Chapter Three #2
Other than to salvage her friendship with Matteo, this whole trip had been to prove to her parents and herself that she could handle life. That meant not just physically but emotionally too, including dealing with lying ex-boyfriends and their hot-as-sin brothers.
“I can’t,” she said.
“Why not?”
“I can’t leave without talking to Matteo, after coming this far.
” It wasn’t a complete lie. Matteo had been such a large and constant part of her life for years.
Angry as she was with him right now, that ridiculous standoff in front of an audience couldn’t be their last meeting.
“This vacation is important to me. Even if Matteo and I don’t patch up things, I’ve come too far to simply turn around. I’ll make other plans in a few days.”
Mr. Ricci leveled a considering look at her. “He’s not going to break his engagement.”
Was that what he got from her admission? “You won’t let him, you mean?” she retorted, just to rile him up. Of course, she’d never had any intention of getting back with Matteo.
He roughly thrust his fingers through his hair. The short haircut couldn’t hide the waviness of it.
Sam smiled, wondering if it was the one rebellious element he couldn’t control. Slowly, other things came into sharp focus. The grooves around his mouth hinted at tiredness as did the tight lines near his eyes.
One look at Vittorio Bianchi and the flash of fear in Matteo’s eyes had told her Mr. Ricci hadn’t exaggerated one bit. And while he’d been furious with Matteo, he’d made sure she didn’t provoke Angelina’s interest.
And yet, Matteo had treated him as if he were the enemy. She’d heard so many stories and tidbits that cast Matteo’s older brother as a ruthless, uncaring tyrant who constantly belittled him.
The fairness that was a core part of her disliked that Matteo had played on her sympathetic nature, that she’d made up her mind about this man without knowing him at all. Her pinging awareness of him made everything even murkier.
“What was that smile for?” God, the man watched her like a hawk. “You looked very human just then.”
He barked out a laugh, but his eyes betrayed his shock. It drew out a vicious, violent pleasure through her that she could. “Of course I’m human, Ms. Fischer. With all the flaws and desires that entails.”
Her beeping watch told her it was time for her meds.
While she wasn’t ashamed of her condition and all that it entailed, revealing it to Mr. Ricci made her feel exposed.
This need to keep a wall between them was a strong compulsion.
Which was ridiculous after all the therapy she’d put into feeling normal. “I need water.”
A glass of sparkling water appeared within seconds. Accepting it, she turned her body just a bit, which was stupid because he could see what she was up to if he moved an inch, and downed her meds. The bubbles tickled her throat, and her stomach made an embarrassingly loud growl.
She needed food and sleep, fast. Her body had supported her on this first journey, but she had to respect its limits. That was the most important lesson she’d learned in the last few years. “You’re right. I can’t just storm out of here like some hapless damsel.”
His gray eyes gleamed. “I’m happy you realized the inevitability of that.”
She barely fought the urge to stick her tongue out at him. “I’d appreciate it if your staff could bring me something to eat, then drive me to the nearest hotel. I promise to eat my meal quietly and leave without grabbing anyone else’s attention. You can stop babysitting me.”
He began shaking his head even before she’d finished. She planted her hands on her hips, exasperated. “You said you owned the whole goddamned town. Why isn’t that possible?”
“I didn’t say that it wasn’t possible.”
“Then, why are you shaking your head?”
“I would like to keep an eye on you. While you clearly possess a lot more sense than Matteo, I can’t trust you to go running to him and betray your past to the Bianchis.”
“I don’t want to get anyone in trouble.”
“But you’re the one who could get him in trouble, which is why I have to control you.”
Sam wanted to continue arguing with him, just for the heck of it, but she was fast losing steam. “Fine. Lock me up, for all I care, and throw away the damn key.”
“Do not tempt me, Ms. Fischer.”
Her head jerked up.
There was no humor in his eyes as he extended his hand. “Come.”
She eyed the double doors of his study with trepidation. “I’m not a fan of big crowds and loud, noisy celebrations. With this party, I’d prefer to avoid any more speculation.”
“It’s a little late for that. Angelina is a huge gossip. The news of my secret liaison will have already reached my parents and all the cousins. Especially since I never bring my entertainment home.”
As she watched, he pressed a spot behind one of the bookshelves, and an invisible door opened. A faintly illuminated, narrow corridor emerged in front of them.
Sam nearly jumped in excitement. “You have a secret corridor in your study! Do you know how many times when I was in the hos—how many times I wished to escape like this?” She looked around the high-ceilinged study with new eyes. “What is this place, anyway?”
His eyes crinkled at the edges. “The villa used to be a monastery a long time ago. So there are a couple of secret passageways still intact. Not afraid of confined spaces, then?”
“Not at all.”
His fingers held her elbow gently as he ushered her in. They couldn’t fit side by side. Instantly, he turned to the side, fitting his body around hers. There was something so accommodating about the gesture that Sam stilled, her heart pumping overtime.
“Come, Ms. Fischer. We’re both exhausted.”
“That was a dirty trick you played earlier,” Sam said, following him along the cool, dimly lit corridor. “You could have just said I was a friend.”
“Angelina is very possessive of Matteo.”
“That’s not healthy,” she added softly.
Mr. Ricci’s grip around her arm tightened. “I’d say justifiably so, given Matteo’s extracurricular activities, Ms. Fischer, no?”
“If you’re going to make a prisoner out of me, you might as well use my name.” She saw the shake of his head from behind. “Are you saying no to everything I ask on principle?”
“I have my reasons,” he said cryptically. “Will you call me Alessandro, then?”
“I have a good reason to not get familiar with you.”
He turned so fast that Sam stumbled into him.
In the dim light, every other sense amplified.
His hand on her arm, his powerful thighs pressed against hers, the thud of his heart under her fingers.
The dark clove scent of him. The warmth of his exhales dancing across her lips.
It felt as if she was being swallowed up by him, and the worst part was that she didn’t dislike the sensation. Quite the opposite, in fact.
His gaze searched hers. “Enlighten me.”
It was a miracle she hadn’t the lost the thread of their conversation with so much stimulus. “I won’t make the mistake of considering you a friend.”
She thought that shapely mouth flinched, but at this point, she didn’t trust her senses. The man would hardly care about her opinion of him. Especially when he murmured silkily, “No, you prefer men who lie to you.”
“See, that’s what I’m saying. Matteo messed up, big-time. And even I did, I think. But you don’t have to rub it in our faces.”
He didn’t move. “You messed up? How?”
“No way am I giving you ammunition against me.”
“You don’t think you’re taking this enemies thing too far?
” A thin thread of anger pulsed in his words.
“After all, I was the one who rescued you. Did you not notice that my dear brother used the little time challenging me instead of worrying about you? It seems I am the one with your best interests at heart here.”
Her exhaustion and the roller coaster of emotions she’d been through made her tongue loose.
“Matteo two-timed me, yes. He broke my trust, in more than just him.” She swallowed the ache.
“But our relationship stagnated long ago. I clung to him instead of making a clean break like I should have long ago. Not a surprise that Matteo took the path of least resistance and went straight into Angelina’s waiting arms.”
She couldn’t simply erase him from her life.
No matter what he did, she would always consider him a friend.
He’d been there for her at a time in her life when nobody else had, after all.
“If there’s a chance to fix our bond,” she said, knowing she was playing a very dangerous game, “I’ll take it. My summer is open anyway.”
A flash of pure rage glowed in his eyes, burning away to nothing in a second. The faint shape of a door emerged a few feet ahead of them when he said, “My first impression of you was utterly wrong, then.”
Don’t ask, Sam. Don’t be interested in his opinion.
All the warnings her rational mind blared were useless. “What was your first impression?” she asked in a small voice that echoed in the closed space.
“I thought you were someone who faced the truth however painful it was. Someone who dwelled in reality, instead of false dreams.”
He had no idea how close he’d come to the reality of her life.
She was a fighter. She’d never had the luxury to live in false dreams.
But this summer was a promise she’d made to herself that she would choose living, however hard and scary that felt. That she’d choose fun and adventure and normalcy. That she’d stretch her wings and fly.
So instead of running away from a broken relationship or from a man who made her feel so much that it terrified her, instead of running back to the safety and security of her parents’ love, she was staying.
She was standing on her own.