Sexy in the City

by Alexia Adams, Galen Rose, Samantha Anne, Carolann Camillo, Nicole Flockton, Iris Leach, Olivia Logan, Nancy Loyan, Stephanie Cage (epub)

  Bunny tinkled that incongruous laugh that irritated Glory. “Don’t be absurd.” She glanced over her shoulder as if someone had called her name.

  Her razor-sharp green eyes came back to rest on Glory. Bunny’s chin tilted haughtily, her eyes heavily made up, and her expression that of a beautiful woman used to receiving the accolade of her admirers.

  She was elegant, poised and totally confident of her power as a woman. “I’ve landed this wonderful contract for my lingerie,” Bunny was saying, “and if everything goes the way I plan — ” The laugh suggesting that nothing would dare get in the way of anything Bunny planned, “I could be living in Paris by summer.”

  “Paris? You’ve just returned from England,” he protested.

  He took Bunny’s small white hand, and caressed it between his own. They stared into each other’s eyes, this handsome, made-for-each-other couple, a rush of covetousness stir inside Glory.

  Fickle-hearted rat.

  How could I ever imagine that he loved me?

  Will the real Edoardo Pisani please stand up? Well, he was and he’s holding hands with his latest conquest. Charming her. Admiring her. Wanting her?

  Again Bunny laughed showing tiny snow-white teeth and firm pink gums, and gave him a familiar little push. “You could join me in Paris for a few days,” she suggested. “We could see the sights. Have a few laughs. Have some quality time together.”

  Quality time? Oh yes, like a day or three in bed, and only coming up for air and water.

  “It’s been too long,” Bunny was saying. “I’ve missed you.” She threw a glance at Glory that shouted that Bunny had just found half a worm in her apple.

  Glory tried to place a ho-hum who-cares and this-is-so-boring-I’m-fighting-sleep look on her face. She failed miserably.

  She suffered a primitive sensation of wanting to scratch Bunny’s eyes out. Kick her in her fabulous shins. Claw her hands through Bunny’s perfectly coiffure hair. Her hair’s dyed, she decided smugly, and she’s got on enough make-up to sink the Titanic.

  Her heart clamped in her chest. She had to admit that Bunny looked wonderfully glamorous.

  “You look incredibly gorgeous,” Edoardo said. “You never change.”

  Oh, great, and I look like the local bag lady?

  A tiny volcano of anger erupted.

  Right, Pisani, this means war.

  As his head tilted down towards Bunny’s face, his black hair complimenting Bunny’s blonde hair, a green-eyed monster waltzed around Glory’s head, tugging at her ear, scratching at her brain, tantalizing her by whispering in her ear; he’s going to kiss Bunny; he’s forgotten you already.

  You see, you idiot, kissing you meant totally nothing to him. He handed out his kisses like they were chocolates in a box.

  He was coming onto Bunny as if their weeks of parting had never existed. As if they were alone in this room, and as if he should have her in his arms.

  Crime passional.

  It’s as if I’m not here. I could be swinging from the chandelier singing Italian love songs in Greek and I’d be lucky if he noticed me.

  “I don’t think you’ve missed me one bit, Edoardo,” Bunny said.

  Okay, enough is enough. I’m here, I’m real and I’m darn well hurting.

  Glory’s cough was strong enough to hurt her throat.

  This time Edoardo glanced at her, with a tried and found wanting expression on his handsome face.

  An immediate wringing throb and Glory tried to swallow the lump that lingered in her throat.

  Glory sighed, gripped her hands together, and stared at them.

  “Oh,” he murmured like he’d just realised she was there. “Glory, this is Bunny Baxter, Bunny, Glory Sandrin, a colleague of mine from work.” Had he stressed the word colleague? Wasn’t she supposed to be his girlfriend? The lucky one with the ring nearly on the fourth finger of her left hand?

  And Bunny Baxter? Who had a name like Bunny Baxter? Sounds like an Easter egg slogan. Hey, kids, get your Bunny Baxter Easter egg here.

  Glory smiled as sweetly as her mouth would allow. “Edoardo has told me so much about you,” she gushed generously.

  “Has he? Hmm, I’m so thrilled, especially when he hasn’t said a thing about you,” came Bunny’s quick and rather spiteful reply.

  Glory heard his voice and bit her bottom lip. “There’s so much to tell you, Bunny,” Edoardo was explaining. Why was he explaining? “We need time to talk. So much has happened that needs explaining.”

  He tugged at the collar of his shirt and both women smiled benevolently at his obvious discomfort. “I don’t want you to misunderstand this situation,” he continued, “but here isn’t the place to talk about it.”

  Playboy extraordinaire. Well, hadn’t she always known it? What a fool. What a dreamer. No more, back to normality with a heavy dose of realism.

  Will the level-headed and sensible Glory Sandrin, please stand up.

  “You know my address,” she heard Bunny say. “Call by anytime.”

  How dare they talk around her as if she didn’t matter? She swallowed hard, trying not to reveal her fast-growing anger.

  Glory knew what it was like to be a shrew now, a spitfire, as angry as a disturbed hornet’s nest. Her brow knitted of its own accord and heat surged and burned her cheeks.

  And when Edoardo placed an arm around Bunny’s shoulders and lowering his voice said conspiratorially, “This isn’t what you think,” Glory was thirsting for revenge. She was implacable, irreconcilable, and unappeasable.

  She wanted payback. She wanted atonement. She wanted to see herself as the victor and Edoardo and Bunny as the victims. She wanted revenge with a capital R, and she wanted it now.

  The words tumbled out of her mouth like a collapsing house of cards. “Edoardo, my own precious darh-ling,” she cooed. “Perhaps Bunny would like to join us for a drink?”

  “Yes.” His teeth parted in a dazzling display of straight, white teeth. “Good thinking.”

  Before Edoardo could say another word, or Bunny take the proffered seat, Glory sang, “It’s a celebration, Bunny. Isn’t it, my own sweet heart?”

  She fluttered her eyelashes at Edoardo. “Tell Bunny all about us, puddin’ plum.”

  “A celebration?” Bunny repeated uncertainly. “What are you celebrating, Edoardo?”

  “Sugar wooga,” Glory hurried on, “you haven’t told Bunny your playing days are over.” She mimicked Bunny’s voice. “You, naughty, naughty boy.”

  Only a flash of amazement crossed Bunny’s beautiful features but it was enough to give Glory a fleeting sensation of satisfaction and some of the anger, not much, but some scattered.

  “Serious, Edoardo?” Bunny said. “You’ve taken my breath away.”

  Before Edoardo could say another word, Glory, feeling totally in control and power-imbued, simpered, “It was love at the very first sight, Bunny. And now we just can’t keep our hands off each other. Isn’t that the downright truth, precious?” How come she was sounding like Scarlett straight from Tara? “We simply make love all night and most of the day, don’t we, hot stuff? Why he just blows the socks right off my feet.”

  Bunny gave Edoardo a rather wry smile. “I guess this means Paris is out?”

  “Bunny,” he said imploringly, “We have to talk. I need to explain.”

  “I can hardly wait.” She spoke to Glory. “It was great meeting you.”

  Bunny walked away, he had an expression on his face that suggested he’d just discovered he had a terminal disease. He abruptly sat. “Bunny is a friend of mine.”

  “I bet,” she scorned. “I’m not sure but I think I hate her.”

  “I happen to like her.” He moved his shoulders.

  Glory shrugged. “So?”

  “I never imagined
meeting her this way. Damn, whatever I tell her will sound lame.” His fingers tapered and long, tapped a message out on a crystal glass. “She may not believe me.”

  “How devastating,” Glory drawled. “Pass me the butter knife while I cut my wrists.”

  “What was all that gibberish?” He bent his head slightly forward. “You sounded like a demented teenager.”

  Her nerves frayed now as she said, “Just playing the devoted girlfriend, Edoardo, that’s what I thought you wanted me to do.”

  “Not with as much gusto.” He moved restively in his chair. “Anyway you were downright rude.”

  Her mouth gaped slightly. “Huh, huh! And you weren’t? Drooling down memory lane. Why, you couldn’t even introduce me as your girlfriend. I could have been on another planet for all you cared.”

  “Sometimes I can’t work you out,” he said.

  She gave him a dismissive look. Him with come-and-get-it eyes. “Why?”

  He looked, well, mischievous and the look made her wonder what he had up his sleeve. “You think everything I do is some evil scheme.”

  “And it’s not?” Her voice was shakier than she would have liked.

  And then he pulled back in his chair and grinned. She didn’t like the way he smiled. It was a smirk actually, almost victorious. The infallible-cat-that-drank-the-cream smirk and it sure did irritate the hell out of her.

  “The way you acted with Bunny,” he said, “I’d say you were jealous.”

  She pointed to her chest. “Me? Me, jealous? Hardy-ha-ha-ha, what a joke.” She made a harsh sound. “What are you going on about? Jealous of Bunny? Who are you kidding? Why, I don’t have a jealous bone in my body.” She stopped and gulped.

  “I don’t like being ignored,” she continued in a rush. “Nobody likes being ignored. How would you like it if a boyfriend of mine came along side and he ignored you? Hey? Hey? What about that, hey?”

  For pity sake, I’m losing it.

  “Take it easy. Unruffle your feathers.” Again that infuriating look on his face, that gave the impulse to throw her glass of wine into his smirking features. “Care for some more wine?”

  Glory abruptly stood. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to go home.”

  He grinned. “Well, you can’t,” he said with a soft chuckle. “I have to stay here until everyone else leaves. So sit down and behave yourself.”

  She sat. “Behave myself? You really are the limit. You throw your girlfriend in my face and then tell me to behave myself. Why I’d rather be sitting here with a dog with rabies than with — ”

  He rose in his chair, leaned over the table and kissed her full on the mouth. She tried to ignore the shivers of desire racing through her as his tongue traced the soft fullness of her lips.

  He pulled back and grinned. “Now, shut up and enjoy yourself.”

  She did as he said because quite frankly she didn’t know what to say or what to do.

  • • •

  Edoardo was stunned. Glory was jealous. There was no denying the heat of her emotions, and oddly he liked it; liked that she was jealous and angry over another woman. He wanted to tell her that Bunny was nothing compared to her, and that his flitting from woman to woman was pure cowardice. He knew Glory and knew she wasn’t Sophia. Sophia was a spoilt child who stamped her foot, at the slightest refusal of her demands. Glory was a woman who’d place her family first and foremost. Glory was a woman he could spend the rest of his life with. He knew this now. Hell, maybe he’d known it forever.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Edoardo followed Glory into her apartment, but she turned to him and said, “You can go now. You’ve got what you wanted. Done deal.”

  They stared at each other across a sudden ringing silence, until he said, “Glory, please.”

  “I’ve kept my end of the bargain,” she said. “What’s the use of going on with it?” She hesitated, torn by conflicting emotions. “This is it, the end of the line.”

  He pushed back her hair and kissed her forehead, her upper cheeks, and lightly upon her mouth. Love surged through her like a tidal wave, as he kissed her over and over. “I loved the way you handled Bunny,” he said. “I love your spirit, your zest.”

  Surprise at his words of praise sluiced through. She couldn’t get her head around what Edoardo was saying. “Wh — What?”

  His expression was a mixture of admiration and, dare she say it … think it … hope for it — love.

  “Seeing you with her, there’s no comparison. You make every other woman fade into insignificance.” His large hand took hold of her face and held it gently. “The way you are. The way you think. The things you do and say are all magic to me.”

  “Edoardo,” she hesitated, blinking with bafflement. “What are you saying to me?”

  “Something important. Something that will change our lives forever,” he said. “You make me think seriously about all the things I was afraid of. Like having a wife, a home and kids.”

  His lips were upon hers. Sweet, hard, demanding. His tongue slipped into her mouth and her response was vibrant. She curved into him, wanting more of his kiss, never having enough of his embrace.

  He pulled back slightly and said, “I’m in love with you. I want to marry you.”

  His eyes were a blue flame of passion; a passion so potent that it would surely burn her into eternity.

  Then, as his words came home and warmed her cold heart, a quick rush of excitement rushed through her. Her arms were still wound around his neck, her body still cemented to his as if she would never let him go.

  He relaxed his hold on her, raised a hand to her face and softly ran his fingertip from her cheek to her chin. His eyes searched her face, and then he reached out and took her face in his big hands. “You’re so lovely,” he murmured, and there was a caring in his voice. “I loved you from the beginning. I just didn’t know it, not then,” he said. “I was too scared to see love.

  “You’ve made me believe again,” he said in a low soft voice. “You’ve made me know there’s a chance for me for happiness.”

  A thrill of excitement ran over her skin like summer lightning.

  “Everything is right since I met you,” he said. One finger caressed the top of her shoulder. “From the very first day I met you.”

  His lips touched her like a whisper. “I want to be good for you. I want to watch over you. I want to pamper you.”

  He left her breathless. “Oh, Edoardo, I’ve always loved you.”

  “Have you?”

  She nodded. “From the moment I stepped inside your office.”

  His amazing blue gaze met hers. “I want to say sorry.” He sank onto the couch bringing her with him.

  “Me too,” she apologised. “I acted like a first-class shrew.”

  His smile was so gentle. “About what happened at the mayoral ball,” he began. “Bunny means nothing to me; no other woman on earth means anything to me except you. You mean everything to me.”

  “The way you spoke to her, so familiar, so loving and I thought you were trying to explain me away,” she said questioningly.

  “I was trying to explain but not how you think,” he said. “I wanted her to know how much you meant to me and that my playing days were over. It wasn’t the right time or place.”

  Oh, his face so familiar, so reassuring and so utterly dear. “I love you,” she said softly.

  “I thought you didn’t love me.”

  She grinned as happiness flowed through her. “I thought you didn’t love me.”

  “What fools we were.” His laugh was victorious. “All my life, I believed love made you weak, and my marriage to Sophia confirmed it for me, so I fought against love,” he said. “And now I know the power of love, and I never want to lose it, ever.”

  Through the unshaded window moo
nlight flooded and spread dancing creamy light across the polished floor and she imagined the stars blinking down on them. “I’ve always loved you.”

  “Me too.” He ran his fingers down her throat and along the creamy texture of her shoulder. “You’ve the kindest, sweetest, most original and independent person I know.” He kissed her forehead. He kissed her eager mouth. “You’re all the woman I’ll ever need and want.” He gathered her into his arms.

  “Let’s have lots of fat babies. Let’s buy a house in the country. Let’s get old together.” He slipped from the couch and knelt on one knee in front of her. He took her hand, kissing her soft knuckles. “What do you say, my love? Will you marry me?”

  She leaned forward and kissed his mouth and her heart thumped wildly. “I say yes, I will marry you.” She gave a wry smile. “Mamma can have her big fancy wedding and invite as many people as she wants. I’ll even wear a fluffy white bridal gown.”

  Edoardo rose from his kneeling position. “She’ll love that.”

  He came so close she could see the fine lines at the corner of his eyes. The hypnotic blue of his eyes overpowered her. She leant forward and lightly kissed his mouth. “And I want Kate to give me away.”

  “Who else?”

  “And Aiden to be my page boy.” There was a trace of laughter in her voice.

  He nodded, considering. “Please tell me Kate will dress middle-of-the-road.”

  “Don’t think so.” She poked her cheek with her tongue. “She’s very fond of sparkling sequins.”

  “Lord have mercy,” he said and grinned.

  “Kate will want to entertain the guests,” she said with a grin.

  He pulled back from her. “How?”

  “She does a mean impersonation of Judy Garland and outdoes Fred Astaire with her tap-dancing.” She ran her fingers through his thick hair.

  His blue eyes were humorous and tender. “I’m totally impressed.”

  “You should be,” she said earnestly. “Talent runs in my family.”

  There was a slight tinge of wonder in his voice. “And they are your family.”

  “Yes, they are.”