She gestured toward the front of the restaurant and shook her head. When the heck had her life grown so complicated?
“Fine then, we will go somewhere more private. Your rooms, perhaps?”
“To talk,” Blair asserted.
“If you wish.”
A tiny smile pulled at Draco’s lips, the sight of that sensuous curve sending a bolt of sheer longing through Blair’s body. She pushed the sensation down, refusing to let her desire for him control her, and showed him through the kitchen to the back of the restaurant.
She felt the sheer presence of him at her back, like a wall of heat imprinting the length of her body. The hairs on the back of her neck tickled with awareness.
Blair went to unlock and open the back door, but Draco forestalled her action, his hand big and warm as it trapped hers against the doorknob.
“Wait just a moment. We will open it slowly to ensure none of those reporters have snuck around the back.”
Blair did as he suggested, looking both ways before signaling to him that the way was clear. He followed her up the stairs to her flat. As she pushed open the front door she was suddenly assailed with the massive differences between their lives.
Draco came from wealth, a long, long line of money and privilege with a heritage that stretched back centuries. Even his apartment here in Auckland shrieked money, although the simple, modern lines were a far cry from the opulence of the palazzo. She smiled to herself. Palazzo. How many people could say a palazzo was their home?
Oh yeah, they were different all right. For some reason it hadn’t seemed to matter when she was in Tuscany—she’d been wooed by the strength of their attraction and by the sheer luxury of simply indulging in one another. But even so, back then she’d known it couldn’t last. Nothing ever did in her life. His life was so totally at the extreme opposite of the scale to hers, and clearly no one had ever said no to him before. At least no one had ever said no and meant it.
“Can I offer you a drink?” Blair said, as Draco stood just inside the door taking in their surroundings.
She supposed that to his eyes it would all look very temporary and not a little bit shabby. For the amount of time she spent here, it did the job.
“No. I didn’t come to have a drink with you.”
“Then what did you come here for?”
The look in his eyes nailed her feet to the floor where she stood. Heat suffused her body in a slow wave. He wanted her, period. And weakling that she was, she wanted him too.
“Come back to my apartment.” His voice was low, slightly uneven. “Come and stay with me until I have to go home.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not? My building’s security would give you some peace from these wretched reporters. Besides, you know you want to. Just look at you. Already I can see you’re aroused in the way your eyes gleam, in the way you’re breathing. If I touched you, your skin would be hot beneath my fingers, and if I cupped your breast I’d feel your heartbeat against my palm.”
Breath shuddered from Blair’s lungs. She could almost sense his hand against her, so evocative was his tone.
“Come back to my apartment,” he coaxed.
“How long?” Blair dragged the edges of her sanity around her like a deflective cloak. Somehow, she had to find the courage to resist him. If she didn’t, she knew there could only be heartbreak in store.
“Two weeks, perhaps three.”
The thought of continuing where they’d left off the other night rippled through her body in a cascade of longing. Draco had insinuated himself under her skin, into her very psyche. But it wouldn’t be forever, she told herself. They had a finite time. They could be together and then he’d leave to reassume his life and she could go on with hers.
She looked around the apartment. Very little of her own personality resided here. Aside from packing some clothes to bring with her, there wasn’t anything she’d miss. And yet, if she agreed to this temporary affair—because that’s exactly what it would be—could she be certain she’d escape with her heart intact?
“Blair?”
“Yes.”
He smiled and her stomach did a little flip-flop in excitement as she absorbed his pleasure in her decision.
“Let me get a few things together, it’ll only take me a moment.”
Her hands shook ever so slightly as she shoved clothing, underwear and toiletries into a small case. She was mad. Totally and utterly mad to be doing this. But didn’t she deserve to reach out and grab some happiness too, however short-lived?
Five
The next couple of weeks saw Blair take her creativity to new heights. After their nights of lovemaking, she expected to leave work each night drained. But instead, the opposite was true. She’d never been more invigorated in her life. She still suffered from the occasional recurrence of nausea or dizzy spell, no doubt still a hangover from the niggling stomach upset she’d had a few weeks ago, but overall she’d never felt better.