Page 12 of No Promises
Even worse, once they got in the small studio, Ally managed to sit Noosh beside Christo, where she could feel his body heat, breath in his scent of fresh linen and spice. It drove her senses wild and she struggled to maintain her composure. Just before the interview began, Christo looked around at her, and she met his gaze, feeling something shift in the air. She could see he was nervous, and weirdly, she sensed he was looking to her for confidence. She gave him a small smile and a nod, and she saw his shoulders relax. It was such a small moment, but it made her feel… How did she feel? Flattered? Happy? She couldn’ttell.
Christo made for an honest, interesting interview. He told Ally about his plans to go into the bespoke furniture business, discussed the stark change of direction, and when Ally questioned him on his father’s business, he was honest andforthright.
“I don’t pretend that I don’t know what my father’s business is, and yes, for a long time I took his money and turned a blind eye. From now on…I’m going to try and make up for that. For a lot ofthings.”
Ally nodded. “Do you regretanything?”
Christo was silent for a long time. “Yes, one thing. One thing I regret very much…but it has nothing to do with myfather.”
Noosh felt a jolt – he was obviously talking about their tryst now…but was he regretting making love to her, or what happenedafterward?
Whether by accidentor by design, Ally bore Bertie off to talk to him after the interview, and Christo was left alone with Noosh. God, he’d forgotten how beautiful she was, how sweet. For a few minutes, they stared at each other then he smiled at her. “Hi.”
“Hi.” Her voice was wary but soft. He wanted to touch her so badly, stroke her face the way she had his, tell her he was sorry. Instead, he touched the arm of herwheelchair.
“Whathappened?”
Noosh looked away from his gaze. “Anaccident.”
“I’msorry.”
Noosh gave a strange laugh. “Metoo.”
Another long silence. “Noosh…that’s an unusualname.”
“It’s short forAnoushka.”
“I likeit.”
She met his gaze, and all he wanted to do was kiss that sweet mouth of hers, hold her in his arms. Christo felt his blood pumping hard through his entire body, his cock twitching, reacting to her. He reached out and stroked her cheek. “Noosh…”
“As I say, Bertie, I’d be most grateful if you would think aboutit.”
Christo dropped his hand as they heard Ally and Bertie return, and Noosh, her face red, looked away from him. Ally and Bertie finished talking about whatever they were talking about, and Christo was sayinggoodbye.
Noosh shook his hand and he bent down to kiss her cheek. So close to her he could barely stand it, but then goodbyes were said, and he was back in the car with Bertie, feeling bereft now that he was out of hercompany.
Bertie shot him an amused glance. “I see you were quite taken with the lovelyNoosh.”
Christo said nothing but gave him a look. After a moment, Bertie’s mouth dropped open, having made the connection. “No.No way.That’sthe girl from theclub?”
Christo nodded. “She wasn’t in a wheelchair then…something happened to her. An accident she said, but…I had the feeling there was more toit.”
“But she’s theone?”
Christo sighed. “Yes, she’s theone.”
Ally didn’t mentionChristo again until they were at home that evening scarfing down pizza. She studied Noosh, who could feel the questions looming. “So, I take it you’ve met Christofalo Montecitobefore?”
Noosh sighed. “Ihave.”
“When? Because it seems like, well, the tension between you was pretty smoldering. You sleep withhim?”
“Ally.”
“Come on, give me details,” Ally was grinning. “The man is gorgeous and clearly into you. How come you’re not datinghim?”
“Because how we met… It wasn’t like that – and he wasn’t the same man we met today. And besides, I have been occupied with other things. Like almost being murdered, forexample.”
