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It seemed only fair for her to find a way to return the favour.
CHAPTER SEVEN
‘MILLY,WHYDON’Tyou come to New York with me this weekend instead of heading back to Genoa?’
Milly glanced up from the deliciouspansotipasta in nut sauce Giuliana had made for their evening meal, which she’d been playing with for the last twenty minutes. Tomorrow they were leaving the island, so this was their last night together, and she’d had a hard time eating anything. The regret that she had kept so carefully in check for days starting to strangle her.
But had she just heard him correctly? That he didn’t want this to end?
‘I’ve got a place on the Upper West Side and I have to be there for a board meeting on Monday,’ Roman added, the easy smile making hope surge in her heart. ‘Plus, there’s a ton of great art galleries in Manhattan that you could show your work to.’
‘Really?’ she asked, a little breathlessly, the hope all but choking her. ‘You want me to come to New York with you?’
The last week had shot by even faster than their first. But ever since Roman had told her a little about his childhood, and they’d shared that rare moment of connection, things had changed between them. Even their lovemaking had become more intense, something she wouldn’t have believed possible. Her feelings had been so crisp, so clear, but also so close to the surface. Her passion for her work and the time she got to spend with Roman had made her feel more alive and seen than she had ever felt before in her life.
But the growing feeling of intimacy between them—every time they made love, every time he looked at her as if he wanted to say more, every time he challenged her and provoked herand seemed to revel in her reaction—had begun to torture her, too. Because she’d been forced to hold back, to swallow her needs and desires, determined not to ask for more, when she had already been given so much. Determined not even to acknowledge to herself shewantedmore, because it would devastate her if he said no. And always aware she had begun to invest much more in this relationship than she should have already.
They had never spoken about anything to do with his childhood—or hers—again.
She suspected he had instantly regretted revealing so much. Because when she’d probed again, she had been met with a brick wall.
She had forced herself not to let it upset her. Had even convinced herself it was for the best. She needed to protect herself now. Because it would be far too easy to fall in love with this hot, taciturn, charming and devastatingly fascinating man. And she already knew that would be bad.
But now he was offering her a lifeline and it was hard not to feel elated.Couldthere be more? If they had the time to develop it?
‘Sure,’ he said. ‘I still like having you around.’
She made herself breathe. And crush the bubble of hope. His easy answer and casual expression made her feel embarrassed about the surge of excitement.
Roman wasn’t offering anything more than he already had... And while it would be so easy to say yes to him, unlike him, she had become a lot more emotionally invested. She needed to be cautious. She mustn’t allow any romantic notions—which had been given far too much oxygen already in the past fortnight of great sex and even better companionship—to blind her to what was. Or what could be.
‘How long are you going to be in New York?’ she asked, to give herself a chance to calm down and get what he was saying into perspective.
‘Couple of weeks,’ he said, then reached out to thread his fingers through hers. ‘I could show you the sights, in between bouts of enthusiastic sex—because we do that so well,’ he added, with that seductive grin that always turned her insides to mush. ‘And you could paint in my apartment, while I’m getting back into the swing of stuff at Garner’s New York offices. It’s a great space, full of light. You’ll love it.’
She tugged her fingers out of his. Hopelessly tempted. But also stupidly disappointed. It sounded as if he’d thought about his offer quite a lot. But why had he sprung it on her on their last night together? When she’d been looking for something—anything—from him for over a week?
The obvious answer was staring her in the face. He’d made his offer at the last possible moment because he wanted to keep it casual. To keep it light. To make sure she didn’t think he was offering more than an extension of their fling.
Roman wasn’t offering her a commitment here. And while she would love to spend more time with him, she needed a bit more than ‘I still like having you around’ to uproot her life in Italy—completely. Her two shift managers in Genoa—at the restaurant by the quay and on the tour boat—had been okay with her taking a couple of weeks out of the rota, but she would risk losing both jobs if she asked for more time off.
She also had a commitment in Wiltshire this weekend that she couldn’t shake. Plus she only had enough money saved to get there and back before she would have to throw herself into her two ‘not-menial’ jobs again to make ends meet.
‘I—I can’t,’ she said. She hated that this would have to be the end. But she would be setting Future Milly up for heartacheif she allowed Present Increasingly Deluded Milly to believe Roman was offering her more than he actually was.
‘Why not?’ he asked, still with that easy smile on his face.
There were so many things she could say to that... But every one of them would expose how over-invested she had already become—and she didn’t want to make this emotionally messy, for either one of them. So she fell back on a practical answer he would understand.
‘I have to go to my nephew Artie’s christening in Wiltshire on Saturday. Lacey and Brandon are expecting me. And my niece, Ruby, will be devastated if I don’t show up. She’s not adjusting all that well to having a baby brother, by all accounts.’
Something flickered in his eyes that she’d seen before and still didn’t understand at the mention of Brandon’s name. Something hard and flat and remote. But then his lips curved again. And something sparked in the deep green depths. Something exciting.
‘I know, how about I come with you? As your date. Then we could take the jet to New York from the UK on Sunday. It’s in London at the moment anyway, so I would have had to stop over there.’
‘You... You want to come with me to the christening?’ Her heart leapt in her chest. The suggestion still seemed casual, but how could it be?
Roman wanted them to go to her family event as a couple? This felt huge, and significant somehow... A step towards something more than just a casual fling. And she would love to have him there. She hadn’t said anything to Lacey about where she had been and who she had been with for the past fortnight—mostly to cover for the white lie she’d told her sister when she’d first arrived on Roman’s island. But she would love Lacey to meet him. Her big sister would probably have a cow, on one level, because she had always been far too overprotective. Butonce she met Roman and discovered how happy he made her, Milly knew her sister would be supportive, especially when Milly told her how Roman had encouraged her work.
