“You were an ugly duckling?”
A shadow clouded her eyes briefly. She blinked and it was gone. She shrugged. “Something like that.”
Now that he’d asked, he needed to know more. “So tell me, strega, what is a beautiful woman like you doing all alone in Seirenada?”
“Can’t a woman be on her own?”
“If they look like you, they shouldn’t.”
An eyebrow rose in indignation. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Only that you’re bound to attract a lot of attention, and some might be of the unwanted kind.”
“I can take care of myself. I grew up in a tough neighborhood,” she said stoutly.”I’ve taken self-defense classes since I was young.”
“Is that a warning?” Luca was imagining her as a little girl in a karate suit. She would have made a cute martial artist.
“Take it as you will.” She shrugged. “I’m not reckless. I’m staying at a reputable hotel. My friend couldn’t come at the last minute…”
Luca had checked the records. The hotel management had been instructed by Markos to follow his orders. The room was reserved under the famous Hollywood action star Chase Latimer’s name and had been paid in full. “A boyfriend, you mean?” They had broken up, according to the articles he had read on the Internet. Was a reconciliation in the offing? Was she hedging her bets?
She hesitated. “Just a friend.”
Luca knew from his research that she and the actor had recently broken up. Had the actor booked the hotel before the relationship had gone sour? Why deny her previous relationship with the Hollywood actor? And when had she the time to have had an affair with Markos?
He knew Markos often made trips to California to oversee the Los Angeles hotel in their chain. Was it there that they met? Had she been seeing Markos even while she was still with Latimer?
The questions beleaguered Luca, but he ruthlessly brushed them off. He was going to have her, questionable past or not, several men or not.
He took another sip of his wine, an excellent vintage that tasted like vinegar on his tongue. He was going to have her, and then he’d get rid of her before she got rid of him.
Because she lived with Chase for a while, everyone assumed he had been her boyfriend. The truth was she and Chase had gotten together in college briefly. It didn’t work out but they had remained close friends throughout, everyone assuming they were still an item until graduation. Chase was more than happy to let the pretense stand back then, as well as recently when they had reconnected. Sabrina was also happy to play along. She was seeing no one and if it was the one thing she could do to repay Chase’s kindness to her during her lowest days, losing her grandmother and getting kicked out of her apartment for being late with the rent, then she wouldn’t begrudge him using her as his cover. It wasn't until the incident with William Fraser that Chase had an attack of conscience and “broke up” with her.
Sabrina was crap at lying. Her brief hesitation when he had asked the question was because she wanted to lie for Chase’s sake. But when he had gazed at her with his dark, deep eyes, she found that she could only answer with the truth. Chase was and had always ever been just a friend.
She knew he thought she was lying. There was a derisive glint in his eye that he had masked quickly.
Their meal lay almost untouched. The waiter had hovered anxiously, driven to ask if everything was to their liking. Luca reassured him that everything was perfect and fabricated that they had a substantial breakfast so they were still full.
She turned the tables on him this time. “What about you?”
He quirked an eyebrow.
“All alone on the island?”
He speared her with a heavy-lidded gaze, not bothering to hide his scrutiny. “Not if you keep me company.”
Was he giving her a chance to back out? Did she want to? He might be her only chance. She couldn’t afford a trip to Greece next if she missed the opportunity now. She had talked to some of the staff this morning, again trying to find out unobtrusively when the family was arriving, but no one apparently knew exactly. Before the wedding, they all said, which was only two days away. Luca was sure to attend it since he was related to the royal family.
Is that the only reason you want to be with him?
Since she was bad at lying, she had no choice but to be honest with herself. She wanted Luca Argenti. She wanted him like she’d wanted no other man before. She wanted to explore this strange reaction she had to him. Keeping Luca company was sure to involve sex. Probably the hot, dirty, and sweaty kind. The kind she knew little of. And the kind she wanted to know more of. She took a sip of water. Her mouth had suddenly gone dry.