VITTORIO'S WOMAN (The Vittorio Series) Read Online Free Page B

up,” she said simply.
    “We have much in common then, for I do not give up either.  You are not welcome here, and you will soon learn I do not give in unless I desire to do so.”
    Having finished her lunch, Lilly stood up and began gathering their plates.   “So you wanted to eat then?”  Her eyes danced with amusement when his jaw flexed because he knew that he’d been beaten.
    “ Si , it was my decision,” he gritted.
    “I appreciate your cooperation,” she said without the slightest hint of sarcasm.   “And now that you’ve been fed and your mood has improved, I think it’s time to clean you up.”
    Simon’s brows furrowed.   “Elaborate.”
    “No offense, Simon, but you look as if you haven’t bathed in a week.   Your hair needs to be cut and you could do with a shave…”
    “ Siete insano ,” he sputtered, “you have lost your mind if you think I will let you bathe me!”
    “Simon, I am a licensed nurse and therapist.  I have bathed both men and women, and I assure you, there’s nothing you have that I haven’t seen before.”  
    Simon was silent for a moment, torn between the humiliation of having Lilly help him take a bath and the knowledge it could be the opportunity he needed to rid himself of her.   Yes, he’d lost weight since the accident, but his body couldn’t have deteriorated much in only a few short weeks.  He’d seen the way she looked at him at the night club and how embarrassed she’d been at having been caught.  No matter what she said, Lilly desired him, and he would use that to scare her off. 
    He shook his head ruefully.   What hellish stroke of fate had brought her here when he no longer had any hope of a normal life?  The only saving grace was that he didn’t have to see the pity in her eyes when she looked at him.
    “Very well, cara ,” he conceded, “I place myself in your capable hands.”
    Lilly’s eyes narrowed.   She didn’t trust him, not for one single minute.  He’d given in too easily, seemed much too complacent for her to believe he wasn’t up to something.  She’d trumped him when she pointed out how he’d folded to her once already by eating and highly doubted he was the type of man to be bested a second time.  He’d allowed Luisa’s husband, Gaetano, to help him dress but that was all, so his total capitulation to her was reason enough to believe he was up to no good. 
    Lilly shrugged it off.   Let him try to get rid of me , she thought.  It would work in her favor if he underestimated her determination, and of course her own personal feelings for Simon only strengthened her resolve to get him over the worst of it.
    “Good, that’s good.   I’ll just go run your bath water then and…” Lilly’s voice trailed off.
    Oh God, she was going to undress Simon!   How was she supposed to maintain her composure, her professional demeanor, when every inch of his magnificent body would be exposed?  All those nights when she’d dreamed of running her hands over his corded chest, touching his skin, feeling the heat of it beneath her fingertips, she’d never really believed it would ever happen.  And it still wasn’t happening, she told herself firmly.  He was her patient and nothing more.  All fantasies stopped here, because if she let even one of them escape she’d be hopelessly lost.
    “Lilly, is anything wrong?”
    She glanced at him sharply, noting the little twitch at the corner of his mouth.  So he was enjoying this, was he?  Well, she’d show him!  Without a word, she stomped off to run his bath water and find the things she’d need to give him a shave and a haircut, unnerved by the soft laughter that floated after her.
                                                                   ***
    Simon’s bedroom was impressive; large enough to be considered an apartment by most people’s standards, but it was his ensuite bathroom that had Lilly quite