‘Why, when it’s the truth? Oh Grace, you are adorable,’ he laughed, before she could respond and then swiftly added, ‘in a genuine, down-to-earth, cute, hot, gorgeous, sexy AF way,’ and he pulled her in close again. ‘Now, did you mean it when you said it would never, ever happen again? The kissing thing? Because that’s not going to work, Grace.’ And he tilted his head to one side and pulled a sad, puppy-dog-eyes face. She looked at him. ‘Because, you see, I kind of liked it. A lot. Not the tears, I hated seeing you crying,’ he said, kindly. ‘That’s not what I meant. But I hope you will kiss me again … is what I mean … if you’d like to.’

‘Oh,’ she squeaked, rooted to the spot and then, ‘well, um, yes, I think I would like to.’ And laughed before kissing the side of his neck.

‘Ever since the first moment I saw you, Grace, I wanted to kiss you. Hold you. Hell, I wanted to make love to you. These days here in Italy with you have been agony and ecstasy all at the same time.’ And he passionately kissed her another time, his lips warm on hers, his arms wrapped around her body, which felt as if fireworks had just exploded somewhere deep within her. Grace melted into his embrace and then, after gently pulling back from him, she looked him right in the eyes as she slipped the straps of her sundress from her shoulders, letting it float to the floor. As she stepped out of the puddle of fabric at her feet, he pulled his T-shirt off over his head, treating her to another burst of his citrus scent and a preview of his muscular chest and well-defined six-pack. After he had unbuttoned his jeans and pushed them off too, Grace slipped her hand inside his and led him over to the bed for a blissful last night in beautiful, romantic Italy.

Chapter 23

Back home, and Grace floated into work with an enormous smile on her face. Her bottom had barely touched the seat of her office chair when a woman walked into the reception area with the biggest bunch of delicately scented pink roses that Grace had ever seen. After thanking the florist for the delivery and opening the little envelope attached to a bendy stick in the bouquet, her smile widened even further.

To Grace,

Pink roses to remind you of the botanical footpath in Portofino and so you have a little piece of Italy to ease your return to work.

With love

Ellis xxx