They were led to a modern, nautical-themed restaurant with wooden plank floors and a table at an outside deck with a view of the pretty harbor.
Sabrina couldn’t really eat anything, her stomach unable to handle more than toast and coffee in the morning. Luca had no such problem. He ate his croissant and bacon and egg omelet with apparent enjoyment and elegance, making small talk between bites about the first yacht show on the island next year. It was Seirenada’s chance to show off its spanking new marina and hopefully attract more tourists. Sabrina was content to listen to his fluid voice and watch him punctuating his sentences with an occasional shoulder or hand gesture that was so Italian.
“I apologize. I talk too much.” His lips twisted wryly. He reached for his cup of espresso, obviously cueing her that it was her time to talk.
“No, don’t apologize.” She would be happy listening to him talk for hours. “You have a beautiful speaking voice. Do you sing?”
His bark of laughter was answer enough. “Dio! They would declare me persona non grata in Seirenada if I did.” The Liguerians, as locals of the principality were called, were known for their musicality and beautiful voices. “Even the cats in heat on the island can sing better than me.”
Sabrina chuckled. “What a comparison!”
“Just wait ‘til you join me in the shower and hear me sing. You will not be laughing then, I assure you.”
But Sabrina wasn’t laughing now. She gulped her coffee as images of Luca’s glistening body, wet from the shower, flashed before her. She nodded mutely when he asked if she was done with breakfast.
They were heading out of the lobby when they ran into someone familiar.
“Eleni.” Luca’s greeting was clipped as they were forced to a stop to acknowledge the other woman’s presence. Behind her was her assistant wearing a blank, professional look on her face.
The same heavy perfume hit her at once, and Sabrina felt nauseous. The woman wearing it probably was the main reason she felt like puking, not the fragrance, she thought nastily.
“Luca!” Eleni broke into a spate of animated Greek, deliberately excluding Sabrina from the conversation. She was speaking too rapidly but she caught snatches of “sorry,” “it won’t happen again,” “gold-digging bitch,” and “whore.” She said the last with a glare in her direction.
Throughout it, Luca’s face was impassive as granite. “We have to go. Excuse us.”
He cupped her elbow and took a few steps forward, but Eleni wasn’t done yet. She grasped his sleeve. She started talking in Greek again and glanced at Sabrina malevolently when she said the word slut.
Before Sabrina could think about it, she found herself shoving Eleni’s French-tipped fingers off Luca’s arm. The brunette appeared stunned and stumbled a few steps back, almost hitting her assistant, who had sidestepped neatly and quickly. Sabrina had to give the assistant credit for her lightning-fast reflexes and composure. Her boss was another matter.
She looked ready to take Sabrina down, but she wasn’t allowing the woman any advantage. This time she let her mouth make the next move.
“It’s over, Eleni. He doesn’t want anything to do with you, can’t you see?” She stepped closer and leaned in. “There’s plenty of other prey in the jungle to go around, Eleni. I’m sure you’ll snag one in no time at all.” She quickly stepped back, out out of Eleni’s reach.
Eleni looked shell-shocked.
Sabrina didn’t know which caused that reaction. That she dared touch Eleni, the context of her words, or how she delivered them–in halting Greek. Luca appeared just as stunned, staring at her as if she had sprouted horns. She wasn’t waiting around for Eleni’s counterattack.
Sabrina tugged on his arm, dragging him all the way outside until they were several meters away from the yacht club. She felt just as shocked as Eleni by how she reacted. When the Greek had laid her hand on him, the cavewoman inside her had roared "MINE!" Never mind if Luca would only be hers until tomorrow. Until then, she was not sharing him with anyone.
She took deep calming breaths to compose herself. What had gotten into her? Or who had taken over her? She risked a peek at Luca, mortification awash all over her body.
Instead of disgust, what she saw on his face made her tingle all over. It was the same look he had given her inside the car. Luca Argenti was looking at her like a man who hadn’t eaten in days and she was an eat-all-you-can buffet.
Sabrina shivered. He’d definitely brought his appetite.
Chapter 9
Luca gave the captain and the welcoming ten-man crew a cursory nod as they stepped onto the exterior of the main deck of the yacht. It was all the politeness he was capable of at the moment. He was burning up.