cara?"

"You could say that." She swallowed. "Somewhere along the way, he took over my life. Every aspect of it. I quit school because he thought I should. I got a job, but my pay went into his bank account. He said he could take care of all the boring stuff, leaving me free to pursue my interest. But I had no time to pursue my interests because he wanted me with him all the time. He read my messages, listened to my phone calls. I lost my friends because they couldn't stand him and couldn't stand what I became around him. And all the while, he would gaslight me constantly, putting me down so eventually, I lost all my confidence. He was jealous as all get out, and would follow me home from work."

Across from her, Leandro was very still, his face a mask of something she couldn't understand.

"Was he violent with you?" When he was feeling things deeply, his accent became more pronounced.

She shook her head. "Never."

"There are other kinds of abuse, though."

"Yes," she whispered.

"So what happened?"

She glanced at him again. What was that expression? In for a penny, in for a pound…

"Things between us weren't working. I was miserable. He knew it. We were barely a couple in the end. I think he knew I was going to end it, that I was building up the courage to walk away, even though I had absolutely nothing in the way of money or confidence. I knew that I was dying a little bit, every day, just staying with him."

He expelled a long breath. "So you left?"

"Before I could leave, I got pregnant," she said quietly. "And though I have never been able to prove it, I'm sure he messed around with my birth control or something. I think he wanted to trap me, to keep me with him forever."

"Pregnant," he said quietly.

She nodded. "But no way would I stay with him. I recognized that his behaviour was bad. It was awful enough to know that I'd lived with that myself, but there was no way I was going to let a child be treated like that by him or to see me being treated like that. So I left."

"And now?"

"I see him once a month, when he comes to pick up our daughter." She shuddered.

"Daughter? Wait a second. You had the baby?"

She glanced back at him. "Oh, sorry. I guess that wasn't clear. Yeah, I had the baby."

"You're a mother?"

She lifted one brow. "What? You seem shocked."

"I'm surprised," he admitted.

"Why? Am I not giving off maternal vibes?" She replied, with a lift of one brow.

He held up one hand in a gesture of apology. "I only meant that you're young."

"Yeah. I would never have planned to fall pregnant at twenty two," she said. "But here we are. So, I live with my parents while I pay off the hospital bills from Harper's birth and try to save a bit of a nest egg to restart my life and take care of her future. My parents have been really generous, and I couldn't hold down a job like this without them, because they mind her every night, while I'm at work."

He let out a low whistle. "I had no idea."

"Why would you?"

"It just seems like an important thing to know about the person you're sleeping with."

"But we're only sleeping together for the next week or so," she reminded him. "And we agreed not to do the whole life story thing."

"Yet you did."

"You're easy to talk to," she admitted. "I didn't plan on coming here and spilling the tea."

"I'm glad you did… spill the tea," he repeated a little confusedly.

"Harper is my daughter," Skye's face unknowingly beamed with pride. "She's amazing." She reached for her wine and took another sip. "You don't have any children?"

He swore in Italian, then shook his head. "Absolutely not."

"Ever been married? In a serious relationship?"

"No and no."

"Really?"

"You think that's unusual?"

"Well, you're not that young," she volleyed back, earning a playful flick of water from him. "And you have a lot of charm and skill in the bedroom," she cleared her throat. "Yeah, I'm surprised."

"I've dated," he said. "Some women for longer than others. But I've never met anyone I couldn't live without."

She frowned. "Maybe you're just not meeting the right women?"

"I have never been into the whole fidelity until death do us part thing. It doesn't make sense to me. Life is too short, and the pleasure of this too great. I like sex, I like women, I like different women, different sex." He sipped his own drink. "What? Does that make me a chauvinist?"

"I'm trying to decide. Right now, I kind of think maybe it does."

He laughed, deep and husky. "And if the women I date are on the same page as me?"

"I guess it's just a lifestyle choice."

"You said you didn't want a relationship," he reminded her. "Are we so different?"

"I can't be in a relationship," she corrected.

"Why not?"

"Jay."

He frowned. "Your ex?"

"Right. He never fought me for custody of Harper. He said I could raise her, at least until she was school age. The importance of a mother being in a kid's life, and all that. He takes her for one weekend a month, which almost kills me."

Leandro was quiet.

"But he has made it abundantly clear that if I start dating again, he'll sue for custody. He has more money than me, connections through college that would get him a great lawyer. And I couldn't live with it, Leandro. I couldn't live with only getting her half the time." Her eyes misted over at the very idea.

Leandro placed his wine down deliberately and pushed towards her, his face a mask of anger. "You should not have to put up with that," he said quietly. "You do not have to bend to him."

"But I do. I can't bear the thought of losing Harper, and so I bend to him completely on this matter. And it's okay. Honestly, after Jay, I really don't want to date again anyway." She shuddered, the thought anathema to her.

"But this?" He gestured from himself to her.

"This isn't dating," she pointed out. "It's the best of a relationship without all the messy stuff. I can't do mess. Not again."

He cupped her cheeks with his hands, his eyes probing hers. "I can guarantee you this will be completely mess-free. I'm so sorry for what you've been through," he muttered. "Your ex sounds like a bastard."

"Yeah, a total A-hole."

But then he kissed her, and thoughts of Jay evaporated from her mind, so too the lingering vestiges of remembered pain in her heart. Leandro kissed her in the warm water of the spa and she was capable of feeling only goodness and gratitude, her whole body singing with both emotions.

She didn't think of Jay again.

How could she?

Bliss spun through her body, driving everything else away completely.