Page 17 of His Fantasy Bride (Things To Do Before You Die)

The smell of bacon and eggs and fresh coffee wafted across. Gabby followed the scent and sank down into a chair, breathing in deeply.

“This might be even better than sex,” she said taking a mouthful of crispy bacon. As she swallowed, an image flashed in her head: her sprawled across the table, Vito’s hungry mouth between her legs, and she shifted. “Or maybe not.”

She did her best to ignore him as she concentrated on her food. When her plate was empty, she sat back and sipped the strong coffee, keeping her mind blank, just watching him. He really was one of the most beautiful men she had ever seen, but with a dark masculine beauty only heightened by the scar running down his cheek.

He finished his own food and then glanced from her empty plate to her face. “I don’t remember you having such an appetite.”

“I’m always hungry after sex,” she said, then wished she hadn’t been quite so blunt. But it was true. Also, she hadn’t had much appetite during her time with him in Sicily—guilt again, she guessed.

He drank his coffee as he studied her. “How many lovers have you had,Gabby?” He emphasized her name as though stressing she was a different person.

She gave what she hoped was a casual shrug. “A few.” Actually she could count them on one hand, but he didn’t need to know the details. And there had been no one else since she’d met him.

He refilled both their cups from the coffee pot, pushed back his chair and got up, gestured to the sofa. “Time for that conversation.”

Do we have to?

Her guts tightened, but she rose to her feet and followed him, sinking onto the corner opposite him. Reaching down she unfastened the buckles on her sandals, kicked them off and tucked her feet under her, turning slightly so she could watch him as they talked. The silence drew out as though he didn’t want to start, then he cleared his throat.

“Tell me why you ran.”

She took a deep breath. Showtime. “I told you, yesterday, I wasn’t ready.”

“And you couldn’t have just told me that six months ago? Asked for more time?”

She fiddled with her hair. “You were so intense. I thought you would try and persuade me to go through with the wedding, and I knew you would succeed. I could never say no to you.”

“It appears you said no all the time.”

It took her a moment to realize that he meant sex. “You never really asked.”

“No, something told me you weren’t ready for that. And yet now…” He studied her, his gaze dropping over her body. “Now I get the impression you’d say yes to just about anything I suggested.”

“That would be a bad idea.”

“Maybe. And good or bad is not the point. Why have you changed so drastically?”

Another deep breath. “I felt that with you I couldn’t be myself. I spent the whole time trying to be the sort of woman you wanted.” Well, that was the goddamned truth.

“I never asked you to be anything you’re not.”

You might not have, but Luca did.She kept that little snippet to herself.

She’d spent the night thinking what to say, how to explain, and during that time she’d realized how much basic truth there was in her answer, even if it didn’t tell the whole story. “I don’t think you understand quite the effect you have.”

He frowned. “You’ll have to explain better than that.”

“You’re just so…” She sat back in frustration as she thought how to get through to him. “You’re perfect.”

His lips turned down in a scowl. “Of course I’m not. Nobody is.”

“You’re gorgeous. You must know that.”

He shrugged. “It’s just looks.”

“You see, there you go. You’re gorgeous, and you’re modest. We’d walk through the streets, and there would be all these woman, stunning women, with their tongues almost stuck to the sidewalk, drooling after you. And you didn’t even notice.”

“I was with you. Why would I notice other women?”

---