The Cost of Cinderella’s Confession by Julia James

Author:Julia James [James, Julia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-11-14T12:32:08+00:00

How she got through dinner Ariana didn’t know. She ate mechanically, which was an abuse of the gourmet dishes placed in front of her, grateful that the serving staff had not been dismissed. It gave her some shelter—frail but at least present—from being alone with Luca Farnese. The man who had summoned her here to spend the night with him.

While the waiting staff were there he kept up a flow of small talk, to which she replied as mechanically as she ate. What it was about she had little idea—Lucca, mostly, and its history...the annual opera festival held in honour of its most famous son, Giacomo Puccini. She hardly knew. Or cared. All her strength was going into staying seated, lifting her fork to her mouth, making whatever replies were appropriate.

Not looking at him.

Not remembering.

As the excruciating meal finally finished, and she pushed aside her half-eaten tarte framboise, she heard Luca speak to the staff, telling them to serve coffee in the sitting area of the suite. Then he got to his feet.

‘Shall we?’ he said to Ariana.

His voice was smooth. Too smooth.

She stood up too, and walked across to one of the pair of facing sofas, sitting down on it with as much poise as she could muster, feeling the folds of her dress drape softly on the velvet upholstery. She had drunk very little wine, yet along with the glass of champagne earlier it had been more than dangerous. She could feel her heart rate increase, the tension racking through her.

Soon, very soon now, she would face her fate.

She watched the serving staff set out a coffee tray in front of her and clear away the dinner dishes, saw Luca presenting them with an obviously generous tip before they wheeled away the trolleys.

Leaving her alone with Luca Farnese.

And all that must shortly come.

The dread thudding in her heart grew heavier yet.

He sat down on the sofa opposite her. Without volition her eyes went to him. Went to his aquiline profile as he leant forward slightly to pour coffee, the expensive material of his dark grey suit straining across his powerful thighs. Thighs that had pressed her oh-so-yielding body into the mattress that unforgettable night in New York...

Her eyes went to his hands now, as his long, strong fingers curved around the silver coffee pot handle—hands that had stroked her body, fingers that had expertly caressed her body’s innermost secret recesses, drawn from her a shuddering ecstasy that had made her cry out aloud in gasping breaths her neck and spine arched impossibly.

She remembered her own hands digging into the supple sinews of his broad muscled shoulders as he brought her to a peak of pleasure that she had never known...only to realise she had not even begun to feel all he could make her feel as her body bowed, lifting for him, and he plunged deep within her in total, absolute possession...

Memory scorched within her, sending blood rushing to her face. She looked away immediately, willing her high colour to subside, digging her nails into her palms.

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