The Phantom.
My memory skipped back to that party, to the way the Phantom had watched me from the corner of the room, his muscles tense, his posture just as uncomfortable as Luc’s was now.
Luc shifted in his seat and glanced at me then, and as our gazes held across the room, my heart sped up and my skin grew hot. His stormy eyes had turned icy when he’d seen me talking with David Bonello. As icy as the Phantom’s had behind that mask when Gio had grasped my hand and pulled me out of that party.
Disjointed memories filled my head. Pulsing lights. Bodies grinding together. A heavy bass I felt beat through my entire body. I saw stairs. I saw Gio with two women, motioning me to follow. I saw mattresses and bare skin and bodies thrusting against each other. I saw a woman on her knees in front of Gio and another rubbing against his back.
The fashion show spun around me, melding with the memories I couldn’t quite make sense of. I heard grunts and moans. I heard skin slapping skin. And I heard Luc, whispering the word cazzo against my lips, his warm breath sending shivers of excitement all through my body as I opened my eyes and stared at the Phantom mask covering the top half of his face.
My pulse sped up. My skin grew slick and clammy. I couldn’t suck in a full breath, couldn’t make the room stop spinning around me. Needing air, needing space, I rushed from my corner, shoving my way through bodies until I reached the hallway. There were fewer people out here, but my lungs were still tight, my head still dizzy. I pushed my feet into a jog, weaving around people, and didn’t stop until I shoved a door at the end of a long corridor open and stumbled into an area with trees and flowers and an ornate fountain.
I dropped to the seat that encircled the small pool. Warm sunlight beat down on me from above. I focused on that heat, on the way it seeped into my skin. Long minutes passed where all I did was breathe deeply to bring my heart rate down. Finally, when I felt steadier, I opened my eyes and discovered I was in a courtyard. A handful of tables and chairs sat on the cobblestones around the central fountain, and past the corner, I could hear glasses clinking and voices laughing in what I knew was a café.
The sounds were normal. The flowers in my line of sight were real. The heat of the sun was calming. But even with my eyes open, all I could see was that Phantom mask. All I heard was Luc’s voice whispering that one word to me—cazzo. All I felt was his lips pressed against mine.
My hand shook as I lifted it to my lips and skimmed my fingers over the suddenly sensitive flesh. Luc had been at that party. He’d watched me from across the room in that Phantom mask, the same way he’d watched me today at that private showing…as if he couldn’t take his eyes off me. And I’d kissed him. I’d kissed him like a woman starved, and he’d kissed me back with just as much need and heat and hunger.
My heart sped up again. I didn’t know why I’d kissed him. I didn’t know why he’d been there or why he’d kissed me back. Everything after that kiss was a blur in my memory, but something told me he was the reason I’d made it home unharmed. I’d been drugged by Gio—I didn’t doubt that now. Somehow, Luc had saved me. He’d gotten me out of there, he’d taken me home, and I’d kissed him.
My breasts tingled, and a heavy weight settled between my thighs, followed by an uncontrollable urge to kiss him again. One that came out of nowhere and made me want to kiss him right now to find out if his lips were as soft and wet as they seemed in my mind.
My phone buzzed in my pocket. Hand shaking, I pulled it out and looked at the screen.
Ciao, Bella. Miss me? My new assistant is horrible. How would you feel about a trip to the Caribbean? I would definitely make it worth your while.
Sickness rolled through my belly as I remembered Gio giving me that drink and watching me with predatory eyes. The way he’d dragged me out of the mansion and along that dark path. The way he’d stepped close and whispered in my ear that he couldn’t wait to feel me tremble. The things he’d been doing with those two women in that other house.
“Sta bene, signora?”
The female voice somewhere close jolted me out of the disturbing memories and brought my head up. A dark-haired woman with round brown eyes peered down at me. I blinked several times, realizing I must look like a woman on the edge of freaking out—which I was.
“Um,” I cleared my throat. “Sorry, I don’t speak Italian.”
The woman smiled, and when she did, a dimple creased her left cheek, one I’d seen somewhere before. “You are American?”
“Yes.” I turned my phone off, ignoring Gio’s text, and slipped it back into the pocket of my slacks.
“Here for the fashion show?”
My mind shot back to Luc sitting beside the runway, and my whole body tightened with another urge to press my lips against his. “Uh… Just getting some air. It’s too crowded in there.”
The woman smiled wider and nodded toward the seat beside me. “May I?”
I wasn’t in the mood for company, but I heard myself mutter, “Yeah. Sure.”
The woman sat beside me with a sigh. She wore a simple blue dress and black flats, not cutting-edge designs or expensive fabrics. And she wasn’t flashy or made up like the people inside, but something about her felt familiar just the same.
“Are you here for the fashion show?” I asked, wondering where I’d seen her before. She was Italian, with golden skin and striking dark looks, but something about the way she carried herself told me she wasn’t in the industry.
“Yes. I’m waiting for my daughter to finish. She’s one of the models.”
“Ooh.” That’s why I recognized her. She must look like one of the young girls I‘d seen parading around the events the last few days. “Is your daughter exclusive to Cipriani?” I asked, keeping the conversation going because I wasn’t quite steady enough to go back in and face Luc yet. I was still fighting this overwhelming urge to grab him and do something totally reckless.
“No. She’s modeled for most of the big designers here before. But this is her last show.”
“It is?” That surprised me. If a girl was gorgeous enough to model for a designer as big as Cipriani, it meant her career was on the upswing, not the downhill slide.
“Yes, her father is sick. Her modeling was a blessing at first, what with the money coming in to help out since my husband can no longer work at the restaurant, but lately, its become a curse. More and more models are signing exclusive deals, and it’s difficult to find steady work if you don’t. We thought she was going to have to sign one herself, but now”—a wide smile pulled at her lips, deepening the dimple in her cheek—“now she doesn’t have to model at all anymore.”
Understanding hit me like a baseball to the forehead. “You’re Sofia’s mother?”
The woman’s eyes—eyes that were exactly like Sofia’s, I finally noticed—widened. “Yes. You know my Sofia?”
“I-I met her today. At a meeting with the Bandini people. I’m Luciano Salvatici’s assistant.”
She sucked in a surprised breath, and her entire face brightened. “Oh, my…Luc.” Tears filled her eyes as she pressed her hand against her chest. “It is because of him my Sofia can come home.”
Perspiration dotted my forehead. And, again, I knew it was none of my business, but I couldn’t stop myself from wondering. Had Luc signed Sofia to an exclusive deal with Covet? But if that were the case, why was this woman saying Sofia never had to model again? “How?”
“Today he bought our restaurant for four times what it’s worth. He’s hiring all new staff.” Her eyes gleamed. “And he’s made us managers.” She lifted her eyes to the sky, smiling even as she swiped at her tears. “Our restaurant has struggled ever since Alessandro fell ill, and my heart has been so broken since Sofia had to leave us. But now…” She shook her head. “Now we do not have to worry any longer. Sofia can come home. There is enough money for Alessandro’s medicine and for us to live. There will even be enough for Sofia to go to university when she’s old enough. She will not have to sell her body to keep our family t
ogether.”
My stomach twisted at the woman’s last comment. I wasn’t sure what she meant by it, but before I could ask, she said, “Luciano Salvatici is bello angelo. I never thought a man such as him could do something so wonderful.” She shook her head swiftly. “The day he wandered into our restaurant three years ago, my Alessandro wanted to kick him out. I wouldn’t let him—it wouldn’t have been the Christian thing to do—but inside, I was just as scared. A Salvatici in our restaurant? So close to our home? I was sure we were cursed. Alessandro was convinced he’d been lured to us by Sofia’s modeling, and even though Sofia claimed he was nice, that he wasn’t like the others, my Alessandro forced her to quit. But then Alessandro fell ill, and Sofia had to take jobs once again to help with our finances. Alessandro and I feared she’d be lost to us forever, but then…then Luciano stepped in and did this…” She held her hands out, smiling all over again, her eyes wet with unshed, happy tears. “This is a miracle from God himself. Luc is a miracle from the heavens above.”
I had no idea what she was talking about. All I knew was that Luc had helped this family in a way that meant the world to this woman. What I’d seen earlier was the real him. And that urge to find him, to touch him, to kiss him as I had the night of that party on Long Island, overwhelmed every thought.
Sofia’s mother swiped at her tears and pinned me with a very focused look. “Do not let anyone convince you he is evil. He is not like the rest of that family. He is good and honest, and I will forever regret every awful thing I ever thought about him.”
Footsteps sounded from the doorway I’d come through, followed by an excited voice calling, “Mamma!”
The woman next to me rose. I watched in a daze as Sofia rushed into the courtyard and threw her arms around her mother. They spoke in rushed Italian, and as I looked up at them together, I could easily see the similarities in their features. And the dimples in both their cheeks.
I pushed to my feet, confused by what I’d just learned. Sofia’s mother’s words about Luc’s family circled in my head as I stood awkwardly by the fountain, waiting for the mother and daughter to end their embrace.
“Do not let anyone convince you he is evil.”
Had I ever thought Luc was evil? I wasn’t sure. I’d considered him a suspect, sure. Was he rude? Yes. Domineering? Absolutely. But evil… Nothing I’d seen in New York or Rome had led me to think he was evil.
“He is not like the rest of his family.”
Gio’s face popped into my mind, and my stomach pitched when I remembered his sleazy smile and the drink he’d pushed into my hand at that party. Was Sofia’s mother talking about Gio? Did she know him as well? If she knew Luc, it was a possibility. But even something about that didn’t seem right.
Another set of footsteps sounded near the doorway, and with my head still spinning and my heart now racing, I glanced in that direction. Then caught my breath when my gaze locked with Luc’s.
He looked from me to Sofia’s mother at my side and back again, and his features tightened. Almost as if…
As if I’d unmasked him, and he’d just realized what I’d seen.
All that heat steamrolled through me again, electrifying my body in ways I’d never felt before. My stomach quivered, my nipples hardened, and between my legs, I grew hot and wet and needy.
“Luc!” Sofia twisted out of her mother’s arms and rushed to him, hugging him quickly and drawing him toward her mother.
That same rapid Italian I didn’t understand spilled from her lips, but when Luc reached the pair and I watched the way Sofia’s mother drew him into a warm embrace, I didn’t need to understand the language to know what they were saying.
I could see it in the excitement on the young girl’s face. I could hear the gratitude in her mother’s voice. And I could see the unease in Luc’s stormy eyes as he glanced at me, then looked back at them and tried to hide his discomfort with that tight, fake smile.
In a rush of understanding, I knew that this was the real Luc. This man who’d helped Sofia and her family was the same man who’d rescued me, not just from that party, but from a fate I didn’t want to imagine. It wasn’t a coincidence that he’d shown up at my door the morning after that party. He hadn’t brought me to Italy to give me a second shot with Covet. He’d brought me here to keep me safe from his brother. He’d brought me here because he cared.
My mouth grew dry with the certainty Luc was not Laney’s killer and that I was wasting my time by being here. I needed to shift my focus to Gio. I needed to start plotting all the ways I was going to prove Gio had murdered my friend. Only I couldn’t make my brain think about Gio now. All I could focus on was Luc.
All I could see was that kiss. All I remembered was the way his mouth had devoured mine. And as I watched him watching me across the space with wariness and need and the same damn hunger suddenly stirring inside me, all I felt was heat.
A blistering, fiery heat that flared deep in my chest, rolled through my blood, and told me everything between us was about to change.
Chapter Nine
Luc
I’d made a fatal mistake by being nice to her. I saw that now.
In a last-ditch effort to keep myself in check so I wouldn’t fuck things up more than I already had, I’d switched tactics. I’d flipped from asshole to agreeable, hoping less confrontation would give the fires simmering between us time to die out. I’d been wrong. Less confrontation had only cooled the smoldering embers, but they were still hot. Still sizzling. And now, thanks to my latest bright idea, they were packed with enough erotic energy to spontaneously combust at any moment.
Heat flushed Natalie’s cheeks as she stared at me. I didn’t miss it. I also didn’t miss the way she looked at me differently. As if she knew my secret. As if she liked my secret. As if this one moment changed everything between us.
I fought back the raw hunger that look kick-started deep inside me and focused on Sofia and her mother, careful not to lapse into English as I spoke to them. I didn’t need to give Natalie any more reason to think she had me figured out. She didn’t. She thought she knew who I was? She had no fucking idea. One good deed did not change reality. If she knew what I really came from, if she knew anything at all about the Salvaticis, she’d run as fast and as far as she could and never glance back.
For reasons I didn’t understand, that reality made something in my chest twist. I tried to ignore it as I continued to speak with Sofia’s mother, but the sharp bite of pain didn’t ease. I wanted Natalie gone. I wanted her out of my life sooner rather than later. So why the hell did the thought of never seeing her again make that pain sharper?
Sofia and her mother hugged me one last time, then they both said goodbye and left the courtyard. And, alone with Natalie, I fumbled for something to say all the while wondering what the hell this woman was doing to me.
“That was a very nice thing you did for them,” Natalie said quietly, looking up at me with those tender gemlike eyes that screamed busted.
Sonofabitch. That bite turned to a full-on ache, right beneath my ribs, right where I didn’t fucking want it. This was why I had to get her away from me. Because I didn’t need her innocent, naïve eyes staring up at me as if I were some kind of hero. I wasn’t one. I was just trying to fix a little of the shit my fucking family had unleashed on the masses.
My jaw clenched down hard. Cursing my stupid tactics today, I reverted right back to the asshole I knew would kill whatever hero worship was lurking in those deep blue eyes. “It wasn’t nice. It was a business decision, nothing more. Their restaurant sits on valuable land. In a month, it’ll be torn down.”
Her lips quirked. “No, it won’t, Luc.”
Shit, she was right. And I fucking hated that she knew she was right. I especially hated the way my blood pumped hot as she gazed at me with both challenge and heat, daring me to prove her wrong.
My fingers vibrated at my side, and my breaths increased speed. I wanted to bend her over my knee and show her who was in char
ge. I wanted to grab her and kiss her and lose myself in her sweetness. From one moment to the next, I wasn’t sure how I would react to this woman, and that threw me because women did not control me. I controlled. I set the rules. But this one…
This woman could disarm me with one look, electrify me with a simple smile. And she could make me completely fucking crazy just by using my first name as she’d done only seconds before.
I turned away from her, desperate for space, desperate to clear my head, desperate to get away from her sultry heat and that wicked scent that only amplified my hunger and made me absolutely ravenous for a taste of her.
I didn’t wait for her as I moved back into the building, but I knew she followed. I could feel that sexy gaze of hers boring into my back. The fashion show wasn’t over, but I’d had enough. As soon as I’d realized she’d disappeared, I hadn’t been able to focus on a single thing except where she was, whom she was with, and what the hell she was doing. I still didn’t know why she’d left, but I planned to find out soon. Then I planned to lay down the law so she knew I wasn’t fucking around. I could get this plan back on track right now by being the coldhearted ass we both knew I was. I could make her hate me by the end of the week if I stepped up my ruthlessness. Then, at least, she’d be safe from my brother. And from me.
“Call the driver,” I snapped over my shoulder, not slowing my steps or turning to look at her. “Tell him to meet us at the west entrance. We’re finished here.”
“Yes, sir, Mr. Salvatici.”
The word sir shot a wicked burst of fire straight into my cock, and visions of her calling me sir on her knees flooded by brain. Clenching my jaw, I fought the sultry images and told myself she was never going to do that for me. For fuck’s sake, I was doing all this to make sure she was never forced to do that for anyone else either.
I heard her speaking to the driver on her phone at my back. He was parked three blocks away, waiting for our call. Knowing he’d reach the west side of the building by the time we did, I didn’t slow my steps. Fuck this week and fuck this entire day. I swiped at the sweat dotting my forehead. All I wanted tonight was to go back to the hotel, lock myself in my room, and down half a bottle of scotch. I usually wasn’t one for losing control and getting wasted, but tonight I was all for it. Tonight, all I cared about was finding a way to banish these erotic fantasies about Natalie James from my mind for good.
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