Until they gave him trouble. Which was mostly the rule rather than the exception.
Unlike him who remained friends with his exes, Markos rarely remained in good terms with his lovers. Their partings were almost always acrimonious and landed on tabloid headlines.
Luca exhaled heavily, irritated at being caught in the zone of collateral damage. He should still be abed, catching up on sleep but here he was, about to act as babysitter to yesterday’s trophy girlfriend who still hadn’t heard the news.
The early morning sun’s warmth was gentle. By mid-noon, it would be sweltering. He’d better get the job done so he could still have time for a bath before his scheduled morning meeting.
She was bent over and scanning the shoreline, probably hunting for shells. Her long legs were bare and her pert bottom was encased in frayed denim cut-off shorts.
Something stirred in him that had not been stirred for several months. Damn again. It seemed Markos was not the only one who might be under threat by this woman.
He was wondering how to make his presence known when his target suddenly stiffened. Something on the sand caught her attention. She dropped to one knee, picked up the object, and rose hurriedly.
Luca pushed his sunglasses on top of his head to see better. Was it a shell? A coral? Tourists were not allowed to bring them home. She brushed it off with a finger. She then held it up against the sun momentarily, turning it this way and that. From his vantage point, it looked like a pebble. She brought it to her lips, kissed it, and then let out a little squeal of delight.
A small grin escaped his lips. She sounded exactly like his younger female cousins when he accompanied them to boy band concerts. Then he squashed it, remembering Markos’ warning. She’s out to make trouble. Keep her away from the family.
A strong breeze whipped her wide brimmed hat off her head. Out tumbled long, wavy golden hair that flapped like a gleaming pennant in the wind. She tried to grab the hat but it was snapped out of her reach by another strong gust, carrying it to where Luca was perched on a big rock.
He stooped down, reached for the hat, and straightened to get his first good look at the troublemaker.
And for the first time, Luca understood what the English word “breathtaking” meant. Viscerally.
In the few seconds that his lungs ceased to work, his eyes took a rapid snapshot assessment of her features. Heart-shaped face, wide set and dark almond-shaped eyes, a small upturned nose, and bow-shaped lips that had a fuller bottom. Her bikini top was composed of two scraps of triangles that barely covered her luscious breasts. All she needed was a clamshell and she would be how Luca imagined Botticelli’s Venus would look like if she came to life.
Unfortunately, his dick chose that moment to be like Frankenstein’s monster and became “alive.”
Fuck no. He refused to get a hard-on. Not with Markos’ cast-off bimbo.
Venus frowned and Luca was able get his breath back. The “monster” however refused to back down.
She jerked and stiffened. She was visibly startled to see him there. She glanced quickly at the lifeguard post and, apparently reassured that there was another human out there, she started making her way slowly to where he was.
Sabrina Connelly. American. Twenty-five years old. He rifled mentally through the information he was able to access on the Internet before he was interrupted by the general manager, who had accosted him at the lobby the minute he had arrived last night. Markos dated high-profile women with questionable reputations, and it appeared she was no exception. Sabrina Connelly’s claim to fame was her last relationship with a well-known Hollywood actor. There was another lover, a movie executive, but Luca had paid it no attention last night. No gossip on her and Markos though.
Not yet.
Luca didn’t have that much time to go through all the articles that had popped up on his browser. He didn’t need to go into detailed research to know this was another of Markos’ shallow and vain women, only a younger prototype.
Her photos didn’t do her justice, though.
It wasn’t hard to see why Markos and a big shot Hollywood actor would lose their heads over her. She was exquisitely beautiful, but it was not the unforgiving kind of perfection that was frightening. Upon closer inspection, her forehead appeared too prominent, her chin too small and pointed, her eyes so widely spaced apart. But her features came together in one arresting, interesting whole. She had probably been breaking hearts before she was out of her diapers. A face and body like hers should have graced magazine pages or the big screen. It seemed she had known how to make most of her assets by attracting high-profile lovers.
His eyes ran over her body in an open, sweeping gaze until they landed on her feet. She had thrust them into hotel flip-flops. Her toenails had chipped polish. She was also carrying a burlap eco bag with the resort logo stamped on it.