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And that was my downfall. Literally.
My foot slipped off the smoothly curved marble step, and I fell backward. I registered a dark shape coming through the doors just as I flew back and hit the water with a hard smack. The cool water rushed over my head, flooding my nose and open mouth.
The water hit my lungs, and I convulsed.Goddamn it.In my panic, I sucked down liquid like someone with a death wish.
Arms wrapped around me as I trashed and flailed in the water, my limbs flapping wildly beneath the surface.
“Stop fighting me, Charlotte! I’m trying to help you, for fuck’s sake.” Renato’s voice was a deep growl. Of course it would be him. The devil himself.Of course.
He held me against his body, his arms tight around my middle. I coughed relentlessly, hacking up all the water I’d swallowed. The one silver lining was that I didn’t need mouth to mouth.
He carried me to the edge of the pool, and I rested my hands on the curved lip, my breath coming in pants as my lungs worked to expel every last drop of water.
Renato kept one arm wrapped around me and moved the other to my hair, stroking my wet strands. It was soothing as hell. “You’re okay,bambina. I’ve got you,” he murmured quietly.
I swallowed hard and stared straight ahead. His body drifted against mine in the water.
“I’m fine from here, thanks.” My voice was a rasp.
“Are you?” he asked, and after a moment, his arm fell away.
I wasn’t ready for it and immediately went under. My flailing had forced us into the deep end of the pool. I couldn’t touch the bottom, and my hands lost their grip on the edge.
I sank like a stone, my body sliding down Renato’s, just as his hands landed under my arms and he yanked me up.
“Cristo, can’t you swim?” he demanded when I resurfaced and grasped desperately on to the ledge, harder this time.
Renato turned me to face him, pressing his body into mine to keep me above water. The man was in a white shirt, and it was completely see-through. I could see tattoos through the translucent material. His dark waves were slicked back with water, and clear beads dotted his olive skin and caught in his dark lashes. It was criminal how good he looked, which was fitting, I supposed.
I shook my head slowly, trying desperately to calm my racing heart.
“If you can’t swim, then why were you down here, alone at night? If I hadn’t come along…” he started.
“If you hadn’t come along, I wouldn’t have fallen,” I protested hotly.
He stared at me for a long moment and then shook his head. “Ora sai come ci si sente.”
“And what does that mean?”
He simply shrugged. “Better learn Italian if you want to understand your husband.”
Something moved inside me at the way he’d said the last word.Husband.It was nearly a growl, and my insides squirmed.
“And I’m supposed to believe you want me to understand you?”
“Everyone wants to be understood by someone. Everyone wants to be seen by someone, don’t they, Charlotte? Even you.”
His face was so beautiful wet, it was distracting as hell.
I shook my head stubbornly. “I don’t want to be seen by you.”
“Then why are you wandering around here at night? Who were you hoping to run into?”
“No one!” My voice was nearly a squeak. If it was weird to be having this conversation, with his body pinning mine to the pool wall, I forgot. There was something calming about his presence. Like nothing bad could happen to me when he was there.Well, duh, that’s because it already happened, my subconscious reminded me.
His mouth stretched into an arrogant grin. “No one. Of course not. You barge into my meeting half-dressed, looking like the forbidden ingénue, and trust me not to bend you over my desk and have my wicked way with you. You swallow my fingers like a good girl and get offended if I point out how wet you are. You talk back to me, disagree with me, tell me you hate me, and then you cling to me when I kiss you.”
I opened my mouth to clarify, but there were no words there. He seemed to sense my confusion, a triumphant smile flickering across his lips.
