“He is related through the paternal side?”
“The paternal grandparents of the royals. You’re enjoying this.”
“Sssh. I can’t think,” Chase muttered distractedly. “The previous prince had sisters, and they all didn’t marry anyone from Seirenada. Is it one of the German cousins? Or the Italian ones?”
“The Italian ones.” Sabrina peered closer into the mirror, making sure her contact lenses were perfectly in place, like a soldier checking all his weapons were primed before going to war. Without them she had perfect vision, but that was not the reason why she wore them in the first place.
“Business associates of the Konstantinos? Hhmm. I got it!” Chase’s voice rose in excitement. “It’s one of those Argentis!”
“Very impressive.” She blinked to moisten her eyes.
“Is it Raphael? Luca?” He sounded like a kid trying to choose which present to open on Christmas day. "Or the one with that sex video? That violinist Adriano?”
“The second one.” She couldn’t even say his name out loud. How the hell was she going to manage being with him for hours? “And how can you even know their names?”
He ignored her question. “Oh my! Little Bree is playing with the big boys now. And rumor has it those boys have them big.”
“Could you please take your mind out of the gutter? This is serious. I’m supposed to make him interested enough in me so that he can bring me as a date to the wedding.”
“My mind wasn’t anywhere near the gutter, little prude. It was somewhere inside those big boys’ pants,” Chase chuckled.
Sabrina shook her head in exasperation. “I’m ending this conversation before it lands somewhere far worse than the gutter.”
“And just as it was getting to be really interesting,” Chase added wickedly. “Now I know why you’re so willing to be the sacrificial lamb in aid of your mission in Ligueria. I’d lie down on the altar myself if someone like Luca Argenti was going to slaughter me. ”
“It’s not like that at all,” she protested, but it sounded weak even to her ears.
“It’s a win-win situation, Bree,” Chase continued. “Even if he doesn’t take you to the wedding, you still get to have sex with that gorgeous specimen of manhood.”
She rolled her eyes even though he couldn’t see her. “’Bye Chase. Go back to whatever you were doing trying to earn an Oscar.”
“Ouch! Be sure to retract your claws when you’re around the Italian stallion.” Chase turned serious again. “He does have a reputation as a womanizer. Be careful.”
“I’m always careful around men,” she retorted.
“That’s part of the problem.”
“What?”
“Nothing. Take care, Bree.”
“You too. I mean it, Chase. Don’t go falling for your co-actor and getting your heart broken all over again.” Sabrina worried about how often Chase fell in and out of unrequited love.
“I’m a big boy now, Bree.” Chase sounded nonchalant then turned grave. “Sometimes you have to get something broken so it can be fixed.”
And then it gets broken again, so what’s the point? She shook off the morose turn of conversation. “I hope you’re not feeding me a line from your movie ‘cause I’m telling you right now, it doesn’t sound like Academy Award material.”
“You’re good for my ego, Bree,” Chase said sourly. “Seriously, you need anything from the hotel to pimp yourself up for your Italian stallion, I’ll take care of it. I mean it. Your bohemian style, and I’m using this term in the kindest way possible, might be cute, but you have to up your game if you want to compete with all those sultry Mediterranean women and catch the eye of Luca Argenti.”
Sabrina glanced down at her dress and grimaced. “I doubt he’d be interested in what I’m wearing once, you know,” she swallowed, “once we have them off.”
“True, but like presents, you have to make the packaging pretty so someone would actually want to open them.” Chase had often wondered aloud how an accessories designer like her couldn’t care more about the way she dressed.
This time it was Sabrina’s turn to say “Ouch.” She had no time to change and if the way she dressed didn’t pass his standards…then it didn’t.
Sabrina stuffed her mobile inside her bag. It was time to bring herself one step further in her plan and hopefully, a whole lot closer to Luca Argenti.
Chapter 4
Luca witnessed the whole thing as he was coming out of the lobby elevator. The old man dropped the folded newspaper on the floor. Sabrina, standing a few feet away, rushed over and picked it up. She handed the paper to the owner, who was wheelchair bound. Luca waited for the awestruck reaction on the man’s face at the first glimpse of her face. There was none. Only anticipation.