Chapter Five #3
He held her gaze for a long moment. She could almost hear the cogs of his brain running through the list of pros and cons.
She wasn’t so innocent and naive that she couldn’t see there were negatives and positives about any liaison between them—there were, lots of them.
How would they keep it a secret? Could they keep it a secret?
Did she want to be known as yet another one of Vic’s casual lovers?
She was used to flying under the radar but if she got involved with Vic, the press would find out sooner or later.
They may have already done so. Everyone had a camera phone, and everyone knew who Vic was.
Vic let out another breath in a forceful stream. ‘And what do you think your brother and my sister would think of it?’
‘Does it matter what anyone thinks? It’s between us, as two consenting adults.’
Vic glanced at her mouth and then back to her eyes, but she could see his gaze hardening with resolve.
‘I didn’t buy those clothes as some sort of bribe to get you into my bed.
’ There was a thread of anger woven through his tone, but she wasn’t sure if it was directed at her or himself.
‘Let’s get back to Katerina. We can talk about this at some other time. ’
She walked back with him to the villa, her thoughts in turmoil.
Had she made a prize fool of herself? It was so hard to know with Vic.
Although she wasn’t experienced, she could still sense his attraction to her.
The way he looked at her mouth all the time, the flare of his pupils, the heat in his gaze—weren’t those telltale signs of male desire?
Or was she kidding herself? Was her crush on him distorting her perception and making her see things that weren’t actually there?
Vic had to stop himself from taking up Addie’s invitation.
What business did he have to even consider the possibility?
He was totally wrong for her. He was a playboy for pity’s sake.
A man who had lost count of the number of women he had bedded.
Addie had never been intimate with anyone.
She was completely innocent and yet she had offered herself to him.
But what could he offer her other than a fling?
She wasn’t the fling type. Didn’t she deserve better than that, especially when it was her first foray into sex?
He glanced at her as they walked back to the villa.
Her girl-next-door attractiveness grew on him the more time he spent with her.
He noticed things about her he had missed in the past: the sweet curve of her mouth, the way her lower lip was full and pillowy, the top one beautifully defined.
The creamy texture of her skin, notwithstanding those cute freckles made her appear younger than twenty-eight.
Whenever she smiled it was like a punch to the heart.
Her smile lit up her tawny brown eyes and indented her cheeks with tiny dimples.
But while he knew he couldn’t offer Addie anything permanent, he was worried about her giving herself to someone who wouldn’t appreciate her or take care of her given how innocent she was.
What if they only bedded her for the novelty of having slept with the daughter of the stunning and sultry Solange?
Vic enjoyed Addie’s company more than he thought he would.
He loved watching her interact with Katerina.
She was patient and loving and kind and was wise in a way many people these days were not.
She had an intuitive sense of what Katerina needed and responded accordingly to those needs.
She would make a wonderful mother one day in spite of the way she had been mothered.
It was wrong of him to even consider the possibility of indulging in a fling with her. Not going to happen. Never.
You want her.
Vic pushed the thought back. Closed the door on it.
Locked. Bolted. But like smoke, it drifted out and swirled around his consciousness, tempting him to touch her, to taste her, to tantalise her with the sensual delights of passion.
The gentle breeze sent a waft of her perfume his way and his lower body tensed and tightened with primal lust. Why was he so damn obsessed with her?
Was it because of their forced proximity?
Had their being thrust together like this stirred feelings in him he would not normally experience when other people were around?
He had met her three times before this trip to Lake Como and while he had noticed her, he had not once on any of those occasions felt this potent tug of desire.
A flicker, yes, because he was human and she was beautiful and cute in a refreshing way, but nothing like this primal stirring that refused to go away.
It was as if the more he told himself she was forbidden, the more his body wanted her.
Acting on it was out of the question. Unlike every other fling, this was not the sort of relationship he could walk away from with a clear conscience.
Sure, he could show her a good time, introduce her to the delights of sensuality but he wasn’t interested in anything but a short-term relationship, and even that would come with its own minefield.
He couldn’t erase her from his life like he could with an acquaintance or a stranger.
Addie was connected to him through the marriage of her brother to his half-sister.
They were co-godparents to Katerina. There was a bond there that meant they would not be able to avoid each other.
Sleeping with Addie would change everything.
The dynamic between them would be different, inescapably different.
For one thing, he would always be her first lover.
It was dangerous to even consider the possibility.
Dangerous and unwise and yet so very tempting.