Never Say Love by Sarah Ashley Page B

together, Michael, or Mikey as she called him, always blaming his younger sister for the trouble they got into, her father never believing him, of course. She told Benito that, in her father’s eyes, she could do no wrong.
    As he sat watching her articulating her conversation with her hands, his thoughts drifted. He’d always said that he would not fall into the same trap as his father, giving his life and soul to Sophia and then making that vow, the promise never to love again. Maybe he was changing; he was deeply attracted to pure, innocent Lucy.
    He watched her as she spoke, telling him about her mum and how they got on so much better now that she’d left home. He smiled as she laughed at her own comments about her father. He learnt, or assumed, that she must have a strong bond with her dad, smiling as she spoke about him. Her face hardened a little as she spoke about her workplace. Somehow, he felt, that she went to work out of necessity and certainly not because she liked it.
    Mesmerised by her life story, he just sat staring at her continuing to turn the stem of his wine glass as he listened intently.
    “So you’ve stayed pretty local all of your life?” he asked
    “Yep,” she giggled, “I’ve not ventured too far.”
    “And you think you’re going to like your new job, seriously?” Benito asked as their meals arrived.
    “Oh yes, definitely, I think that I’ll love it. Working for such a kind man helps.” She looked up from her steak and salad, smiling at him sweetly.
    Grinning, and shaking his head, he half laughed at her, “I’m pleased, I really am.”
    “We are a team, aren’t we? You and me and the new office staff,” she asked, cutting into the butter soft steak.
    “ Yes. But just remember when you work for me, you’re my personal assistant and the office manager. You’ll be passing the work onto them. There will be some work that I don’t want them knowing about, some that only you will know. That doesn’t worry you, does it?”
    He watched as she laid her knife and fork on her plate, thinking before she answered, “I don’t think so.”
    They ate in relative silence, exchanging glances and smiles.
    He shrugged as he cleared his plate, looking at the amount of food she’d left, “Seriously Lucy, there are some things I don’t want everyone knowing, ever. How much the business is worth, how much we charge. I don’t want them knowing the names of some of our clients. In Italy they come to us because we’re discrete—we don’t publicise the names of the people we work for. Then there are the surveillance jobs that we do, things that I really wouldn’t want being made public. I will have to ask you to sign a confidentiality agreement.”
    Shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly she smiled, “That’s okay,” she watched him longingly again, focussing on his beautiful mouth and his broad chest. Of course, she knew exactly what lay beneath and still, even after last night, wanted him to be her first— something she’d really have to work on.
     
    Once he’d paid the bill, following an argument regarding Lucy’s offer to pay half, they left the restaurant. “Would you like to go to a bar?” he asked as she slid her hand into his arm.
    “I’d love to,” she held on tightly as they walked, “there’s a wine bar down here.” She pointed in the direction of a bar that she regularly visited. Feeling so very relaxed in his company, kicking her feet along as they strolled down the street, “this is lovely,” she mused.
    Placing his hand on top of hers, as it rested in the crook of his elbow, he turned towards her. “What is?”
    Shrugging her shoulders slightly, she turned towards him, “Just this, just walking along on someone’s arm.”
    “So, what would you normally do on an evening out?” Benito asked as they walked past a particularly noisy group of young people walking towards them, his arm unhooking itself from hers and slipped around her waist, holding her