CHAPTER SEVEN

‘MILLY,WHYDON'T you come to New York with me this weekend instead of heading back to Genoa?'

Milly glanced up from the delicious pansoti pasta in nut sauce Giuliana had made for their evening meal, which she'd been playing with for the last twenty minutes. Tomorrow they were leaving the island, so this was their last night together, and she'd had a hard time eating anything. The regret that she had kept so carefully in check for days starting to strangle her.

But had she just heard him correctly? That he didn't want this to end?

‘I've got a place on the Upper West Side and I have to be there for a board meeting on Monday,' Roman added, the easy smile making hope surge in her heart. ‘Plus, there's a ton of great art galleries in Manhattan that you could show your work to.'

‘Really?' she asked, a little breathlessly, the hope all but choking her. ‘You want me to come to New York with you?'

The last week had shot by even faster than their first. But ever since Roman had told her a little about his childhood, and they'd shared that rare moment of connection, things had changed between them. Even their lovemaking had become more intense, something she wouldn't have believed possible. Her feelings had been so crisp, so clear, but also so close to the surface. Her passion for her work and the time she got to spend with Roman had made her feel more alive and seen than she had ever felt before in her life.

But the growing feeling of intimacy between them—every time they made love, every time he looked at her as if he wanted to say more, every time he challenged her and provoked her and seemed to revel in her reaction—had begun to torture her, too. Because she'd been forced to hold back, to swallow her needs and desires, determined not to ask for more, when she had already been given so much. Determined not even to acknowledge to herself she wanted more, because it would devastate her if he said no. And always aware she had begun to invest much more in this relationship than she should have already.

They had never spoken about anything to do with his childhood—or hers—again.

She suspected he had instantly regretted revealing so much. Because when she'd probed again, she had been met with a brick wall.

She had forced herself not to let it upset her. Had even convinced herself it was for the best. She needed to protect herself now. Because it would be far too easy to fall in love with this hot, taciturn, charming and devastatingly fascinating man. And she already knew that would be bad.

But now he was offering her a lifeline and it was hard not to feel elated. Could there be more? If they had the time to develop it?

‘Sure,' he said. ‘I still like having you around.'

She made herself breathe. And crush the bubble of hope. His easy answer and casual expression made her feel embarrassed about the surge of excitement.

Roman wasn't offering anything more than he already had... And while it would be so easy to say yes to him, unlike him, she had become a lot more emotionally invested. She needed to be cautious. She mustn't allow any romantic notions—which had been given far too much oxygen already in the past fortnight of great sex and even better companionship—to blind her to what was. Or what could be.

‘How long are you going to be in New York?' she asked, to give herself a chance to calm down and get what he was saying into perspective.

‘Couple of weeks,' he said, then reached out to thread his fingers through hers. ‘I could show you the sights, in between bouts of enthusiastic sex—because we do that so well,' he added, with that seductive grin that always turned her insides to mush. ‘And you could paint in my apartment, while I'm getting back into the swing of stuff at Garner's New York offices. It's a great space, full of light. You'll love it.'

She tugged her fingers out of his. Hopelessly tempted. But also stupidly disappointed. It sounded as if he'd thought about his offer quite a lot. But why had he sprung it on her on their last night together? When she'd been looking for something—anything—from him for over a week?

The obvious answer was staring her in the face. He'd made his offer at the last possible moment because he wanted to keep it casual. To keep it light. To make sure she didn't think he was offering more than an extension of their fling.

Roman wasn't offering her a commitment here. And while she would love to spend more time with him, she needed a bit more than ‘I still like having you around' to uproot her life in Italy—completely. Her two shift managers in Genoa—at the restaurant by the quay and on the tour boat—had been okay with her taking a couple of weeks out of the rota, but she would risk losing both jobs if she asked for more time off.

She also had a commitment in Wiltshire this weekend that she couldn't shake. Plus she only had enough money saved to get there and back before she would have to throw herself into her two ‘not-menial' jobs again to make ends meet.

‘I—I can't,' she said. She hated that this would have to be the end. But she would be setting Future Milly up for heartache if she allowed Present Increasingly Deluded Milly to believe Roman was offering her more than he actually was.

‘Why not?' he asked, still with that easy smile on his face.

There were so many things she could say to that... But every one of them would expose how over-invested she had already become—and she didn't want to make this emotionally messy, for either one of them. So she fell back on a practical answer he would understand.

‘I have to go to my nephew Artie's christening in Wiltshire on Saturday. Lacey and Brandon are expecting me. And my niece, Ruby, will be devastated if I don't show up. She's not adjusting all that well to having a baby brother, by all accounts.'

Something flickered in his eyes that she'd seen before and still didn't understand at the mention of Brandon's name. Something hard and flat and remote. But then his lips curved again. And something sparked in the deep green depths. Something exciting.

‘I know, how about I come with you? As your date. Then we could take the jet to New York from the UK on Sunday. It's in London at the moment anyway, so I would have had to stop over there.'

‘You... You want to come with me to the christening?' Her heart leapt in her chest. The suggestion still seemed casual, but how could it be?

Roman wanted them to go to her family event as a couple? This felt huge, and significant somehow... A step towards something more than just a casual fling. And she would love to have him there. She hadn't said anything to Lacey about where she had been and who she had been with for the past fortnight—mostly to cover for the white lie she'd told her sister when she'd first arrived on Roman's island. But she would love Lacey to meet him. Her big sister would probably have a cow, on one level, because she had always been far too overprotective. But once she met Roman and discovered how happy he made her, Milly knew her sister would be supportive, especially when Milly told her how Roman had encouraged her work.

The bubble of hope expanded.

‘Are you sure?' she asked again. ‘It won't feel awkward? Given that you said yourself you and Brandon are business rivals?'

She had no idea what that actually meant, seeing as she'd never taken any interest in her brother-in-law's business, but she didn't want to put Roman on the spot—or Brandon, for that matter. And she'd got the distinct impression from the way he'd reacted to the mention of her brother-in-law's name last week there might be more to their rivalry than she knew about. What if they had gone after the same media property, and had some kind of billionaire face-off over it? Perhaps the fact Roman's company had offered Lacey a job when Brandon and Lacey had first married had rankled, although that seemed a bit far-fetched. Would that be enough to make things difficult if he came to the christening?

Roman's cheek tensed, but he barely blinked before saying, ‘I've never actually met your brother-in-law face to face. There's not a lot of cross-over between our two organisations—Cade Inc specialises in hard news, while Garner Media is all about entertainment and celebrity journalism. We're only really business rivals insofar as we run in the same general field.' He grasped her hand, threaded his fingers through hers again and lifted them to his lips. ‘But if you think they might object to me attending, I can always just come get you when you're ready to leave.'

She smiled, flattered—and hopelessly encouraged—by the tension in his jaw as he waited for her answer.

He wanted to meet her relatives, but he was also being sensitive to her needs. How wonderful was that?

‘No, don't be silly.' This answer was at least easy. While Brandon and Lacey would no doubt be astonished when she turned up with Roman Garner, no way would they make things uncomfortable for her or him. Because they loved her. ‘Brandon is always adamant about making sure his business interests don't interfere with his family time. And I'm sure Lacey will want to meet you, once I tell her what I've been doing for the last fortnight!' she continued, her confidence building.

She wasn't getting ahead of herself. This was still just an exciting fling. Neither of them had committed to more than that, and she was good with that. But getting to spend two more weeks enjoying their time together—in New York, no less—and getting more time to paint, and discover more about this fascinating man, this time with her family's approval, was surely worth the risk? Plus, one thing her time with Roman had also proved was that she needed to make the leap now and start investing more in her career goals. She could take him up on his suggestion of approaching the galleries in New York with her portfolio to see if she could get a showing. And then she wouldn't need to return to her jobs in Genoa, when this ended... If it ended, her heart whispered.

‘Great, so it's a date,' Roman said as he stood and dragged her out of her chair.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her against him, so she could feel how much he wanted her.

Her exhilaration surged as she wriggled her hips against the ridge in his pants—to tease and tempt and make him want her more.

‘If you don't stop that... I may have to make you beg again, all night,' he murmured, dropping his forehead to hers and sinking his hands beneath the waistband of her shorts, to caress her bottom. ‘And then you'll be walking funny when I meet your sister.'

Laughing, she grasped his shoulders and jumped into his arms.

He caught her instinctively—the provocative look in his eyes as captivating as the confidence swelling in her chest.

‘Give it your best shot,' she said, nibbling kisses across his chin, his cheek, his jaw, and settling on the pulse point under his earlobe she knew was particularly sensitive. ‘But by Saturday, I'm betting you'll be the one walking funny, not me.'

He marched with her into their bedroom, chuckling now too.

‘Challenge accepted!' he declared, tossing her onto the bed.