The Sexy Enemy: A Fake Relationship Romance (Italian Nights Series Book 3)

21. Alessandro

Today has been a hell of a day, and I’m looking forward to a drink and maybe some stress relief if I play my cards right with Natalia. I hear music playing, and as soon as I open the door, the vibrations hit me. Did I forget I was having a party? I throw my bag by the front door, shuck off my suit jacket, and hang it on the hanger, then loosen my tie. I still as I stare at what is happening in the kitchen. Natalia has a glass of wine in her hand, leaning in as Marco slides his finger through a sauce and holds it out for her to taste. Then I watch in slow motion as Natalia’s lips wrap around his finger.

“How does that taste?” Marco asks.

“Delicious,” Natalia says, then bites her bottom lip and flutters her lashes at him.

Is she fucking serious?

In my home?

With my chef?

“What the fuck is happening?” I ask them both.

Marco flinches at my tone, while Natalia slowly slides around on the chair and grins at me.

“Looks like my husband is home.” She giggles, taking a sip of her wine.

My feet have taken over and I am rushing toward Marco, who is backing away from me. I grab his shirt and push him up against the wall. “I warned you this morning not to touch my fucking wife,” I yell at him.

“I’m sorry, sir,” Marco says. His face pales, waiting for me to clock him one, and I want to but it’s not worth it.

“Get the fuck out of my house, you’re fired,” I say, pushing away from him as I run my hands through my hair. Marco high-tails it out of the kitchen and my home without a second glance toward Natalia.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Natalia questions me.

“Me? What the hell is wrong with me? I walk in on my wife practically fellating my chef’s finger,” I bite back at her.

“I was tasting his sauce,” she shouts at me.

“I bet you were.” The next thing I know, a glass of wine is in my face, and I’m drenched.

“Fuck you, Conti.”

“You wish I would. That’s why you had to fuck yourself today in my bed.”

Natalia gasps. “What did you say?”

I wave my hand in the air. “Security cameras, can’t be too careful who you let into your home.” Natalia stares at me, her blue doe eyes blinking slowly as her sluggish mind tries to process it. “I told you last night, if you need some relief, my dick is only too happy to help out.”

“Never.”

“Never is a long time.”

“I’d rather fuck myself than fuck you, least I know I’d get off,” she spits back at me.

Is she seriously telling me that I haven’t satisfied her? “You told me in Vegas you had never come so much, so please, I know how to fuck and fuck well.” I scoff.

“I was drunk.”

“And what about Paris?” I push.

“Drunk there, too.”

“Seems like you have a drinking problem, Fiorenzo,” I tease.

“No, I don’t. Just need to be drunk to fuck you.” She hisses.

“If that’s what you have to tell yourself, but we all know the truth comes out when you’re drunk, and the truth is you want me.”

She flips me off because she knows I’m right. “Can’t believe you fired your chef,” she says, changing the subject.

“Hell yeah, I did. He was touching you. I told him not to touch you.”

Those sapphire-blue eyes narrow on me. “Maybe I wanted him to touch me.” She smirks.

“You can have as many men as you want touching you once you tell your brothers to drop out of the deal. Until then, you’re mine,” I tell her.

“Fuck you.”

“You’ve said that numerous times now, it’s getting boring.”

“You’re an asshole.” She storms off toward the front door, grabs her bag in the foyer, and walks right out the door.

Fuck, where is she going?

I make chase, she’s digging around in her handbag for her keys, and it takes her a couple of moments to get them as she appears more tipsy than I first realize.

“What the hell do you think you are doing?” I yell, snatching the keys from her fingers.

“I don’t want to be near you anymore,” she snarls.

“You’re drunk, Natalia. You can’t drive,” I say, waving the keys in my hand. Those blue eyes land on the keys, then on my pissed-off face as realization dawns on her.

“Fuck,” she curses, dropping her bag and stumbling back a couple of steps. “Fuck … I … I would never,” she cries, shaking her head, staring at her keys dangling from my hand. “Maybe I’m not strong enough,” she says, looking at me as tears fall down her cheeks.

Pocketing the keys, I take a couple of steps forward and cup her face, wiping her tears from her cheeks. “I think you’re strong enough.”

“You’re only saying that because you don’t want to lose your toy.”

There’s an element of truth there, but also, there’s a part of me that wants to see where this goes, this game not the relationship.

“I don’t mind having you around.” She raises a brow at me. “Even if the house isn’t as quiet as it was before you turned up.” This pulls the tiniest of smiles from her.

“And you had a chef and used to win at poker,” she quips, which makes me laugh. She’s not wrong.

“Did you seriously watch me today?” she asks.

“Yes. I’m not going to apologize for it either. And it was fucking hot.”

“It was?” she questions me.

I frown. “Have you never touched yourself in front of your partner before?” She shakes her head. “You really have been dating dumbasses,” I tell her. “Watching you come was the highlight of my day,” I confess to her.

She frowns. “It was.” I nod. “And did you …?”

I shake my head. “I was at work, but I wanted to.”

“You did?” Again, she seems surprised.

“You may be a Fiorenzo, but I still want to fuck you,” I tell her honestly. She rolls her eyes, I can see the disbelief in them. “Does Paris ring a bell? I fucked you there when you asked.”

“True,” she muses as she sways on her feet.

“How much did you have to drink tonight?” I ask her.

“Enough to calm my nerves,” she tells me.

“Nervous about what?”

“You,” she says, looking right at me.

“I may be an asshole in business, Natalia, but you’re safe here,” I try to reassure her.

She looks up at me with glistening eyes. “How am I meant to know that?”

Our entire lives, we have been told to hate each other for a reason our fathers never wish to talk about, so she’s right in being nervous. I hold out my hand for her. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”

She stares at my hand for a couple of beats before taking it, and we walk back inside hand in hand. At the table, I let go of her hand and pull out a chair for her. She gives me a little frown in confusion at my manners—probably didn’t think I had any. I walk back into the kitchen, grab the lobsters, and place the plates down in front of each of us. A bowl of salad is already in the middle of the table. Lastly, I grab a bottle of wine before taking a seat.

I hold up the bottle for her, but she shakes her head. “I think I’ve had enough,” she says. I nod and pour myself a large glass. “I can’t thank you enough for stopping me out there. I can’t believe how stupid I was,” she mumbles, not looking at me.

“Unfortunately, it was a scene I was used to with my …” I start to confess before stopping myself. Natalia looks up, waiting for me to continue, but instead, I shake my head, trying to dissipate the memories. “That story is for another night,” I tell her before digging into my dinner. Thankfully, she doesn’t push me on it, and we can enjoy the meal, even if it’s a little cold.

“How was work?” she asks, breaking the silence.

“Work was work. Except I had a visit from my father,” I tell her.

Natalia stills. “Seems like it went okay, your lip isn’t split again.” Her eyes fall to my still-healing lip before looking back up at me.

“He wasn’t happy about you moving in with me.” I’ll leave out the Fiorenzo whore comment.

“Fair. My family weren’t happy either,” she confesses, which surprises me that despite their objections, she still came.

“Yet here you are?” I smirk.

“Yet here I am,” she repeats, raising a brow at me. “What else did your father say?” she asks, changing the subject.

“Nothing more. That was all before he stormed out.”

Her brows pull together. “Why do you work for your father if things are … that tense?”

“Because I’m all he has left. Dario is gone, Romeo lives in New York. He doesn’t have anyone else.”

“Seems like through his own doing?”

She’s not wrong, as I shrug. “True, but you can’t change family, can you?”

“No, you can’t,” she says quietly. Silence falls between us for a couple of moments before she speaks again. “I can only imagine how hard it must be for you and your family to have lost your brother like you did. I’m so sorry,” she says softly, reaching out and touching my hand. Instantly, I pull it away from her, hating the pity that is in her eyes as she stares at me. I’m not good with my emotions, none of us are.

“My family was a mess before Dario’s passing.”

Silence falls between us again as we continue to finish our meal.

“Guess we should make some ground rules if you’re intending on staying because neither one of us is going to give in.” Natalia nods. “Since you announced to the world we are in love, flirtation with other men won’t be tolerated.”

Natalia crosses her arms. “Nothing happened with Marco.”

“And my cousin?”

Natalia rolls her eyes. “He made it easy to get under your skin.” She smirks.

“Val’s a good guy. After all this is over, if you want to pursue something then that’s fine, but with my ring on your finger, no,” I tell her.

“I see no ring on my finger,” she says, waving her naked hand in front of me.

“Guess we better change that. I’ll arrange for a jeweler to come to the house, and you can pick whatever you want.”

“I have my own jeweler,” she states.

“Fine, send me the details and I’ll get Martina to pay for it.”

“Who’s Martina?” she asks.

“My assistant, my everything.” Her brows raise high.

“If I can’t sleep with other people that means you can’t either, especially your assistant,” she adds.

I almost choke on my wine. Why the hell would she think I would want to sleep with Martina? Then I realize she’s only met Paola. “That girl you met was a temp, she’s not my real assistant. Martina has worked for the family for twenty years,” I explain to her. She looks slightly relieved. “Jealous?” I tease.

“No, as if,” she quips as her brows pull together, which makes me laugh. “I don’t have your number to text you,” she adds.

Grabbing my phone from the table, I ask her for her number and send her a text. Her phone lights up, and she sends back a flipping me off emoji which makes me smile.

“Right, so we agree no seeing other people while this standoff is going on,” I ask her.

“What happens if this thing goes on for months?” She’s right. It’s already been weeks since Vegas and we are no closer to this deal being finalized. “One of us is going to crack and neither one of us wants a public scandal.” True.

“I keep offering my dick.” I grin. She doesn’t look happy with that answer. I’m going to regret this but … “If you aren’t willing to sleep with me, then I know somewhere we can go that no one knows about, that the press will never find us, where we can discreetly have fun.”

Natalia’s eyes widen. “Where?”

Don’t seem so excited. I shake my head. “I’ve signed an NDA. Let me sort something out this week and then I’ll let you know.”

“Mysterious.” She grins.

“Trust me, it’s even better than you could ever imagine.” I grin.

“I’m intrigued.”

“Good.” I smirk as I take another sip of my wine.

“It’s a sex thing, that’s what we’re talking about, right?” she pushes, which has me bursting out laughing.

“Yeah, Natalia, it’s a sex thing.”

“Now I’m really intrigued,” she says, leaning forward.

I raise a brow at her, she has my attention. “What has you intrigued?”

“The thought of a place where you can have fun without worry.”

Wow. She has no idea how spot-on she is with that statement. That is exactly what The Paradise Club is.

“Do you worry when you have fun?” I question her.

Natalia fidgets with the napkin. “The number of eyes on me means I can never relax. No matter where I am, there is always a lens pointed directly at me. And if I can’t see it, it doesn’t mean it’s not there. The last thing I need is someone with a long lens getting images of me frolicking naked on a yacht, let alone getting video of me screwing someone on a deserted beach or something,” she confesses.

“Do you like frolicking naked?” I ask.

She glares at me. “Maybe, never been able to.”

“You’re more than welcome to frolic naked around here.” I grin.

“Like I said, eyes are always on me.” Her comment makes me laugh because she’s right, my eyes would most definitely be on her all right.

“You’re safe here. I have the best security, people won’t get photos of you in here. Does that mean you’ve never had sex in public?” I ask.

She rolls her eyes. “What do you think? I’m not about making a sex tape.”

“Poor little rich girl, can’t have sex in public,” I tease.

Natalia pokes her tongue out at me. “Laugh all you want, but as stupid as it sounds it’s the freedom I crave,” she confesses.

“You didn’t have to be a public figure.”

“You think I chose this life. You do remember who I am, right? It’s not like being famous because your parents are rich or famous, and then you seek this socialite life. There was no other option for me because of my title. I couldn’t have a normal job. My life has been predestined from the moment I was born,” she explains.

“What would you have been if you weren’t a princess?” I ask her, genuinely curious.

Natalia looks up at me with those bright sapphire-blue eyes. “That’s the thing, I have no idea. I know I live in this privileged bubble, so I guess I’ve never been exposed to the possibilities outside of that, or I knew there would never be any because of who I was.”

Wasn’t expecting this level of honesty from her. “You seem to do a lot of good with your charities, a lot more than most privileged people, much more than I have ever done.”

Natalia gives me a small smile. “I like making a difference. It’s so much more rewarding than writing a cheque to see the people impacted by what we give. Like Lilly’s Place for example, my sister-in-law’s charity. Saving women from being trafficked and helping them regain their identity after suffering some of the most horrific things by the cruelest of people. Seeing them go on to thrive when they didn’t think they had any hope, is, I don’t know, amazing,” she tells me, her emotion shining through, her entire face lighting up as she talks about these women.

“They are very lucky to have someone who cares,” I say honestly, placing my hand on hers. She stares down at it before pulling it away from me, just like I had done earlier.

“Wow, this was an interesting first date.” She chuckles, breaking the emotional tension between us.

“First date?”

She waves her hands in the air. “Probably more of a business meeting than a date, I guess.”

Maybe it was. “More like a meeting on how to ruin my life.”

“Did you just make a joke?” She grins.

“I can be funny as well as handsome and well endowed.”

“Oh my gosh, was that another joke? What is happening? You forgot to mention, stubborn, an asshole, and sore loser to poker,” she adds.

“Oh my gosh, did the princess just make a joke, too?” I tease, mocking her. She flips me off which has us both bursting out laughing.

“And by the way, I’m not trying to ruin your life, just inconveniencing it.”

“You’re doing a good job.”

“I aim to please,” she says, smiling at me.

“If you wanted to please me you would …” I start, but she shuts me down before I even finish that sentence.

“I’m not sleeping with you.”

I shrug and finish the rest of my wine as we both smile at each other.

“I’m going to clean up. Why don’t you go have a shower and sort out your little problem,” she says, standing up and grabbing her plate before grabbing mine.

“I’ll leave the door open if you want to watch again.” I chuckle as I push back my chair and get up from the table. Natalia glares at me, but this time, I don’t feel any anger behind it.