She smiled. ‘Did you say the car will be here in less than an hour? I’d better pack.’
* * *
‘Will this do?’ Matteo could barely conceal his smug smile as Charlie turned slowly, taking in their sumptuous suite, her eyes wide with delight and her mouth a perfectly shaped o.
‘Will this do? Oh, my goodness, Matteo. This is beautiful. I can’t believe we got it on such short notice.’
‘Never underestimate Jo,’ he said with a grin. Jo had indeed done them proud, securing them a corner penthouse suite at a hotel at the top of the Spanish Steps. Bifold doors opened out onto a wraparound terrace with views out over the city, furnished with comfortable sun loungers, a hot tub and a small infinity pool if they decided not to mix with other guests and use the extensive spa facilities. A large sitting room was decorated opulently but tastefully, in creams and soft gold. Both bedrooms contained huge beds with an entire menu of pillow choices and luxurious en suite bathrooms with baths set near windows, so even while relaxing in the bath Rome was spread out before them.
It was no accident that Jo had booked a suite with two bedrooms. Now Matteo had regained his memory he understood Charlie’s desire to sleep in a separate room. It wasn’t just concern for his health. It was a statement of the state of their marriage. He respected her choice, much as he yearned to change it. How he was to do so when they were both darting around the truth of their situation he wasn’t yet sure. He hoped the romance of the ancient city would show him—show them—the way.
‘I can’t believe I’m actually here,’ Charlie said as she wandered out onto the terrace for what must be the twentieth time since they’d arrived. ‘I can’t wait to explore it all. The Vatican, of course, the Colosseum and the Forum and even the Spanish Steps. I know it’s a tourist cliché, but I want to do it all and they are right here. Where shall we begin?’
Matteo had been busy exploring the suite himself, nodding in approval at the fully stocked bar at one end of the sitting room. He selected a bottle of vintage Prosecco and opened it smoothly, pouring it into two crystal glasses. He joined Charlie on the terrace and handed her a glass. ‘I’ve engaged a guide to take us around,’ he said after he’d made a toast and taken a first sip. ‘I know you prefer to do things as one of the crowd, but Rome is so very full of crowds. You’ll appreciate the VIP treatment when you don’t have to queue up for hours in the hot sun to get into the Forum, I promise you.’
‘I must appear very ungrateful if you think I’m not going to appreciate our own personal guide around Rome,’ Charlie said a little ruefully and he touched her cheek.
‘Ungrateful? No, never. I love the way your feet are so firmly rooted on the ground and how much you appreciate the little things. Tonight’s dinner will hopefully be exactly to your liking.’
‘Intriguing.’ She raised her eyebrows. ‘In what way?’
‘You’ll have to wait and see. A car will be here shortly to take us to Natalia’s apartment so you can get all the information you need for the gala. Tomorrow the guide will take us to the Vatican in the morning, then the Forum and Colosseum in the afternoon. The evening and the following morning are left free for us just to wander, train back mid-afternoon. How does that all sound?’
‘It sounds blissful. I’ll tell you one thing I want to do and that is have a very long bath at some point. Have you seen anything more decadent than that tub looking out over Rome? I’ll feel like some kind of empress lying there.’
‘Let me know if you need your back scrubbing.’ It was supposed to be a light remark, an offhand comment, but he caught her gaze as he said it. Their eyes held, all the emotion of the last few weeks charging the air as they stood there on the terrace, the city spread out before them.
‘I will,’ she said a little huskily.
Matteo moved a little closer, just an inch. They still weren’t touching but she was so tantalisingly close. He’d told himself to take things slowly. That winning back his wife was a campaign, not a quick endeavour. But she was holding his gaze with her lips parted, her breath coming faster, pink warming her cheeks and all warnings were lost as his blood pounded around his body, his pulse roaring in his ears.
Charlie was his and he hers. Nothing could—should—change that. He’d made mistakes, he knew that, but this was right. They were right.
He took her glass from her unresisting hand and placed it along with his on a table. She didn’t demur as he put one hand on her waist, tilting her chin with the other, her gaze fearless, filled with a desire that matched his own. ‘Oh, Carlotta, cara…’ he breathed.
He had no idea who made the first move. One moment they were looking at each other as if there was nothing, no one else in the world, the next they were holding each other tightly, wrapped around each other so he had no idea where he ended and Charlie began, his mouth on hers and hers on his, their kiss so incendiary he was surprised they weren’t lighting up the city. This had always been good, always been right; even when they’d had no words to communicate with each
