The Italian's Secret Baby (12 page)

While he kissed her soft lips, deep searing kiss after deep searing kiss, she was all the time conscious of the hardness of his erection grinding into her belly. His skilful hands were moving over her sensitised body. She was equally driven to touch every inch of his smooth golden skin, explore every centimetre of the taut, silky surface.

The air was filled with gasps, hoarse whimpers of pleasure and muted moans.

Ultra receptive to his skilful touch, she writhed and twisted when his hands cupped her breasts; she grabbed his head and cried out when his tongue lashed teasingly across the tight, engorged peaks.

He laughed when she brokenly claimed to be dying—she was only half joking.

‘Try and hold on a little longer,' he instructed as he mercilessly began to lick his way down the softness of her quivering belly. She stiffened when his exploration reached the soft fuzz at the apex of her legs.

‘Relax,
cara
,' he breathed into her ear.

‘But…'

It wasn't his kiss but the unexpected tenderness in his eyes that stilled her protest.

‘Don't think, let yourself feel. That's it,' he approved throatily as she pushed against his fingers with a sigh.

‘I don't know what I'm doing…in theory I know, but…'

‘I know what I'm doing.'

He did.

Because he had had a lot of practice…
He's right, I shouldn't think.

‘And you're not doing so badly,
cara.
Oh, my God, you're so tight,' he breathed hoarsely as he slid a finger inside her.

‘That's…
oh, my God
…! Please, Roman, please…'

A considerable amount of pleading and even more indescribable pleasure later, he pulled her knees up and settled between her legs. A shiver of voluptuous anticipation slid through her as she felt the probing pressure of his hard silkiness against the very core of her.

No pain, not really, just pressure and then the mind-expanding miracle of being filled.

He was on top of her and inside her and everything that was happening had a feeling of rightness about it.

That was her last conscious thought as he began to move and the pressure inside her started to build. The first ripples of her orgasm wrenched a deep moan from her parted lips.

I
screamed
! The shocking memory of the feral scream as her orgasm had peaked flashed through her head.

Roman felt the warm body pressed close to him tense. ‘Is something wrong?' he asked, stroking the damp hair from her face.

‘Nothing,' Scarlet sighed, relaxing back into arms that closed tightly around her.

What could be wrong? She was where she wanted to be. Things like him not loving her could wait until the morning.

 

It was actually around two in the morning when the shrill ring of the phone roused her. She rubbed her eyes and sleepily reached out only to find there was a large naked male in the way.

She sat bolt upright, suddenly very wide awake. Not daring to look at the shadowy shape in the bed beside her. Carefully she edged her body away from his, difficult in such a narrow bed, and reached over him for the phone.

‘Hello…'

‘Firstly, don't panic, Sam is fine. Fast asleep, actually.' Tom Bradley went on to explain that it was their son who was unwell. The doctor had been called and he was off to the hospital with suspected appendicitis.

Scarlet expressed her heartfelt sympathy. ‘Poor Nancy. How is she?'

‘Tearful,' her husband admitted. ‘I've told her that kids bounce back but she doesn't cope well with illness.'

Scarlet could hear the stress in his voice. ‘So you'd like me to pick Sam up.'

‘Well, that's up to you, the au pair is here and he's asleep, but…'

‘I'll pick him up now,' Scarlet said, manoeuvring herself out of the bed as she spoke. ‘You'll be at the hospital by the time I get there?'

‘We're off now.'

‘I'm sure he'll be fine, but good luck anyway,' she said before hanging up.

 

She was halfway across the room when the bedside light was switched on. She froze like an animal caught in the headlights of the car.

‘Has something happened to Sam?'

Well, she couldn't complain that he didn't have his priorities right. A naked woman standing less then five feet away and his first thoughts were for his son…as it should be, and very commendable, but she wouldn't have minded being a
slight
distraction.

‘Sam's fine.' She walked to the chest of drawers trying to act as if she weren't desperately self-conscious. ‘It's his friend from the sleep-over who has suspected appendicitis. That was his dad, Tom Bradley, just now, the
Tom Bradley
you've
never
met,' she inserted drily.

‘I'm going to pick Sam up. Could you call me a taxi, please?' She pulled a fresh set of undies from the drawer and stepped into the knickers.

On the whole, she thought she had carried off the entire I'm-perfectly-happy-with-my-body thing really well.

‘Don't be stupid, I'll take you.' She heard the creak of bed springs as he got out of bed.

‘That's really not necessary,' she started, and froze as she felt his fingers brush her bare back.

‘Let me,' he said, snapping the bra catch she had been clumsily trying to fasten first time. She didn't see how he could have failed to feel the shiver that rippled through her body.

‘Thank you,' she said huskily. ‘Sorry I woke you.' She could no longer avoid looking at him.

‘You didn't wake me. I haven't been asleep.'

Unlike her, Roman did not possess any inhibitions about nakedness. Her eyes slid of their own volition down his body and made the discovery that made her blush.

‘There will be other mornings,' he promised.

Blushing even more fierily, she looked away and snatched up a shirt that was draped over the back of a chair. ‘No,' she contradicted huskily, ‘there won't be other mornings.'

Roman's eyes narrowed as she turned her back but he didn't comment on her statement. Any idea she had that he had accepted or not noticed what she'd said was laid to rest when she was safely belted into the passenger seat of his silver Jaguar.

The streets were virtually deserted as he drove through the silent city.

‘Why won't there be any other mornings?'

‘It was marvellous and so were you, if that's what's worrying you.' Her attempt at light laughter emerged as a croak.

‘It wasn't. I'm well aware that what happened between us was special, which is why you're not making sense.'

It was hard to keep her focus when he said ‘special' in that sexy, throaty way, but Scarlet knew she had to. He was a passionate, highly sexed man and the chemistry was intense between them, but how soon before she began to see his picture in the newspapers with other women?

Worse still, would she turn into the woman he went back to when there was nothing better on offer?
The sure thing.

She hadn't wanted to get into this now, but she realised that discussing it while he had to keep his eyes on the road and his hands on the steering wheel was actually not such a bad idea.

‘I can't sleep with you again because it wouldn't be good for Sam. He can't see us as a couple and then not—children need continuity. But don't worry, we can work out a schedule for you to visit with him. Though I'd prefer you wait a little while before you have him for the weekend or anything.'

‘I'm sure if you dig really deep there is some logic there somewhere.' The amusement in his voice sounded pretty strained as he added heavily, ‘Damned if I can find it, though.' The furrows on his brow deepened. ‘What has Sam to do with you sleeping with me? Or, for that matter, you
not
sleeping with me?'

‘Well, you did imply that it would be convenient if you could sleep over.'

His jaw tightened by several notches. ‘I would want to make love to you if there was no Sam. Even in the incredibly ugly glasses I wanted to make love to you. It's called chemistry,
cara
!' he yelled. ‘There is a Sam, though, and you can't ignore the fact that us being together will be a good thing for him.'

‘When you say “together”, that's not what you really mean.' Together to her meant exclusive, it meant commitment, it meant, in an ideal world, love.

‘I take it you're going to tell me what I mean.'

The sardonic edge in his voice made her lips compress.

‘If you had turned up and found the woman bringing up your child had a string of casual lovers move in with her you'd have been the first to hit the ceiling.'

‘That's a totally different thing,' he responded immediately.

‘In what way?'

He didn't reply, but a sneaky sideways look told her he was looking explosively angry. Again she was glad he was driving—this way he couldn't throttle her or, much more dangerous, kiss her.

‘It would just confuse Sam, Roman. He needs things clearly defined. You can't jeopardise your relationship with him for casual sex.'

‘I thought you didn't do casual sex.'

‘So did I,' she admitted, her unhappiness showing. She dragged a hand through her hair. ‘Obviously you are going to be a part of Sam's life for a long time, and therefore mine.'

‘I can see how happy that makes you.'

She glared at his perfect profile. ‘This is serious.'

A flash of dark annoyance crossed his taut face. ‘I am serious,' he rebutted grimly.

‘This is about putting a child's needs first.'

The car slowed at a set of lights and he turned his head. ‘A parent's life sounds fun: self-sacrifice and no sex.'

‘You're taking what I'm saying out of context and you know it,' she accused. ‘Sex within a stable relationship is fine.'

The car behind sounded its horn and Roman cursed softly under his breath as he saw the lights had turned green. ‘I'm not surprised you were a damned virgin if you want a marriage proposal before you accept a dinner date,' he observed cuttingly as he pulled away.

He cast a quick sideways glance at her white stricken face and turned his attention back to the road ahead. A few yards farther down the road he released a flood of low impassioned Italian, before heaving a deep sigh.

‘Fine, have your schedule, keep me at arm's length. I'll keep my distance for as long as you want me to.'

Scarlet nodded, having decided that on balance it was simpler to pretend she hadn't noticed his get-out clause.

Roman appeared oblivious to the awkward silence that developed and she was relieved when a few minutes later they reached the gate to the Bradley house.

‘This is it.'

As they drew up outside the front of the house beside a BMW and a big four-wheel drive Scarlet unfastened her seat belt.

‘Do you want me to wait here?'

She sent him a startled look. ‘Not unless you prefer not to come in.'

‘I don't want to alarm him. I'm a stranger.'

He was nervous! She felt every kind of insensitive idiot for not realising sooner.

‘You're not a stranger, Roman, you're his dad.' She wanted to wrap her arms around him.

Their eyes met and for a moment he stared at her, then he smiled and her heart began to thud. She jumped out of the car before she did something really stupid.

 

The au pair had obviously been waiting for them.

‘Sam's asleep.' Scarlet saw the girl's eyes widen as Roman joined her. It amused her—well, actually, it annoyed her—that as far as the girl was concerned she had become invisible. ‘If you'd like to come in, I'll show you the way.'

She went as far as the door of the bedroom and, with a nod, left them. ‘I'll be downstairs if you want me.' This was said with a wistful glance at Roman, who, to give him his due, seemed totally oblivious to the effect he had.

Sam was fast asleep, his cherubic face flushed rosily with sleep.

The awed expression on Roman's face as he looked down at the child brought a lump to her throat. Scarlet handed him the fleecy blanket she had brought with her.

‘Wrap him up in this, will you? It's his favourite blanket.'

‘You want me to carry him?'

To see the ultra-confident Roman look nervous rung her tender heart. ‘Yes, please.'

‘If he wakes up and sees me…'

She smiled encouragingly. ‘Sam doesn't wake easily.'