Hearts on Fire: Romance Multi-Author Box Set Anthology

by Violet Vaughn

  “You’re right,” he said as she pulled the duvet over him.

  “Rest up,” she ordered, walking towards the door. “I’m going out to get some supplies. Some juice and fruit for you and the Senna and things you needed, and other groceries we seem to have run out of.”

  “You’re too good for me, Andrea.”

  She closed the door and wondered why he kept saying that.

  24

  She was way too overdressed for the grocery store in her pale pink dress but it had to be done.

  Andrea grabbed her car keys and set off, knowing that shopping for groceries instead of sitting around in her apartment watching Riley sleep would help her to push Ava and Nico’s wedding to the back of her mind.

  It still wasn’t late, she decided, looking at her watch. She still nursed hopes that if Riley felt up to it by the time she got back, they could still make an appearance in Montagnano.

  Should she have gone without him, she wondered? Riley had suggested it but she was too loyal to consider such a thing. She shook her head, squeezed her eyes shut and decided to forget the matter.

  If she didn’t see them today, she would make it up to her friends once they returned from their honeymoon. Honeymoon. The word conjured up images of sizzling heat, of tropical trees and candlelit dinners, of frivolous cocktails and creamy sun-lotion, of sex and lust and promises of love.

  She wondered if there might ever come a day when she would go on hers. The idea had never come to her before. Even now, with Riley, she didn’t think of anything long-term. But in time, who knew? Seeing him ill had frightened her and made her realize her underlying feelings for him were still as strong as ever. Perhaps it would take time to fully adjust and to find out everything she wanted to know about him. And maybe relationships that evolved to something more solid had to go through trials first as a test of the strength of their feelings for one another. Once again she looked to Ava and Nico and what they had gone through to get where they were today.

  She pulled into the parking lot of her local shopping mall and automatically checked her cell out of habit, in case any messages or texts had come in while she’d been driving.

  Riley hadn’t called her.

  But Leo had.

  Puzzled, she wondered what might have been the reason since he knew she would be at the wedding today. She called him back immediately.

  “Where are you?” he asked.

  “In my car,” she said, not thinking her answer through properly.

  “Where are you parked?”

  He was talking as if he was there. Was he there? “Where are you?” she asked, curious.

  “Here, at the wedding.”

  “What wedding?”

  “Nico and Ava’s.”

  All this time and he hadn’t mentioned a thing to her.

  “Is this a joke?”

  “Why would it be a joke? Where are you? I’ve haven’t seen you all morning.”

  She sat up in her seat, her forehead creasing. “You’re at the wedding? You’ve heard me go on about this wedding for months and you never thought to mention it to me?”

  “I wanted to surprise you.”

  “You certainly did that.”

  “Why are we talking on the phone? Hurry up and get here. You missed the wedding.”

  She didn’t want to tell him. So she asked him instead. “How come? How did you get an invite?”

  “I’m here with Gianna.”

  “You’re at the wedding with your ex-wife?” She wondered if they did everything together even though they were divorced. And she wondered how Gianna’s fiancé felt about it all. “That’s insane.”

  “You’re telling me.”

  “At this rate the two of you will be back together again.”

  He laughed, it was a half-laugh, half-snort. “She knows Nico, apparently most of Verona and all of Montagnano know the family.”

  “Is your ex-wife’s fiancé there too?” She frowned deeper, wondering about the chances of their short-lived engagement.

  “Yes, he’s here. Where are you?”

  She ignored his question once more. “Is Dominic there?” she asked, because it wouldn’t surprise her now if he was.

  “No, I don’t believe he knows either the bride or groom.”

  She was tempted to quip that most of Italy seemed to be there but he cut in. “Andrea?”

  She sighed then and didn’t know where to begin. “I’m grocery shopping.”

  “What?” he shrieked.

  She had to hold her cell phone away.

  “I thought the bride and groom were two of your closest friends?” She heard the shock in his voice.

  “It’s a long story.”

  “I’ve got time.”

  She angled her head and smoothed down her dress. The beautiful dress that was wasted on grocery shopping.

  “Where are you grocery shopping?”

  “At Carrefour.” She hoped the hypermarket would have the items Riley needed. “How was it? The wedding?”

  “Beautiful.”

  She felt a ball in her throat.

  “What happened, Andrea?”

  “Like I said, it’s a long story. It’s not important.” But even as she said it, she knew he was way more astute and would figure out that something was wrong.

  “I’m coming to see you.”

  “You’re coming to see me now?”

  “Now,” he said. “I know that place. Get your groceries. I’ll be there in twenty.”

  So she shopped and had managed to get Riley’s things and was waiting outside the supermarket when she saw Leo’s dark green Alfa Romeo slide into the parking lot. She waved at him as he drove in and walked over to the side of the supermarket, near where he had parked. As she watched him walk towards her, she noticed that he did a double take when he looked her way. If he meant to hide the tell-tale admiration in his eyes, it was too late. She’d already seen it. Come to think of it, he scrubbed up fine too. In his dark gray, almost black, suit and light gray silk tie, he looked elegant and sharp. She tried not to stare at the way his shirt clung to him.

  He smiled at her, making her feel relaxed and she smiled back. After the kind of morning she’d had, it was a relief to see him.

  “That’s quite a dress to wear just to go to Carrefour,” he said, adjusting his tie. His cheeks tinged a faint shade of pink as he slipped his hands into his pockets and stood beside her. “You look beautiful, Andrea. How come you missed the wedding?”

  “Something came up.” It wasn’t going to come easy, telling him the truth when she knew there was already friction between the two men. But she knew Leo wasn’t going to let the matter lie.

  “Do you want to grab a coffee?” he asked.

  “Do you have time?” Though she desperately needed more than coffee—a friendly face and a chat too. He seemed to offer all three.

  “I always have time for you,” he said softly. “Let’s get a cup of coffee.” She followed him around the corner to a small sandwich place.

  It would have been odd to meet like this outside of work but to meet him on this of all days, on Ava and Nico’s wedding day, with Riley lying ill at home, was all the more bizarre.

  “Tell me your long story,” he said, throwing a chunk of sugar into his coffee and stirring it. “I’ve got all the time in the world.”

  “You don’t want to hear my story,” she said, unsure why for some reason she wanted to avoid talking about the events of the day. “But I want to hear about the wedding.”

  “It was something,” he said. “You had to be there to see it.”

  Her lip quivered first before a weight, as heavy as a rock, sank slowly through her chest and landed in her stomach. A cloak of disappointment wrapped itself around her but she gritted her teeth together, determined not to fall apart in front of him.

  “I can imagine,” she said, her voice barely audible. “And Ava—how did she look?”

  “Full of happiness. I don’t want to torture you further,
Andrea. I know how much you were looking forward to it. Now tell me. Why weren’t you there? What’s really going on with you, Andrea?”

  She stared at him through watery eyes.

  “Andrea,” Leo clasped his hands together as she fought to pull herself together. “I’ve never seen you this down before. What is it? What has he done?”

  His accusation gave her the strength to take stock of herself. “Why would you think he’s done anything? And his name is Riley, Leo.”

  Leo pursed his lips together as he stared back at her.

  “We were getting ready and he became ill.”

  “Ill?”

  “He was in pain. He said something about his stomach and some bowel problem, I think.”

  “And?” Something about the tone of his voice told her that he didn’t believe Riley’s story. “Why didn’t you come at least, even if he couldn’t?”

  “And leave him like that?”

  “He was hardly going to die. Why didn’t he see a doctor?”

  “I suggested it. He said he’s suffered from it for a while.”

  “But yet you’ve left him at home now to come here.”

  “He needed medication and I told him to get some rest.”

  “If you can come here, you can go to the wedding or at the very least enjoy the rest of the day. You’ve dressed up for it.” He told her. “And the party goes on until late.”

  “Leo,” she said, her voice turning sharp. “He told me to go without him because he didn’t want me to miss any of it. We were hoping to make it there at some point and he was starting to get ready again but then he threw up.”

  “That’s not a symptom of IBS.”

  “How would you know?”

  “Because it’s a common condition. I had an ex-girlfriend who suffered from it.”

  “You sound as though you don’t believe him.”

  Leo looked away. His silence said more than enough. After a few moments he spoke again. “Nico asked me where you were. I didn’t know what to tell him so I called you. What do you want me to tell them now?”

  “Don’t tell them a thing. This is my problem and something that I have to deal with.”

  “It’s still not too late.”

  “Please stop saying the same thing over and over again,” she said in a fit of annoyance.

  “And you don’t listen. Come now, leave with me.”

  His insistence made the muscles on her face tighten. She couldn’t understand why he was so intent on her being there. Why was he always looking out for her? She wondered if this was some ploy of his to make his ex-wife jealous.

  “Didn’t you want to bring someone to the wedding instead of turning up by yourself?” she asked.

  “I’m single.”

  “I know. You already said. But you came with your ex-wife anyway. How does she know Nico?”

  “Her father, my ex-father-in-law, is the Cazale family’s lawyer. It’s a small world we live in.”

  “Small world indeed,” she muttered.

  “You look,” he pursed his lips together as though not wanting to let his words out. “You look great. That dress is wasted in a supermarket.”

  “I’m going home now, Leo. Please don’t mention to Nico and Ava that you saw me here. Let me explain everything to them in my own time. I feel bad enough as it is.”

  “You don’t have to be a martyr.” He told her, as if trying one more time.

  She’d have a lot of explaining to do when her friends returned from their honeymoon but Leo wasn’t going to coax her into going. Not with all the compliments in the world.

  IBS my ass, thought Leo as he slammed his foot on the accelerator. Why could Andrea not see it? He’d been worried that something else had happened to her. He was still worried about her, even though there wasn’t any real reason to be. The guy wanting to buy a cheap suit for the wedding wasn’t a valid reason all by itself to suspect anything.

  But with this most recent episode, Leo felt that there was more to Riley than the man gave away. A man couldn’t live a lie for ever and Leo would be patiently waiting in the wings for the man to reveal his true colors.

  He understood Andrea’s predicament; she was too submerged in the relationship to see things subjectively. Too wrapped up in his bullshit to smell the roses.

  But Leo could tell. The only thing he couldn’t work out was why the man had gone to such lengths to avoid the wedding.

  He decided that he’d had enough for the day and turned away from Montagnano and drove back towards home. There was no point going back to the party. He’d only come in the first place because he believed Andrea would be there. It also gave him the chance to see his father-in-law, a man he got on well with, but it was more for Andrea that he’d made the effort to attend.

  As he sped along the road, pondering his conversation with Andrea, Leo considered the alternative option that he might be completely wrong about Riley. What if the only problem was that his own feelings for Andrea had shifted?

  It hadn’t been the reason he’d gone into partnership with her—that decision had been a purely business one but he no longer saw her as Dominic’s little sister.

  25

  Not more than five minutes after Andrea left, Riley got up and put on his casual clothes.

  He rushed to his laptop and turned it on. He’d managed to turn things around but he was still down, now to the tune of thirty thousand dollars. It was better than being down fifty thousand.

  That bastard, Claydon. Sometimes these tips from ex-work colleagues worked out sometimes, like now, they didn’t. When they didn’t, he was screwed, usually because he sunk a lot of money into the trade. He liked to risk big and sometimes it bit him in the butt.

  Now he needed to figure out a plan to get himself out of this mess. His attention drifted to Andrea’s laptop case. Would it be too risky going through it now when he didn’t know how long she might be out for?

  It was a shame he hadn’t been able to convince her to go to the wedding. He’d tried to get her to attend the wedding, knowing that if she went, he would have the whole day to himself without any interruption. It would also give him plenty of time to snoop around in her things while her laptop was at home.

  Women were so careless about their online passwords and security. Getting into her accounts hadn’t been difficult at all.

  He knew how much money she had and in which bank accounts. She was more than comfortably well off. Not bad for a woman who had just entered her thirties. The bimbos he usually met weren’t even able to add three digit numbers together. Why would they need to when they relied on men who were older or richer, and often a combination of both, to provide the type of lifestyle they could ill afford themselves?

  Rubbing his hands over his face, he got up and stood by the coffee table where her laptop case lay. He’d hit the jackpot with Andrea. He’d had a good run with the last one as well. Luck had favored him until her family had told her otherwise. He now considered it a lucky break that they’d convinced her to break it off.

  The problem was, and it was a problem he hadn’t encountered before, he had begun to care for Andrea. He wasn’t sure, but love might have come into the equation. She was a generous and trusting woman, loving too, and she always looked for the best in people. That was why it had been so easy with her. But sometimes he would lie awake at night feeling the guilt of his actions—something he’d never felt with the others. Then he would tell himself that he wasn’t breaking the law if he was simply giving women what they thought they wanted.

  The sound of the key in the lock cut off his thoughts and he rushed back to his seat. He was back at the table by the time Andrea walked in with a grocery bag in each hand.

  “Hey,” she said, a chastising tone to her voice. “What are you doing up?” She walked over to the kitchen to set down the shopping bags before walking back into the living room. Sliding her handbag off her shoulder she walked over to him. “How are you feeling?” She asked, standing close to him with her h
and around his neck.

  Still so caring.

  A drop of guilt pricked at his conscience.

  “Why are you working again?”

  He closed his laptop and twisted around in the chair so that he could face her, then he opened his legs so that she could stand between them. He placed his arms around her waist, locking her to him.

  “Sorry,” he murmured and kissed her stomach. She looked stunning in that pink dress and he felt guilty all over again that she’d dressed up and had missed this wedding because of him. He stared up at her for the longest time.

  “What?” she asked, gazing at him oddly.

  “You’re a good woman, Andrea.”

  She tried to pry his arms away. “I need to put the groceries away,” she said, as he loosened his arms and watched her walk away.

  “Why do you always say that?” She asked, turning around, perplexed. “That I’m too good for you?”

  “You are.” He walked into the kitchen and started taking the groceries out of the bag.

  “I managed to find the things you wanted,” she said, fishing out his items.

  “Thank you.” He looked through them.

  She pulled out fruit and juices. “Did you sleep well?”

  “Deeply. I think I’d worn myself out with all those late nights and that worry. I feel much better now.”

  “You still look tired.”

  He knew. The circles under his eyes were real. His worry about the debt was real. But he didn’t want to ask her to lend him money just yet—that would be the last resort. In asking her, he’d risk revealing more, and it was something he wasn’t prepared to do. He had other plans for her, for them, and this time, a future too.

  “The spasms are draining.”

  “Can we talk about what’s really worrying you?”

  “I can handle it, Andrea.”

  “There you go again. You’re going to make yourself even worse. Talk to me. Tell me what it is. Maybe I can help.”

  “You have helped. You’ve been wonderful.”

  “Maybe I can help you through this…this…tough time. Is it money you’ve lost? I don’t know a thing about stocks and shares, but I know it involves money.”