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He headed towards the door. Staying in this room, with her, was not smart—because it would only stoke that inexplicable attraction.
‘Preferably, before I wake up,’ he finished.
He heard the phone’s ringtone cut off as he walked out, and her soft voice answering the call. But he didn’t hang around to hear more.
He needed to sleep now. And hope she’d be long gone by morning.
‘Milly, where on earth did you go? I’ve just got back to the Grande Palazzo in Sorrento and the staff say they haven’t seen you...’ Her sister’s panicked voice had the slither of guilt—from the moment Milly had spotted Lacey’s name on the phone—turning into an anaconda, which promptly wrapped around her throat.
‘I’m okay, Lacey,’ she whispered, cupping the phone to her ear as she rolled over on the enormous bed and stared out of the open window. She could see the lights of the Amalfi Coast glittering in the distance. The aroma of lemons and sea salthung on the breeze, accompanied by the lingering scent of Roman Garner’s sandalwood cologne. She could still feel his arms around her.
Her stomach swooped down to get jammed in the hot spot between her thighs. Funny she’d known instinctively it was him holding her—her efforts to wake up the rest of the way during their journey to the villa hampered somewhat by the delicious sensation of being cradled so securely.
‘Where are you?’ Lacey asked, the concern in her voice forcing Milly’s mind back to her sister, who clearly thought she wasn’t capable of looking after herself, even though she’d been doing it for over a year.
She understood Lacey’s concern, because Lacey was a mum, not just to Ruby, but also to her—ever since their own mum had died when Milly was fifteen, Lacey was eighteen and their deadbeat dad had basically washed his hands of them for good, more than happy to concentrate on his ‘new’ family.
But as Milly stared at the sparkle of Sorrento’s lights on the horizon, and imagined Lacey sitting in the luxury hotel suite there, the determination to be independent, and accountable only to herself, kicked up another notch.
‘Lacey, I’m okay. You need to stop micromanaging my life,’ she said, deciding going on the offensive was the best approach. Mentioning she’d accidentally borrowed the wrong billionaire’s motor launch and been spirited away to his private island probably was not going to calm Lacey’s nerves.
‘I’m sorry for causing a scene at the ball,’ Milly added grudgingly.
She heard Lacey give a hefty sigh. ‘No,I’msorry,’ her sister said, surprising her. ‘I didn’t mean to put you on the spot like that. It’s just, I worry about you. Ever since you had to leave your job at the school you’ve been rootless...’ The words trailed off.
But Milly could hear the misplaced guilt in Lacey’s voice.
‘Lacey, will you please get it through your thick head that it’s not your fault or Brandon’s fault the paparazzi wanted to get shots of me? And were prepared to ignore the privacy of the kids to do it. That’s on them, not you. Okay?’
‘I know, but you were happy there and they were only interested in you because of me and...’
‘Lacey, I was a teaching assistant. I liked that job, but I wasn’t planning to make a career out of cleaning up after five-year-olds and listening to them read. I’m really enjoying getting the chance to work on my art...’ Or she would have been, if she could actually find the time to do it.
‘Okay,’ Lacey murmured, sounding as tired as Milly suddenly felt—probably because they’d had this argument almost as frequently as thewhy-don’t-you-come-home-so-we-can-mollycoddle-you-to-death?argument. ‘Let’s talk about it tomorrow morning,’ Lacey added, going into proactive mode. ‘How about I send a car to pick you up now and we can have breakfast together at the hotel before I leave?’
‘Um...actually about that...’ Milly mumbled, frantically trying to get her exhausted brain to work out some semblance of a convincing excuse as to why she did not want to be picked up. ‘I’m already on the bus back to Genoa,’ she blurted out.
‘Wait...What?’ Lacey sounded shocked and even more concerned. ‘But all your stuff is here.’
Oh, yeah, right! Rats.
‘It was a spur-of-the-moment decision,’ she rambled on, busy trying to dig herself out of the massive lie without giving away her real whereabouts—or looking like even more of a reckless nitwit than was necessary. ‘I spotted the bus leaving when I got back to Sorrento and just jumped on board. Could you send my stuff care of Signora Cavali, my landlady in Genoa?’
‘I suppose so, if that’s what you would prefer,’ Lacey said slowly, the sadness and confusion in her voice making Milly feel like a bitch. Because she could hear what her sister wasn’t saying... Had Milly really been so desperate to get away from her sister, she had jumped on a bus in the middle of the night, without even picking up her luggage, or saying a proper goodbye?
‘I think it’s for the best,’ Milly said, all but choking on her guilt. But what else could she say? She didn’t want Lacey to know where she really was, or how she’d got here. Because that would send Lacey’s mother-hen instincts through the roof.
Instincts that would probably have the Cades sending the SAS to storm Roman Garner’s private island to rescue her. Which would turn her littlefaux pasinto a headline-grabbing catastrophe... The boat-stealing incident would be blown even more out of proportion, Garner would definitely sue, and Milly—and her wayward spoilt-brat ways—would become the darling of the tabloid press for the rest of her natural life.
Worst of all, she would have only herself to blame for it. She frowned. Herself and Roman ‘Gargantuan Ego’ Garner.
She shouldn’t have accidentally borrowed his boat. But he really shouldn’t have kidnapped her—even as a joke.
She rolled over to stare at the ceiling of the lavish room. But then again, he hadn’t looked quite as pleased with himself once they’d got to the villa. A smile curved her lips at the memory of his startled expression when she’d opened her eyes and caught him staring at her lips, his rapt expression making sensation sizzle, everywhere.
Even though he hadn’t taken advantage of her.
The hot spot between her thighs hummed. Almost as if she were disappointed about that.
