Modern Romance Collection: December Books 5 - 8. Julia James

avoided him the next day. His pride was piqued. However, everyone broke for lunch in the afternoon and congregated at the cookhouse. She was there, and they nodded to each other as they stood in line.

      ‘Luca.’

      Her greeting was cool. She hadn’t appreciated his interference at the hotel, he gathered. He was hot from the fields, and hot for Callie, who had spent the morning in an air-conditioned facility the size of an aircraft hangar. Small, neat and clean, she slammed into his senses in her prim little buttoned-up blouse. Her denim shorts were short and they displayed her legs to perfection, as well as a suggestion of the curve of the bottom he’d caressed last night. That was all he needed before an afternoon’s work.

      ‘Excuse me, please,’ she said politely, waiting with her loaded tray to move past him.

      The urge to ruffle those smooth feathers and make her wild with passion again was more than a passing thought. Weighing up the bandana he wore tied around his head to keep his crazy hair under control, she moved on to scrutinise the ancient top skimming his waist, though was careful not to look any lower. He took charge of her tray. Her gaze settled on his hands, and then his wrists, which were banded with leather studded with semi-precious stones, collected for him by the children of Fabrizio so he wouldn’t forget them while he was away. ‘I can manage, thank you,’ she said, trying to take the tray off him.

      ‘I’m sure you can,’ he agreed, ‘but sometimes it’s good to let people help you.’

      Her brow pleated in thought as if she’d heard this somewhere before.

      ‘Are you staying on at the hotel, or have you found somewhere else to stay?’ he enquired lightly as he carried her tray to the table where Anita was waiting for Callie to join her.

      ‘Is that why you’re here? To question me?’ Callie probed with a penetrating look.

      For a moment he couldn’t decide whether to shrug off her question or throw her over his shoulder like the caveman she thought him. He did know one thing. The tension between them couldn’t be sustained.

      ‘See you later,’ he said, turning to go.

      ‘Not if I see you first,’ she called teasingly after him.

      A little frustration would do them both good, he decided. Ignoring the buzz of interest that accompanied him to the door, he saluted the chefs and left the cookhouse.

      * * *

      Infuriating man! How was it possible to feel so aroused, and yet control the impulse to jump on Luca and ravish him in front of everyone? Which was probably exactly how he expected her to feel. The tension in the cookhouse had been high, and made worse because people were obviously trying hard not to stare at them. She had tried to start a conversation with Anita, but couldn’t concentrate and kept losing her train of thought.

      ‘If you take my advice, you’ll get it over with,’ Anita advised, glancing at Callie with concern.

      ‘Get what over with?’ Callie demanded, frowning.

      ‘Sex. You need to sate yourself.’

      ‘I beg your pardon?’

      ‘Oh, come off it, Callie. You’ll be no good to anyone, least of all yourself, until you do.’

      ‘Anita, I’m shocked!’

      ‘No, you’re not, you’re frustrated,’ Anita argued. ‘No one would think any the worse of you if you glut yourself on that one.’ She glanced in the direction Luca had gone.

      ‘This isn’t an adult playground. It’s a place of work.’

      ‘Listen to yourself,’ Anita protested with a forkful of crisp, golden fries poised in front of her mouth. ‘Take precautions and don’t involve your heart. You’re here for adventure, aren’t you?’

      It might be too late to do as Anita said, Callie reflected as she left the cookhouse ahead of her friend. Her heart was already involved. She couldn’t last a minute without wondering if she’d see Luca again soon.

      Turning onto the dusty track leading through the lemon groves, she headed for the storage facility where she’d been working that morning, only to see Luca coming towards her.

      ‘Shall I show you a short cut?’ he offered.

      A short cut to what? she wondered as he grinned and took hold of her hand.

      * * *

      It was no good. He couldn’t get through the afternoon without it, without her, without Callie, without being up against a tree kissing her as if they were the last couple on earth and time was running out fast.

      ‘Luca—we can’t—’

      ‘Yes, we can,’ he insisted. Pressing his body weight against her, he slowly moved his body against hers until she was sucking in great gulping sobs of frustration.

      ‘I need you,’ she gasped out.

      ‘I know,’ he whispered.

      He found her with his hand over the rough, thick denim shorts and stroked firmly. He could feel her heat and his imagination supplied the rest. He couldn’t wait. Neither could she. They tore at her shorts together. Removing them quickly, he tossed them away. There was no time for kissing, or touching, or preparing, there was only this. He freed himself. She scrambled up him. He dipped at the knees and took her deep. She came violently after a few firm thrusts. Tearing at him with hands turned to claws, she threw back her head and howled out her pleasure as each powerful spasm gripped her. When he felt her muscles relax, and her hands lost their grip, he gave it to her again, fast and hard.

      ‘Yes!’ she cried out as he claimed her again. ‘More,’ she begged, blasting a fiercely demanding stare into his eyes.

      ‘You can have all you want,’ he promised as he worked her steadily towards the next release. ‘But not right now,’ he murmured, still thrusting, ‘because we have to go back to work.’

      ‘You’re joking.’ Her eyes widened. ‘How can I go back to work after this?’

      ‘That discipline we talked about?’

      ‘You talked about.’

      He ended the argument with a few fast thrusts, and she screamed out her pleasure as they both claimed their most powerful release yet.

      ‘You’re right,’ she accepted groggily a long while after she’d quietened. ‘They’ll be short a team member if I don’t go back, and I can’t let everyone down.’

      He could have sorted this out for her with a few words in the appropriate ear, but that would be taking advantage of his position, and so he huffed an accepting laugh and lowered her down to the ground. They were both bound by duty. Groping for his phone, he clicked it on to see the time. What he saw was a line of missed calls. Springing up, he dislodged her. ‘Sorry, I have to take this,’ he explained as he walked away. Sorting himself out as the call connected, he tucked the phone between ear and his shoulder and asked a few pertinent questions. Having cut the line, he beckoned to Callie. ‘Sorry, but there’s somewhere I have to be.’

      ‘Your afternoon shift?’ she queried, frowning.

      ‘Something like that, but I’ll have to leave the estate.’

      ‘Is there anything I can do to help?’ she asked, feeling his tension.

      ‘Nothing.’ He sounded abrupt, but there was no time for explanations.

      Callie was hurt. She refused to meet his eyes. His sharp response had shocked her. And no wonder, when one minute they were totally absorbed in each other, even if that was up against a tree, and the next he couldn’t wait to leave. It couldn’t be helped. He’d see her again, if and when he came back.

      * * *

      She didn’t have much experience of love affairs, but she knew enough to know Luca’s behaviour wasn’t acceptable. His intended