Chapter Seven #2
Evie stood awkwardly, hovering, while he took one phone call and then another before eventually deciding that she might as well go to bed and wait for him there. She had no expectation that he’d join her this time, but he did—at three in the morning, long after she’d ended her silent vigil.
This time there was no gentle seduction, no talking—just wild, out of control sex that blew her mind.
It was only afterwards, when his side of the bed had long grown cold, that she wondered what he’d been trying to escape. Because he had been trying to escape, of that she was sure. The raw, ruthless passion they’d shared hadn’t been energizing sex, it had been oblivion sex.
She had to talk to him.
No one who felt that bad should suffer alone.
Feeling distinctly strange, Evie moved quietly into the living room. How did you approach a man you had wild, crazy sex with but no relationship? What were you supposed to say? Technically, were they friends now?
He had his back to her and he was talking in a low voice, his long fingers toying with a sleek, expensive pen.
She was so busy working out what she was going to say when he finished on the phone that it was a moment or two before she actually paid attention to his conversation.
It was his tone that made her listen. The hardness was tempered by something she hadn’t heard in his voice before. There was no hint of the ruthless businessman, or the primitive lover. He was infinitely gentle and it was obvious that the person on the other end of the phone meant a lot to him.
More than a lot.
‘Sì tesoro—ti amo.’
Evie froze. Ti amo. She didn’t speak much Italian but she knew that meant I love you.
Unable to help herself, she listened to the rest of the conversation and picked up a few more words.
This man, who claimed not to believe in happy endings, was telling someone that he loved her. That he hoped to see her soon.
The scent of him still clung to her skin, as did hers to him, no doubt, and yet he was already making plans to see another woman.
Her skin felt icy-cold.
She’d slept with another woman’s man.
Was this the secret that simmered beneath the surface? Was this the reason for his pain?
Nausea rose in her stomach and her legs felt as though they’d been turned to water.
She’d had sex with a man who was deeply involved with someone else.
Angry with him but even more angry with herself, Evie was about to move when he turned his head and saw her.
‘Evie?’ His voice was deep and male, surprisingly normal after the emotional tightrope they’d walked the previous night. ‘You’re awake early. I didn’t see you there.’
‘Don’t worry about it.’ She stood stiff, shivering slightly, feeling slightly detached from her surroundings. ‘I’m going to get dressed. Then I’m going.’
He frowned. ‘Going where?’
‘I don’t know.’ Her shocked mind was paralysed. It refused to provide her with the words and the thoughts she needed to move forward. ‘Anywhere but here.’
His eyes hardened. ‘We made a deal. It would be catastrophic if you left now. I need you to stay.’
‘Why? What’s the point of this charade when you’re already involved with someone else?
’ Emotion thickened her voice and she hated herself for not being the cool, rational person she wanted to be.
She wanted to be sophisticated enough to thank him for a perfect no-strings-attached relationship and walk away.
Instead, she wanted to claw his flawless features and thump him.
She wanted him to hurt the way she was hurting.
‘Does she know? Does she know about me?’
A muscle flickered in his cheek and he put his pen down, the movement slow and deliberate. ‘You were listening to my phone call.’
‘Not intentionally. And if you’re expecting me to apologise for eavesdropping on a private conversation then forget it. There are some things that shouldn’t be private.’
‘Calma. Calm down.’
‘No, I will not calma or calm down! I don’t speak much Italian, Rio, but I speak enough to understand the gist of what you just said to her!
I’m really astonished you’ve never been dumped if that’s the way you treat women.
You’re right—you are a complete and utter bastard.
This whole week we…you…’ She broke off, trying to control herself.
‘How could you do that? How could you do those things when you’re in love with someone else?
I thought you were a free agent—single. You should have told me you were involved with someone. ’
‘I’m not involved.’
Her breathing was shallow. ‘When you warned me that you’d break my heart, I didn’t expect it to happen quite this quickly.’
‘Evie—’
‘No! Just don’t make pathetic excuses, OK? I don’t want to hear them. I heard you! I heard you talking to your girlfriend.’
He swore softly in Italian and turned away from her.
For a moment, staring at the rigid tension in those broad shoulders, she thought he wasn’t even going to bother defending himself.
And then he turned, a savage look on his face. ‘You did not hear me talking to my girlfriend. It wasn’t a woman.’ His voice was raw and Evie stood still, frozen to the spot by the look in his eyes.
‘But—’
‘You heard me talking to a child. She’s four years old. A child, not a woman. My daughter.’ He let out a long breath. ‘You heard me talking to my daughter.’
‘All right. Keep me informed.’ Rio terminated the conversation with his lawyer and looked up to see Evie standing there. She’d changed into a pair of jeans and a blue cashmere jumper. Her hair, still damp from the shower, accentuated the extreme pallor of her face.
‘Why didn’t you tell me you have a child?’ Her voice was flat. ‘Why didn’t you mention it?’
Programmed to keep women at a distance, Rio kept his response cool. ‘It isn’t any of your business.’ Seeing the hurt in her eyes, he wished he hadn’t been quite so blunt. ‘I don’t talk about my private life. To anyone.’
‘I’m not some journalist, Rio!’ She swept her hand through her hair, her confusion evident in every movement she made. ‘We slept together, for God’s sake. We shared—’
‘Sex,’ Rio drawled. ‘We shared sex. A physical relationship, however satisfying, doesn’t give you access to the rest of my life. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that it does.’
Her head jerked as if he’d slapped her and for a moment he thought she was going to do exactly that to him.
Instead, she lost still more colour from her cheeks and nodded stiffly.
‘Of course it doesn’t. My mistake. You have a child.
Forgive me for thinking that’s something you might have mentioned.
’ She turned away from him and stalked towards the table that had already been laid for breakfast. ‘Are those today’s papers?
’ Her hands shook as she lifted one and flicked through it.
‘Have they used the photograph? Or haven’t you bothered to check?
I’m worried we didn’t give them much of interest last night. ’
She was rigidly polite and Rio watched her in silence, knowing that he was going to have to tell her the truth and wondering why that felt like a difficult conversation.
He’d done what needed to be done. In the same circumstances, he’d make all the same decisions.
So why did he feel so uncomfortable? ‘They haven’t used it.
They have, however, printed the one they took when you kissed me.
’ He watched her face as she picked up a tabloid paper and scanned the headline.
Her face was expressionless as she scanned the photograph. Truly a time for miracles—Rio in love. Some of the tension left her. ‘Well, it seems we’re off the hook for another day.’
Rio’s jaw tightened. ‘Evie—’
‘Sorry—it’s just that I’m finding this whole thing quite stressful, in case you hadn’t noticed.
Every morning we go through the same thing.
And the worst thing is, there is never going to come a point when it goes away—they have that photo for ever, don’t they?
They can use it this year or next year—it never ends. ’
Wondering exactly when he’d developed a conscience, Rio forced a reluctant confession past his lips. ‘Evie, they won’t use that photo.’
She looked up from the newspaper. ‘It’s all very well to say that while you’re giving them something more interesting to print, but sooner or later they’re going to get bored with our “romance” and then they’ll be on the lookout for something more juicy.’
‘I can guarantee they’re not going to print that photograph.’
‘How? Has your security team managed to track the man down?’ With a soft gasp, she dropped the newspaper on the table. ‘They found him?’
He had to tell her now. ‘Yes. We found him.’
Relief crossed her face, to be followed quickly by consternation. ‘But that doesn’t mean you can stop the photograph. I mean, he’s had loads of time to have sent it all over the place. It’s probably too late.’
‘He hasn’t sent it anywhere. My security team confiscated his camera.’
‘But how—’
‘They confiscated his camera less than fifteen seconds after he took the offending photograph,’ Rio confessed in a raw tone, telling himself firmly that he’d do exactly the same thing again in the same circumstances.
‘That’s how I know for a fact that he didn’t send it anywhere.
Antonio was outside the door of the Penthouse.
He apprehended the guy before he’d taken two steps. ’
A heavy silence descended on the room. Evie stared at him, digesting the enormity of his confession and Rio felt the tension inside himself double.
‘You’re saying—’ she swallowed hard ‘—you’re telling me—oh, my God.
’ She sank down hard on the nearest sofa, her breathing rapid.
‘There was never a risk that the photograph would be published. You told me…you let me think…’ She lifted her head to look at him and her eyes were huge and shocked. ‘How could you do that?’
‘Because it was necessary. It was the right thing to do.’