Page 97 of Modern Romance October 2025 5-8

He was so near now that her sweet lilac scent curled around him and he saw the embroidered flowers shiver on her dress with every quick inhalation. He wanted to touch them, stroke her, hold her and take her in against his needy body.

Her chin angled up as he moved to stand right in front of her. Another couple of centimetres and her heaving breasts would brush his torso. His skin was taut, sensing her so close. His heart pounded and he felt the adrenaline rush in his blood.

She was breathless and her mouth was dry like his. He saw her moisten her lips before repeating, ‘I don’t owe you anything. You’re my enemy.’

‘Is that your excuse for the way you behaved? Lying to me then running away?’

‘The wayIbehaved? Don’t pretend this is my fault.’ Her fingers poked his breastbone. ‘Youkidnappedme from my wedding. You made a laughing stock of me and Eduardo in front of hundreds of people.’

Fury engulfed Gio when she coupled herself with Morosi. It mirrored the urgent emotions that had forced him into action earlier. He hadn’t even considered the crowd of guests except as an obstacle to getting her out of that place.

See how she’s got under your skin? The lengths you’ve gone to and now she tries to deny what’s between you!

His hand closed on hers, pressing it against his chest. They were so near he saw the flicker of awareness in her startled face and heard her quickly stifled sigh.

‘You didn’t have to come with me, Stella. You could have denied you were pregnant. You could have stood by your groom.’ He paused, letting his words sink in. ‘I was hugely outnumbered. Any real sign from you and the crowd would have torn me apart rather than let me get to you.’ He leaned in, bending his head, invading her space. ‘You don’t want him. You want me.’

Her hissed breath was loud in the silence. He felt the tremor in her hand, saw the way her dress shivered about her.

‘You don’t know anything about me.’

She looked proud and dismissive. Stunning. But he knew that expression in her eyes, the yearning she tried to hide with anger. Hadn’t he seen it in the mirror for weeks?

He growled, ‘I knowthis.’

Gio bent his head to her neck, finding that sensitive spot at the curve to her shoulder. Her scent was more defined here, enriched by subtle notes of feminine arousal. He scraped his teeth across the pleasure point and heard her moan, a sound so slight yet imbued with all the longing he felt too. He licked the spot then kissed his way up the column of her throat and she shook so hard he wrapped a supportive arm around her waist.

Far from pushing him away, she tilted her head to allow him easier access, her hands now gripping his upper arms as she swayed closer,

Finally, finally they touched, all the way from breast to pelvis.

It was like fire igniting dry kindling. An instant conflagration that started in his belly and set his whole body alight.

Gio clasped the back of her head, dislodging pins. The feel of her soft hair against his palm stoked his arousal.

Firming his grip, he lifted his head and turned her face towards him.

Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes glittering like gems. ‘I despise you.’

He’d take her contempt. He could work with that. It fuelled his determination, proof that, like his, her passions were fully engaged.

He couldn’t have borne it if she were indifferent.

‘And I don’t trust you. But you want me.’

He saw that barb strike home and felt a flicker of sympathy. Hadn’t he told himself again and again that he should wash his hands of this woman? But he couldn’t do it, not yet. Not when there was this…connection between them.

‘You’re full of yourself, Valenti.’

Yet she didn’t dislodge his hand as it massaged the back of her skull, or push free of his embrace.

‘And you’re full of protests but I don’t believe them.’

She sneered, ‘Because you think you can read my mind?’

‘No,cara. Because I can read your body as clearly as I read my own. You want this, don’t you?’

He tilted his hips, partly to make a point but mainly because he’d exhausted all restraint. Even through their clothes the sensation of his hardness against her soft body was so good it almost brought him to his knees.