‘You’re beautiful,’ Luca murmured, reassuring and disarming Callie all in one breath.

      ‘No, I’m not.’

      ‘I guess there’s only one way to convince you,’ he said, laughing softly.

      He drew her closer, inch by inch, and then he kissed her. And this was not a teasing brush of his lips, but something more that drew emotion out of her until she was happy and sad, excited and confused, all at once. She was happy to be here with him, and sad because she knew it couldn’t last. He excited her. Her body was going crazy for more—which he knew. And she was apprehensive too, in case she got this terribly wrong. There were so many ways she could get this wrong.

      ‘Stop,’ Luca murmured against her mouth. ‘Stop thinking and just allow yourself to feel, for once. Go with your instincts, Callie.’

      Her instincts were telling her that she wanted this badly. Even more than that, she wanted the connection between them to last. But she had to face facts. Luca was an itinerant worker, as was she, and they’d both move on.

      He kissed away her doubts as he lowered her slowly to the ground…