When She Fell for the Billionaire(3)

He frowned, expecting a more hard-edged, glittery, polished woman of the world. She looked barely out of university.

Luca was intrigued by the disparity.

But then perhaps this was how she operated. Appealing to men’s girl next-door fantasies.

Luca’s women were sophisticated and fashion forward. He moved in circles where women wouldn’t be caught outside without make-up, much less be seen with chipped nail polish. He sensed this woman couldn’t care less.

Suddenly Luca’s reluctance over keeping her occupied vanished. Why not take advantage of the opportunity she presented? She would be just the thing to break his dry spell after that disastrous affair with Eleni. Luca disliked casual hookups. He had thought he had outgrown them but after Eleni’s suffocating possessiveness, a fling would be just the thing to get him out of his funk.

Women like Sabrina Connelly would know the score. Markos’ ex-girlfriends had liked to wail and whine to the tabloids, but it never took them long to court drama with other high-profile lovers. Sabrina Connelly would be just as flighty, but he would make sure there would be no messy, emotional entanglements to deal with after. The fact that she lived on the other side of the world made his job sweeter.

The knowledge that she had known Markos first soured it a bit. But it was not enough to put him off.

“Ciao,” he greeted, pretending he didn’t know her nationality. He paired it with a slow, seductive smile. He didn’t relinquish the hat yet.

“Hello.” Her tone was wary, as it should be with strange men appearing out of nowhere.

“I’m Luca Argenti.” He hoped dropping his famous last name would make her lower her guard. The family brand was well-known, even a non-fashionista would have heard of it.

Her delicate tawny brows drew together. It seemed incredible that she hadn’t. Or maybe she was playing coy. She held her bag tighter to her body as if in self-defense. He increased the wattage of his smile.

She didn’t reciprocate.

“And you are?” He was playing dumb. Dumbstruck was more like it, he thought wryly. Now there was another English word she was redefining for him

“Sabrina,” she bit out when it became apparent Luca was going to blind her with his smile until she did. She said it like it had been pried out of her lips with a crowbar.

Dio, she was growing more beautiful by the second upon closer examination. And Luca had known a lot of them. As he was involved in the fashion industry, beautiful women grew on trees. Her figure was lithe but shapely in all the right places. Her skin glowed like Chiara’s favorite pearls, and she was driving Luca to spout inane metaphors.

He appreciated her effect on him but knew it wouldn’t last long. Like other men, Luca wasn’t immune to a pretty face or sexy body, but he wanted more now.

“Strega,” he said before he could stop himself.

“Strega?”

He cursed her sharp hearing and his impulsive mouth. “It means witch in Italian.” She didn’t react, but Luca saw her body grow more rigid. “There is a movie and TV show with a witch named Sabrina, si?”

“Sadly, nose-twitching is a skill I don’t possess.” She said this with no inflection, her wit catching Luca off-guard.

“I’m sure you have other more interesting skills to recommend you.” His statement was so heavy with innuendo Luca was surprised he didn’t keel over by the sheer embarrassing weight of it. Or get knocked off his perch by an angry slap. Other women, most, okay, all women would be cooperating at this point, the give and take of beginning flirtation. Even grandmothers loved flirting with him. Luca wondered how he could salvage the situation. “You’re appropriately named.”

She merely quirked a pale eyebrow.

“You’re bewitching.”

Sabrina Connelly stared at him for several seconds as if he was a newly discovered animal species. It wasn’t the usual kind of flirtatious or lust-induced stares he was accustomed to receiving from women. It was instead assessing, measuring, filled with judgment. As if she could see the sham that was the real man inside. He resisted the urge to jam the sunglasses back on his eyes.

“How long have you been watching me?”

“Long enough.”

“Why?”

He didn’t expect her to be so straightforward because surely she couldn’t be that naive. She had snared two Hollywood big hitters and a Greek billionaire with what, her sparkling personality? Luca thought sardonically. His gaze dropped to her lips. His voice became husky. “You’re a beautiful woman.” He lifted his shoulders to convey that the statement was self-explanatory. He raised his eyes back to hers and fixed her with an intense stare.