One Summer at The Villa. Rebecca Winters

to his feet. “I need to take the radio into another room to see if I can hear the weather report. The signal will be too degraded in here.”

      A sharp sense of loneliness stabbed her. Surprised her with its force. She didn’t want him to leave her alone, and she didn’t want to analyze why in any depth. It was a reaction based on their earlier experience with the tree. Had to be.

      “I’m coming with you,” she said, climbing to her feet. Pins and needles stabbed into her cramped muscles, made her long to sink back down again until they went away. But she wouldn’t. When she made up her mind to do a thing, she did it.

      His grin was almost tender. “I’ll be back, Antonella. You don’t have to come with me.”

      Her heart thumped. “How do you know? What if another tree falls, or if the roof rips off and you get sucked up by the wind?”

      “You think you can stop this? Or do you wish to be sucked up with me?”

      She crossed her arms. “Don’t be silly. I don’t like you that much.”

      His laughter surprised her.

      “What?” she demanded when he didn’t tell her what was so funny.

      “You just admitted you like me.”

      “I did not!”

      He reached for her hand, lifted it to his mouth and pressed a kiss against her skin. Shivers radiated along her nerve endings, through her bones. Rooted her to the spot and made her want so much more.

      “You like me,” he said. “You can’t help yourself. Now, let’s go see if we get swept away or if we can learn what the storm is up to.” He handed her the candle. “Try not to let it go out. The wind will likely be strong in the house now.”

      Antonella followed on his heels, shielding the light with one hand. But her mind was working overtime as she concentrated on her task. The truth was more surprising than she’d have ever believed possible.

      She did like him, in spite of everything. But the most frightening part of all? With the exception of her brother, she liked Cristiano di Savaré more than any man she’d ever known.

       Chapter Nine

      THE weather report, what they could hear of it, hadn’t been good. The storm had strengthened, and the eye wall wasn’t expected for another few hours. The rain and wind were torrential. She didn’t need to see it to know. The sound was devastating. Though the master bedroom door hadn’t blown open—likely because they’d shoved a dresser against it—she could feel the angry power on the other side.

      For the first time, she began to think they might not live through this. She’d believed him thus far, believed his certainty and confidence in the face of danger, but her mind threw scenarios at her that had the two of them crushed beneath walls, washed out to sea, drowned, or even impaled by whirling storm debris.

      Antonella shivered in spite of the heat in the dressing room. Across from her, Cristiano appeared to doze as he leaned back against the wall. She’d told him he could snuff the candle, but he’d said they had plenty.

      She knew he did it for her. Did it so she wouldn’t be scared or have another nightmare.

      She couldn’t tell him that simply falling asleep could bring another nightmare. It had been months since she’d felt too vulnerable to her wild emotions. Once her father had been put in prison, where he belonged, she’d slept better. Had fewer bad dreams. She’d become more confident in who she was, though she also knew it was merely a façade. Deep down, she was still the scared little girl cowering from her daddy’s wrath.

      Cristiano’s eyes drifted open. She could tell the instant that he remembered where he was and who he was with. Awareness snapped into his gaze like a spark from tinder.

      “You are not sleeping.”

      She shook her head. Her eyes felt as if someone had propped them open with toothpicks, yet she couldn’t relax enough to sleep. Were they really about to die? There were so many things she’d never done, so many things she’d never said that she should have. Why had she never appreciated how precious each moment was? She’d spent so much time hiding, cowering, burying her feelings deep.

      Even now. Shouldn’t she be focused on living instead of worrying about dying?

      “I can see the wheels turning, Antonella. What are you thinking?” His voice was deep and rough with sleep. Sexy. It stroked over her nerves like the lightest touch of a feather.

      “Nothing important,” she said. “I think quite a lot, actually. Sorry to say I’m not as empty-headed as you might have hoped.”

      His brows drew down as he studied her. “I never said you were empty-headed, Principessa. What’s brought this on?”

      How could he see past her veneer of scorn so quickly? How could he know in so few words there was something bothering her? It was simply another thing that made her feel more drawn to him than she should.

      And more resentful.

      “I’m just tired, Cristiano,” she said on a sigh. “And I can’t sleep.”

      “Did you lie down?”

      “No.”

      “Maybe you should try that.”

      “It doesn’t matter. It won’t work.” She chewed on her bottom lip. Cristiano’s gaze dropped to her mouth.

      Heat rolled in her stomach. Intense, overpowering. “Don’t look at me like that,” she managed.

      “Like what?”

      He was so incredibly male, so sexual. He aroused her senses simply by being in the same room. Looking like a bronze-muscled god.

      “Like you want to kiss me.”

      His laughter was soft, but it sent a shiver through her nonetheless. “I want to do more than kiss you, Antonella. Much more.”

      She held up a hand. “I don’t want to know. Please don’t tell me.”

      “It seems like the perfect opportunity to pass some time. Don’t we need to know if we suit?”

      She blinked. “Suit?”

      “Sexually.”

      The word sizzled into her brain. “I didn’t realize I had to pass a test. Is this how you usually get women into bed? By asking them to take your test?”

      She couldn’t help the indignation that crept into her tone.

      He grinned, disarming her once more. “I don’t usually have to ask. And it’s not a test; it’s simply an experiment to see if we want more.”

      “More,” she repeated.

      “Of each other.”

      Her breath caught. Oh, yes, she could see wanting more. Wanting more of him. Never getting enough.

      “That’s ridiculous.”

      One eyebrow lifted. “Is it? Haven’t you ever slept with a man who did nothing for you? Who didn’t know his way around the territory, so to speak?”

      Her breath strangled in her chest. “No.”

      “That’s it? Just ‘no’? How fortunate you have been, cara.”

      “I don’t know what else you expect me to say.” There was no way she could explain without also explaining she’d never slept with anyone in her life.

      Something crashed against the wall outside. Antonella jumped, her heart in her throat as the aftershocks reverberated through the small dressing room. A second later, a gust of air blew under the door and the candle guttered. Cristiano