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His grin showed that Salvatore didn’t have quite the same level of emotional conflict about this that Emilia did. “But what’s the harm?”

She rolled her eyes, reaching for her underpants and pulling them on. He made a small tsking sound of disappointment, that didn’t help her whole temptation situation. “The harm has the potential to be huge,” she pointed out. “Our familieshateeach other.”

“Yes,” he shrugged his agreement.

“They’d hate this.”

“Yes.”

“How does that not bother you?”

“I’m not planning on telling my family. Are you?”

She pursed her lips. “Of course not.”

“So, what’s the problem?”

“I’ve already said, they’d hate this.’

“And I’ve already said, they don’t need to know.”

“The only way to make sure they never find out is to never do this again,” she muttered. “We’ve already taken way too many stupid risks.”

He propped himself up on his elbows, eyes latched to hers in a way that stole her breath and made her momentarily forget she had been in the process of reaching for her dress. If anything, her body was silently encouraging her to move forward, to go back to bed, and reach for him, not her clothing.

“I thought we agreed that the risks are part of what we like.”

“No, you agreed that.”

“Are you saying it’s not fun?”

She shook her head. “Yes. No. I don’t know. I just…can’t even imagine how hurtful this would be to my parents if they found out.”

“You are a grown woman, aren’t you? Free to make your own choices in life.”

“Of course.”

“So if you do disappoint them with your decision, is it the end of the world?”

She nodded. “Absolutely. With regards to this, yes. One hundred per cent.”

“A simple ‘yes’ would suffice.”

“Sorry, but this is quite literally the worst thing I could do to them.”

“They hate us that much, huh?”

“Don’t act like it’s not mutual.”

He grinned. “Oh, it’s very, very mutual, especially after the last couple of years.”

She tilted her head to the side, waiting for him to continue.

“First Acto, then Moricosia? Whatever bad blood there was between us in the past, I think you could say it’s a hell of a lot worse now.”

She ignored the zing of triumph at her family’s recent victories. “Exactly!” she said, clicking her fingers. “And you can’t tell me it wouldn’t bother you if your family found out about us? You know they’d be pissed.”

“Yeah, they’d be pissed.”