You Will Be Mine(83)
Belinda frowned and looked away. “Yes. He said he didn’t want me sleeping with anyone else.”
I shook my head. “Jeez, what is it with Italian men?”
“What do you mean by that?” Snapping our heads up, we found Luca walking through the door.
“Don’t you ever knock?”
He completely ignored me and asked again. “What do you mean?”
I threw my hands in the air and I started pacing. “Oh, you know, Italian men giving us all the, ‘You can’t sleep with anyone else’ crap.”
Luca smiled. “Don’t knock Italian men, Clara. We take our women very seriously.”
I looked towards Belinda with a sigh. “You see, this is the thing. You want to know what the thing is?” Belinda nodded and smiled. “Luca talks about women like possessions. Noticed how he said, ‘Our women?’”
“But you are mine, Clara.”
I flew my hands up in the air. “See? Now this is what you can expect from Tony now. I bet even Alessandro is the same with Mia.”
Taking my left hand, Luca kissed my ring finger. “You don’t understand. We Italian men take pride in our women. Once they become ours, we look after them—cherish them, if you will. You can see that now, and you will still see that once we are married.” Luca smiled.
The little fucker!
“Married!” Belinda shot out of her chair faster than feet on hot coals.
“Well done. I hadn’t had time to get round to that yet.” Luca just smiled, but Belinda was hyperventilating.
“Married? You’re getting married? Eek!”
Running over, she gave me a big hug. “Oh, Clara, I’m so happy for you. And you, too, Luca.” Belinda kissed Luca on both cheeks.
“Thank you, Belinda. You are the first of the ladies to know.”
My head snapped towards him. “You’ve told your men already?”
“I told them yesterday.”
My eyes widened. “What?” I could feel the anger rising again. Deep breaths, deep breaths. “You only asked me this morning. What if I had turned you down?”
Very matter–of-factly, Luca stated, “That was never going to happen. I would have tortured you into submission. I always have, and I always will. Remember what I said from the start? I always get what I want.”
I pointed towards the door and shouted “Get out, before I gouge your eyes out.”
“I love you, baby.”
“Oh, shut up, arsehole!”
Blowing kisses he retreated out the door, but not before saying, “I’ll be back later to take you for lunch.”
Once the door was closed, I turned to Belinda. “You see that? He always has to have the last word! My God, he frustrates the hell out of me.”
“As you do him I should imagine.” Belinda smiled. “Do you think he had a reason for coming in here?”
“He probably thought I wasn’t going to tell you, so thought he’d barge his way in and do it himself. Tosser.”
Belinda giggled. “You were made for each other. I’m so happy for you.”
Seeing her genuine delight, I couldn’t help but smile back. “I must admit—so am I. And I never thought I would say that.”
“You two are so adorable one minute and like grrr the next. It’s quite fascinating.”
Sitting down, I shook my head—although I still couldn’t help the smile. “So, getting back to you and Tony. How do you feel about him?”
She rubbed her hands over her face and sighed. “I don’t know. I don’t think I would have slept with him last night if I had been a bit more clear-headed. It just complicates matters, you know?”
“I know, but I did offer you the option of quitting your clients a while back. You’re getting paid for being Manager, so do you really need to do the other side of it anymore?”
She bit her lip and looked away for a moment. “No, but I enjoyed that part. I suppose a part of me thinks I should settle down a bit now, but the other part of me doesn’t want to be dictated to by a man.”
Smiling, I knew exactly how she felt. “I feel for you, hon. I really do. The problem we have here is that if Tony knows you’re going upstairs with a client, he might freak. The other problem we have is that I doubt very much that Luca would rein him in.”
She closed her eyes in frustration. “I see what you mean. They’re going to stick together, aren’t they? Like two peas in a bleedin’ pod!”
“Exactly.”
“Why do men have to complicate everything?”
Cracking up laughing, I walked around my desk to Belinda and squeezed her shoulder. “Look, don’t over-analyse it all. Take each day as it comes, and see how you feel. Take a breather from that side of work, so you can concentrate on what you really want. It will make Tony happy, and in turn, it gives you the time to see how you feel.”