Cathy Williams - The Italian's One-Night Consequence

‘You’re not Irish.’ He dropped the bag and it dangled forlornly on its rack.

‘No. Well, not exactly.’

Maddie looked at him and felt her insides swoop. Even standing at a respectable distance away from her, he still seemed to invade her personal space. He was so... big ...and his presence was so... suffocatingly powerful . Curiosity gripped her, and she wondered who exactly he was and what he did.

Where did he live? Why would a man like this be dawdling on a Saturday morning in this particular department store?

Alarmed, she cleared her throat, but for some reason found herself unable to drag her eyes away from his stunningly beautiful face. ‘Australia. I’m Australian.’

‘You’ve come from the other side of the world to work here ?’

‘Are you always so...so rude ... Mr...? I don’t even know your name!’

‘You mean just in case you want to complain about me to your boss? My name is Leo. Shall we shake hands and make the introductions formal?’

Maddie stuck her hands firmly behind her back and glowered. ‘I feel I can speak on behalf of my boss when I say that it’s always useful to hear constructive criticism about the store, but your criticism isn’t at all constructive, Mr... Mr...’

‘Leo.’

She glanced around her and winced slightly at what she saw. ‘I believe,’ she said carefully, ‘that the owner of the store passed away a short time ago. I don’t think much has been done in terms of modernisation in recent years.’

‘I have some experience of the retail market,’ Leo said absently, his eyes still wandering over the shelves and wares around them.

Suddenly those eyes were back on hers and a smile tugged at his lips.

‘This isn’t a dinner invitation, but I see that there’s a coffee shop on this floor. If you’d find it helpful, I could give you a few pearls of wisdom...’

‘You’ve run a department store in the past?’

Leo grinned, his deep blue eyes lazy and amused. ‘I wouldn’t quite put it like that...’

‘I get it.’

Maddie knew all about doing menial jobs to earn a living. She also knew all about the way people could look at someone attractive and misconstrue their place in the great pecking order. She didn’t look like someone who should be mopping floors in a hospital on the outskirts of Sydney. If she had, her life would never have ended up taking the unfortunate twists and turns that it had.

She met his direct gaze and smiled.

That smile knocked Leo sideways. Just like that he wanted to drag her away from the tasteless display of goods, pull her into the nearest cupboard and get underneath that prim and proper clinical white get-up that wouldn’t have gone amiss on a dental assistant. He wanted to kiss her raspberry-pink lips, crush them under his mouth, feel her tongue lashing against his, and then slowly, bit by bit, he wanted to get up close and personal with her body.

He suppressed a groan. She was still smiling, and his erection was getting more rigid by the second. He had to look away to catch his breath and focus on something innocuous. A stack of Gallo - label tea towels did the trick.

‘You do?’

‘I can understand. I’ve had lots of menial jobs in the past. Trust me—it’s heavenly being here.’ Maddie said it with the utmost sincerity.

Somehow they were walking away from the souvenir section towards the café.

Leo turned to her, his fingers hooking in the waistband of his low slung faded jeans.

‘I’m thinking you’ll probably get in trouble with the boss if you take time out to have a coffee with me.’

‘I expect I might.’

The fierce antagonism that had filled her when she’d thought he was after her seemed to have evaporated. Somehow he’d managed to put her at ease. And Maddie wasn’t sure whether to be alarmed at that development or happy about it.

Ever since Adam she’d made a habit of practically crossing the road to the other side of the street every time she spotted a man heading in her direction. Events had conspired to turn her social life, sparse as it had been, into a no-go zone. Men had been the first casualty of her experience with Adam and friends had fast followed, because her trust had been broken down to the point where it had all but disappeared.

But should she allow those experiences to follow her all the way to the other side of the world?

This was going to be her new home, and the last thing she wanted to do was to commence life in her new home as a crazy lady recluse .

Yes, warning bells had sounded when she’d first met Leo . But he wasn’t rich, and as soon as she’d told him to back off he’d backed off. He wasn’t from the area. He wasn’t going to be around. He was also happy to talk to her about the store, and she could use a little impartial advice—even though he wouldn’t know the reasons behind her wanting to hear what he had to say.

Sometimes nomads and wanderers—people who fell in and out of jobs—picked up life lessons along the way, and the very fact that they were streetwise gave them an added insight into life. Taking the path of adventure, untethered by the ropes that held most people down, brought its own rewards.

And, my word, was the man sexy...

She looked at him, every nerve-ending in her body tingling as he settled his fabulous eyes on her and allowed the silence between them to stretch to breaking point.

‘How long are you going to be in this lovely city?’ Maddie asked a little breathlessly, and Leo shrugged.

‘Perhaps not even overnight,’ he mused, harking back to his original plan and marvelling at the speed with which it had changed course along the way. Just as well as he was a man who could think on his feet and adapt.

At any rate, he’d probably seen everything there was to see with regard to the condition of the store, short of tapping on walls and peering into cupboards. He knew enough to settle the thorny matter of how much he should offer for the place and how fast he should move. He presumed the boss was ready to throw the towel in.

But that wasn’t what was putting a smile on his face at the moment.

‘It might be nice to...er...to have dinner with you.’ Maddie blushed and glanced away.

‘May I ask what’s prompted the change of heart?’ Leo asked wryly. ‘Five minutes ago I was the devil incarnate for suggesting any such thing.’

‘I...’ Maddie took a deep breath. ‘I haven’t been in Ireland long, and it would be...nice to have some company for a couple of hours. I’ve more or less stayed in on my own for the past few weeks.’

With her looks, Leo mused, solitude would have to be her chosen option—because she’d only have to step foot out of her front door and company would be available in any direction she chose to look.

But then that probably wasn’t the sort of company she had in mind. The sort of company that came with strings attached. The sort of company she had assumed he’d been offering—and, frankly, her assumptions had been dead-on.

Leo wasn’t surprised that her looks had made her wary of the attention she got—had made her guarded and cynical about what men wanted from her. It wasn’t that different from the way his vast wealth had made him guarded and cynical when it came to the opposite sex.

He wasn’t looking for commitment and he didn’t do declarations of love. He enjoyed impermanence when it came to women.

Leo didn’t know whether he might have gone down the normal route of marriage, two point two kids and a house in the country—or in his case several houses in several countries—if bitter experience hadn’t taught him the value of steering clear of relationships.