Sabrina groaned. “Poor girl! She must’ve been mortified.”
He shrugged. “That was nothing compared to our punishment. Our fathers made us wash all the clothes, go around the houses, apologize, and hang all the clothes back on the washing line.”
“It served both of you right.” She laughed, and it was a nice, unaffected laugh. Luca wasn’t immune to it. “Did Lucia ever speak to the two of you again?”
“She did, eventually.” Luca shot her a sly grin. “And there was more than speaking involved. I got her underwear after that fair and square.”
Predictably, she blushed. And as usual, Luca found it alarmingly…endearing.
“What about Markos? Did he get another of her underwear too?”
Merda! So it was back to Markos again. After he was through with her, the other man’s name would just be a mere echo in her memory. “We’ve never shared women,” he murmured coolly, ”at least not until now,” he added under his breath in Italian. He didn’t want any other man’s name on her lips when she was with him.
“What was that?” Her pale brows met in the middle again. “You said something not in English.”
“I said Markos lost interest in her.” He waited for a betraying reaction on her face. “He’s the kind who never looks back,” he said with an edge to his tone.
She lowered her lids and suddenly seemed to find her sea bass interesting. Her expression was inscrutable.
“What about you?” Damn. He’d gone and done it when he said he wouldn’t. He had caved in and asked.
She glanced up, startled. “What about me?”
“I bet you drove all the boys in your neighborhood crazy.”
She shook her head. “No. I was nowhere near being a Lucia. I looked weird when I was young.”
“You were an ugly duckling?”
A shadow clouded her eyes briefly. She blinked and it was gone. She shrugged. “Something like that.”
Now that he’d asked, he needed to know more. “So tell me, strega, what is a beautiful woman like you doing all alone in Seirenada?”
“Can’t a woman be on her own?”
“If they look like you, they shouldn’t.”
An eyebrow rose in indignation. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Only that you’re bound to attract a lot of attention, and some might be of the unwanted kind.”
“I can take care of myself. I grew up in a tough neighborhood,” she said stoutly.”I’ve taken self-defense classes since I was young.”
“Is that a warning?” Luca was imagining her as a little girl in a karate suit. She would have made a cute martial artist.
“Take it as you will.” She shrugged. “I’m not reckless. I’m staying at a reputable hotel. My friend couldn’t come at the last minute…”
Luca had checked the records. The hotel management had been instructed by Markos to follow his orders. The room was reserved under the famous Hollywood action star Chase Latimer’s name and had been paid in full. “A boyfriend, you mean?” They had broken up, according to the articles he had read on the Internet. Was a reconciliation in the offing? Was she hedging her bets?
She hesitated. “Just a friend.”
Luca knew from his research that she and the actor had recently broken up. Had the actor booked the hotel before the relationship had gone sour? Why deny her previous relationship with the Hollywood actor? And when had she the time to have had an affair with Markos?
He knew Markos often made trips to California to oversee the Los Angeles hotel in their chain. Was it there that they met? Had she been seeing Markos even while she was still with Latimer?
The questions beleaguered Luca, but he ruthlessly brushed them off. He was going to have her, questionable past or not, several men or not.
He took another sip of his wine, an excellent vintage that tasted like vinegar on his tongue. He was going to have her, and then he’d get rid of her before she got rid of him.
Because she lived with Chase for a while, everyone assumed he had been her boyfriend. The truth was she and Chase had gotten together in college briefly. It didn’t work out but they had remained close friends throughout, everyone assuming they were still an item until graduation. Chase was more than happy to let the pretense stand back then, as well as recently when they had reconnected. Sabrina was also happy to play along. She was seeing no one and if it was the one thing she could do to repay Chase’s kindness to her during her lowest days, losing her grandmother and getting kicked out of her apartment for being late with the rent, then she wouldn’t begrudge him using her as his cover. It wasn't until the incident with William Fraser that Chase had an attack of conscience and “broke up” with her.
Sabrina was crap at lying. Her brief hesitation when he had asked the question was because she wanted to lie for Chase’s sake. But when he had gazed at her with his dark, deep eyes, she found that she could only answer with the truth. Chase was and had always ever been just a friend.
She knew he thought she was lying. There was a derisive glint in his eye that he had masked quickly.
Their meal lay almost untouched. The waiter had hovered anxiously, driven to ask if everything was to their liking. Luca reassured him that everything was perfect and fabricated that they had a substantial breakfast so they were still full.
She turned the tables on him this time. “What about you?”
He quirked an eyebrow.
“All alone on the island?”
He speared her with a heavy-lidded gaze, not bothering to hide his scrutiny. “Not if you keep me company.”
Was he giving her a chance to back out? Did she want to? He might be her only chance. She couldn’t afford a trip to Greece next if she missed the opportunity now. She had talked to some of the staff this morning, again trying to find out unobtrusively when the family was arriving, but no one apparently knew exactly. Before the wedding, they all said, which was only two days away. Luca was sure to attend it since he was related to the royal family.
Is that the only reason you want to be with him?
Since she was bad at lying, she had no choice but to be honest with herself. She wanted Luca Argenti. She wanted him like she’d wanted no other man before. She wanted to explore this strange reaction she had to him. Keeping Luca company was sure to involve sex. Probably the hot, dirty, and sweaty kind. The kind she knew little of. And the kind she wanted to know more of. She took a sip of water. Her mouth had suddenly gone dry.
She took in his shirt, slightly opened at the throat, a patch of olive skin peeking through. She kept her eyes riveted on it as she gave her answer. “I could do with some company.” Her voice had gone husky with nervousness.
“Not some, strega,” his eyes blazed with heat and something else that thrilled and frightened her, “but only. I will be the only company you’ll keep while we are on the island.”
She couldn’t look away. His gaze trapped hers.
“There will be no other men for you while we’re together, Sabrina Connelly.”
The absolute possessiveness of the statement made a shiver run down Sabrina’s spine. “No other men?” He had also mentioned her “lovers” this morning down by the beach. The realization lodged in her chest like a stone.
She couldn’t run away from her reputation. Just as she had looked him up, Luca would have had, too. And he would have read about all those men whom had been “linked” to her. But they had only met this morning…
He must have made assumptions; a woman alone was on the prowl. She shouldn’t let it bother her. What he thought of her, it didn’t matter. They were just going to use each other after all. It was just a holiday hook-up. Luca was physically attracted to her just as she was to him. No need to let him know though how hugely attracted to him she was. That by just being beside him, her body felt like it was when she was working on a rare piece of sea glass–her breathing suspended, all her nerves taut, until she was sure she had successfully wrapped the metal wire around it and the delicate shard
had not broken.
He leaned back and regarded her with a hooded expression. Sabrina realized he was still a stranger, gorgeous and sexy but still a stranger. “You have a timetable to follow? Other men to slot in your schedule?”
His voice was flat, but there was an undercurrent of something else, an edge of anger she couldn’t understand. She opened her mouth to vocalize how offended she was by his accusations then shut it, realizing how futile it was. If he hadn’t read about the stories on the tabloid, then it was only a matter of time when he’d be “enlightened.”
“You can be honest with me, Sabrina. I know why you came to Seirenada.”
The cream on the pasta was congealing. It had gone cold.
“Of course you do.” She laughed uncertainly. “A beautiful island and a royal wedding? It’s the in place to be.”
“You’re after Markos Konstantinos.”
Her blood froze. She must have misheard. “Wh-what?”
“Don’t bother denying it, strega.”
“I don’t even know the man,” she denied truthfully. There was only that one unanswered email and unreturned telephone call that the Greek billionaire’s secretary fielded. They had not even spoken in person, and that’s why it was imperative she make contact, why she had taken the chance to come here.
Had she been that obvious in her interest?
“You can deny it all you want, but Markos told me himself about your,” he paused, his eyes narrowing, then he gritted out, “inconvenient pursuit. He doesn’t want you anywhere near him, strega.”
Sabrina paled. She had wanted to take Konstantinos by surprise to show him the evidence in person then make him believe, but apparently he had been one step ahead of her. She didn’t know how the Greek knew she was on the island but now that she knew the billionaire was on to her, it would make her task more difficult.
“I usually don’t like picking up where another man has left off. But for you, I’d make the exception.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You’re different from his usual type of lovers.”
“Lovers?” Sabrina felt like someone had pushed the language button on a movie she was watching and had set it to Mandarin. The actors were the same but she couldn’t understand the dialogue. “You think Markos Konstantinos and I were lovers?” she exclaimed in shock.
The man dining at the other table glanced at her curiously.
“I know how my friend works, strega. He doesn’t do the reconciliation thing. Once he’s done with a relationship, he’s done.”
Done with a relationship? She and Konstantinos haven’t even established one. That’s why she was in the principality.
Luca must have misunderstood his friend. There was no other explanation for his crazy assumptions. She wanted to laugh hysterically at how he had gotten it all wrong and set him straight so he would lose that arrogant, self-assured expression on his gorgeous face. But all that was secondary to the realization that Konstantinos knew she was here in the principality. That he was keeping an eye on her.
“It’s nothing personal.”
“Nothing personal?” she echoed dumbly. How can dumping someone you’ve supposedly had a relationship with not be personal? She wasn’t a dumped lover of Konstantinos, but she was offended.
“What did he tell you about me?” Sabrina demanded, trying to make sense of this strange conversation.
“It doesn’t matter. You’re to stay away from him, strega. No scenes. No drama.”
“Or what? He’ll have me thrown off the island?” she scoffed, but Sabrina knew someone as rich and powerful as Markos Konstantinos could actually have it done.
“It’s not in your best interest to pursue him.” The warning was thinly veiled. “Better set your sights somewhere else,” he paused, "somewhere a bit more closer.”
“Oh my God!” she exclaimed incredulously. "You think I’m on the rebound. That I’m an easy lay.”
His jaw clenched, and Sabrina knew she was treading dangerously. Gone was the charming, urbane man she was lunching with a few minutes ago. “I don’t need to prey on vulnerable women for sex, strega.”
She shrank back from this show of temper. She believed him. Women most likely threw themselves at him.
“That’s not how I get my kicks. I like desire to be mutual and the relationship beneficial for both parties involved.”
“Beneficial?”
He shrugged. “Of course. Why would one enter willingly into a relationship if there is nothing to be gained out of it?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” she answered sarcastically. “Maybe because you actually love someone?”
“So you have no expectations at all when you enter a relationship?”
“I expect the person I’m having a relationship with to care about me.”
“And isn’t someone caring about you beneficial to your well-being?”
“Of course it is, but it’s not as selfish and cold-blooded as you make it sound,” she sputtered indignantly. “Like, like a business transaction where everyone has to make a profit.”
He regarded her with a silent, brooding stare. Sabrina tried to hold it defiantly.
“No one enters a relationship without expectations,” he pronounced, breaking the staring contest. “Let’s agree on that.”
“And what are these expectations I’m supposed to be expecting from this short-term relationship with you?”
“A good time,” he said.
She huffed dismissively.
“In bed.”
She gulped.
“And out of it,” he added. “Whatever you want, strega. I’ll take you shopping, buy you some clothes, jewelry.” His tone remained blithe, but she heard the contempt in them nonetheless.
The way he said the last word made Sabrina cringe. “You think I’m a gold digger.”
“I don’t care what you are, and I’m trying really fucking hard not to care who you’ve been with.” His voice dropped, an edge of delicious danger replacing the derision of his previous statement. “I want you, Sabrina Connelly, and I’ll have you anyway I can.”
Sabrina gripped the edge of the table. “Even if you think I’m a notorious gold digger.”
“Even then.”
Each word had rained like judgment on her head. She was damned before his eyes. She felt angry, frustrated, and strangely let down. But it was also freeing. He already found her guilty. Might as well be very bad. She let go of the table and sank back against her chair.
His eyes were blue flames, his voice a wicked rasp on her nerve endings. “I know you want me the same way I want you. No point in delaying the inevitable, strega. We both know how this is all going to play out.”
She reached for her glass of water, playing it cool while her heart started beating a bit faster. The moisture that had condensed on the glass felt real, grounding her from a conversation that was fast becoming surreal. “Unlike you, I don’t presume to know how anyone’s mind works, so no, I don’t know how you think it will play out.”
“You want me to paint you a picture? Very well. In bed. That’s where we’ll begin. You underneath me, on top of me, your legs around my waist-”
“You’ve made your point,” she cut him off while heat rushed to her cheeks. She took a hasty gulp of water, looking anywhere but at him. The other diners were focused on their meal, thankfully oblivious to their conversation.
“Forget Markos Konstantinos. I’ll make it worth your while.”
“What?”
“I’m a generous lover, strega, but I don’t share. For the duration of your stay on the island, there will be no other men but me. Stay away from Konstantinos.”
“Or else?”
“There is no or else. If you choose not to be with me, then I’ll leave you alone. But it will be such a loss, never knowing how it would have been between us.”
Oh, how much he tempted her. She had found men attractive, there were a lot of them in Los Angeles, but it was a cold kind of appreciati
on. Not like this. With Luca, her appreciation went past more than the intellectual. It involved all her senses. She wanted to rub her palms along the beginning scruff on his jaw, lean across the table and inhale his crisp cologne, run her tongue across those lips now turned a bit sulkily down the corners.
“What happens after our stay? I leave in three days.”
“Once we’re off the island, we go our separate ways. No drama. No communication.”
She wanted him too. There was no denying it. And she didn’t delude herself into thinking he wanted more. But why did his words hurt?
She tamped down on this need to defend herself, to make him see her differently. But what was the point? He had already thought the worst of her.
“You’re right, Luca. I admit I’m attracted to you,” she said carelessly.“But since you warned me off about pursuing Markos,” she injected a hint of steel in her voice, “you have to make good on your promise to make it worth my while.”
He didn’t like that. His brows drew together. He could have had her for nothing.
“You talked about benefits.” She flashed him a hard smile, hoping and dreading he’d bite. “Bring me to the royal wedding.”
No fucking way. He didn’t want her within a few feet of Markos. What if he took another look at her and forgot about his policy of never looking back? Decided to take up with her again? He won’t be able to stand back and relinquish her. Years of friendship would be put in jeopardy. And how about Mrs. Konstantinos? Luca had promised Markos he’d keep her away from the family. Her fragility was a cause of ongoing concern for his friend.
Sabrina didn’t strike him as someone who would cause a scene. But then, he also didn’t think she fit the mold of Markos’ previous lovers. To come all the way to Seireneda to win him back spoke volumes of how determined she was to get her ex-lover back. It grated on him.
His judgment had been off since Eleni. He had thought Eleni was level-headed, sensible, and focused. Instead she had turned out to be one crazy bitch.
No. He couldn’t risk bringing her to the wedding as his date.
When She Fell for the Billionaire Page 5