LITMIR.BIZ

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both agreed to not wanting, at least not for a long while.’ She paused, her gaze unfocused as she recalled Ben’s parting words. I’ll damn well go alone, then.

      ‘Hannah?’ Luca’s voice was gentle, breaking into her unhappy thoughts. He squeezed her fingers. ‘What happened?’

      ‘We had a huge row. He said he was going to travel anyway, and leave me behind. And then he stormed out and jumped onto his motorcycle, and twenty minutes later crashed into a lorry. He died instantly.’ She raised her eyes, giving Luca a sorrowful smile. ‘I’ve chosen to believe that he might have come round. He was shocked, and understandably so, and he always did have a temper. And I felt terribly guilty, still do really, for yelling right back at him. But he would have come round. He wouldn’t have left me or our child, not if he had a choice.’ Luca didn’t answer and Hannah let out a wobbly laugh. ‘You probably don’t believe that. And maybe he wouldn’t have, but I don’t want Jamie to know that about his father. You’re actually the only person I’ve told.’

      ‘Not even your mother...?’

      ‘I didn’t want her to think badly of Jamie’s father...and I felt guilty for my part in the whole mess.’ She sighed. ‘But it did make me realise what I wanted a relationship to be, and it’s not simply wanting to be with someone when they go along with your plans. It’s wanting to be with someone whatever the plans. Because plans fall apart. People change. I’ve learned that lesson more than once.’

      Luca turned her hand over, stroking her palm with his thumb. ‘So have I.’

      ‘I don’t want to rush you,’ Hannah blurted. ‘I know this is new...for both of us. But with Jamie involved...’

      ‘I understand.’

      ‘It can’t all be fancy cakes and helicopter rides.’

      ‘I know.’ Luca’s expression turned distant. ‘But I can’t help but want to give Jamie some of the things I never had.’ He gave her a quick, reassuring smile. ‘I won’t spoil him, I promise.’

      ‘I know you won’t. I can’t believe we’re even talking about this. You’ve exceeded my expectations in so many ways,’ she admitted with a laugh. ‘I should have told you I had a child ages ago.’

      ‘I would have reacted differently,’ Luca said sombrely. ‘You’ve changed me, Hannah.’

      Her heart lifted and she lifted his hand to her mouth to press a kiss to his palm. ‘Not too much, though. Because I like you the way you are.’

      ‘Just enough,’ Luca assured her, and then leaned across to kiss her tenderly.

      * * *

      Jamie fell asleep on the way back home, and Luca carried him inside to a waiting Diane.

      ‘Have fun,’ Diane said, kissing her daughter on the cheek, and then Hannah was back in the sports car with Luca driving to his flat in Mayfair.

      She’d never been to his home before, had no idea what to expect. She’d been touched that Luca had wanted to bring her there, and not to some anonymous luxury hotel. He was inviting her into his life in so many ways.

      As excited as she was to be alone with Luca, she was also incredibly nervous. The last and only time they’d made love it had been hurried and desperate, a moment of passion neither of them had been expecting. Tonight would be completely different...a deliberate coming together and giving of themselves. Hannah didn’t want to disappoint him.

      ‘I feel a little nervous,’ she admitted after Luca had parked the car in the underground garage and they were riding up the lift to his penthouse flat.

      ‘Nervous? Why?’

      ‘Because this is different. What if...what if I’m not good enough?’

      Luca’s eyebrows rose nearly to his hairline. ‘Trust me, Hannah, you’re more than good enough. I feel like I’ve been waiting for this night for most of my life.’

      She smiled tremulously, pleased by his words but not quite sure if she could believe them. Luca had had dozens, hundreds of women, and was the most powerful, compelling, and attractive man she’d ever met.

      And what was she? A single mum with stretchmarks and a B-cup bra size.

      The doors of the lift opened directly onto his flat, a single open space with a soaring ceiling and panoramic views of the city. Hannah stepped out onto the marble parquet floor, her heart making its way up to her mouth.

      Luca stepped behind her and rested his hands on her shoulders. ‘Hannah. Trust me. I want to be with you more than I’ve wanted to be with anyone in my life.’ Gently he brushed her hair aside to kiss the curve of her shoulder, his lips lingering on her skin so a shudder ran through her body.

      ‘I feel the same way,’ she whispered, because how could she not? Luca was amazing. He’d blown her world clean apart.

      ‘Good,’ Luca said gruffly, and slid his arms around her waist, drawing her back to rest against the hard wall of his chest. She could already feel his arousal, felt an answering desire race through her veins, pool between her thighs.

      ‘I brought lingerie,’ she told him on a shaky breath. ‘But I don’t know if I want to wait long enough to put it on, just so you can take it off again.’

      ‘I don’t,’ Luca answered in a growl. ‘Save it for another night.’ He spun her around, his hands delving into her hair as his mouth found purchase. Hannah returned the kiss, revelling in it, in him, in the freedom and luxury of the whole evening ahead of them.

      Still kissing her, Luca backed her towards his bedroom, separated from the living area by linen-covered screens. The bedroom contained nothing but a massive bed, the navy silk duvet stretched invitingly across. With a little smile Luca pushed her back onto it, and then covered her body with his own.

      They kissed and kissed, legs and limbs tangling, hands smoothing over every body part they could find. Laughing, both of them, breathless with anticipation and joy.

      After a few frenzied moments Luca rolled away, his breath ragged. ‘We don’t need to rush.’

      ‘I rather feel like rushing,’ Hannah admitted. Every part of her ached with the need for Luca to touch her, and, more than that, to feel that glorious sense of completion and unity she’d felt before.

      ‘Well,’ Luca answered as he rolled back to rest lightly on top of her. ‘You can’t always have everything you want.’ He popped the button on her jeans and ran his hand lightly over her belly. ‘Sometimes you have to be patient.’

      ‘Are you going to teach me, then?’ Hannah asked, her breath coming out in a shudder as Luca tugged down her zip.

      ‘If I can,’ he admitted and pressed a kiss to her belly. ‘If I can be patient myself. I want you so very much, Hannah.’

      His heartfelt words made her heart sing even as his hands made her body burn. He stripped off her clothes and then it was her turn to unbutton his shirt, tug down his jeans. She ran her hands over the sculpted muscles she’d only glimpsed in the dark.

      ‘You really are the most beautiful man. It’s most unfair,’ she complained laughingly.

      ‘Unfair? Do you really want to look like me?’

      She curled a hand around his impressive biceps as his mouth dipped to her breasts. ‘No,’ she confessed breathlessly, ‘but sometimes I feel like an ugly duckling to your swan.’

      Luca lifted his head, his gaze locking on hers. ‘Hannah, you’re beautiful.’

      ‘To you, maybe, but from a purely objective—’

      ‘To me, yes. Completely to me.’ He brushed the hair away from her face and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips before saying, ‘I can’t be objective when it comes to you. All I see is a woman who makes me burn. Who cares what anyone else thinks?’

      ‘When

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