Chapter Two #2
‘I understand you too had to cancel your own commitments,’ Vic said in a less impatient tone. ‘I appreciate you coming with me at such short notice, but I knew Marcus and Isabella would prefer us to do this together.’
‘Do this together…’
Somehow those words had an intimate sound to them that stirred her body into heightened awareness.
An awareness that tingled through her blood like a mind-altering drug.
Vic Jacobetti was such a worldly and experienced and sophisticated man.
She was a shy and socially awkward virgin who hadn’t been kissed in years.
‘Yes, well, it’s not as if they can call on my mother,’ Addie said with a side eye. ‘She refuses to even tell anyone she has a grandchild.’
‘Why is that?’
‘Not good for her image.’
Vic’s top lip curled, but he didn’t respond, however, Addie felt a strange alliance with him.
A sense that he understood more about her background than most people, making her feel less alone and isolated.
Was it because he was close to Marcus and knew how difficult some aspects of their childhood had been?
Or was it because Vic was an astute businessman who knew the foibles of self-obsessed and vain people? Or a bit of both?
The flight attendant came out from the front section of the jet to serve them drinks and a light supper.
Addie was glad of the distraction from where her thoughts were taking her.
She declined the offer of champagne, mentally cringing at how she had overindulged at her brother’s wedding.
She sipped at some orange juice and turned down the delicious looking food on the tray.
The attendant slipped out of sight again.
‘Not hungry?’ Vic asked, reaching for his coffee cup.
‘Not at this time of night. It’s way past my bedtime.’ Eek. Why had she mentioned anything to do with bed?
‘There’s a bed down the back.’ Vic nodded towards the area behind her. ‘Why don’t you have a nap before we arrive? We still have to get to Lake Como, so it’ll be a late night.’
She tried but failed to suppress a yawn.
‘No, it’s okay. It’ll only make me feel worse if I nap now.
’ She could only imagine how dishevelled she would look waking up from a sleep, even if it was on a private jet bed.
Besides, the thought of Vic watching her while she slept was a little disconcerting.
What if she snored? She bet none of his glamourous dates ever snored.
‘Will we drive to Lake Como straightaway?’
‘Yes, I have a driver organised to take us as soon as we clear customs.’
She took another sip of her orange juice, acutely aware of Vic’s every movement.
She watched as he leaned forward to put his coffee cup on the table between them.
He leaned back to reach for the papers he’d brought with him.
If he was tired, he certainly wasn’t showing it.
His face, while unshaven, did not have lines of exhaustion and his eyes were clear and unshadowed.
Her eyes were gritty, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to sit upright.
Oh, how she longed to lie flat and close her eyes for just a moment or two…
She blinked and sat up straighter in the luxurious leather seat. ‘I guess you’re pretty used to late nights.’
He gave a glinting crooked smile that sent a dart to her heart. ‘Because I’m a playboy as you call it or because I run a global chain of hotels?’
‘Both, I guess.’
He leaned back, his smile still causing havoc with her heart rhythm. ‘I’m not afraid of hard work.’
‘Or hard play, as rumour has it.’ She gave herself a mental slap as soon as the words left her mouth.
She had no business speculating on his private life, although it had to be said, his private life was reported publicly more times than not.
But guess that’s what happens to you when you’re a super wealthy and spectacularly handsome man.
Everyone wants to know what you’re doing and with whom you are doing it.
His gaze held hers in a lock that sent a hot shiver rolling down her spine like a current of electricity. ‘I definitely play hard.’
She disguised a gulp. She could only imagine how hard.
And she was not talking hard drinking or partying because she knew from her brother—and she had witnessed it herself on the three occasions she had met him—that Vic never overindulged in alcohol.
‘I can only imagine…’ Her hot cheeks were betraying her yet again, but she had no control over that.
‘My life must seem terribly boring compared to yours.’
Vic leaned forward again, this time to pick up a glass of water. He leaned back, holding the glass without bringing it to his mouth, his gaze unwavering on hers. ‘Tell me about your life. What do you do in your spare time?’
Okay, so this was going to be embarrassing. ‘I knit.’
One of his eyebrows lifted ever so slightly. ‘Knit? Like sweaters? Scarves?’
‘Coats. Dog coats.’ She put her half-finished orange juice on the table and sat back. ‘I volunteer at a rescue shelter. Some breeds of dogs, particularly the smaller short-haired ones, feel the cold.’
‘That’s a very noble thing to do.’
She studied him for a long moment, trying to gauge whether he was being serious or mocking her behind the unreadable screen of his gaze. ‘It sounds pretty tame compared to what you get up to in your spare time, but I find it fulfilling.’
‘Who taught you to knit? Not your mother, I’m guessing.’
She couldn’t hold back a wry laugh. ‘No, definitely not my mother. One of the senior vets taught me before she retired a couple of years ago. I find it quite meditative, actually.’
‘What made you decide to become a vet nurse?’
‘I love animals.’
‘More than people?’
‘More than some people.’
Vic smiled again and her pulse tripped. ‘Did you have a pet growing up? Marcus has never mentioned one.’
‘No, we weren’t allowed pets.’ She let out a tiny sigh and continued before she could put the brakes on her tongue, ‘I think it would have helped me to have one, though, especially after the divorce.’
‘It was a tough time for you?’ The question was delivered in a gentle and empathetic manner, not probing or intrusive at all.
‘I’d just started school, so it was unsettling to have to spend time with my dad who had moved to a house two hours away. His new partner wasn’t great with kids.’ Oh, man, what an understatement that was.
‘Were you close to your father?’
‘I was until he met Fernella.’ Her shoulders slumped.
She shouldn’t have started talking about the dramas of her childhood, but somehow it was pouring out of her.
Was it because it was way past her bedtime?
Or was it because Vic Jacobetti had a magnetic impact on her?
She was drawn to him, revealing parts of herself she revealed to no one.
‘Not that my mother was great with kids either. In fact, she and Fernella were a bit alike in that regard.’
‘I’m sorry to hear that.’ He put his papers to one side again and gave her his full attention. ‘Is your father still with your stepmother?’
‘No, they eventually broke up, but he keeps partnering with the same type of women. The self-absorbed, obsessed-about-their-appearance type.’ Her shoulders dropped on a sigh.
‘It’s like he’s trying to replace my mother but why?
She made his life a living hell. I don’t think she ever truly loved him.
The only thing in the end she liked about him was his name, so she kept it. ’
‘Some people follow a pattern that was set in childhood. They go looking for something in a partner they recognised in their parent, but it usually ends in tears.’
‘What was your father like?’
He paused for a long moment, and she wondered if he was going to change the subject, but then he finally spoke.
‘He was loving and warm and kind and steadfast—all the things a child needs a father to be.’ There was a sad wistfulness about Vic’s expression as if he still found talking about his father painful in spite of the passage of time.
‘I can only imagine how devastating it would’ve been to lose him so young.’
‘It was.’ He flicked her a brief glance and continued, ‘I never really understood why my mother married again so quickly, but I think she was so lonely raising me by herself. And of course, the hotel business was overwhelming to her, and at six years old, I was too young to help.’ His mouth twisted in an embittered way.
‘My stepfather was a handy solution, or at least he made himself appear that way. He would take over the running of the business until I came of age and solve her loneliness in one fell swoop.’
‘But that didn’t happen.’
‘No.’ He brushed some imaginary lint off his sleeve and continued, ‘He all but destroyed the business my father had worked so hard to build up. My mother was powerless to stop him. But as soon as I came of age, I made it my mission to buy out my stepfather and rebuild my father’s business into one of the leading hotel brands on the globe. ’
‘And you’ve done it. The Jacobetti chain is one of the most luxurious chains of hotels in the world. You must feel so satisfied.’
There was a beat or two of silence.
‘But you’re not, are you?’ she asked, studying his brooding expression.
A muscle flickered in his jaw. ‘The only way I can ever feel satisfied is to break the hold my stepfather has over my mother, but she can see no wrong in him. Nor can Isabella.’
She frowned. ‘But how does your mother explain the business all but collapsing until you were old enough to step in?’
Vic gave a cynical smile that made his eyes go as hard as onyx. ‘He painted it as bad luck, the global economic downturn and so on. She took his word over mine. Still does.’