Pretending with the Greek Billionaire(25)

He opened the passenger door to his car and ushered Constance inside as fast as he could, slamming the door behind her so he could run around to the other side. The second he was in the car he cranked the engine and revved the gas, giving the paparazzi vultures a very brief warning he was about to move. If they chose not to get out of the way that was their fault. Unfortunately, they all moved enough they didn’t get run over and he was able to pull out on the street. Constance looked at him with wide eyes.

“Is it always like that?”

Luca gritted his teeth so hard his jaw ached, then forced himself to relax. “No. Not always. Hopefully it’ll die down a bit now that they’ve got some shots of you with the ring. That’ll give them a few juicy details to splash around for a little while. And since we are planning on some photo ops, they might agree to leave us alone for the most part. There are always a few that will follow no matter what, but some of them aren’t too bad and will back off as long as they get an opportunity to get a good shot another time.”

“Yeah, well those few who will follow no matter what are on our tail.”

Luca looked into the rear view mirror and swore. “Hold on.”

…

Constance grabbed the door frame and tried to keep from shrieking as Luca suddenly swerved to the right, taking a corner he’d already nearly passed. The car made it with a squeal of tires and he gunned it.

“Aren’t you going a little fast?” she asked.

“Only way to lose them.”

“Are you nuts? You can’t lose them. This isn’t some car chase movie.”

Luca snorted. “Look behind us, Stanzia. It’s exactly what it is. Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing.”

She bit back another scream of terror as he zoomed up another narrow street. “Luca, this is insane. Slow down!”

“I’ve done this a million times.”

He cranked the wheel again and she braced herself to keep from being thrown against the car door. “You’re going to get us both killed!”

“Hasn’t anyone ever told you not to distract the driver?”

“You’re enjoying this!”

The grin he turned on her blazed with excitement. But there was something else there, behind his eyes. Something she couldn’t name but that seemed inexorably sad. Before she could dwell on it too long, he made another right into one of the few parking lots on the island, zooming down one of the aisles until he came to an empty spot. He swerved in and cut the engine.

Seconds later, the three paparazzo on scooters whizzed by the lot, not even pausing.

“There,” Luca said with a smile. “Lost them.”

Constance straightened from where she’d been cringing against the door and slapped his arm. “The next time you want to risk your life driving a hundred miles an hour through town, you let me out of the car first! What the hell were you thinking?”

His eyebrow rose at that, but his smile just grew broader. “I was thinking I’d give the bastards the slip. And I did. How about a little gratitude?”

“Gratitude? Are you kidding? We could have been killed. I’ve got kids! If you want to throw your life away, be my guest, but my life is spoken for. My girls have been through enough without losing another parent, thank you very much.”

Luca waved her off. “You’re being dramatic.”

“No, I’m not.” She yanked on her seat belt to get it off her neck.

“It’s no big deal, Constance. They were chasing us. Now they’re not. End of story.”

She opened her mouth to object again. Her heart still pounded so hard she was probably going to have internal bruising and if she didn’t catch her breath soon she was going to hyperventilate. She focused on drawing a few deep breaths in and out of her lungs.

A man, presumably the owner or person who worked at the lot, ran toward them, his face a mottled purple as he chewed them out in rapid Greek. Luca rolled down his window, apologized, and slapped a large wad of euros in the man’s hand. He rolled the window back up while the man was still smiling and inviting him to stay longer.

Constance still hadn’t regained full control of herself but Luca completely ignored her borderline panic attack and moved on. “I was going to take you home to grab whatever you’ll need for the next few weeks, but we need to get back. I think Joe has something planned with the kids this afternoon.”

“I don’t live too far from here. It wouldn’t take long to swing by.”

She told him the address and he checked his watch. “All right, but we’ll need to hurry. Joe will get his panties in a bunch if we ruin his plans.”