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“I’ to let him question me like that?” She appealed to Gio when he finally put the phone down

“Raphael,” her grandfather said in a

While she had been taking her stand, he had moved closer The fa beneath her Pia clutched the table when he reached out a hand and brushed her cheek

His hand pushed at a lock of hair behind her ear, while with the other he cupped her hip and pulled her forward Her pulse racing, her body turned traitor, dipping toward him as if he were her true north

“Are you trying to make me jealous, tesoro?”

Staring into his eyes, Pia forgot the entire world “You’re the one who ju so low”

“You wouldn’t?” He looked at her as if she were the answer to a lot of questions A thu at the corner of herabout him”

“Christ, Raphael He’s a waiter at the café in the village He saith so and it turns out carpentry is his hobby We started talking, found we had a lot in common and when he told me about the class, I enrolled in it That’s it Iout at the café I didn’t knoas supposed to send you a day-to-day summary of my movements I didn’t knoasn’t allowed to make friends Am I so untrustworthy? Am I answerable to you?”

“No, cara mia Not answerable, and not untrustworthy, but you’re…”

“Naive and foolish?”

“Innocent” How she was beginning to hate that word! “I do not care who youas the only man you let hold you like this is me”

“Raphael, please, can we—”

She never finished the sentence because he pressed his mouth to hers in a soft buss and she was instantly lost Every slu leaped to life

Oh, how could she want him so madly and be so mad at him at the same time?

His lips were so soft and yet hard, so fa new in his every kiss She could spend a lifeti what he liked, discovering what she needed Twining her tongue with his, Pia poured her heart and soul into his kiss