Two
Virginia’s plan was working…a little too well. Marco was smooth and charming. She’d expected that. But he was also very funny and a bit self-deprecating.
Everyone wanted a piece of him tonight. A moment to bask in his glory. He had the aura of someone who was going to break that record on wins in the Formula One circuit, and everyone wanted to be close to him.
Since they’d come in from the terrace, she tried to leave a few times, not being comfortable in the spotlight. But he kept her by his side, his fingers linked loosely with hers as they moved through the crowd.
She didn’t have to try to be mysterious here. No one knew her, and to be honest, she didn’t think anyone wanted to know her tonight. She was simply a pretty woman hanging on Marco’s arm.
The feminist in her was a bit outraged to be delegated to nothing more than arm candy.
“I am sorry, mi’ angela, but winning always means that my time is not my own.”
“It’s okay,” she said. She was learning a lot about Marco from watching him. She wondered if her grandmother had realized what the Formula One lifestyle was like. Was this why Lorenzo Moretti hadn’t wanted to settle down with her grandmother? Maybe having experienced the high life, he hadn’t been ready to give it up for home and family.
“What are you thinking, cara mia?”
“I’m thinking that you can’t remember my name so you keep calling me by endearments.”
“Virginia, you wound me.”
“Doubtful.”
He smiled. “I do want to know what you are thinking. You look too serious for a woman at a party.”
She didn’t know how to respond to that. She wanted—no, needed—to be mysterious. She couldn’t allow herself to forget for one moment that she wasn’t here to fall in love with Marco Moretti. She was here to break a curse.
But when he pulled her into his arms on the dance floor, she forgot about plans and curses. She forgot about everything except the way his arms felt wrapped around her. The way his shoulder was the perfect place to rest her head, which she did for only one second, because the sexy scent of his aftershave was too potent that close.
“I was thinking that at this party, everyone wants something from you.”
“Including you?”
Yes, she thought, but didn’t say it out loud.
“It’s okay, I know you do. Everyone wants something, I want something from you.”
“What do you want from me?”
“Another kiss.”
Of course he did, and that made her agenda so much easier because she wanted him to want her. But at the same time…
“You’re doing it again,” he whispered into her ear. “I’m going to think that you aren’t happy to be with me.”
Shivers ran down the length of her body from her neck to her toes. Her breasts felt heavier all of a sudden, and her nipples perked up, as if they wanted the warmth of his breath against them.
“Of course I’m happy to be with you, Marco. You are the man every woman wants…all you have to do is beckon and any woman here would come to you.”
“I don’t want any other woman tonight, Virginia, only you.”
“Why?” she asked.
“I could say that it is the hint of mystery in those deep, chocolate-brown eyes of yours. Or the smoothness of your skin against my hand.”
“But that’s not it?”
“No, cara mia, it’s not. The reason I want only you is much more base and too demanding to be tamed by words.”
“Lust.”
“You say it with disdain, but there is a power to lust and to attraction at first sight. From the moment I caught sight of you, I have been unable to think of anyone else.”
She smiled up at him and let go of those silly girlish dreams she’d secretly harbored about love. Lust was exactly what she wanted from Marco, and she should be very happy that he felt it.
“It’s the same for me.”
“Is it?” he asked, drawing his hand down her back. Her skin was exposed by the plunging V at the back of her dress and his fingers felt big and warm against her skin.
He pulled her closer to his body as he spun them around the dance floor. His mouth touched the exposed skin at the nape of her neck. His lips felt warm and moist against her skin as he said something she couldn’t understand. All she understood at this moment was that she wanted Marco Moretti.
Her flesh was sensitized to him. She felt alive in this man’s arms. Perhaps it was the magic of the night, or maybe it was the peach Bellinis she’d drank going to her head. But deep inside her, where she kept the superstitious part of her soul, she knew it was the curse coming out. She knew this attraction went beyond her and Marco.
It was something cosmic and wonderful, she knew. Especially when he lowered his head to hers. She didn’t wait for him to kiss her, but instead rose on her tiptoes and met his mouth with her own.
He brushed his lips over hers before opening them the slightest bit. She felt first the barest rush of his breath over her sensitive lips and then the smooth taste of his tongue.
He kissed her with the kind of passion she’d only read about in books and seen on movie screens. She clung to his shoulders as everything feminine inside of her responded to everything masculine in him.
Kissing Virginia was addictive. Like the rush he got from going over two hundred miles per hour on the track. There was that feeling of being in charge of something he knew he couldn’t really control.
Her mouth was sweet and she clung to him like she couldn’t get enough of him, either. He maneuvered her off the dance floor, keeping one arm around her waist and tucking her close to his side.
“Where are we going?” she asked. Her voice was breathless and her lips, swollen. There was something almost ethereal about her. He would never have admitted that fact out loud, but having grown up under a very suspicious Italian mother, he believed strongly in things that couldn’t be explained.
“To a place where we can be alone. Is that okay with you?” he asked her. Expectation sizzled in the air between them. He felt almost as if they’d met before. With her, he didn’t feel the distance that he felt with most women, as if they had an expectation of something that he couldn’t deliver on.
She nodded and smiled. Her mouth was wide and so damned sensuous. He’d never get enough of kissing her. And for tonight, he didn’t have to. He ran his hand down the center of her bare back, enjoying the feel of her soft flesh under his fingers.
“I’d like that,” she said. There was a hint of shyness in her voice, a timidity at odds with the brazen and mysterious woman he’d known her to be so far.
“Virginia?”
“Yes?”
“Are you sure?”
He saw hesitation in her eyes, but then she nodded her head, curls dancing around her face as she stepped forward. She rose on tiptoes and drew his head toward hers and brushed her lips over his. She kissed him deeply and passionately, arousing him with just that one aggressive move.
“I’m very sure,” she said.
“Good,” he said, his own voice sounding husky.
He led the way out of the party toward the elevator and almost groaned when he saw Dominic coming. He didn’t want to talk to his brother now.
“Merda,” he muttered under his breath.
“Excuse me?” Virginia said pulling away from him. “Is everything okay?”
“Pardon me. My brother is heading this way, and with him there is always a discussion about business.”
He fought the urge to hit the call button for the elevator again. That would make it look as if he were afraid of Dominic, and that wasn’t the case. He just wanted to get Virginia out of the party to be alone with her.
That made him feel a bit odd. He’d never been one of those men who needed to keep a woman all to himself. With Virginia, he realized he wanted just that.
“I didn’t realize that a driver would be involved in the running of a company,” she said.
“Doesn’t that interfere with your driving?” she asked.
Marco liked being involved in running the company. Dominic, Antonio and he had decided the reason their father had lost his controlling share of the company was that he had not been involved in the day-to-day details. And that was one thing he and his brothers were determined not to let happen.
“Not most of the time…but it can put a crimp in my love life.”
She rolled her eyes at that. “Saying things like that might be more of a problem for you.”
Marco shook his head and gave her a charming smile. The same smile she’d seen when he’d graced the cover of Sports Illustrated last year. “Most women don’t mind.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” she said.
“I make up for my…how do you say…ill manners in other ways that women appreciate.”
“What ways?”
“I’ll show you as soon as we get out of here.”
“I’m going to hold you to that,” she said. “Should I leave you alone with your brother?”
“No,” he said, not wanting her to disappear again. “Dom won’t be long.”
“Marco, do you have a minute?” Dominic said as he reached them.
Marco tucked Virginia’s hand in the crook of his arm, keeping her close to his side.
“Not really. I promised to show Virginia one of my favorite places in Melbourne. I can meet with you tomorrow to discuss the matter,” Marco said.
Dominic didn’t look pleased, but then his brother rarely did. “That will be fine. But I’m flying back to Italy tomorrow, so my schedule is tight.”
“I understand,” Marco said. As much as he resented the delay in leaving with Virginia, Moretti Motors was as important to him as it was to Dom.
“Virginia, let me introduce you to my oldest brother, Dominic. Dom, this is Virginia….” He didn’t know her last name, he realized. This wouldn’t be the first time that he had a one-night stand with a woman whose last name was a mystery to him. So why did it bother him?
“Affascinato,” Dominic said.
“The pleasure is mine,” she said.
“Did you enjoy the race today?” he asked.
“I missed it,” she said, blushing.
Marco found that odd. Most of the women who followed the circuit never missed a race. He looked down at her. “You did?”
“My flight was late. I was upset, but I had this party to look forward to.”
“Where are you from?” Dominic asked.
“The United States,” she said.
“Most Americans prefer NASCAR racing. Do you follow that sport, as well?” Marco asked, realizing that with his brother here he was learning more about her than he had all evening, talking to her.
“No. I’ve always been in love with the glamour of Formula One.”
He raised one eyebrow at her. “What do you think is glamorous about it?”
“This party, for one,” she said. “Oh, look, the elevator is here.”
The doors opened and Marco wondered at her vague answers. Was she hiding something? She wrapped an arm around his waist and squeezed him closer to her. “You did promise to show me your favorite sight in Melbourne.”
“Indeed I did. Ciao, Dom.”
“Arrivederci, Marco.”
Virginia didn’t say much as they got in Marco’s sports coupe convertible. She recognized it as a Moretti model. The car was pure luxury on the inside and all speed under the hood. She’d never feel confident enough to drive a car like this, but Marco handled it like the professional driver he was.
As they left the hotel behind he glanced over at her. “So you’re from the States?”
She’d known he was going to ask questions. She’d done a good job of keeping her past vague and the spotlight on him, but the conversation with Dominic had probably made him realize how little he knew about her.
“Yes. Long Island. Where did you grow up? I know Moretti Motors is based in Milan, but do you live there?”
“I have a villa in Milan, and my family has an estate outside of the city.”
“Do you like living in Milan? I’ve never visited there,” she said. She was very aware of the Moretti family estate in San Giuliano Milanese. Her grandmother had gone there to curse Lorenzo, and there was a faded picture of the Moretti estate hanging on her wall back home. Her grandmother had bequeathed it to her along with her journal.
“It’s a fashionable city and there is always something to do there.” He shrugged as he glanced over at her. “It’s home.”
She envied him the feeling of belonging in Milan. It was there in his voice and his words. Unlike she, who’d never fit in anywhere, he had a place that he called home. And that was a big part of why she was determined to break the curse her grandmother had placed on them by accident. She wanted—no, craved a home and a family. She was tired of always being alone. Her mother and grandmother were both deceased, and no matter how hard she tried, the bonds of family seemed to always be just out of her reach.
Having his child would give her a chance at happiness. A chance at that elusive dream she’d longed for. Once she broke the curse, she would marry and give her child a father and siblings.
“We’re here.” Marco’ s words startled her from her thought.
She glanced out the window as a uniformed valet came to open her door. The high-rise building was a monument to modern architecture, its lines distinctive and clean.
“Good evening, Mr. Moretti.”
“Good evening, Mitchell.”
Marco led the way into the foyer and to a bank of elevators.
“I thought you were taking me to see your favorite spot in Melbourne.”
“I am. My penthouse has a spectacular view of the city. It’s amazing,” he said, glancing down at his titanium watch. “In about two hours, the sun will come up and you will be amazed at how beautiful the sunrise is here.”
“Will I?”
“Yes, I think you will,” he said. “Unless you’d rather I take you back to your hotel.”
She shook her head.
The elevator arrived and they entered. They were alone in the marble-floored car, and as soon as the door closed Marco entered a code on the keypad and the elevator started to move. He drew her into his arms and lowered his head, kissing her.
She felt the return of the passion he’d evoked in her on the dance floor. Her body longed for his. She’d missed his touch during the twenty-minute drive, and she wondered how much of this feeling was due to the magic spell she’d cast earlier to help her break the curse. She wasn’t a practicing witch, but she figured she’d better enlist as much help as she could before she came to Melbourne. How much of it was due to the fact that she needed him to be obsessed with her?
And how much, if any of it, was real?
When the doors opened, he broke the kiss and ran his hand down her bare arm, linking their fingers together. She squeezed her hand against his and followed him eagerly into the foyer of his home.
“I have this entire floor. Would you like a drink?”
“That would be nice,” she said.
He led the way into the living room. There were floor-to-ceiling windows that lined the wall and a sliding door that opened onto a huge balcony. Marco kept one hand on the small of her back as they walked across the room.
She felt a slight bit of panic as she realized this was it. She was going to sleep with this man, whom she’d known for less than five hours, and then she was going to walk away. It was what she’d planned for more months than she could count, but now that the moment was here…
She stopped in the middle of his living room as a surreal feeling swamped her. She was aroused, every inch of her skin sensitized from his kisses and touch. As she glanced at the Monet painting hanging on one wall and felt the thick Arabian carpet under her feet, she knew she w
as really here, that this wasn’t something she was imagining. Yet, at the same time…
“Would you like to step outside? We can sit in the hot tub and have that drink.”
She glanced at Marco, with his strong Roman features, and saw in him the glimpse of her future. She wasn’t going to let panic or doubt swamp her, and give up everything she’d ever wanted.
She needed Marco Moretti, and it seemed that he wanted her tonight. And that was all she needed. She repeated that in her head as she stepped out onto the balcony and let the warm air wrap around her.
Three
Marco poured a glass of champagne for each of them. He wasn’t inept when it came to taking care of the women in his life, despite the fact that Allie had often complained he paid no attention to her. The fact was, he was careful to pay only a certain amount of attention.
He was careful not to let his emotions get involved, always leery of falling for a woman and thereby ruining his life.
His mobile rang and he cursed out loud as he saw from the caller ID that it was Dominic.
“What do you need now?” he asked in Italian.
“Just wanted to remind you to be careful with Virginia. We can’t risk anyone falling in love, especially now.”
“Mordalo,” he said to his brother.
“I’m not jerking your chain, Marco. You know that falling for a girl isn’t something we can do.”
He glanced across his penthouse apartment to the balcony where he could see Virginia leaning against the railing. She didn’t look dangerous. He saw nothing in the woman to indicate she could bring about the downfall of Moretti Motors.
“She’s just a woman, Dom,” he said, even as, deep inside, a part of him protested. But the truth was, his priorities were simple—racing and winning. Moretti Motors and then enjoying life. And Virginia was a woman who would make his life very enjoyable tonight.
“Make sure you remember that.”
“I always do. I think you’re afraid that Antonio and I are too much like you.”
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