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So why mention the nickname now?
“It just sounds so formal when you call me Catalina,” she explained further when he didn’t reply.
“And isn’t that what you called our agreement? Too formal?” She had, hadn’t she? He couldn’t remember. The endless words they’d spoken to each other this evening were all starting to run together.
She shrugged. “Yes, but…I got tired of hearing you call me Catalina.”
“Well, Cat, I appreciate the sudden informality, but I suppose this is the end.” He liked the sound of it. Cat. The nickname fit her. Made him think of a gorgeous, sleek feline, slinking into his life, turning his head. This woman constantly aroused him to an almost painful state only to turn around and leave him in the dust.
Exactly what she’d done to him tonight.
“I guess so,” she agreed, her voice hollow, her gaze…sad? No, it couldn’t be. He was reading her wrong. He must’ve read her wrong for years.
What an idiot he was.
“This is what you want.”
“Absolutely.” She nodded. “Freedom. I’m dying for a taste of freedom. I want to see the world before I settle down, you know? We used to spread our time evenly between Chicago and here, but the last few years, we’ve rarely left Italy.”
Chicago was the U.S. base for Campioni, where many of their relatives lived and also maintained a small branch. But Carlo Campioni had run out of funds, hence his inability to return to the States. Not that Rafe would throw his knowledge of their financial state in her face. He knew most everything about her family.
Not marrying him wouldn’t give her an opportunity for freedom. Didn’t she realize she’d only become married to her family business if she didn’t wed him? That it would suck her dry, working so hard to build the company back up after her father had nearly destroyed it?
But she wouldn’t listen to reason, not now, especially coming from him. Still, he couldn’t help but say something.
“If you gave me a chance, I could’ve shown you the world. Together, just the two of us,” he said softly.
Surprise flitted over her face, her full lips parting, forming a little O. “Don’t say things you don’t mean.”
“I never do.”
Silence settled between them once again, thick with promise. Could she not sense it? Feel it? The tension between them? The attraction? It was more than obvious to him, permeating the air and making it hard for him to focus. She looked frazzled too, her eyes full of confusion, her cheeks flushed a delicious pink. She gnawed on her lower lip as if she wanted to chew a hole in it, and he wondered what she might be thinking.
Not that she’d tell him, oh no. She’d already written him off as bad for her. As if his sole intention was to ruin her life and leave her a domesticated slave available to his every whim.
A rather unfair assumption, and one he couldn’t seem to convince her out of.
“I appreciate you giving me no trouble,” she finally said, drawing herself up to her full height as she thrust her shoulders back, looking so very mighty and strong despite her petite stature. “And letting me back out of this agreement between us. You know it was the right thing to do.”
“If you say so,” he murmured, his gaze never leaving her pretty, oh-so-tempting face. “Give me one last kiss goodbye, then? Between old friends and ex-future husband and wife?”
She rolled her eyes, some of the fire back. He liked seeing that hint of fire, the flash of defiance. Maybe Matteo was right. A little feistiness in a woman wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. “You must be kidding.”
He schooled his expression, trying for solemn. Really, he wanted to laugh, yank her into his arms and lay one on her. “I never kid about kisses, Cat. That is one thing you’d learn if you were to marry me.” There was heated promise in his voice and he hoped like hell she noticed.
Pressing her lips together, she approached him quickly, leaning in for the fastest, barest peck upon his lips he’d ever experienced.
But he was quicker than that, thank Christ. He slung his arm around her slim waist and hauled her in, her slender, slightly curvy body pressing up against his, her lips achingly close to his mouth. She tempted him beyond measure, despite her eager rejection and he wanted to prove to her that they could be good together.
If only she would give him a try.
Without warning, he pressed his mouth to hers, softly. Reverently. Her eyes were wide open as she stared up at him, and he broke the kiss, letting his lids fall to half-mast as he leaned in and kissed her again. One corner of her mouth, then the other, tasting those succulent lips, pleasure rippling through him when she closed her eyes as if lost to the deliciousness of his mouth on hers. Savoring her lips, he darted out his tongue quickly, tasting her. Drawing the moment out as slowly as he could. Using it to his advantage so maybe, just maybe, he could get her to change her mind.
