by Alice Ward
“Tell her you love her first,” Cristiano suggested, with a wink in her direction. “That might help your cause.”
“Okay!”
Jenny ran into the house, leaving us behind.
I cleared my throat and glanced around the yard, seeing if any of the children might need my attention. Presently, they were all good, deeply involved in games with each other.
“Looks like we’re not needed,” Cristiano said, echoing my thoughts.
I nodded. “Oh well.”
“Why here?”
I blinked and glanced at him. A thick wave of hair fell over his right eye to gleam in the late morning light. It reminded me a bit of Derek, and yet not at all. Though I’d only just met the man in front of me, I already knew he and Derek had next to nothing in common. It was a deep sense in my gut that informed me that no one on the planet was quite like Cristiano Leventis.
“Um, sorry?” I shook my head, feeling stupid for having already forgotten his question.
“Why did you decide to volunteer here?” he asked again, not seeming to be annoyed by my stupidity. “I’m merely curious. We have volunteers come through here, of course, but they usually pick the orphanage through some kind of program, such as a church or school.”
“Oh! Right... I’ve worked with kids before, and I kind of miss it, so that’s basically what brought me here.”
He stepped an inch closer, focusing on me as if I was the most important person in the world to him right then. “Where did you work with children before?”
“When I was in high school, my mom and I would go to the homeless shelter in our neighborhood. She worked at the daycare there once a week, so I just kind of tagged along.”
“Your mother is already an impressive woman, and I’ve never met her.”
I smirked. “Just because of that?”
“Yes.” His head tilted slightly to the side, giving him a boyish look. “Making the time to care for others isn’t something that most people do. We’re all too... busy with our lives.” He looked across the yard at the children playing. “Busy with ourselves,” he added, as if an afterthought.
“What about you?” I asked, not eager to keep talking about myself. “What brought you here?”
Cristiano blinked and looked down at the grass near his polished dress shoes. “A long and winding path.”
The tone he used told me it was a touchy subject. I shut my mouth, my mind racing for the next conversation piece.
Cristiano was already going on though. “Jenny seems to like you.”
“She seems to like you.”
He smiled. “She probably likes everyone. So... Blaire. May I ask more about you?”
I bit back a smile. He was so polite and formal. Was it forced, crafted, or just the way he naturally was?
I glanced toward the house. No Teresa. No kids in need. Nothing to do.
“Of course,” I answered.
He looked at me with what seemed to be genuine interest. “What do you do?”
“I... I’m kind of in between jobs right now.”
“I see. So that’s why you decided to come here?”
“Uh... no. It doesn’t really have anything to do with that. I still plan on volunteering here even after I get a job.”
My response clearly pleased him. “Now I like your mother even more. She raised quite a woman. What would you like to do?”
“I’m figuring it out, actually,” I said, knowing how lame that sounded. “I’m still trying to figure out just what I want to do, and what I’d be best at.”
He nodded, looking at me as if I was some puzzle he hadn’t quite solved. “It can take a while.”
“For me it has. What about you? Have you figured it out?”
He laughed, the deep timbre of the sound going straight to my belly. “Not at all. But there’s time... for both you and me.”
I lifted a fist and smiled when he bumped it. “Here’s hoping.”
“I’m in the stock market,” he added, shoving his hands in his pockets.
“Oh.” I nodded, wondering just what that meant. Did he buy and sell stocks? Advise others on buying and selling?
“I like your outfit,” he commented, his eyes moving down to my toes. “Very retro.”
I looked down at my hands, at the thick bracelets around one wrist. “Thanks. Almost all my clothes are vintage. It’s something I kind of got into over the last year.”
“I’ll have to keep coming back here, so I can see the rest of your wardrobe.”
I grinned up at him. “And what about you? Do you always dress so nice?”
His amber eyes twinkled. “Only on my best days. Although I have to tell you, I can be a lot of fun once the suit comes off.”
I caught myself one millisecond before imagining him naked and laughed at his attempt at a joke instead. One more second and I cut the chuckle short. Was I flirting? And not even an hour after kissing my boyfriend goodbye?
I cleared my throat and looked away. Nope. This wasn’t good. Not at all. It didn’t matter who the man standing in front of me was. Chicago’s top entrepreneur... or Money Man... or whatever the fricking name that news program had given him.
Teresa came out onto the back porch, calling for one of the children.
I quickly glanced at Cristiano. “I should go see if I can be of some help.”
He nodded. “I have to be going anyway.”
My heart sank a little... and then I reminded myself it didn’t have to. Cristiano was completely and totally off limits. Him leaving before I started all out salivating would be a swell idea.
He went on. “When will you be back here?”
I lifted a shoulder. “I don’t know, really. We haven’t worked out an exact schedule yet.”
I pursed my lips against the half-truth. My schedule actually was starting to shape up, with Saturdays being my primary day, and I shouldn’t have lied to Cristiano about it. I just didn’t want to give him the wrong impression, to make him think that I was asking him to come back and see me.
He gazed directly at me. “I wish that was good enough for me, but I would really like to see you again.”
Oh damn. My legs set to quaking. I wanted to beg him to repeat the words, to say them over and over again until I was nothing but putty in his hands.
I licked my dry lips, not sure how to respond. “Well, I have plans with my boyfriend tonight...”
There. A casually thrown out mention of a boyfriend. It was kind of a dick move, but I didn’t want Cristiano to think I was actually interested in him. Maybe mentioning Derek would be enough to deter him without flat out turning him down.
My response didn’t seem to faze Cristiano in the slightest. “Another time then.” The response was simple, but the look in his eyes was not. The look held promises that curled my toes and forced the air from every cell of my lungs.
Then he smiled and turned away, walking across the grass, carving a line around the side of the house. Every step was confident and smooth. Strong. Riveting.
I shook my head, trying to yank myself out of the daze.
Teresa still stood on the back porch, involved in talking to one of the boys in a low voice. I jogged across the grass and hovered at the bottom of the steps, waiting until their conversation had finished to approach her.
“Hey,” I started.
Teresa beamed at me. “Did you meet Cristiano?”
“I did. He’s... nice.”
And sexy... and suave... and commanding... and just mysterious enough without being cold-shouldered.
“He comes here a lot, although sometimes he’s out of town and has to skip his regular visits.” She leaned back on the edge of the banister, bracing herself with her arms. “He’s a pretty big honcho in the stock market, though he doesn’t like to brag about it.” She smiled, her eyes twinkling. “So I do it for him.”
She laughed lightly, and I joined in.
“Most of the kids have known him for years,” Teresa went on.
&nb
sp; “What’s his story?”
She looked slightly surprised. “He didn’t tell you?”
“No.”
“Cristiano spent six years here. And then he went into foster care. But he’s been visiting his whole adult life. When he’s in Chicago, he doesn’t miss a week.”
“He’s from here?”
She nodded. “I worked here when he was dropped off. It was my first year.”
I stared at her, riveted. “And who dropped him off?”
Teresa opened her mouth but then seemed to think better of whatever she was about to say and pursed her lips together instead. “Oh, I don’t know, honey. They didn’t say.”
“His parents?”
Teresa shrugged. “I really don’t know.”
I looked down at the wooden steps. “Wow. That’s crazy...”
“I know,” Teresa murmured. “And just what he had been through we’ll never know.”
“He was too young to talk?”
“He didn’t seem to want to. He said a little bit when he got older, but it wasn’t much. Certainly nothing for us to go on.” She waved her hand. “Oh, but that was so long ago. Let’s forget about it.”
“Okay,” I answered, knowing I would do anything but forget. Those intense coppery eyes... the long, sweeping black lashes. The full lips. The golden skin.
How could any woman do anything but forever remember a man like Cristiano Leventis?
CHAPTER TWO
“She acts like she can’t lift anything heavier than ten pounds,” Evie complained.
“Hm,” I offered, doing my best to try and pay attention.
My friend sighed and swung her feet up onto my couch to curl them underneath her. It was only May, but she already had a tan thanks to the week-long trip she’d just taken to her family’s house in Florida. It complemented her black hair and dark brown eyes well and also made me think of other dark toned people. As in certain men. As in one in particular.
I mentally shook myself. “Why don’t you just quit?” I asked. “Do you really need that job?”
Evie’s nose wrinkled. “Yeah, I do. I mean, I guess I could look for something else. I just like complaining.”
I laughed lightly, loving my friend and her honesty. “Everyone does.”
Evie cracked a smile. “Kidding. I really do kind of like retail, even if the pay is shit. But one of the managers is leaving soon, and they’re either going to hire a new one or promote one of the associates.”
“Hey, that’s good.”
“It’ll be better than hanging clothes all day. At least then I’ll get to boss around other people and tell them to hang the clothes. And I won’t have to vacuum.”
I laughed. “You’re bad. You know, I’ve only ever heard people complain about retail. I worked at a smoothie stand in high school, and I hated it.”
“Where?”
“At the mall.”
“Yeah, I bet you hated it. Ugh, teenagers...”
“Exactly,” I agreed. “They all wanted the most complicated drinks and never left tips.”
She sat up straighter. “Hey! You should come work at the store with me. They need to hire a couple more people. You can pick between handling shipping in the back or working in sales on the floor. I promise that if I become a manager, I won’t yell at you too much.”
I immediately shook my head. “I don’t think I could sell women’s clothing.”
“Why not?”
I shrugged. “I just don’t think I’d be any good at it.”
“Aren’t you still looking for a job?”
I twisted some hair around my finger and looked down. “Yeah,” I admitted.
“What about Michael? Did he hook you up with anything yet?”
Michael was Evie’s cousin. He’d been a family friend for years, and I actually met Evie through him a couple summers after high school.
“There are some possibilities. We’re still talking about it.”
“At his company?”
“He says he knows some other people who are looking for help, so no... not necessarily.” I looked down at my hands and thought about it some more. “You know, maybe a job at the store would be good. Just part time.”
Evie squealed. “You’d get to work with me!”
Her enthusiasm was contagious. “That would be pretty awesome.”
“But what about the orphanage? Would you still do that?”
“Oh yeah.” I stretched my legs out across the coffee table, letting my red Toms hang off the other side of the wood. “No way am I quitting that.”
“Oh yeah?”
I peered at her. “What?”
“What do you mean what? Your tone of voice. That’s the what I’m talking about.”
I stared at her and pulled my bottom lip between my teeth, trying to not be so transparent. “I like it there. The kids are great. They need more supportive adults around.” I shrugged. “I’m kind of an adult. At least that’s what my birth certificate says.”
“Okay, I just got the sense there was something more. Like another reason you want to stick around.”
I shook my head. “You’re crazy. I’m volunteering there because I was tired of sitting around on my butt and not doing anything to help anyone else out. Plus, believe this or not, daytime soap operas are wildly unbelievable. Everyone either has a secret twin or is waking up from their third coma.”
Evie ignored my joke. Instead, she leaned forward to point her finger at me. “You love it at that orphanage so much that when you talk about it, you get short of breath?”
I wrapped my arms around my legs then sighed. “Okay, fine...”
“I knew it! I knew something was going on! You weren’t listening at all when I told you about Marissa being late to her shift yesterday because she got her hair caught in a blender.”
“Huh?” Evie was right. I’d completely missed that one.
“And you called me crazy when I was on to you. That wasn’t nice.”
“I’m sorry. Will you tell me the blender story again?”
“Too late. Though you can probably imagine how it ended. She has a bob now. It’s decently cute.” Evie sat up straighter and excitedly clapped her hands together. “Something’s going on. What is it?”
“I met this guy yesterday...”
“Uh-huh.” Her head bobbed up and down. “I like how this is starting. Go on.”
“He’s...” I shook my head. “Wow.”
Evie sucked a sharp breath in between her teeth. “Just your tone of voice is making me swoon, and I don’t know anything about him yet.”
“He’s...” An image of Cristiano in the backyard came back to me, a wide smile on his face as he watched the children. Where were the words? He was as attractive as they came, and polite and attentive as well. But the real appeal had been something I couldn’t name. Something there might not be a word for.
“Blaire?” Evie pressed. “Tell me about him.”
I licked my lips and looked at the black television screen. “It doesn’t matter. I have a boyfriend.”
“Yeah, a basic go out and do things boyfriend,” she said right away, like the thought wasn’t one that had suddenly just occurred to her.
My eyes swiveled towards her face. “What are you talking about? What do you mean by basic?”
She shrugged nonchalantly. “Just, like, you know, what it sounds like. I mean, not to be harsh or anything, but Derek’s like a...” Her dark eyes rolled towards the ceiling while she gave it some thought. “He’s a starter boyfriend. Yeah. A starter boyfriend.” She smiled, pleased with herself.
I guffawed. “He’s not my first boyfriend. I’m not a teenager, you know.”
She made a sputtering noise. “Yeah, I got that. I didn’t think he popped your cherry or anything. What I mean is that he’s...”
“Basic.”
“Yeah... but you already knew that. You already knew your relationship wasn’t going anywhere. Right?”
I sucked in a slightly pain
ful breath. It had been a while since I’d done some hardcore evaluating in the relationship area. From the time Derek and I first began dating, I knew we weren’t completely compatible, but we shared a mutual attraction and had a lot of fun together. He made me laugh. He listened. It was sweet. Easy. Most days I called it great. That very morning, I’d just been thinking how lucky I was to have him.
But that was before meeting Cristiano...
I shook my head, trying to shake the other man out of it, and then sighed. “Yeah, I did know that. But I think I’ve grown really attached. It’s hard to think about life without him. Some things about what we have are really awesome.”
Evie covered her face with her hands. “Ugh, don’t do that.”
“What? Don’t do what?”
“You had a life before him, so you’ll have a life after him. Please do not start extolling the virtues of Derek.”
“Hey! He’s a really good guy.”
“Yeah, he is, but that doesn’t mean he’s the right guy for you. You know that. And you guys are bound to break up sooner or later when something better comes along.”
“For me or him?” I asked, just for the heck of it.
“Either or. Take your pick. Although, if I had to guess, it will be you doing the leaving first.”
I crossed my arms, not liking the sound of that. “I don’t know...”
“When you met him we talked about this. You said it probably wouldn’t go anywhere, but you wanted to give it a shot anyway.”
“Exactly, so maybe it is going somewhere.”
One of her eyebrows slowly arched up, questioning me. I didn’t know what to say.
Evie tapped on my leg. “Tell me about this guy. You didn’t even tell me what he looks like.”
I let out a big sigh, just the thought of Cristiano exhausting me. Where did I begin?
“He’s so freaking hot, Evie. Like, wow. He’s got dark skin. I think he’s of Middle Eastern or Mediterranean origin. He’s got these bright brown eyes and pitch black hair. But his eyes aren’t really brown. They’re like amber.”
Evie sighed, a fairytale smile on her face. “Wow. Tell me about his shoulders.”
I wrinkled my nose. “His shoulders?”
“Like, what’s their span? How broad are they?”
“I don’t know. I’ll take a measuring tape the next time I go to the orphanage.”
