When She Fell for the Billionaire

by Suzette de Borja

  “I’m making it mine,” he insisted.

  “Why?”

  “Just answer the question.”

  “I don’t suppose you’d let me explain.”

  “It’s a simple question. Did you love him? Yes or no.”

  Her eyes had gone flat. “No.”

  He inhaled deeply, but it felt like he was still not getting enough air. “So it was all about the money.” Why did he need to have it spelled out?

  She flinched. “It’s not what it seems.”

  Tell me, he wanted to demand, but he resisted the urge.

  She turned away, presenting him with the clean angles of her profile. He couldn’t completely make out her expression, but he detected sadness in the dejected slope of her shoulders. “It’s complicated,” he caught her softly spoken words.

  She was right. He was making it more complicated than it should be. Boy fucks girl. Girl fucks boy. Girl and boy never meet each other again after fucking.

  End of story.

  It should be that fucking simple.

  But with Sabrina Connelly, it was not. Not by a long shot.

  The longing to tell Luca about what really happened with William Fraser, to exonerate herself, was so strong that she took a big gulp of wine to drown the impulse.

  It was not her secret to tell.

  She had her own one. And it was eating her up alive. One didn’t go about spilling secrets to someone you just met yesterday, no matter how fabulous the sex was or how tenderly he held you after. Should she tell Luca…no. She didn’t know how he would take it. And his loyalty was to the Konstantinos.

  “You still want to go to the wedding tomorrow?”His abrupt change of subject threw her off kilter.“We can just stay here in the yacht and spend our last day together before you leave,” he said casually.

  She knew Luca had to stay longer for the launch of the hotel.“But your family. Won’t they be looking for you?”

  He shrugged elegantly, but his eyes were watchful. “I’ll make my excuses. Things to sort out for the launch. With the number of people attending, my presence won’t be missed.”

  Sabrina doubted that. As cousin to the royals and one of Europe’s most sought after bachelors, at the very least the unmarried female attendees would take note.

  Most of all Eleni, she thought darkly.

  “I was really looking forward to attending, Luca.” He couldn’t back out! It might be her only chance. “You have to honor our deal.”

  Markos Konstantinos would not likely snub her presence if she approached him in a social setting.

  A strange expression crossed his face, but it was gone with the flickering of the flame.“Oh, yes. Our bargain,” he drawled mockingly, swirling his wine goblet. “I’d almost forgotten the main reason you’re on the yacht with me.”

  “You know it’s not the main reason,” she said fiercely. Even if Luca had nothing to do with her “mission” in Seirenada, she would have still wanted him.

  He laughed without humor. “You and I had an itch to scratch. Going to the wedding just sweetened the deal.”

  I would have gone anywhere you asked me to, royal wedding or not, she wanted to say, but she kept her mouth shut.

  “Don’t worry, strega. I’m not backing out of the agreement unless,” he paused, “you don’t hold up your end of the bargain. A deal is a deal.”

  Unease skittered up her spine. She was staying away from Markos Konstantinos as he decreed. Her presence on the yacht ensured that it was physically impossible to go near him, if and when the Greek billionaire arrived. That part was true. She hoped he wouldn’t find out about the letter though. She was afraid he’d renege on their deal.

  It was a last minute impulse. What if he backed out of their deal? Sabrina had learned early on that you couldn’t trust everyone. They’d promise and then they’d forget. How many times had she waited for her mother when she promised she’d visit but she never came because something always came up?

  “Yes. A deal is a deal.” Her appetite had suddenly vanished.

  Luca had not even touched the main course. He just sat there brooding like a fallen angel. Sabrina watched him under lowered lids. She was afraid to intrude on his thoughts.

  Suddenly he pushed his chair back. “Let’s skip dessert, shall we?”

  Her breath caught. The dangerous glitter in his eyes sent all her senses tingling. There was no mistaking what the substitute for dessert would be. She stood on trembling legs. He reached her side in a flash and hauled her tight against him.

  “Damn you, Sabrina Connelly,” he said savagely, his eyes roaming wildly over her face.

  She should be afraid of the wildness in the blue depths of his eyes, but instead her heart pounded with wild anticipation at his loss of control.

  His hands cupped the back of her head. His head swooped down and blotted the light. His mouth claimed hers, and Sabrina fell into the decadent darkness of his kiss. He kissed with none of his previous care. His tongue plunged into her roughly. Sabrina welcomed it, tangling it with hers.

  She heard the crashing of glass when they bumped into the edge of the table. His hand left her waist, reaching for the table, and Sabrina clamped her hand on it, somehow sensing what he was about to do.

  “DO NOT BREAK THE CHINA,” she said between clenched teeth.

  He pulled back, a look of raw need, guilt, and amusement on his face. “Chiara would never have forgiven me.” He dragged her to the far end of the 15-seater table where there were no dishes laid out.

  He hoisted her on the gleaming, polished surface and stepped between her legs, pushing her onto her back.

  “I changed my mind,” he said, tugging on her shorts. “I think I’ll have my dessert after all.”

  But he didn’t eat her like dessert sparingly. No. He delved into her like she was the main course. Her hands could find no purchase on the smooth surface of the table. She dug her hands into his hair instead as she convulsed with the rawest sensations.

  “Please tell me you’re on the pill,” he ground out desperately, reaching between them to undo the buttons of his shorts in the aftermath of her release. “I had myself tested a month ago. I’m clean.”

  Her arms fell to her side in answer. “I’m not on the pill. I’m clean.”

  “When was your last test?’

  “I’m clean.”

  “When?” he insisted.

  “Five years ago.”

  Luca reared back. “You mean five months ago.”

  “Five years ago. There has been no need since then.”

  “You don’t need to lie to me” he gritted out.

  I never lied to you, she wanted to say, but was an omission considered a lie?

  She never had a chance to debate the answer because Luca had pulled her shorts back up and lifted her off the table. He burst out of the dining room, startling a crew member who was passing by, his hand clamped on her arm.

  They found themselves back in the skylight room, as she had taken to calling it in her head. He didn’t bother to open the light. She stood by the foot of the bed while he went to the night table, opening drawers until he straightened up, a foil packet in his hand.

  “Take your clothes off,” he commanded in the dark, the only light from the moon peeking through the clouds, bathing the bed in a soft glow.

  He stood in front of her as they shed one article of clothing after the other, their eyes locked onto each other. He tore the foil packet open, gloving himself up in full view. The rush of moisture between her legs was embarrassing. As if he sensed her eagerness, Luca held out his hand.

  Sabrina took it without hesitation and then he pulled her flush against him. She swallowed a whimper as the heat of his hardness imprinted on her belly.

  “Damn you, Sabrina Connelly, what you do to me,” he said roughly, depositing butterfly kisses on her forehead, her eyes, her nose, her lips. “It seems I’m just like my father after all.” He let out a small, mocking laugh, then he was pushing her onto the bed and sp
laying her legs wide.

  With one powerful thrust, they were joined.

  Sabrina moaned as he moved above her. The moonlight shone against his skin, outlining the muscles of his arms as they bunched and flexed to the rhythm of their sensual dance. Her legs were wrapped around his waist and she pulled him deep, deep inside her until it felt like he had touched her womb. She clenched in reflex. He let out a string of hoarse, disjointed Italian, pulled out, and flipped her on her stomach. He grabbed her hips, pulled them up, and entered her balls deep.

  “Oh, shit.” The angle was different. Her breath hitched when he hit a never-before reached area, her hands clawing on the linens.

  “Does it hurt?” He spoke into her ear, the sprinkling of hairs on his chest abrading her back in delicious friction.

  “No.” She stuck out her bottom higher and he grunted in response. His hands dug deeper into the indent of her waist as he slammed into her. “Shiiit!” she keened as his pace grew more frenzied, her cheek sinking into the mattress as she gripped the bedcovers tighter. The tightness, the fullness, the repetitive friction was too much. She was afraid she was going to go out of her body when the crest hit. It hit her with such force that her knees gave out. Seconds later, Luca came, too.

  She felt him jerk against her back, heard him cry out hoarsely, as he bucked twice, thrice, then his heavy weight settled on her back.

  He eased off her immediately. They lay face to face, side by side. His index finger traced the slant of her brow, the bridge of her nose, swept on her upper lip. His brows were drawn together, studying her with the intensity of someone who was memorizing her features. Silence reigned. They didn’t speak until Luca’s lids started drooping. His hand settled on the curve of her hip. When his eyes were completely closed, it was the only time she could speak at all.

  “Damn you, Luca Argenti,” she whispered. “Don’t make me fall for you.”

  His eyelids flickered open and Sabrina jerked back in surprise. With horror, she realized he had just been hovering on the edges of sleep. His blue eyes were confused, as if he couldn’t make out who she was. Then his lids drifted close again. He sighed and settled deeper into the bed.

  She exhaled in relief when he continued to slumber. She stared at the skylight and into the peeking moon until the clouds obscured it completely and then she too, succumbed to a heavy sleep.

  Chapter 13

  Sabrina woke up alone in bed. Her eyes were gritty. She had slept with her contact lens on for the first time, not daring to remove them in case Luca noticed and made the connection.

  She had forgotten to pack her eye drops and now her eyes were dry. She blinked to try to moisten them. She groped for her mobile on the night table, absently noting the return of the signal icon that had been absent when they were in the middle of the Ionian Sea yesterday.

  There was a message from Chase. She squinted. He wanted to fly out to Seirenada the day after tomorrow since his shoot in Italy would be ending earlier than anticipated. Could Sabrina extend her booking so they could spend several days together on the island and fly home to Los Angeles together?

  Sabrina hesitated. Would Luca still want to see her after the wedding? He had made it clear that it was just a casual hook-up. Heat flooded her face because last night’s sex didn’t feel casual. To her at least. He had proceeded to demolish every bit of her control, wringing her surrender with every caress of his wicked fingers, every lash of his tongue and every deep thrust of his cock. Sabrina had fallen asleep on his chest, beyond wrecked.

  They had woken up again in the wee hours of the morning to have slow, lingering sex. Luca had seemed to enjoy torturing her, denying her release until she bit his lip in frustration. He laughed darkly, pinning her with a look that was filled with hunger and something else, something seething under the surface that she didn’t want to unleash.

  “Don’t ever forget I’m the one who makes you scream, beg, and cry for it.” If his words had sounded taunting, Sabrina had been past caring. If he was intent on ruining her for all men, then he had been successful. All she wanted was the release only Luca could give her. “Say my name,” he commanded hoarsely, and through her haze of acute need she detected a hint of anger in his voice. But there had been no time to dwell on it because the minute she cried out his name, he rewarded her with the sweetest, wildest release ever.

  No wonder she overslept.

  It was nine in the morning. Sabrina never stayed in bed beyond 7 am. But today was the day. It was now or never. She would finally have her chance to meet Markos Konstantinos at the wedding. She didn’t want anything from him. Just a chance for him and his brothers to know that she existed.

  Liar! The voice in her head cried. If you didn’t want anything from him, then why cross an ocean to meet him?

  I just want closure.

  Closure? the voice derided. You want a new beginning.

  Sabrina hopped out of bed, wrapping the blanket around her. She spied several huge gunmetal gray paper bags on the couch with the stylized A stamped on them. There were other boxes of the same color, too.

  She frowned. She only needed one outfit after all. Maybe he wanted her to change for the reception?

  She knew the wedding ceremony was to take place at 11 am in the historic church at the capital and the reception was to follow at the Royal Palace. She had plenty of time to shower and change, but she didn’t have anything for her face and hair. Maybe she could ask Luca to let her go to a parlor nearby?

  She pulled out one outfit from the bag. It was a bottle-green off-shoulder silk gown. It was beautiful beyond any dress she had ever owned. She inspected the other bags, all with dresses that were more exquisite than the last. In the boxes were shoes. And even lingerie. Her cheeks heated.

  On the coffee table she spotted several more boxes, but they were smaller and were of a deep red color. She sat on the couch, an inexplicable sense of foreboding crawling up her spine. She lifted the lid on one.

  And gaped.

  In the first box lay a set of earrings and necklace studded with hundreds of diamonds. Interspersed with them were blue colored stones. Were they sapphires, she thought, reeling with shock, afraid of even touching them. She shut the lid and opened the next box. It contained a brooch in the shape of a shoe, the kind worn by wealthy ladies in 18th century Europe. The tip had an inlay of minute, multicolored stones arranged to look like a flower. The sides of the heel were also studded. The craftsmanship was astounding. The last box contained a bracelet, again linked by hundreds of diamonds with a single ruby at its clasp.

  A note was propped beside the boxes. She picked it up with an unsteady hand.

  You are to stay away from The Medeia until Markos Konstantinos has left Seirenada. A transfer has been made for you to a private villa where you can stay until your flight leaves. Your belongings will be forwarded there. You can inform Antonia once you are ready to leave the yacht.

  I told you I would give you diamonds. I keep my promises, strega.

  It’s a pity you couldn’t keep yours.

  With trembling fingers, Sabrina opened the piece of paper that accompanied the note. It was a photocopy of the letter she had sent Markos.

  Mr. Konstantinos,

  I would like to talk to you about a personal matter. You will never hear from me again if it’s your wish, but please hear me out first so you can decide.

  I will be leaving the day after the royal wedding. Perhaps we could meet at a venue of your choice.

  I am staying at The Medeia.

  Sabrina closed her eyes. At dinner when Luca had asked her if she wanted to stay in the yacht instead of the wedding, he had known. While they had been having sex last night, he knew she had gone back on her word. She sat on the edge of the bed, remorse filling her. He had been testing her. Waiting for her to come clean.

  She’d let him believe that she was nothing but a shallow, grasping woman eager to score a royal invite. If that had been her only sin, Sabrina wouldn’t feel so racked with guilt. He�
��d left thinking that her desire for him was driven by other motives. Sabrina knew were it any other man, she would never have contemplated engaging in a hook-up in exchange for a date to the royal wedding. But she had used Luca, rationalizing her attraction as her means to an end. At least Luca had been honest from the start. He wanted her for a fling. Period.

  Why had she continued with this deception? Her previous email to Markos Konstantinos, more explicit with the reason she was seeking him out, had remain unanswered. Why was she forcing herself on someone who didn’t want to have anything to do with her when she could be with someone who did?

  She had been blinded by her need for validation, her hope to belong, and so she had sabotaged her short-lived holiday romance with Luca by going back on her word.

  If he had become his father, then I’ve become my mother.

  She took a shower, moving mechanically. She welcomed the various aches in her body, every single one of them proof that he had wanted her. She was loath to remove his scent from her skin, not knowing when she’d ever see him again. But she had to. Before she left the principality.

  His rejection was a risk she was willing to take. It would cut her, but she was not a little girl anymore, making do with crumbs of affection from her mother’s obligatory visits. Visits her grandmother insisted upon. She had overheard her taking her mother to task for failing to show up every so often.

  This time Sabrina would take matters in her own hands. Take a chance. If he didn’t want her anymore, she’d live with it. But she couldn’t live with the knowledge that she hadn’t tried, hadn’t risked anything because of her fears.

  But first she would have to figure out where to go to regroup. And text Chase that she would indeed be staying a bit longer on the island.

  Her stomach rumbled as she tried to find her way to the galley. No sense leaving on an empty belly when it might take her some time to find a place with a vacancy.

  Chef Luigi, at least it was who Sabrina thought the heavy-set man was, was visibly startled to see her in the galley, but he quickly recovered his composure and greeted her with reserve.