When She Fell for the Billionaire

by Suzette de Borja

  Her skin prickled, and Sabrina had the feeling she was being watched. She twisted sideways, glancing to her right. Her gaze collided with Markos Konstantinos. He was wearing tinted glasses, but Sabrina knew he had been observing her. He made no move to acknowledge her. She turned back to the stage. Luca was not beside him.

  She wasn’t allowed time to ponder on whether the friends had healed their rift because her attention was drawn to the front of the ballroom.

  Luca strode to the podium on the stage, looking elegantly divine in his black coat tail. Sabrina’s womb clenched. He said something that made the hundreds of guests in the ballroom laugh, but it sailed right over her head. He could be talking in Greek or Farsi for all she cared. She lapped up the sight of him like a kitten who had gone without milk for a day.

  He too had a video presentation, showcasing the sumptuous interiors Casa Argenti had contributed to the new look of the hotel.

  “The design sensibility is current and sophisticated but still derives inspiration from the hotel chain’s Greek roots.” He was speaking directly to his audience.

  I’m here, Sabrina thought. Look at me.

  The display on the screen featured some lounging chairs by a sunny beach with blue skies. The bright sunlight illuminated the Mediterranean scene and the glare fell on the tables near the stage.

  He continued talking, his eyes panning the crowd, trying to engage his audience. He had a half-smile on his beautiful lips then it froze.

  Sabrina’s breathing seized as he stared at her for a few seconds, then he averted his gaze and continued with his speech as if he hadn’t seen her.

  To her left, Hector Theodorou was shaking his head ruefully. “And I thought this was my chance to be your date.”

  Had the old man seen the exchange?

  “I came here with Chase Latimer.”

  Applause resounded around the ballroom.

  Theodorou laughed knowingly. “He is not my competition.” He tipped his head to the stage. “He is.”

  Luca had finished his talk. He shot Sabrina an enigmatic look before he walked off the stage.

  He’d come to her. Sabrina knew this with certainty. She had to make it easy for him.

  Heart pounding, she excused herself to the tycoon, saying she had to go to the ladies’ room.

  Theodorou sighed. “Off you go, Miss Connelly. I’m a gracious loser.”

  Impulsively, Sabrina kissed him on his papery cheek. “Thank you.”

  She ducked her head, wending her way between tables to the nearest exit. She pushed open the doors and had just taken a few steps to the corridor, trying to orient herself, when she heard him.

  “Strega.”

  Her heart skipped a beat. Her skin felt warm, like she had too much sun. Shit. I’m not ready for this. I’m not ready to say goodbye if all he ever really wanted was just a holiday fling. She dragged air into her oxygen-deprived lungs to fortify herself for their encounter.

  Then she faced him and it was like stimuli overload. His crisp cologne assaulted her, conjuring images of rumpled linens, entangled limbs, and pleasured moans.

  The air, which had already been electric, short circuited. Sabrina didn’t know who moved first, but they were in each other’s arms before she realized it. They couldn’t tolerate any amount of distance. Their mouths fused, tongues tangling, their arms plastered around each other.

  The muted sound of clapping broke them apart.

  Luca’s hand wrapped around her wrist. He was breathing heavily. He pulled her through a door which led to a narrow corridor behind the ballroom.

  There were food trolleys lined taking up one side of the walls. It was a service corridor.

  He pushed her against a wall beside one of the tall metal trolleys so they were shielded from instant discovery if anyone came in. He pulled down her panties to mid thigh. She unzipped his pants. She was soaking wet. He was rock hard. They moaned into each other’s mouth as they touched each other frantically, almost crudely. Sabrina wrapped a leg around Luca’s waist, allowing his hand more freedom. Keeping a firm grip, she stroked him in rhythm to his fingers. They came fast and hard, the threat of discovery adding a dangerous, delicious rush.

  Sabrina sagged against the wall while Luca pulled a handkerchief from his pants and wiped himself. He zipped himself up, balled the fabric, threw it in a bin at the end of the corridor, and slumped beside her against the wall.

  “Hello,” he said.

  “Ciao,” she replied.

  He extended his hand. She took it.

  They made their way out of the hotel to a back exit without saying anything to each other. The security staff recognized him and spoke into his hand-held radio. Within minutes, Luca’s car pulled up.

  “The marina,” Luca said to the driver.

  “William Fraser was never my lover,” Sabrina blurted out once the privacy divider was up. “I was there that night to check up on him as a favor to a friend. We were afraid he was going to hurt himself. Nothing more.” The need to tell him all was imperative. “Chase Latimer was and remains my best friend. It didn’t work out back in college, but we have remained close to each other. It’s just friendship between us. Nothing more.”

  She blabbered on. “And Hector Theodorou, he really wasn’t my date tonight. I’m not a gold digger, but I’m afraid I’m a gatecrasher,” she finished in a small voice. “I used him to get inside the launch.”

  Luca chuckled softly. “I’m sure the old stronzo didn’t mind in the least,” he murmured, his tone wry. His eyes turned grave in the dimmed interior of the car. “You didn’t have to tell me any of this, strega. It doesn’t make a difference.”

  “It doesn’t?”

  “We’ve always known how it was going to play out.”

  “We did?” she squeaked, because suddenly the air in the car had become thick and rife and Luca’s eyes were boring right into her, shining with some emotion that made her chest seize.

  He took her hand and ran a thumb over her palm, tracing the lines carefully as if he was a fortune teller. “The first time I saw you, I knew.”

  Sabrina drew a shuddering breath. Who would’ve guessed her palm could be such an erogenous zone? Her girly parts were tingling. Again. “Knew what?”

  He narrowed the space between their bodies by an inch. “That you were going to be mine.”

  “You did?”

  “Just as I knew,” he whispered, his eyes glinting fierce and tender, “I was going to be yours.” He leaned in, then his lips touched hers.

  And with his kiss, Sabrina knew it was just as he had said.

  Chapter 23

  The yacht was bustling with activity when they arrived. Luca explained that extra crew had been hired for tomorrow’s fundraising party. Antonia greeted her warmly.

  Sabrina fired off an SMS to Chase, telling him she was with Luca and not to worry. She also added that he had been invited to tomorrow’s event. Chase responded quickly. He wouldn’t miss it for the world.

  “Won’t they be looking for you at the launch?” Sabrina watched as Luca started divesting himself of his formal attire. They were back in the skylight room. She had kicked off her sandals and was sitting, lotus position, on the bed.

  “Raphael’s there. He’ll handle the socializing. He knew I was going to go straight here after my talk to oversee the details for tomorrow’s party.”

  She smiled when she saw his quirky socks. This time they had stripes. He had stripped down to his underwear, socks, and a chunky silver band around one wrist.

  “What are you smiling at, witch?”

  “Your thing with your weird colored socks.”

  He knelt by the edge of the bed and peered into her eyes. “I have a thing for weirdly colored things.”

  “Uh huh.”

  “They make me feel,” he paused, cocking his head as if the air around them could give him the right word,“things.”

  Sabrina grinned. “What kind of things?”

  He grasped her hand and brough
t it between his legs. “This kind.”

  “Poor baby,” she crooned as she unzipped his pants and freed the hard, hot length of him from his underwear. He hissed as she kissed the tip of his shaft then let out a guttural moan as she took him deeper. His thumb stroked her cheek. Sabrina glanced up and saw him watching her with a heavy-lidded gaze. His hips flexed, and he cursed hoarsely, fisting her hair.

  “On your back,” he ordered, pulling out of her mouth with a popping sound.

  She flopped on the bed while he bent and reached for his pants pooled around his ankles. He fumbled around, produced a condom, and sheated himself in record time. He hiked her dress past her hips, slid her panties to one side, and was inside her with one smooth thrust.

  They moaned in unison.

  Luca reached down between them, his fingers circling with delicious pressure on the sensitized spot between her legs. Sabrina came violently, her torso arching off the bed and a keening cry escaping her lips. Luca grunted, spread her legs wider and higher, and pounded into her even as the aftershocks of her release still gripped her. He collapsed, panting, beside her.

  Sabrina woke up with Luca’s arm snaked around her waist. She ran her fingers lightly across the scruff on his jaw. She noticed the dark circles under his eyes and realized he must have gotten little sleep from the night at the emergency room and today’s launch.

  She stared at the sky through the circular glass panel. There was no moon tonight. She sighed. She was loath to move to check the time and disturb Luca. The fundraising party tomorrow would be their last night together before she had to fly back to Los Angeles with Chase.

  “Stay,” his gravelly voice rumbled in her ear. He moved languorously, like a jungle cat rousing from sleep. His hand caressed her hip.

  She didn’t know if he was referring to tonight or her stay on the island. She was hesitant about raising the issue. Afraid, more like it.

  “I saw him there.”

  He nuzzled her neck. “Who?” he said, distracted.

  “Markos.”

  She felt him grow rigid. He pulled away, put his hands behind his head, and stared at the same glass panel she had stared at a few minutes ago. “We haven’t talked since the reception.”

  She waited for him to say more. And waited.

  Until she couldn’t. “I’ve put a wedge between you and your friend.”

  Luca’s countenance became grim. “Good. It’s going to stay there for a long time.”

  She could hear the hurt in his gruff voice. “You should talk to him.”

  “After the way that bastard behaved?” he spat out.

  “He was just protecting his family.”

  “You’re part of that family too, strega.” His chest heaved as he sighed. “I will, but only so that he can locate Eleni. She flew out of Seirenada yesterday. She has to be made accountable for her actions.”

  “I have my answers already, Luca. I don’t need anything from them.” It would take time for her to process and absorb the painful truth about her past, but she would get there eventually.

  He scowled. “You’re a Konstantinos, whether Markos likes it or not.”

  “It doesn’t matter. The day after tomorrow, I’m going back to California. They won’t hear from me again. You can fix things between you and Markos.”

  His head whipped to her. “What the hell are you saying?” He reared up on the bed, as if a switch from sleepy to angry had been flipped. “What about me? Will I hear from you again, or was I just a holiday fuck after all?” His lip curled derisively. “It’s really no more than I deserve, the way I set out to treat you at the start.”

  “It’s nothing like that at all.” She willed the tremor out of her voice. “It’s never going to work. You’re based in Italy and I live in another country. It’s better this way,” she said with forced conviction. “We say goodbye before…before my attachment to you grows.”

  “The hell I will!” he rasped, looming over her like an angry god. “Didn’t you hear what I said earlier? You’re mine, strega, and I’m yours. I’m not going to let you go.”

  I’m his. He’s mine. Her heart ached at the sweetness of those words. His face blurred before her.

  “I made you cry again.” He swiped a thumb across her cheek.

  “It’s that kind of crying I like best,” she sniffed.

  His lips pulled wide in a sexy grin. “Is there any other kind with me around?”

  She rolled her eyes. Gorgeous, so-full-of-it, panty-dropping jerk.

  He chuckled, as if reading her thoughts. He dropped a kiss on her forehead. “We’ll make it work. I have a plan.”

  “A plan?”

  “The yacht will be my office. I travel a lot anyway, so it won’t make that much difference if I have my base on it. We can sail to all the best sea glass beaches in the world so you can go hunting to your heart’s content. How does that sound?”

  “We’ve only known each other for just a few days, and already you’re asking me to move in to your yacht? To your family slash corporate yacht?” It sounded incredible, and sweet, and awkward. “Isn’t it a bit premature?”

  “The yacht will take a year at the least to build. By then, I’ll have removed all apprehensions you have about our relationship. While waiting, I can fly to Los Angeles every month to see you.”

  “Build a yacht?” He wasn’t making sense.

  “I’ll ask the Jagers to build me my own yacht.”

  “The Jagers?”

  “You’ve met them. Wolf and Johann.”

  She nodded.

  “Their company built the Argenti.” His hand drifted up to cup her breast. “My personal yacht is not going to be as big though. But it will still have a helipad. So we can come and go anytime we’d like to.”

  “A helipad,” she said weakly as he swung a leg over her, trapping her between his thighs . “Nice.”

  “And you’ll have your own studio,” he added, his hands wrapping around her wrists. “so you can work in between ports.” He pulled her arms above her head, rendering her helpless and so, so excited. “ How does that sound?”

  He was making her head spin and her heart sing. “Umm…nice?” she said, because he was smug and arrogant and so sure about them. And she wanted to bolt out of bed, lock herself in the bathroom, and squee until all the giddiness in her heart had been squeed out.

  “Nice?” he said in a mock growl. “That’s all you can say?”

  “Actually,” she said, her smile wobbly, “your plan sounds perfect.”

  “My plan is perfect,” he quipped maddeningly. “ Even the name of the yacht is perfect.”

  She quirked an eyebrow.

  “It’s going to be named Strega. What else?”

  Sabrina laughed delightedly, and Luca looked like a proud little boy who had done a magic trick and was happy about pleasing the crowd.

  “It’s a very good name for a yacht,” she said, cupping his jaw. “This witch is very pleased. Allow me to show you how much.”

  She drew his head down, captured his mouth, and went about bewitching him. He gave the response of a man completely under her spell, body and soul. He hid nothing and stared into her the moment he was most vulnerable.

  Look at me. Look what you do to me, his eyes seemed to say as he shattered inside her. I am completely under your power.

  Sabrina welcomed his delicious, heavy weight as he collapsed on top of her. She wrapped her arms around his back and squeezed him tight. In this moment, in this room, in his arms–everything was as perfect as it could be.

  Chapter 24

  Markos picked up on the eight ring just as Luca was about to hang up. He was in the business center with some key Argenti staff who had been flown in to help with the fundraising party. He signaled Olivia to take over while he stepped out of the room and entered the still-empty salon next door to conduct the call in private.

  “Luca,” his friend answered tersely.

  “What the hell were you playing at by not telling me Sabrina was
your sister?”

  “We still don’t know for sure,” Markos replied curtly, “unless a DNA test is done.”

  “You heard your mother.” Luca couldn’t believe Markos was still in denial. He only had to look at Sabrina, then in the mirror, to see the evidence staring back at him.

  “If she is who she says she is, she’d be willing to undergo a DNA test.”

  “This makes for quite a change. At least you’re not the one on the receiving end of another paternity claim,” Luca drawled sarcastically. Having come to know Sabrina over the past few days, Luca knew she wouldn’t be keen to undergo one.

  Markos swore. “You don’t know how many desperate, conniving women are just out for money.”

  “Sabrina only wanted to meet you and your brothers,” he ground out harshly, not caring about his implication with regards to Sabrina’s motives or perhaps just a tad defensive that he thought exactly the same thing when he first met her. “She’s not after anything else.”

  “I don’t care about her motives. Whether she’s after money or out to discredit my dead father who can’t defend himself against her accusations is of no matter, but she won’t be acknowledged as a Konstantinos until I have incontrovertible proof.”

  Luca stopped pacing and dropped on a couch. Accusations? He wanted to point out his own mother was the one who had revealed the horrifying truth about Sabrina’s paternity. And then with sudden insight, he realized that Markos’ refusal to acknowledge Sabrina’s claim was not because he thought it wasn’t true but that Markos didn’t want to admit his own father had done something unspeakable. A father that Markos had looked up to, much as Luca had idolized his own.

  He sighed, rubbing a hand on his nape.

  “I apologize for not telling you the truth at the start,” Markos said rather reluctantly. “I was supposed to, but you went on about not wanting to find out more about her and me…”