On other women, it might have sounded flirtatious. Sabrina Connelly sounded earnest.
“Men like me?” When she appeared reticent, he cajoled, “Tell me what they said.” He crossed his arms over his chest as if they were having this conversation inside the hotel and the rock he was sitting on was not digging uncomfortably into his ass. Luca found the combination of her directness and her blush intriguing. “I like knowing more about myself, especially when they involve vague, sweeping generalizations.”
Her eyes narrowed, as if to say he was being clever but maybe it was just the sun. “That there were men out to prey on women who were traveling alone.”
“Do I look like a predator?”
She laughed without humor. “All men are until proven otherwise.”
He saw she regretted her statement by the flattening of her lips.
“If I were a predator, strega, I would have snapped you up the minute you admitted you were alone.” His voice became hard. Even Chiara knew not to cross him when he sounded like that. Luca had never taken advantage of a woman, and it galled him to be thought of as such. “You shouldn’t have volunteered that information. You placed yourself in danger.”
“I don’t think anyone with a pair of eyes can miss out on the fact that I’m by myself on a deserted beach.” She shrugged, as if what he said was of no consequence. “The lifeguard’s looking on.”
“The lifeguard who’s too far away to do anything and thinks we know each other because we have been chatting it up for some time now?”
“What would you have me do?”
You should have walked away the minute you saw me. But it’s too late, strega. I’m bewitched. “Did your mother never tell you not to talk to strangers?”
A tiny flinch. “My grandmother did.”
He filed that away for future reference. “Next time, Little Red Riding Hood, if cornered, invent a boyfriend or a husband you left in the hotel who’s arriving in a few minutes.”
“For some men, that’s not a deterrent.”
And apparently for some women too, he thought darkly, now suddenly remembering that the Hollywood executive she had been rumored to have an affair with was married. “Then run screaming like hell.” He couldn’t help adding, “You’ve been keeping company with the wrong kind of men.”
Her chin went up a notch at his provocative declaration, just as he expected it to. He liked getting a little rise out of her. And he needed the reminder of other men. That they too had fallen under her spell. It made his attraction to her seem…more manageable. Less singular.
“The hotel staff can vouch for who I am,” he said, a tad too arrogant and slightly annoyed that his legendary charm was not working. “The hotel owners and I are business associates.”
“Business associates,” she repeated, frowning, then her demeanor underwent an abrupt change.
Her tone lost a little of the frost, though it sounded a bit forced. “I meant no offense. I’m sure it works every time.” Had the fact that he was a “business associate” and would be presumed rich influenced this sudden change of attitude? Or more accurately, was the connection with Markos making her re-evaluate her attitude towards him?
“What works?”
She flung a hand in front of her in an abrupt, palm up gesture then quickly dropped it. “This whole flirtation, vacation fling. I’m deeply flattered−“
Luca saw she was anything but.
“−you’re a very attractive, panty-dropping, sexy man, but I’m just not in the mood for a holiday romance. Too much going on right now.”
He choked. He didn’t know whether to be flattered or insulted. Being described as “panty-dropping” and then being rejected in one breath was a confusing first. No female alive had ever said no to Luca Argenti. Well, maybe his sister Chiara was the exception, so he had to qualify it. No female non-relation alive had ever said no to him. There was a time in kindergarten when a little girl named Isabela had refused to kiss him, but that was due to the fact that he hadn’t refined his technique yet. He thought pulling on her pigtails was the surest way to get her attention. He’d come a long way since.
“Here,” he said, thrusting the hat out to her.
“Grazie,” she said a bit reluctantly, snatching the brim of the hat as if it was radioactive.
“Prego.” Time to regroup. He’d never met a female who was so prickly. Unless it was his sister when she didn’t get her way. “At least allow me to escort you back to the hotel when you’re done-” he glanced at her bag, “-er…with whatever you’re doing.”
She remained silent, looking at the horizon, but Luca could practically hear the gears turning in her head.
“If you behave,” she tossed out blithely, but not before Luca caught the furtive, sideways glance she gave him before she jammed the hat back onto her head in apparent dismissal of his presence.
If.
That brief glance was enough for Luca to have caught it. She had checked him out.
The little witch! He swallowed a smirk. Not an all out rejection after all. She was more clever than he had thought.
Luca’s smile returned. She had angled her body away from him. Since she couldn’t see it, he allowed it to broaden into an anticipatory grin. Luca hadn’t played this game in a very, very long time and so it took a moment for the realization to hit him. Sabrina Connelly was playing hard to get.
Chapter 2
Sabrina Connelly, you’re such an actress. Chase would be so proud of her if he could see her right now. She had to turn away momentarily from the sight of bare, firm chest and taut abdominal muscles. It was driving her to distraction. And good God, her nipples were pebbling. She had grabbed the first swimsuit she could find this morning. It was the one from Chase. Sabrina decided to wear it since there would probably be no one at this part of the beach this early.
Wrong.
She knew who Luca Argenti was. She had seen him arrive at the hotel last night. She had even dreamed about him.
She was seated at the lobby café hoping to catch a glimpse of any of the Konstantinos clan’s arrival. The staff were trained not to give out any information on the coming and goings of the guests, as any reputable hotel should, so she had been reduced to hanging out in the lobby on the off chance that she would spot any of them.
Instead she had seen him.
Or rather, she had heard him.
Rich, masculine laughter drifted to where she was seated behind a strategically placed potted plant. It was followed by a spate of emphatic, melodiously inflected words spoken in such a deep, liquid voice that Sabrina wanted to locate the speaker. It rose above the tranquil piano music drifting from the gallery that wrapped around the second floor of the hotel. She tried to guess. Was it Spanish? Or was he speaking in Italian?
She took a peek behind the magazine she had been pretending to read for the last hour. It served double duty to hide from men who might approach her and as camouflage to lessen her visibility to the staff who might become suspicious of anyone spending an inordinately huge amount of time at the hotel lobby.
She chided herself for being silly. He was probably a middle-aged man with a paunch. All men who spoke Spanish or Italian sounded sexy to her American ears.
But then he laughed again. It sounded closer. Sabrina imagined her lover would sound like that when they were in bed, cocooned in the afterglow of lovemaking. She, whispering naughty and daring things to her lover, and he, in laughter, both tender and indulgent.
Growing annoyed with her fanciful thoughts, she decided to ruin her illusion and peered between the fronds of the plant. She saw two men striding down the middle of the lobby towards the front desk. One she recognized as the hotel manager, nodding his balding head vigorously. The other one, who was much taller, had to be the laughing stranger. She could hear him talking and see him simultaneously gesticulating. She could make out the back of a head covered with dark, neatly trimmed hair, a dark jacket, and slim-fitting trousers. He was holding a black leather carrya
ll. They stopped walking and the stranger tilted his body to follow where the manager was currently directing his attention to− the right wing of the lobby where Sabrina was hiding in.
She leaned back so she would not be caught staring.
A small angle of opening between the fronds served as her peephole. Now she could finally see him.
Sabrina braced herself for disappointment. Instead, she was terrified by how perfect his voice and face fit.
He had angled cheekbones, a high-bridged nose, and full lips. The light scruff on his jaw was sexy. He was dark, but his eyes appeared pale colored from where she was. He had a beige scarf looped twice around his neck. He looked like he had stepped out of a magazine. She had been around Chase and his friends long enough to know that his outfit was designer label. But where Chase and company were always so conscious of the provenance of their clothes, this man wore it so effortlessly. “Sprezzatura” the Italians called it, a kind of nonchalant elegance.
His sartorial splendidness didn’t dilute his masculinity though. He was so…male. And it made Sabrina fascinated and afraid at the same time.
The two men settled two tables away from where she was. From the corner of her eye, she saw the stranger running his hand on the leathered upholstery of the chair beside him. Sabrina felt the caress like it was her skin the stranger was touching. Her cheeks started growing warm. Bothered by the sensation, she distracted herself and hailed a waitress to order something. Anything to cool her down.
The stranger continued his inspection of the chair, and to Sabrina it seemed more than the cursory interest of someone merely admiring the workmanship of the furniture. The manager’s eyes and hers met, and Sabrina looked away. God, couldn’t she be more obvious about her fascination with the man?
Thankfully the arrival of a third party, another hotel staff, distracted the hotel manager. Introductions were made and she caught the name Luca Argenti from the stranger himself.
“Grazie,” she told the waitress who had arrived with her iced tea. Italian wasn’t the official language in Seirenada, but most of the locals understood it better than English. She pretended to check her mobile, knowing there wouldn’t be any messages due to the time difference in California.
She peeked under lowered lashes. She couldn’t help it. She saw the stranger cross his legs and the edge of his pants inch higher.
Sabrina bit her lip to stop herself from laughing. Her sexy stranger was wearing patterned socks−in polka dots! They were in monochromatic blues, but still…there were dots. Lots of them.
The meeting at the other table didn’t seem to be breaking up soon. Sabrina reluctantly rose. It was already ten past and she doubted any member of the Konstantinos family would be arriving at this time of the night. She had another reason for leaving though. Her eyes couldn’t stop straying to Luca Argenti. She had to leave before she attracted the attention of the hotel manager again.
Back in her room, she typed his name and hit the search button on the computer.
Luca Argenti. President of the iconic company House of Argenti founded by his great grandfather. Together with his siblings, he helmed the Italian brand known for luxury and a gracious way of living. From clothes, leather goods, apparel, accessories, and even furniture, the House of Argenti had a finger in each slice of the fashion pie. Who hadn’t heard of the famous brand? But Sabrina didn’t care about how he made his living. She only cared about his connections. Yeah, right, her conscience snickered, but she smothered it. She had to make his acquaintance. He would be her means to accomplish what she had set out to do.
It seemed the universe was making it up to her for years of rotten luck. The royal wedding, which was going to be attended full force by the Konstantinos clan. And now, a pertinent piece of information that would help her out in her mission. The Argentis and Konstantinos’ were business associates and long-time friends.
Luca Argenti turning up at the beach just when she had been racking her brain thinking of ways to bump into him was a godsend. He would be her means to an end. No matter how much her attraction to him frightened her, she had to overcome it.
Sabrina was crap at flirting and picking up men. She had never developed the skills. She had been born with a face that was considered beautiful. Attracting cursory attention wasn’t her problem. Deflecting it was. She had always been uneasy around men. Wasn’t interested in any of them. Her grandmother’s warning always reverberated in her mind. Men are never to be trusted. She had gone through her life with only one single relationship with a man, sort of, and she had never really felt the lack thereof.
Until she saw him last night.
“What have you got there?” His deep melodious voice intruded on her thoughts. His chin jerked to her bag.
“Sea glass,” she responded before she could stop herself. Her mind had been busy replaying their conversation. Did she just say she wasn’t interested in a fling? Sabrina groaned silently. It was reflex self-preservation. He was too sexy. Too much testosterone for her peace of mind. She had felt threatened and had forgotten she was supposed to get close to this man. Focus, Sabrina.
But she had to quell her instincts to run if she was going to accomplish what she came here for. She was due to leave in three days.
“Siren’s tears,” he quipped.
At her questioning look, he continued, “From the Greek myths. The sirens were the handmaidens of Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, goddess of fertility.” The breeze whipped his dark fringe across his eyes, which Sabrina realized were as blue as the waters around the island. “When she was abducted by Hades, the god of the underworld, Demeter gave the sirens wings to search for her. Their tears at their fruitless search fell to the sea and became sea glass.” He smiled wryly. “That’s the Liguerian version.”
“Are you a local?” Sabrina continued acting, pretending she hadn’t researched him to death last night. She felt annoyed that after learning what she needed to, she found herself continuing to click the keyboard. Image after image of Luca Argenti in the arms of beautiful women filled the screen.
She felt uncomfortable doing it. It was like invading his privacy. Chase had often complained of his life in a fish bowl. But in this instance, knowledge was power. Or rather her pretend ignorance was, if things went according to her plan.
“I’m related to some of them.” His lips twisted in amusement.
Of course. Sabrina remembered. The Argentis and the present generation royals of the House of Ligueria were cousins. Luca Argenti was here to attend the wedding. And so were the Konstantinos! Now to find out if he already had a date…it might be her only chance.
“Did you find a lot?”
“A l-lot? Of what?” How had he known she had been looking him up?
“Sea glass.”
“Oh. Sea glass.” Sabrina looked away, flustered. This was the problem with being sneaky and underhanded. She couldn’t multi-plot. “Around five pieces I can work with. I make them into jewelry.” She rooted in her bag. She didn’t know why she was discussing sea glass with someone she was supposed to be flirting with. Maybe because she wouldn’t know the first thing about trying to attract a man she was attracted to.
“I found this beauty.” She extended her palm where a ruby red shard rested and suddenly felt foolish about calling a fragment of glass beautiful to a rich, worldly man like him. She started pulling her hand back.
His hand shot out and encircled her wrist. He bent his head to examine the glass.
Sabrina kept her eyes locked on the thin leather bracelets stacked on his wrist. It looked so hip and sexy on his arm. The breeze wafted the faintest scent of cologne to her nose. It wasn’t sharp. It smelled faded, like it had blended with cologne and man. DO NOT HYPERVENTILATE.
“It’s a very rare color,” he murmured.
Sabrina was grateful he ignored her slight trembling. She knew he had felt it by the way he had stilled before speaking. The heat of his hand on her wrist sent her pulse skittering madly. He released her befo
re she crumpled into a dead faint. Sabrina wondered how she was going to survive more than a touch from this man.
“How did you know?” There was a one in five thousand chance of finding a red-colored sea glass. It was that rare.
“We have an accessory line in the business. I headed the department once.” He stood and stepped closer, his height blocking the sun. “That will fetch a pretty sum.”
“You must be my lucky charm then.” It came out all stilted. So far removed from the breathy, eyelid-batting way she should have delivered that line.
His eyes gleamed, as if amused at her paltry attempt at flirting. “Did you make this?” His hand shot out again and captured the pendant between her breasts.
Sabrina’s breath stuttered. His knuckle had inadvertently brushed against the inner side of one of her breasts. He was invading her personal space. Deliberately. Her senses heightened, but oddly she didn’t feel threatened. It was like adjusting the blurry lens of a binocular and suddenly the image came into sharp focus. He studied the pendant before releasing it gently then stepped back.
Sabrina realized she had been holding her breath the whole time. She nodded.
“Interesting,” he murmured. He didn’t seem particularly impressed, judging by his small frown.
She rushed on defensively, “This is experimental. Some clients might not like it because when it’s encased like this, the glass is not tactile. You can’t touch the little marks the sea has etched on its surface.”
“I like the way you embedded it in the clear resin. It protects the glass yet it showcases all its facets,” he said with some consideration. “You can look, but not touch,” he volleyed, spearing her with an enigmatic look
Somehow Sabrina felt like they were not only talking about the sea glass. “I like embedding them, especially the little pieces, because they break easily.”
“You should try working with something less fragile, si?”
Sabrina smiled wryly. “You mean like gemstones? Diamonds?”
When She Fell for the Billionaire Page 2
