by Mandy Rosko
Arturo stepped closer, that predatory smile on his face as he went toe to toe with her, staring down at her.
"You want to say something to me."
"No, I don't." She clenched her fists as she glared up at him.
"Yes, you do. I can tell. Just say it. I disgust you, don't I?"
Like she would ever tell him that. This man practically had her by the balls, if she had any balls to be had by. The absolute last thing she was going to do was push her luck by pissing him off.
"Your silence is very telling," he said.
"I don't think you're disgusting."
Not completely disgusting, at any rate.
He wouldn’t stop with that half smile. It looked like he really did think he had her, like he knew what was going through her mind.
Isla sighed. “Well, you’re here now. I guess you want sex?”
“What?” Arturo’s eyes widened. He jerked back a little, as though she’d hit him.
She didn’t get it. “Isn’t that why you’re here?”
“In my house? I’m here because it’s the end of the day, I’m tired, hungry, and I want to relax.”
The way he glared at her when he said it unnerved her. “I just thought, considering our agreement….”
“You thought that I was sitting at my desk all day slobbering all over my paperwork while imagining your sweet ass in my bed, did you?”
Isla’s face heated. “What the hell? Why do you have to speak like that?”
“Why do you have to think like that?” Arturo shot back. “I’m going to fuck you eventually, and yes, it will be tonight, but I’m not a pervert who can’t manage to go more than a few minutes without thinking about tits and ass and getting off. I do have self-control, just so you know.”
As he said it, his eyes moved up and down her body. Her skin heated from the bottom of her toes all the way to the top of her head from having him look at her like that. The extra problem to add on top of it was the fact he didn’t look overly impressed with what he was seeing.
What the hell? And why did that bother her so much?
“Didn’t seem so obvious when you had that blonde come out of your back office the other day.”
She couldn’t believe she just said that. Fuck my life.
He shook his head before blowing out a breath and rolling his eyes, but he didn’t reprimand her for her choice of words.
“Get yourself ready and come down to dinner.” He moved back to her door.
It seemed a little late for dinner. She tried not to eat after seven, but she supposed a guy like Arturo was used to late dinners. He had the sort of body that meant his metabolism was able to keep up with eating late, at least.
“Get ready, right.”
“Something you don’t understand?” he asked, stopping at her door.
She shook her head. “No, I get it.” He had said he would fuck her after they ate, so she supposed she needed to get into a fresh pair of panties, the tiny lacey kind, and one of the sexier bras that she’d packed.
“Good. Dinner will be served in ten minutes. Don’t be late,” he said, then he was gone.
Isla exhaled, not realizing she’d been having trouble breathing until she did that.
Holy shit. That had been… a lot more intense than she’d thought it would be. She was going to have dinner with that man, and then they were going to get it on, probably in a king-sized bed, or something bigger, whatever it was that angry billionaires slept in.
This hadn’t made her blush so much before she came here. Was it only more real now that she was here? Now that she really did have to put up with his temper and snide comments?
Well, screw him. Regardless of his past, that was no reason for him to play these games with her. She was going to play along, only because she had to, but while she was at it, she was going to kill him with kindness.
Isla’s new mission was to make this man, not love her, but like her. She was going to be so nice to him, that by the time this was all over and he was handing over her family’s company, he would be down on his knees apologizing to her for being so rude and mean.
She wouldn’t make him apologize for the sex bit, but only if it was good. Something told her that a guy like Arturo only ever had good sex, so she wasn’t overly worried about that.
All right then, game on.
12
Isla knew how to do her makeup so that her best features were highlighted, instead of just being covered up.
Enough eyeliner for her eyes, without going all the way around, made them look bigger. Her lashes were naturally dark, so she used a clear mascara, which was her favorite thing in the entire world, especially since she never had worry about forgetting to take it off during the night and waking up in the morning with raccoon eyes.
That was definitely something she needed to be worried about tonight, if Arturo was serious about getting her in bed.
She was fairly sure he was.
She never wore fake lashes. She'd tried them before, but it was hard to make her look good in them. For whatever reason, Isla and fake lashes never went together, so she didn't have to worry about that.
Red or yellow was her signature color, but yellow wasn't a color she used to seduce.
Red it was. Red anything with her black hair and dark eyes always seemed to pull in a lot of good attention. And there were all kinds of good attention.
She had a great dress that hugged her ass and thighs in just the right way. Not too short, but long enough to look a little on the sophisticated side.
She never put full-on red lipstick, however. That never seemed to work too well either. No one had true red lips, but she could darken her lips by a couple of shades and still look naturally beautiful.
Also, even with her primer, too much red lipstick would noticeably come off on her cutlery when she ate. Better to put on something that wouldn't be so noticeable if the color faded, which would allow her to reapply it without Arturo noticing at some point.
She also figured he wouldn't like being kissed and having a whole lot of red on his face.
She had put a lot more thought into this than she'd anticipated.
For her shoes, she pulled out her favorite heels. They were black, not red, but black went with everything, also there was a little red on them in the form of a bow at the front of each foot. The toe was left open. She didn't have any color on her toes, but she was a big believer in pedicures, which means her feet would look pretty good.
If he was the sort who would be looking at her feet.
Shit. Should she bring a handbag? This wasn't a restaurant she was going to, but it almost felt that way. Where else was she supposed to store her lipstick? She'd also brought condoms. Arturo had said he had no plans on having unprotected sex, but that didn't mean Isla allowed herself to trust someone else to bring the essentials.
There was nothing for it. The handbag had to come along. At least it was small.
Next was the jewelry. All of it was her own pieces. She'd made roses out of red wire, which had taken forever to put together. The end results, a matching necklace with earrings and a ring, were some of her favorite to wear to events, especially when she was trying to sell her stuff.
People tended to like the loops and swirls in her wire jewelry, and the red went with her outfit nicely.
Isla checked herself out in the mirror as she fluffed her black hair. Perfume would be too obvious, and she wasn't a fan of the stuff, so she left it off. Hopefully, Arturo wasn't the sort of guy who cared about that.
She stopped messing with her hair and stared at herself.
Wait a minute, she had decided she didn't care what he thought and she wasn't going to try too hard.
No. This wasn't about her trying too hard. She needed to go down there and impress, but she didn't need to impress him that badly.
This was already going to end in sex, so it wasn't like she had to dress like she was trying for that.
She wiped off her lipstick and went for a
plain gloss instead. She also opted to not wear any eyeshadow or blush.
She smiled at herself in the mirror.
With her hair fluffed as it was, she had to say, she thought she looked pretty fucking spectacular. She looked approachable, not like a woman who was out for sex, or something else.
She looked almost normal, like she could be Arturo's friend or business confidant, and not just someone he was using for… whatever this game was supposed to be.
She had a whole two minutes to spare when she left her room.
She hadn't expected there to be someone waiting for her.
Not Martina. It was that young female maid from before. She smiled shyly at Isla. "I'm to escort you to the dining hall."
"Oh, of course, lead the way," she said, as if she had maids and servants escorting her around all the time.
They walked at a brisk pace down the hall, down the stairs, and then through a series of doors, and holy God, this place was huge.
"So," Isla said, "what's it like working for Mr. Calendri?"
"Oh." The girl jumped a little as though she were a mouse being asked a sly question from a cat. "It's nice."
"Just nice?"
"Mr. Calendri is nice."
Isla wasn't going to get any information out of this girl. She could ask for her name and the girl might not even tell her. Was there a rule about the woman speaking to her? Or was it just the men?
They must've been getting close to the dining hall, because she could hear Arturo's voice, and he didn't sound too happy.
“Why don’t you just mind your own damned business?”
Isla and the servant girl stopped, frozen just outside of the door to the dining room. Why would she want to take another step when Arturo sounded so angry?
A lot angry.
Who was he talking to?
She leaned in a little closer, not even think about her actions. Her curiosity got the better of her and it just happened.
The maid girl took hold of her wrist and tried to pull her back, but she didn't put a whole lot of strength into it.
"Orlando, seriously, you're being a nuisance. She's a grown damn woman and she made the choice to come here."
Isla's eyes widened. He was speaking to his brother about her?
At least one of the Calendri brothers was proving to be something of a gentleman. She was just getting ready to brush the lot of them off as being rude and standoffish, even the brother she hadn't met.
Well, okay, maybe she wouldn't have thought that completely about Orlando. In the two minutes she'd spent in his presence earlier today, he'd seemed like an all right guy.
Arturo's voice changed from completely pissed off to just exasperated and tired. "Seriously, you're making a big deal out of nothing. I'm not keeping her here for fuck's sake."
Another silence while Orlando spoke. She couldn't hear him, and she wished Arturo would put the phone on speaker.
"Fair enough," Arturo said. "I'll talk to you later, all right? I love you."
Isla's breath caught, and she leaned back from the door so suddenly that the maid girl nearly fell back on her ass as she moved quickly to keep Isla's head from hitting her nose.
She had to catch the girl, who let out a sharp yelp.
"Shh!" she said, putting a finger to her mouth when she righted the girl.
She immediately looked back toward the door. Had Arturo heard that? The poor maid looked utterly terrified.
After a few seconds, there was a call from the other side of the door. "Isla, I know you're there. Stop spying and get in here."
Great.
She sucked back a deep breath and just barely managed to stop herself from looking at the young girl with annoyance for giving away her position.
It wasn't totally her fault, so Isla just needed to walk in there and face the music.
She was just about to open the door and let herself in, but the maid girl quickly rushed past her, grabbed the door handle, and held it open so Isla could enter like a proper rich lady should.
With a servant holding the door for her.
It made her so damned uncomfortable that she almost forgot to be embarrassed for spying.
Arturo stared at her hard as she entered. His elbows were up on the pristine tablecloth. He wore a casual suit, the sort of thing with an open black coat and white dress shirt, but no tie. His hair was tied loosely behind him, which gave off a causal feel as well. Somehow, he still rocked that look and managed to seem official and a little on the scary side. His hands were locked together as he stared at her over his fingers with those dark eyes. She could have sworn there was a slight twitch going on beneath one of his eyes.
The servant girl wasn't the one to step forward and pull Isla's chair out. A male butler did that, someone older. She didn't recognize him from when she first came in.
"Thank you," she said to him, sitting down to Arturo's right.
The table was beyond long and enormous. If she were to sit across from him, it would put her at least fifteen feet away. Not exactly a romantic dinner.
"Did you enjoy what you heard?" Arturo asked, his eye still doing that twitching thing.
Kill him with kindness. She'd seen this man smile before. He was in a bad mood, and she wasn't going to play into it.
Not too much, at least.
She smiled at him, going for sweet, but without being fake. The fake sugars made her stomach ache anyway. "Sorry, I guess it just happened. You were talking about me, after all."
"I suppose I was," Arturo conceded, still watching her, still suspicious. Of what exactly?
"What did you hear?"
The butler returned with a red wine. Elegantly, he poured a glass for her and topped off Arturo's glass before silently removing himself from of the line of fire.
Weren't gentlemen supposed to save the ladies when they were in trouble?
Isla was all about equal treatment, but only so long as it benefited her in awkward situations. It made her a hypocrite, sure, but right now, she was sweating under that dark, intense stare.
"Not much," she replied, keeping her tone straight, miraculously. She couldn't hide her curiosity, however, which was the thing that had gotten her in trouble to begin with. "I heard you mention me and your brother Orlando's name. So I guess he's worried about me and what you're planning on doing to my innocence.”
Arturo smiled at her choice of words.
“Also, I heard you tell your brother you love him before you ended the call. That's it."
His dark eyes looked away from her, it was just a split second, but it was incredibly telling.
He loved his brother, and he was willing to say it out loud. He looked like a guy's guy, the sort of man who had trouble admitting to feelings like that, but he said it to his younger brother.
And it clearly made him uncomfortable to know someone had heard that.
This was her opening. She wasn't the sort who would use something so personal and, well, sweet against a man, so all she had to do was keep this to herself. That was bound to get her some brownie points with this man.
"You don't have to worry. I'm not going to run to the press or anything and tell them you have a heart."
"That's hardly the thing I'm worried about," he said.
"I won't even tell the brother you don't like, if it will make you feel better."
Arturo lifted a brow at her. "Were you going to?"
She couldn't help but glare a little. "No, that's not what I meant. Dammit, you know what I mean. I'm not a bitch. I won't rub it in your face that you love your family, okay?"
He blinked at her, then he burst out laughing. "Not a bitch?" he asked, but she detected no sarcasm there. Not until he stopped laughing and looked her square in the eyes, his gaze making her feel like a tiny animal in the sights of a cobra about to strike. "We'll see if any of that changes when you get out of here. You might hate me a little more when this is all over."
His gaze fell down to her breasts and lingered there. Isla shivered
.
13
Once she'd made the decision to be nice and try to be friends with him, it was easier than she thought it would be to not take the bait Arturo lured her with.
Easier, despite how secretive and strange he was being about this entire thing.
Isla shrugged. "I doubt it. There aren't too many people in this world I hate. I don't think I hate any of them, actually."
"That'll change." He tilted his head back as he finished off his glass of wine.
Hadn't that just been refilled?
The butler returned, but not with wine. This time, he came with a trolley. It actually had silver coverings on it like in fancy restaurants, but that wasn't enough to stop the delicious smells from reaching into her nose and tantalizing her senses.
Her mouth immediately watered at the thought of food, and she wasn't even all that hungry.
"Sir," said the butler as he pulled off the tray. A cloud rose into the air like a nuclear explosion of steam. Okay, so maybe not quite like that. There was no mushroom cloud, but it was still neat to see.
Oh, and those delicious smells from before? Yeah, they were only multiplied by a thousand. She had to swallow quickly, or else she feared she would start to drool.
"Thank you, Jeffery," Arturo said. "Why don't you tell our guest what we're having today?"
"Of course," Jeffery said with a smile. "We have for you today a fillet of salmon, freshly caught this morning. It has been lightly oiled and seasoned with herbs before being baked in the oven. You should find it quite tender and flakey. The slices of avocado you have on the side go well with the fish. The mashed potatoes have been flavored with fresh milk, organic butter, and a touch of garlic. The red skins have been left on. Mr. Calendri prefers it that way. He finds the taste much better and the cook agrees."
