CHAPTER ELEVEN

RAEGAZEDOUT at the mesmerising view, staring at the spot where the indigo sky merged into the glimmering expanse of the sea. The stars were out in their thousands, the night air was balmy and so far it had been a wonderful night, following on from an idyllic day with Domenico.

Their seafood lunch at a waterside restaurant and afternoon enjoying their private beach had reminded her of the better days of their relationship, where everything had been so easy and carefree.

There had been a void in Rae's life before she'd met Domenico. In spite of her sisters and friends, her job at the bridal boutique and her dreams for the future, Rae had always felt as if something was missing. Something vital. She'd assumed it was the void left by losing her parents and the suddenness with which they'd dwindled from a family of five to one of three. But then she'd met Domenico and that void had evaporated. Suddenly everything had been dazzlingly, beautifully bright. She'd felt happy again, excited and hopeful in a way she hadn't in the longest time.

The same kind of happiness that was streaming through her as she stood there, enjoying the evening. Had she been that happy after leaving him and returning to London? she caught herself wondering. Rae hadn't allowed herself to consider it at the time, but she knew it would be a lie to say she had been completely content. She'd made herself busy and forced herself to focus on the future, but without Domenico that chasm in her heart had opened again and she was only aware of it now because, after their day together, she felt it a little less keenly.

But she wasn't sure what she was supposed to do with that. As happy as Domenico made her, it could only be temporary. Because their time together had an expiration date, and once they hit it Rae would be returning to London.

Even though you have already thoroughly blurred the lines of your arrangement with him? And with each hour that passes you're only growing closer.

Rae's heart raced with her thoughts. They had grown closer, closer than they had ever been in the past. Even their intimacy had been different, charged by their emotional vulnerability with each other. There was only one matter that Rae had not yet shared with him—the truth about her mother's death—and that was proving to be a weighty burden. The guilt she felt about her continuing silence was immense because Domenico wasn't holding anything back. He had been raw and unguarded, answering any question she asked, and Rae felt that she was truly starting to know him, the real, beautiful, complicated man that he was.

At the outset she'd thought that getting answers to her questions about his past would help her reach a place of closure, where she could walk away and leave him behind, but with all that she was learning her heart was opening up to him more than ever. And that was alarming to realise because one day their situation was going to end, and the more engaged her feelings became, the more likely it was that her heart would break into a hundred pieces when it did. Maybe that was another reason why she was clinging to her secret, because once Domenico knew everything she would belong to him in a way that was undeniable. And she wasn't ready for whatever it was between them to be anything more than what she had agreed to—a fake and temporary marriage.

‘You're looking very thoughtful, Signora Ricci.' Drawn from her pensive moment, Rae looked up to see their host, Santiago Lorca, approaching at a leisurely pace. She had met him briefly when they had arrived and her first impressions had been of a warm and welcoming man.

‘I'm just admiring these stunning views of yours,' she lied. ‘The plot of land you have here is incredible.'

‘It has been in my family for generations,' he shared, leaning back against the curved stone wall, ‘apart from a brief period. When my father was a young man they went through some hard times and lost almost everything. It was a mission of mine to get it all back for him.'

‘Was he here to see you achieve it?' Rae asked, hoping for a positive answer.

‘He was, but he sadly didn't live long enough to enjoy it.'

‘I'm sorry. That must have been very hard.'

‘It was, but the upside is that I always feel connected to him here.' He paused, watching her with friendly eyes. ‘Have you enjoyed the evening?'

‘Very much.' In the ensuing silence, Rae's heart thudded. It wasn't her place to do so, and she had never before dreamt of meddling in Domenico's business dealings, but as she spied the opening to raise the topic of the deal, Rae knew she couldn't let it pass by. Although Domenico had recovered well from his troubled state that morning, and had so far charmed everyone they'd met that evening with his confident smile and magnetic charisma, she knew he was still singularly focused on getting the deal done. If there was any chance she could help, her heart was compelling her to try because the last thing she wanted was to see him mired in more despair. And now that she knew why it mattered so much to him... ‘Although I noticed that you and Domenico haven't had the chance to talk yet.'

‘Unfortunately not. Hosting duties are keeping me rather busy.'

‘Is that the only reason?' Rae pressed, trembling within at her boldness. ‘Domenico is worried that you're getting cold feet about the deal.'

‘I do have some concerns,' Lorca admitted, much to her surprise. ‘Given that history I just briefly touched upon, my company matters a great deal to me, and to the rest of my family. I am very conservative about if and who I enter into partnerships with. And your husband is in the middle of an emotional transition.'

‘Because of the death of his aunt?' Rae queried.

‘Precisely. And also, if you'll forgive me for being so blunt, the rumours about your marriage.' With those words a hole slowly started to gnaw open in Rae's stomach. ‘I'm not asking for an explanation; your personal life is private. But whilst Domenico always had a reputation for being pragmatic and unemotional, I worry that in having to contend with such issues he could become emotional. And emotional people are known to exercise poor judgement and take risks—the type of risks I don't want my company involved in.'

For a moment Rae couldn't speak. Her fingers had grown clammy around her champagne glass as all she could feel was the weight of the future of the deal on her shoulders. If she said the wrong thing in response, it could blow it to pieces. But if she could explain to him who Domenico really was, could she perhaps save it? And save Domenico from drowning in that fear of not being enough?

‘Domenico would never be reckless with The Ricci Group,' she responded, the need to defend him rising in her like a tide. ‘No matter what's going on in his personal life. The company belonged to the aunt who raised him, and before that her husband, and it means everything to him. Now that they are both gone, Domenico treasures it even more. He wants to make this deal for them, to fulfil a dream that they had. That's how you can be sure you can trust him, because he's just a son trying to make his parents' dream come true. And after what you just told me, surely you can understand that.'

‘I can.' He nodded slowly before smiling across at her, the action sincere. ‘I'm glad to have met you, Rae. You have given me an insight into your husband I didn't previously have.' He fixed his gaze on something over her shoulder. ‘Your wife is delightful, Ricci.'

Turning her head over her shoulder, Rae's heart flipped to see Domenico sauntering closer. In his pale-coloured suit and open-necked shirt and with his hair gleaming in the starlit darkness, he looked almost too good to be true.

‘She is. I'm a lucky man,' he agreed, sliding an arm that felt almost proprietorial around her waist.

‘I don't want to interrupt your evening, but do you have a moment to talk now?' Lorca asked him. ‘I have a fifteen-year-old Scotch I've been meaning to try. We can slip away for ten minutes.'

Domenico glanced down at her. ‘Rae?'

‘Go. I can amuse myself for a while.'

He pressed a feather-soft kiss to her lips before walking off in step with Lorca and Rae watched him go, happy that she had been able to help, yet uneasy about that happiness. Because there was only one reason that she would be so delighted for him, Rae recognised with a lump swelling in her throat. Because she still cared for him. More than she really should.

More than was safe, or smart.

More than she had actually realised when she'd agreed to their crazy charade.

But Domenico had always been quicksand. She only had to recall how quickly she had fallen for him in the first place. It had taken only hours and days for him to steal her heart. It really shouldn't surprise her he would be a stubborn presence to erase from it.

Feeling her pulse start to skip out of control with her escalating worry, Rae attempted to comfort herself with the thought that it was different this time around, that she was incredibly different...but it was then that it hit her—because of those changes in her, everything between her and Domenico had become different too.

What they had now was not the same relationship that she had run away from. It was an entirely different beast, and that meant she was in entirely unchartered waters.

Later that evening, once they had returned to the villa, Rae was watching herself remove the delicate drop earrings from her ears in the mirror when she spied Domenico approaching in the reflection. Coming up behind her, one hand gently brushed her hair to one side before he touched his lips to the sensitive skin of her neck and feeling erupted along her skin.

‘Thank you,' he breathed, his breath moving across her skin like a tender flame. ‘For whatever it was that you said to Lorca.'

‘All I told him was the type of man that you are,' Rae said, her eyes drawn into meeting his in the reflection by a magnetic pull that she couldn't fight.

‘Whatever you said, it had some effect. We're meeting tomorrow morning to finalise the details of the contract.'

Happiness streamed through her again, making the nervous pit in her stomach grow wider, but she smiled back at him. ‘Good. I'm happy for you.'

This time when he pressed a kiss to her neck it was open-mouthed. His tongue flickered against her hammering pulse point and it was like a flame being held to a tinderbox. Feeling exploded inside her. She wanted to hold back, to find some much-needed space to claw back the intensity of her growing feelings, but her body craved the opposite and as his lips trailed a line of fire up her neck and to her ear, and his hands started their slide of possession around her waist, Rae's eyes fluttered closed, her battle already lost. Her heart thundered with desire a hundred times stronger than anything she had ever felt before and all she wanted was to drown in the glorious feeling he conjured within her. To float in that space for ever.

She turned in his arms and he slowly lowered his head, but impatience ruled her actions and she rose to her tiptoes, speedily closing the distance between them and relishing that sinuous slide of his mouth against hers, need mounting frantically in her already, a hot and needy throb pounding in her molten core.

But whispers of warning continued to swirl around her mind. Where exactly would this leave her? She'd returned, amongst other reasons, to find some closure, but now all she was doing was drawing back closer and closer to Domenico, stripping back layer upon layer in a quest to know and understand him so much better. And the bond between them was intensifying, deepening... Would the boundaries of their original arrangement still be able to keep her safe? Or was she deluding herself, hiding behind an agreement that was no more stable than a sandcastle?

‘Domenico, is this madness? Us doing this?' she breathed against his mouth, too needy for him to pull away but unable to quieten those thoughts.

‘Possibly,' he murmured with a laugh. ‘But it might be madness not to do it too.' His body seemed to move closer to hers. ‘As long as both of us are clear on the terms and time limits, I see no danger in it.'

Rae was almost certain she could see bright flashing red danger signs up ahead but they were dim, and with the sinuous slide of his hands taking her to a place where there were no negative feelings they seemed too far away to be of any immediate importance.

‘Do you want me to stop?' he asked in between swipes of his lips over her neck.

The answer was on her lips before he'd even finished asking his question, rising from the very heart of her. ‘No.'

Even if it was madness, it was a madness Rae wanted. Badly. With every breath she took and with every beat of her heart. Surely if she focused only on this physical need for him and not on the possibility of anything more significant, there could be no harm done.

Reaching for his mouth again, Rae responded to the gentle probe of his tongue by parting her lips and granting him entry to her mouth. She slid her tongue against his, hungry and needy and wanting. His fingers searched for the fastening on her dress and, with a deft move, undid it, gently sliding the straps from her shoulders and down her arms until the dress slid down her body to the floor in a whisper of sound. Domenico tore his mouth from hers to survey her body and his eyes burned with a shimmering flare as he took in the ivory lace lingerie set.

‘I'm so glad I didn't know you were wearing this. I would never have been able to keep my hands off you,' he purred, his fingers lightly, teasingly skimming up and down her sides, touching and then melting away.

‘You not being able to keep your hands off me was the whole point of wearing it,' she replied, laughing, the sound turning to a gasp as he turned her, his strong arms banding across her middle as they faced their reflection in the mirror.

Her need for him was painted all over her face. She had never been able to control it. There had been times when she could hide it, but now...now her longing was too big, too overpowering for her to exert any power over it. From the moment Domenico had started to dismantle his walls, she'd been lost to her desire completely. Lost to him. And she was sure he could see it too.

Eyes alight with a wicked kind of fever, he lowered his head to her neck and dusted her skin with light kisses, simultaneously moving his hand lower and lower, sliding it under the thin line of her panties in search of that bundle of exquisitely sensitive nerves. Pushing back her slick folds, he stroked a fingertip against her pulsing flesh, drawing a shattered sigh from her lips.

Domenico had always known how and where to touch her to make her scream, always seemed to sense how she wanted to be taken by him, but lately his touch had assumed a new power. It was reaching all the way into her, erasing her fears and caressing her soul. It was a way of being known that made her feel completely safe and yet utterly terrified.

Because surely that was everything one could hope to find in a lover. There was no greater connection, but if that was true... Rae was in even more dangerous territory than she'd thought. If only the danger wasn't so addictive.

Her mind sent into a spin by his touch, her head arched against his strong shoulder as his probing and caressing fingers sent the most magical, fluttering feelings unfurling within her like a flower responding to sunlight. The rhythm of sensations built, soaring higher and faster, and her knees were slackening with each beautifully torturous second that passed.

‘Domenico,' she gasped out brokenly, unable to withstand it any longer.

‘Open your eyes,' he commanded throatily. ‘I want to watch you when you come.'

Rae hesitated. No doubt he had watched her orgasm before, but that was then. To do so now, to be looking into his eyes as she came apart under his caress would be extremely intimate and exposing, the forging of another deep connection, another unbreakable link between them, and that was the last thing she needed.

‘Open your eyes for me, Rae. Let me see you.'

The silky murmur of his words worked their magic and, her resistance overridden, she slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was his face, his eyes dark and commanding and fixed on her, ready to devour. She wanted to look away, look anywhere but at him, but she couldn't. With the devastating flash of his smile, Domenico sent his finger in a long, powerful stroke and that was all it took for Rae to implode, stars exploding behind her eyes and her whimpers filling the air around them.

His strong arms cradled her as she floated back down to earth but hunger was still yawning inside her and so she turned, fastening her hands behind his head, pulling his mouth down and kissing him greedily, hoping to distract them both from her ecstasy, which had filled her expression.

Sex. It was just sex.

But the reminder felt hollow and so Rae poured everything into the kiss in a bid to prove it. Evidently as eager as her, Domenico's fingers moved to his shirt, ready to tear open the buttons, but Rae stilled his hand with her own.

‘No. Let me,' she said, thrilled at the thought of undressing him, of revealing him inch by inch, the way she most loved.

Moving his hands away, Domenico stood still, breathing deeply as Rae smoothed her hands up to his broad shoulders and pushed his jacket off them, letting it fall to the floor. His eyes followed her every move and revelling in the freedom to touch him and determined to do to him what he had done to her, to make him feel as unsteady and exposed as she did, Rae traced the outline of his chest, her fingertips playing over the solid muscles and the hard ridges of his ribs. Each time she felt him quiver she danced her fingers a little further, her vulnerability diminishing with the thrill of feminine power rolling over her.

Had she ever before realised what she could do to him? Unsurprisingly, Domenico had always been the dominant sexual partner, but Rae was suddenly understanding that she had underestimated her power over him, that he was in thrall to her as well, and that was intoxicating...

She undid the buttons of his shirt slowly, one at a time, feeling his impatience mount, his breathing change as her fingers grazed purposefully against his bare skin. Once all the buttons were open, she pushed the sides of the shirt apart and pressed her lips to his warm chest. Domenico tensed and hissed beneath her, his fingers flexing at his sides as she teased a path of tender kisses down his hard stomach, following that line of faint dark hair that disappeared into the waistline of his trousers.

‘Rae...' he groaned warningly as she neared the band of material, a plea she ignored to kiss her way back up his chest and manoeuvre him free from his shirt.

She tasted his lips again, her fingers continuing to roam across the planes of his upper body until his breathing was ragged and his chest was heaving and only then did she move her hands lower, unbuckling his belt, sliding down his fly and guiding his trousers and boxers down his strong legs.

And then he was completely naked, proud and erect before her eyes, and Rae had no desire to draw her gaze away. Only looking wasn't enough, not by a long shot. She needed to touch, to feel him, and so she pressed her hand against him, her body jolting in response.

When she felt him grow harder under her touch, that feeling only arrowed even deeper and her need to conquer even more of him, all of him, intensified to a treacherous degree...

Domenico couldn't comprehend what was happening. Sex with Rae had always been incredible, the best of his life, but he'd never been overpowered by those feelings. But as her hand slid slowly down his length, her touch consumed him in a way it never had before, blasting open everything inside him.

Lust. Desire. They were not powerful enough to describe the feelings unfolding within him and all he knew, all he could think, was that if he didn't have Rae back in his arms, back against his body in the next five seconds, he would implode.

Before she could act out her next intention, which Domenico read easily in her small, catlike smile, he clasped his hands to her hips and dragged her against him, seizing her mouth with a bruising, fevered kiss. Kicking his feet free from his trousers, he walked back towards the bed, bringing Rae tumbling down on top of him and keeping possession of her mouth, desperate to ease the hunger clamouring inside him, a hunger that seemed to emanate from the very centre of his being.

With her hair, her scent, her body, Rae surrounded him and that was driving him even crazier. No matter where he touched, how much sweetness he drank from her lips, it was not enough. Nothing satisfied the rushing of his blood, nothing helped him find that control that had always been present in his previous sexual encounters. That piece of himself that had always remained separate and safe. Untouched.

Reaching behind her, he tried to unclip her bra, but the force of his need was making his fingers unsteady and Rae had to help. Together they tossed the scrap of pretty lace aside and Domenico didn't waste a moment, taking the weight of her breasts in his hands and lifting his mouth to lick one and then the other, a worship that he had engaged in many times before, but that now felt different, more profound, for it was not just her body that he was adoring, but all of her. Her heart, her bravery, her passion. Everything that she had been generous enough to share with him and that he'd failed to appreciate for far too long, and her actions that night had clarified it even further.

His ministrations continuing with unrelenting expertise and feeding off the satisfied moans breaking from her lips, Domenico kissed the soft skin and sucked at her rosy nipples until she was writhing. That sight of her astride him, above him, her head thrown back as she fought the torrent of pleasure pulled a smile from his lips, but still, it wasn't enough.

An even darker, more urgent surge of passion rose up in him and with a single smooth movement Domenico flipped her over, trapping her under him. As he parted her legs, elation spread throughout his body and it startled him, as if he had finally found the place he recognised as home.

Rae was wet, as aroused as him, and for the first time in memory he couldn't hold back. He didn't even try, his actions being driven by a greater force than he could understand. He drove into her with ease, welcomed by her velvet heat, and the moment they joined together he felt something within him unlock. As if she was the solution to a problem, the answer to a code. It felt like the moment he had been waiting for, only he hadn't known it.

Trying to dislodge that unsettling poignancy, to focus only on the physical, Domenico started to move, following the urges of his body. Slowly he withdrew from her and then powered back inside, and Rae moved with those motions, her body sinuous and sensual against him. As they moved, she watched him from her bright eyes and, as their gazes held, he found he was incapable of looking away. Some new power within her gaze compelled him to maintain that connection and with each thrust of his body, with every answering lift of her hips, their eyes held, emotion starting to swirl amongst that physical tempest. Such fierce, unexpected emotion that Domenico could feel the last of his walls crumbling beneath its power, exposing everything that he was and leaving all of him open to her, to see and to take.

Beneath him, Rae began to shudder and as the tremors rocking her body spread into his own, the ripples of pleasure grew more powerful. They rushed through him so fast that they rammed into one another, becoming a single shattering orgasm that, for the first time in Domenico's life, left no single piece of him untouched.