Free Unknown by Unknown Page A

firm, supple, exciting. It had been so long since she had felt wanted, desired...and she had never experienced this kind of physical and emotional connection with a man before.
    'I should say goodnight,' he murmured, nibbling at her lower lip, which remained full and sensitised from his kisses.
    'I suppose,' she whispered back, her fingertips skimming down his spine.
    Neither of them let go. Neither moved back. Their gazes locked. Endless moments passed. Then Seb surrendered. Her lips parted in welcome, meeting his in another searing kiss. She had no idea what the future held, but she couldn't stop the onward rush of whatever was happening between them. Didn't want to stop it.
    She moaned in protest when he began to pull back again. If only she never had to stop holding him, kissing him. 'Seb?'
    'You must go indoors, tesoro .' His voice was uneven, thick with desire. 'Now—while I can still let you.'
    She wanted to step back into his arms and throw caution to the wind, but Seb was opening the front door and encouraging her inside.
    'Until the morning, Gina.' His fingers whispered across her cheek and down her throat to the hollow where her pulse beat a crazy tattoo. 'Dream of me.. .as I will of you.'
    Gina had no idea how she forced her legs to move, but she found herself inside...alone. She sagged back against the door that separated them, breathless and trembling, one hand pressed to her chest. There was a long silence before Seb's footsteps carried him away, and she had to fight the urge to run after him and stop him from leaving.
    She couldn't imagine how she would ever sleep. She was buzzing. The feel and taste of Seb lingered.
    When she could force herself to move, she tiptoed along to the ground-floor room she shared with her grandmother. She couldn't wait to tell her the good news—that Seb was making plans to help them scatter Nonno Matthew's ashes in the villa's private cove near Neptune's Spear. For now she was thankful to find the older woman asleep, although she was restless, her breathing less regular than normal, stirring concern that all was not well.
    Careful not to make a sound, Gina readied for bed and slipped beneath the light duvet. Her gaze lingered on the beautiful white rose Seb had brought her, which now sat on the table beside her bed in a narrow vase, courtesy of Signora Mancini. She leaned across and inhaled the scent, a smile on her face, her fingertips brushing the silky softness of the petals. Worry for her grandmother took some of the gloss off her fairytale evening, but Seb continued to dominate her thoughts. Dream of me, he had said. Asleep or awake, she knew her mind would be full of red-blooded images of the man who stirred her as no one else ever had.
    A cough and an incoherent murmur drew her attention to the figure in the other bed. Hugging her pillow, Gina frowned, lying so she was facing her grandmother, ready to go to her should she need anything. Listening for breathing problems and further coughing, she closed her eyes, reliving every moment with Seb. She might be the biggest fool imaginable, but she could not wait for the night hours to pass— because when the morning came she would be seeing him again.
     
    Seb strode through Elba's hospital in Portoferraio, a mix of emotions churning inside him. When he had arrived at the bed and breakfast that morning, eager to see Gina, to spend the day with her and her grandmother, he had been shocked to be greeted by an anxious Signora Mancini with the news that Maria had been taken ill during the night. Gina, he'd been told, had taken the older woman to hospital in a taxi at dawn.
    His first concern had been for Maria's health. Then, on his drive to the island's main town, he had worried for Gina, knowing how upset and alarmed she must be. Even though she was a nurse, when something happened to someone you loved it was hard to hold on to the professional balance. But he also couldn't help the sting of hurt that Gina had not turned to him