LITMIR.BIZ

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to a shadowed area to the left of the reception desk. ‘See that corner over there?’ he said.

      ‘Umm…yes,’ she nodded, her nostrils flaring as the subtle but tantalising tones of his aftershave wafted past her face.

      ‘What could you do to make that brighter and more open?’ he asked, turning to look down at her.

      Scarlett felt her heart come to a shuddering halt as his eyes met hers. She swallowed against the sudden thickness in her throat, her palms moistening where they were clutching at her handbag strap like a lifeline. ‘I’d need to think about it,’ she said. ‘Lighting is one option, but there are others. For instance, if we choose a lighter colour for the marble it will throw more light everywhere, not just in that corner.’

      His eyes were still locked on hers. ‘You are good at this, no?’

      She ran her tongue over the arid landscape of her lips, feeling self-conscious and terribly exposed. ‘I enjoy it,’ she said. ‘I like the challenge of bringing new life to old interiors.’

      He was standing so close Scarlett could hear the in-and-out of his breathing. She had only to take half a step for her body to come into contact with his, from chest to thighs. She sucked in a breath when he lifted his right hand and cupped her cheek, the touch so like a caress it made her whole body shiver in reaction.

      ‘Don’t,’ she said in a hoarse whisper. ‘Please…’

      His thumb moved from her cheek to trace over her bottom lip, the movement slow but incredibly sensual. ‘I have been thinking about how good we were together four years ago. Do you remember?’ he asked softly.

      How could she forget? Scarlett thought. Her body still rang with the echoes of the passion he had awakened. She could feel the pulse of it now as her blood charged through her veins. ‘No,’ she said. ‘No, I don’t.’

      ‘No you do not remember, or no you do not want to be reminded?’ he asked with a slanted smile.

      ‘I’m here to work, Alessandro,’ she said with as much assertiveness as she could muster. ‘Nothing else.’

      His eyes held hers for an interminable pause, before he stepped back from her and reached for a document lying on a table nearby. ‘I trust you have had time to read through the contract I gave you?’

      ‘Yes.’

      She drew in a breath as he opened the folder and handed it to her. ‘It is marked where you need to sign,’ he said. ‘Take your time.’

      Scarlett bit down on her bottom lip as she looked through the folder page by page, her eyes skimming the words she had read, reread and agonised over for the last two days. She would be able to pay off all her debts and put enough money aside to pay for Matthew’s education up to high school. There was even enough for her to employ a part-time nanny to take the strain off him being in child care for such long hours while she worked.

      ‘I will give you carte blanche with the budget.’ Alessandro’s voice carved a deep hole in the silence. ‘I want the best that money can buy.’

      She looked up from the document to meet his hazel gaze. ‘Why me?’ she asked. ‘Why are you choosing me for such a huge project?’

      His expression gave nothing away. ‘You are reputed to be one of the best,’ he said. ‘And I am in the habit of only settling for the best.’

      She screwed up her mouth at him. ‘That wasn’t what you communicated to me four years ago. Back then, I was the lowest of the low.’

      He held her pointed glare for several pulsing seconds. ‘But you have since made something of yourself, have you not?’ he said. ‘No doubt I did you a favour by making you sit up and take responsibility for your actions.’

      ‘A favour?’ she spluttered. ‘Do you have any idea what it’s been like for me for the last four years?’

      ‘That is neither my fault nor indeed any of my business,’ he said, bending down to pick up the folder she had just dropped. He closed it, tucked it under his arm and met her gaze once more. ‘I am prepared to pay you well to do this work for me, but if you are having second thoughts I can just as easily use one of your competitors. I have several from which to choose.’

      Scarlett’s eyes went back to the folder, her heart skipping a beat at the thought of some other design studio having the chance to work a miracle on this building. It was as Roxanne had said: a chance of a lifetime, and something they had both dreamed of since they had qualified as interior decorators.

      ‘Do you want the job or not?’ he asked after a lengthy moment.

      She took an unsteady breath and put her hand out for the folder. ‘I’ll take it,’ she said, dearly hoping she wasn’t going to regret it.

      He opened the folder without taking his eyes off hers, and handed his pen to her, clicking it as he did so.

      Scarlett felt the warmth of his fingers on the pen as she took it from him and, to disguise her reaction, laid the folder on the table nearby, bent her head and signed all the relevant sections.

      She straightened after she had finished and handed it back to him. ‘There,’ she said matter-of-factly. ‘All signed.’

      ‘Now all you have to do is deliver on your promise,’ he said with another one of his enigmatic smiles.

      ‘Umm…yes…’ she said, shifting her gaze from the mysterious intensity of his.

      He stepped back into her personal space and lifted her chin with two long, strong fingers. ‘Four years is a long time, is it not, Scarlett?’

      Scarlett felt the magnetic pull of his body, the heat of him so close to her reminding her of the intimacy they had shared in the past. ‘Yes.’ Her voice came out soft and whispery in spite of her attempt to sound emotionally detached. ‘Yes, it…’

      ‘It is too long,’ he said, placing his hands on her hips and bringing her body into closer contact with his. ‘I have never felt like this with anyone but you. I have had numerous lovers, but not one of them can arouse me with the way you do. You are doing it now—the way you tug at your bottom lip drives me wild.’

      Scarlett let go of her lip and swallowed nervously as she tried to ease out of his hold. ‘Please let me go.’

      He smiled crookedly as his hands subtly tightened on her hips. ‘You probably have no idea how much I want to kiss you right now, to feel your lips respond to mine as they used to do.’

      She stood in the circle of his arms, her heart thumping in case he kissed her, and her stomach already twisting and turning with frustration in case he did not.

      She held her breath as his head came down, the first touch of his mouth on hers making her body come to instant, throbbing life. Her breasts felt the press of his chest against them, and her thighs the full force of his arousal as it probed her with heart-stopping intimacy.

      It was like coming home after a very long absence.

      Everything felt so right.

      The skating touch of his hands as they moved to her bottom and pulled her harder against him, the thrust of his tongue into the moist cave of her mouth, and the way he made a sound of pleasure at the back of his throat, made her feel as if the last four years hadn’t passed.

      The heat of his body warmed hers to boiling point, her mouth melting beneath the pressure of his, and her inner core turning to liquid.

      His tongue tangled with hers, flicking then stroking until she was clinging to him without reserve. She kissed him back, her hands snaking around his neck to keep him close, her lower body grinding against the heated trajectory of his.

      He angled her face with one hand as he deepened the kiss, his other hand going to her breast in a caress that was temptation and torture rolled into one.

      Scarlett wanted more.

      She

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