Chapter Five
The hotel restaurant was filled with the comfortable buzz of conversation and the clink of cutlery and china as guests breakfasted. Alone by the window sat Stella, twisting her bangle while she stared across the piazza.
Today she wore blue jeans and a white shirt, her hair in a high ponytail that shimmered glossily in the morning sunlight.
Gio knew if he were closer he’d see threads of russet and dark gold amongst the rich brown. So many times yesterday those hints of warm colour had made him want to touch, wondering if her hair was as soft as it looked.
Her eyes had been dark and tempting. He’d wanted to taste her lips, discover if they could possibly be as sweet as he imagined.
Yet she wasn’t a soft woman. Even if he hadn’t known Barbieri had planted her in his hotel, Gio would have recognised that. There was a self-reliance about her, a caution, that said she was no one’s fool.
He was the fool. Last night outside her room he’d wanted to give her what she invited with those yearning looks and pouting lips. He’d almost kissed her, even knowing it was a game she played.
Yet his desire was real, building from that initial blast of awareness until it became an almost irresistible itch beneath his skin. A need that common sense couldn’t quench.
It had given him inordinate satisfaction to disappoint her and walk away.
But the joke was on him because he hadn’t been able to get her out of his mind all night.
He’d spent hours trying to work out what, precisely, she was after.
When he’d finally drifted into sleep he’d met her in his dreams. In those he hadn’t walked away but had delighted in discovering all there was to know about her body and her ability to please him.
His jeans tightened as he remembered how thoroughly she’d pleasured him.
Sadly a dream lover did nothing to erase his hunger.
‘She’s been here a long time,’ murmured the manager, joining him near the doorway. ‘She finished eating ages ago.’
Gio watched her sip her coffee. ‘She’s waiting for someone or something.’
Him, obviously. Despite everything, or perhaps because of the way she’d managed to get under his skin, the thought pleased him. He looked forward to their next encounter.
‘Possibly. Or she could be gathering information. She’s been very friendly to the staff this morning.’
Gio watched her smile at a waiter who’d obviously stopped to ask if she needed anything.
Even in profile her smile was bright, making him remember the full-wattage effect of her grin.
Something clenched inside him. He told himself it wasn’t anger that she used that same smile to win the waiter over.
Whatever she said it was more than an order for more coffee.
As if reading his mind the manager said, ‘Don’t worry. The staff are discreet. They’d never share anything they shouldn’t.’
Gio shoved his hands into his trouser pockets, disliking his urge to stride over and make her look at him instead of the impressionable young waiter.
He told himself it was because he’d spent all yesterday trying to get her trust and prise her secrets free, with no success. She was too canny to believe she’d won him over yet. His only solace was thinking how frustrated she must have been last night when he’d left her.
She’d have to try harder if it was pillow talk she wanted.
‘You’ve spoken to the staff?’
‘Only to find out what she’s been asking.’ At Gio’s raised eyebrow, the manager continued. ‘Nothing obviously questionable. She’s been very friendly, complimenting the servers and asking about their backgrounds, getting to know them.’
The waiter left Stella’s table and, at a discreet gesture from the manager, approached them.
‘The lady by the window with her back to us, what was she talking about?’
The young man’s smile faded as if fearing he’d done something wrong.
‘Nothing much. The fine day. Sites she might visit in Rome. Whether I liked living in the city.’ He looked between Gio and his manager.
‘She was impressed by the service and how happy the staff seem. She asked if it was a good place to work and why.’
‘Thanks, Roberto.’ The manager nodded. ‘It’s excellent that she’s impressed. That’s all for now.’ When the waiter headed to another table he said, ‘She asked something similar of other staff members.’
Gio frowned. ‘She didn’t come all this way to find out why we have motivated staff.’
The manager nodded. ‘There’s something else you need to see. Have you got time now?’
At Gio’s nod he led the way to his office and straight to his computer. A few clicks of the mouse and he rose from his seat, indicating Gio should take his place.
‘Security alerted me to this.’
Gio focused on the screen. It showed footage from security cameras on several floors, time stamps showing the early hours of this morning.
A figure emerged from the end of a corridor.
As it approached the camera he recognised Stella in black yoga pants and a long-sleeved dark top, her hair caught up in a haphazard bun.
Something snared in Gio’s chest. Her clothes clung, revealing an alluring body. With her hair looking as if she’d hurriedly scooped it up while she took a bath, he felt decidedly like a voyeur.
If she’d come to his room looking like that last night he wouldn’t have stopped to think but would have hauled her through the doorway and into his arms.
The realisation made him frown as she disappeared from one screen and appeared climbing stairs in another. Then she appeared in another corridor, then another.
‘What’s she doing?’
Her pace was steady and while he had the impression she was interested in her surroundings, she didn’t pause to admire the furnishings or architectural details.
‘Just a second.’ His manager pointed over his shoulder to another screen. ‘Here.’
She emerged onto the fourth floor and Gio’s pulse quickened, for now he knew where she was going.
A few paces down the corridor she slowed then stopped before double doors leading to the passage which became an enclosed bridge to the next building.
The building that housed his new corporate headquarters.
Gio swore under his breath as she reached for the door and found it locked. She looked up as if expecting to spot a sign, then scanned the wall, discovering the security keypad. For a long time she stood there, finally turning slowly away.
He leaned forward. ‘Where’s she going?’
‘Just to the end of the corridor and back. Then the same on the next floor. Then to the gym.’
He scowled. She paced every corridor, going to all the public spaces, except those on the ground floor where reception staff would have seen her.
The manager pulled up another image. There was Stella on a treadmill, jogging steadily, expression unreadable.
Gio reached out and fast-forwarded the film. Forty minutes later she turned off the treadmill and stepped down, bending into a series of deep stretches.
That sense of voyeurism strengthened. Now he wasn’t watching her secretly explore his hotel. He was enjoying the intimate view of Stella. Her face was flushed and damp, strands of long hair sticking to her throat, breasts rising and falling rapidly from exertion.
When she bent her loose top gaped and he saw the swell of her breasts and the dark valley of her cleavage.
She was beautiful, even more attractive now, damp with sweat and devoid of make-up. He could almost smell her tantalising female scent. He watched her bend and twist, flexible and fit, and couldn’t help imagining her warm and rumpled, in a lover’s bed.
Disdain knotted his belly. Disdain for himself and his visceral attraction to this conniving woman. And for her with her underhand ways.
She might be a corporate spy yet he felt guilty, watching her like this, guilty for his response.
Gio shoved the chair back. ‘What did she do then?’ He didn’t want to watch any more.
‘Nothing. She went to her room and didn’t emerge until breakfast. She’s been in the restaurant since, eating, checking her phone, and talking to the staff.’
Despite his best intentions, Gio found his gaze straying towards the monitor, watching Stella stroll across the empty gym, hips swaying, as if she didn’t have a care in the world.
‘Good work. Excellent work, thank you.’ He rolled his shoulders, feeling their tight set. He could do with a workout himself. Or something else to get rid of this tension.
He issued instructions for increased security then got to his feet. Time to face Ms Barbieri.
As Gio approached her table Stella put down her phone. He surveyed the screen, hoping to see something useful, but it was blank. She was too careful to let anyone see what she’d been doing.
‘Good morning. Is this seat taken?’
Her head jerked around, eyes dilating. She smiled as if genuinely pleased to see him.
Of course she is. You’re her target.
‘Gio!’ A less suspicious man would read the husky edge to her voice as eagerness. He suspected it was tiredness from her nocturnal activities. ‘I didn’t expect to see you.’
Her smile sparkled. Gio curved his own lips in response, trying to hide the angry clench of his jaw.
A waiter appeared and Gio ordered coffee.
‘You’re not breakfasting this morning? I can recommend the food. Mine was very good.’
Of course it was. He insisted on the best.
‘Coffee will do.’
He didn’t have the stomach for food and for that he blamed her. He must have revealed something of his mood because she paused, tilting her head as she watched him. Much as she’d considered the security keypad at the entrance to his corporate headquarters last night.
The memory made his gut churn with distaste and it took every effort to hide his feelings.
‘You didn’t sleep well?’ She sounded solicitous and that annoyed him too.
‘I had things to deal with. You?’
She shook her head. ‘I should have, after all that walking we did. But I had trouble getting to sleep. Isn’t that stupid?’
‘Not if you had things on your mind. Work, maybe?’