Page 101 of Modern Romance December 2025 5-8

‘It’s either home or the police station,’ he said in a voice that left no room for negotiation. She was starting to suspect it was the norm for this Leo.

‘Police?’

‘To report the attack and theft.’

‘I still have my phone and they won’t class it as a mugging, so what would be the point?’

‘You sound like an expert.’

She shook her head. ‘I’m just stating the obvious.’

‘In what world is that obvious?’

‘My world, Leo.’ But no longer his.

He said something in Italian and looked at her oddly.

‘We can stand here arguing all day or you can get in.’

‘Night,’ she corrected, adding, ‘not day.’

He looked bewildered and utterly vexed by her pedantic insertion. She took a deep breath and weighed her limited options.

‘All right,’ she said, sliding into the leather seat and sinking into the padded luxury that swallowed her up.

It probably made her shallow, but she missed that part of having money—the comfort, the space, the security and thesmellof luxury. She inhaled, and Leo’s scent hit her. Warm, clean, male. With an elusive hint of an undeniably expensive fragrance.

The engine was silent so when the car moved off she gave a little gasp of shock. ‘Don’t you want to know where I live?’

He flashed her a look before pulling out into the traffic. ‘I know where you live, Amy.’

That could have sounded sinister… Actually, there was nocouldabout it, itwassinister.

‘Now,’ he said, flashing her a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, ‘isn’t this more comfortable than the Tube?’

She could lie and tell him that no, she would feel more comfortable packed in like a sardine with her face in someone’s armpit. It wouldn’t even be a total lie. Being in a confined space with this version of Leo was proving to be just as stressful. On a much deeper, chemical level.

Luckily, he didn’t feel the need to make conversation because she was not capable of it. She sat there with a dazed look on her face as he drove, trying to build up some resistance to the aura of maleness he exuded. Trying not to tax her sex-whacked brain as she struggled to work out how he’d just happened to be passing by.

Obviously, he hadn’t just happened to be passing by. This had all been planned. But what, exactly, was he planning now?

By the time he drew up outside her apartment block, she virtually threw herself out of the car.

He followed her. ‘I’ll see you in.’

If this had been an argument she could have won, she’d have fought it. But she knew resistance would be futile. She wouldn’t win, not againstthisLeo.

To regain any amount of control she could, she avoided the lift in favour of the stairs. Being alone in a small space with him wasn’t wise right now. She wasn’t about to make that mistake twice.

He wasn’t subtle when he strode straight past her into the living room of the flat before she’d barely opened the door. Her nostrils flared in annoyance. He was invading her space but she was in control, she reminded herself. She clung with bloodless fingers to the illusion.

‘So, you live here alone?’

Her lips quirked into an ironic smile as she directed a look at her uninvited guest, who was taking in every detail of her home. Maybe he was thinking of when she had smuggled him into the Manor when her parents were absent, no doubt enjoying the fact that she was no longer living in the lap of luxury.

‘I think maybe you know I don’t, Leo.’ He knew where she lived so it wasn’t such a massive jump to assume he knew that her father lived here too.

He shrugged. ‘Is your father around?’