I nodded my head and I smiled. Maybe it was better to do business this way; people could mingle and get to know one another before being paired off.
“Is everything okay?” Peaking from behind the door was Luca. When he saw my discomfort, he arched his back and raced through the room. “What’s happened?”
“I’ll leave you to it.” Squeezing my arm, Belinda smiled and walked out the door.
“Rachael just stormed out the house. She looked pretty mad. What happened with her?”
“She’s been fired.”
“Fired? What for?”
“For kissing me!” I was still mad about it all.
Luca gritted his teeth and tightened his fists. It would seem even women got Luca’s possessive streak going. “She’s lucky she’s not here.”
“Or what? You’d slap her one? I already did that for you.”
Luca half smiled and half growled. Pushing me up against the desk, he whispered. “One, I would never—ever—hit a woman. You should know that about me by now. Two, you slapped her when she kissed you?”
“Yes,” I said, smiling a little. His presence and playful tone were quickly becoming infectious. At least it was calming me a little.
Luca ground his erection into my stomach. “Stop it, Luca. You’re too much!”
Luca leaned in and nibbled my ear. “I wish I had been in here to see that. You’re some woman, Clara Murphy.”
I playfully smacked his arm. “Stop it. We have guests arriving.”
“Well, I’m glad she’s gone.” He pulled away, and the serious face was back again. “She was rather rude to me.”
“Yes… So I heard. I had to hear it from Belinda, though. I’d have preferred to hear it from you. You should have told me. If you had, maybe this could have been dealt with sooner and a bit more easily.”
As I stroked my chin, Luca pouted a little. “I’m sorry, amore mio. I won’t do it again.”
I shuddered under his touch, and Luca rewarded me with a smile. “I’m afraid I do have to leave you to it for a couple of hours. I have to take care of some business at one of my casinos. Tony, Alessandro, and a couple of others will be here to take care of everything. I have assigned Stefano to take care of you.”
I frowned. “Stefano?”
“Yes. He is one of my men who hasn’t seen you naked.”
I shook my head in frustration. “I don’t need looking after. When are you going to get that through your pigheaded skull?”
Stroking my cheek and leaning in for a kiss, Luca said, “I always take care of what’s mine. I would never be able to live with myself if anything happened to you.”
I frowned and pulled my head back to look at him. “What could possibly happen to me?”
Luca sighed. “Nothing. I just feel better having someone look out for you.”
Judging by Luca’s face, I could tell he was lying. I didn’t bother asking, though. There would be no point; he would never tell me.
“Boss, the car is ready.” Tony was standing by the door, scratching his head.
Luca looked towards the door. “I’ll be out in a minute.”
Tony nodded and left us alone. “I will miss you.” He placed his tender lips to mine, and the fire between my legs started soon thereafter. I had been sore all day, but that hadn’t stopped me from wanting more.
Reluctantly pulling away, Luca went on his way, leaving me breathless and extremely horny. It really didn’t take much. Not much at all…
A couple of hours later, Luca still hadn’t returned, but the party was in full swing. Stefano never left my side, and it both amused and irritated the hell out of me at the same time.
Melinda was upstairs with Matthew, and a few others had paired off quite well. Eventually, they had all disappeared, too. Only I and around a dozen others were still in the bar.
While drinking my glass of champagne, a movement out of the corner of my eye sparked my attention. It was Belinda.
“Clara,” she said, eyeing Stefano. “Jeffrey is being unruly again.”
Oh, shit. I’d known this would happen. I had just made a slight move off of the bar stool when Stefano pounced to attention. “Oh, for fucks sake, Stefano. Cool it! I’m going to the ladies with Belinda. Do you want to follow us in there and then explain how you also saw me naked to your boss later?”
Stefano cleared his throat and let us pass. “Thank you. I shall be back in five minutes. If I’m not, send the fucking search party.”
Belinda giggled and Stefano looked away in embarrassment. “Come. Let’s go before he catches on to us.”
Belinda and I raced for the stairs towards Belinda’s room. Along the way, Matthew and Melinda were walking down, smiling and linking arms.