Chapter Six #2
“Does he think I’m a complete monster?” He bit out what sounded like a curse, as if he’d found the answer to his own question. “If anything can defeat Matteo’s recovery, it will be himself. Hard work and endurance are not his strong suits.”
“He has us to help him with that,” she said eagerly. She knew what it felt to not have control of one’s body.
His gray eyes flicked open and pinned her to the spot. “Does he have you, Ms. Fischer?” His feet kicked off the ottoman before he added, “To cheer him on?”
Sam could feel her cheeks heating. He had phrased it like that on purpose. She walked around the lounge to the seat opposite him, taking her time before saying, “Yes.”
“A prolonged stay will complicate things.”
It wasn’t quite a warning, and yet there was something in his tone. “Life is full of those pesky complications.”
“You will continue to pose as my girlfriend so as not to arouse any suspicion with the Bianchis.”
“That sounds like a promotion from mistress. At least in title,” she said brazening it out. “Does that mean you can tolerate me now?”
The infuriating man just watched her from under those lashes. “Once my aunt gets her hands on you, you might change your mind. Especially when she realizes you will be the thing that helps her manage her worry about Matteo.”
“If I can distract her, I can bear that much.”
Leaning forward, his gaze did that thorough sweep of her again, as if he wanted to unravel her and see how she was put together. “I’m beginning to think there’s more to my brother than I give him credit for. He gained such loyalty from two intelligent, beautiful women.”
“I can absolutely see why he would pit himself against you and come up wanting,” she said before she realized it.
Heat poured through her. But she didn’t want to take it back.
She wanted to be this girl—no, this woman—who saw a powerful, ruthless man like Alessandro for what he was underneath his remote, aloof armor.
This woman who didn’t hide from her own wants.
This woman who boldly challenged a man who would devour her given half the chance. But what if she wanted to be devoured?
What if after everything she’d been through, she’d morphed into a dark, hungry creature who liked grumpy monsters better than charming next-door guys?
Her heart pounded in her chest, her skin felt deliciously taut, and there was that fluttering ache between her thighs… For the first time in her life, she was standing in the arena, instead of watching from the crowd.
Alessandro didn’t move a muscle, like a wildcat lounging in its true habitat but tracking every breath and move of its prey. Every inch of him was focused on her. “Because I’m taller, richer and more handsome, bella?”
The endearment landed right below her belly like a fishhook, pulling at her entire being. “Matteo is definitely the more handsome one,” she said, folding her arms under her breasts, which felt achy and heavy.
“What, then?” The intensity of his gaze made her skin prickle, as if she were standing too close to a flame.
“He knows that, beneath the arrogance and the remoteness, you’ve got him beat. That you’re real, Alessandro. For someone like Matteo, who dwells in illusions, he tells the world and himself you’ll always be a threat.”
“You’re a very dangerous woman, Sameera.”
She shrugged, her breath coming in a ragged push. Luckily, she was saved from having to reply by his cell phone.
Her pulse raced as she watched him answer the call, his gaze on her the entire time. He hung up within a few minutes, pocketed his phone and went back to his lounging. With his eyes closed, the dark circles under his eyes looked like bruises.
“When was the last time you went to bed?”
“Are you worried about me?”
“Does anyone worry about you?”
“They don’t have to.”
“That’s a very lonely place to be.”
His lashes lifted. “You continue to amaze me, bella.”
“Don’t mock my concern. It’s genuine.”
He dipped his head. “I haven’t gone near a bed in three days, no.
I did eat, at the hospital café. I had to finalize merger documents for a Japanese company.
I grabbed a quick shower at work. Then I went back to the hospital to talk to the specialist. My father is a steady man but my aunt…
is falling apart.” A soft sigh escaped his lips.
It was only when he mentioned his aunt that Sam heard the catch in his voice.
“Somehow, I managed to talk her into coming home tonight so that she can rest. Right now, Angelina is with him. As soon as I can muster some energy, I will go back to the hospital and stay with him tonight. The second surgery is scheduled for first thing tomorrow.”
“I wish I could stay with him for the night. But hospitals…” she said. “I’ve had some bad experiences.”
“You don’t have to.”
Sam pushed to her feet, feeling as strung out as she’d felt after the flight. But this exhaustion was less physical and more emotional. Like she’d lived through a year’s worth of experiences in a week. “Can I see him tomorrow?”
“Sì.”
“You should nap,” she said, gathering her painting supplies. “I’ll go for a walk.”
He flicked a hand in her direction. “No, stay.”
“You need a break.”
“I like your company.”
She went a few more steps.
“Per favore, Sameera.”
She turned around to find that perceptive gaze watching her. “Why do you do that?”
“Say please?”
“Call me Sameera in such a…” She blew out a breath. “Why can’t you just call me Sam?”
A casual shrug which didn’t fool her at all.
“Tell me, Alessandro. Now.”
“I like you best like this, bella.”
The man disarmed her like no one could. “Like how?”
“All fierce and demanding.”
Sam swallowed. He lit a fire in her body with a simple sentence, and took up space and familiarity with her as if it were his birthright. From the first moment, he’d given her honesty, realness and himself. “Answer my question.”
His chin lifted from his chest. “Sam is his name for you.”
Shock made her stare at him for long minutes. There had been distaste but also something so…possessive, so feral in that answer. Her breath shallowed. “What?”
“When I hear Sam,” he continued softly, “I hear it in Matteo’s voice. All those years gushing about you. Sam’s great. Sam’s wonderful. There’s no one like Sam. I didn’t realize you were a woman. But now I know. You are his Sam.”
You are his Sam.
His words echoed through her, raising a hundred questions.
Reaching him, she extended her hand and slightly pushed down on one hard shoulder. The tension in his frame pinged between them, taut and throbbing. Cupping his face, she tilted his jaw just so, and then she reached up to push the lock of hair that fell on his forehead.
His long fingers wrapped around her wrist and held. With one slight shift, he buried his jaw in her palm. His heavy breath made his body shudder. And with her other hand resting on his shoulder, Sam felt every bit of it. Felt the hunger and heat rise in him and envelop her.
Heart pounding, her fingers fluttered, tingling to touch more of him, to trace every angle and plane of his face. His mouth, open and warm, rested against the base of her palm, his breath coasting against the underside of her wrist. Her chest rose and fell, and every muscle in her shivered.
All she wanted was to keep her hand there and sink into his lap. Tug his head down so that she could kiss that mouth. Tell him that she hadn’t been Matteo’s Sam for a while. Taunt him until he couldn’t switch it off anymore. Tempt him until he eased the constant ache she felt at her core.
In the blink of an eye, he let her go, until she was standing by him, her hands dangling by her sides.
“Sameera?”
She jerked away and reached for a glass of water just to give herself something to do. “Hmm?”
“Before Matteo woke up, when the risk of coma was high…it struck me—the source of poison in our relationship—where it had begun. I won’t bore you with how it started.
Both of us have let the resentment fester.
When I saw him at the hospital, I hated that I never even wished to fix it.
Never tried to understand things from his perspective.
” Sam could feel his gaze on her face, but she stubbornly kept hers turned away.
“But I love him. If he hadn’t recovered—”
“But he did,” she said, loudly. “Soon, Matteo will be back to his vital, wonderful self.”
“Sì, he will. Even if I have to make him take each step.” His Adam’s apple moved. “See, you and I do have something in common.”
“What?” Sam asked, even though she knew what was coming. It was like waiting for the punching bag to hit you back but not knowing when it might happen.
“We both want him to get better. We both love him, sì? You will agree then that we can’t do anything that would hurt him.”
Sam looked at him then, her breath hitching.
It took her an eternity to fix her erratic breathing, to shove away the splintering hurt within her to one corner and lock it up.
When she sat down and began sketching quietly, his eyes closed. For all his brutally honest ways, he’d rejected her in a roundabout way. Stopped her before she made a fool of herself.
Maybe she’d been fooling herself that the pull between them was strong on his side too. Maybe he wasn’t into women who threw themselves at him.
Maybe he saw her as an interesting anomaly in Matteo’s life and nothing else.
No, he wanted her.
She knew that as well as the unshed tears crowding her eyes as she captured the beautiful lines of his face.
Alessandro stayed still and quiet for how long he had no idea. At least the violent tremors that had taken hold of him earlier had subsided. But he couldn’t relax.
Rejecting her, killing the tug of open desire in her eyes, had been the hardest thing he’d ever done. Pushing away from her touch—that he still felt on his jaw like some sort of phantom caress—was like kicking himself when he was already down.