Morris, Stephanie - Unfinished Business [Indulgence 3] (BookStrand Publishing Romance)

by Stephanie Morris

  “So does it really matter if your family runs interference?”

  “Yes and no. It’s my life, and I know that. It would just make me feel better if there wasn’t any.” A heavy sigh escaped her. “I would hate to have to distance myself from my family. They were there for me when you—when I needed them to be.”

  She had stopped herself from saying when he pushed her away, but his expression told her he still knew what she was going to say. It was no secret Carlo had hurt her. It never had been. He took her hand into his.

  “We will go to your parents’ home tomorrow night for dinner. After we talk to them, if they have any major and reasonable objections, we can walk away from our agreement if it’s what you want to do.”

  Daníella didn’t try to hide her pain. “That isn’t what I want to do. It never was.”

  She looked into his eyes and felt her chest contract at the emotion she saw there. Carlo was with her, as much as she was with him. It reassured her in many ways.

  She took his hand in hers. “If my family objects to my choice, they will have to understand it is my decision.”

  “I’m glad you feel strongly about us.”

  “Do you feel that way about us, Carlo?”

  “I do. More than you know, but I plan to show you.”

  * * * *

  Carlo smiled as he watched Daníella shiver in what he hoped was anticipation. He already had his plan of seduction and romance in place. The last time she had been the object of his desire, they had left trails of smoke wherever they went. Everything was going to be totally different from the first time around, if he could help it. It was almost a given considering the fact that they couldn’t go back to the way things were.

  He studied her, wondering how he could have been so unwise and foolish to let her go to begin with. The answer to that was simple. His stupid pride and stubbornness had gotten in the way. There was something about stubborn male pride especially with the Carabelli men. Fortunately, he wasn’t the worst in the family. Looking at the beautiful woman who sat across from him, Carlo knew he had been incredibly dimwitted.

  He’d always been a sucker for her dark brown eyes that told him everything he needed to know every time he looked into them. Her straight, brown hair seemed to be longer than he remembered. Yet he wasn’t certain because she always wore it pulled back into a ponytail or pinned up on top of her head. The only time he’d seen it down was when they’d been at home together. She’d always told him the ponytail was a practical hairstyle kept her neck cool from the Mediterranean heat when giving tours. He’d never had a problem with it because she’d always worn it down at the house for him. The one place it counted. Carlo brought his hand up to brush her cheek.

  “You know you are still beautiful to me.”

  She smiled, blushing lightly, her eyes telling him she believed him. She truly was. Her work uniform didn’t do anything to hide her gorgeous figure. The polo-style cotton shirt only hinted at the perfect, full breasts beneath the shirt. Due to the amount of walking tours she gave, her legs were athletically toned, but not overly so. His body actually began to harden when he thought about those exact legs wrapped around his waist. The way they had been able to hold him to her tightly, allowing him only to move within her when she wanted him to while in the heat of passion.

  “Carlo?”

  She called his name, bringing his attention back to the present. Her smile told him she knew exactly what he’d been thinking. How could she not? If his eyes didn’t tell her he wanted her, he knew his expression would.

  Smiling, he moved closer to her and cupped her cheek into his hands. “Daníella, I am going to kiss you right now unless you tell me not to.”

  “You know I never could resist your kisses.”

  Without further hesitation, his mouth came down on hers in a deep, searing kiss. Everything seemed to fall into place instantly. The feel of her lips against his told him this was exactly where he wanted to be—exactly where he needed to be. She moaned deep in her throat before opening her mouth to his. He plunged his tongue deep, giving her what she asked for. Her hands came up and grabbed his shoulders as if to anchor herself. He reached for her, pulling her onto his lap, glad she had the khaki shorts on. They’d always driven him insane with the casual way they exposed her never-ending legs. The amount of legs they revealed should still be illegal.

  Yet, right now they came in handy as she straddled his lap. Both of them stilled as her feminine mound came in direct contact of his growing erection. She pulled her mouth away from his. He was breathing just as heavily as she was.

  “What are we doing, Carlo?”

  “I don’t know, but I don’t want to stop.”

  She gave him a small, beautiful smile through thoroughly kissed and swollen lips. “Neither do I, but we have to.”

  She placed another brief kiss on his lips before pulling back. It was difficult to ignore the desire was flowing through him, but he had to. She had just agreed to give their relationship another try. As physically compatible as they were, he knew it would be a mistake if they were to fall into bed together so quickly. She would regret it instantly, and it was something he didn’t want.

  He wanted her to have a clear head about the entire situation. At least as clear as it could be. Pulling her into his lap and stealing sensual kisses wasn’t going to help his cause. The bedroom was one place he and Daníella had never fallen short. In all reality, there hadn’t been any problems in their relationship until the accident occurred. It also dawned on him that she still didn’t know to the full extent of why it was. Until he told her, he wasn’t sure exactly how much their relationship could evolve. She moved off of his lap with him reluctant to let her go. Her expression told him her thoughts were along the same lines as his.

  “Carlo, can you tell me something?”

  He nodded, hoping he could. “If I can.”

  She paused as if she were trying to choose her words carefully, which worried him slightly.

  “Why did you push me away?”

  Guilt traveled through him. He shoved it aside quickly. Carlo looked away from her for a moment to figure out what he was going to say and to keep her from reading his eyes. When he finally answered, he kept his eyes averted, and he spoke so quietly she had to lean closer to hear him.

  “Because I didn’t want you to be stuck having to take care of me the rest of our lives in the state that I was in.”

  He finally brought his gaze back to hers, allowing her to see his pain. She looked at him with obvious surprise and shock appearing on her face. Her mouth dropped open in a cute fashion.

  “Are you serious?”

  He gave a slight nod, putting some space between them as her expression became dangerous.

  “So was it just me or were you not standing beside me when we included in sickness and health in our wedding vows?”

  He remained silent, which was the smartest thing he could do. Daníella shook her head at him. Carlo could see the disappointment in her eyes, and it hurt him. He felt stupid and knew he deserved her anger.

  “So tell me, Carlo. What did you call it when I was at home waiting to greet you when you arrived home from work?”

  Defiance filled him. “That was completely different.”

  Her eyebrows arched in a pretty fashion, making it hard to keep from reaching out to touch her. Yet he knew that now wasn’t the right time to do that. Instead, he tried to focus on the conversation.

  “How is it different, Carlo? I took care of you, didn’t I?”

  “Yes, but you did because you wanted to, not because you had to.”

  Frustration swamped him as the memories of his accident, and the ordeal he went through afterwards, assailed his mind.

  “Do you know how helpless I was?”

  She leveled him with an angry look. “Of course not! You pushed me away, remember?”

  The corner of his mouth tilted it up before he could stop it. He saw her gaze soften a little, but Carlo knew he wasn’
t out of trouble yet.

  “And I have said I’m sorry. Looking back on it now, it was an extremely dumb thing to do. I guess the only consolation would be the fact that I plan on trying to make it up to you.”

  “So you have said. I’m just wondering how you plan on doing that?”

  “Well, I guess I could tell you, but it would take the fun out of showing you,” he responded softly.

  Chapter Four

  “He did what?”

  Daníella looked at her four friends as they exclaimed loudly over what she’d just told them. Luckily they were inside of the private dining room of the Carabelli Hotel. The Carabellis had owned and run the hotel since their grandfather acquired it. Since then the hotel had become a five-star success. The hotel was a very popular destination to stay in Rome because of its location and the reputation the hotel boasted. There was also the fact the Carabellis ran tight security and kept most if not all of the paparazzi away from the hotel.

  She had always been impressed by the Carabellis’ business sense, and she was proud of their success. Just as proud as she was of her own family’s success. Her own grandfather was the person responsible for starting up their tour guide company.

  Daníella felt a large part of their success was due to it being family owned and operated, like the Hotel Carabelli. Still, there were days like today when her family drove her crazy. As soon she and Carlo had left the Carabellis’ home, he had driven them to the hotel where she’d walked to work. Her family must have gotten a whiff of something because they had cornered her like vultures as soon as she walked through the front door. She’d been able to convince them everything was okay. After that point, everything had been fine, until she mentioned she was bringing someone to dinner. Her family had always known she was seeing Ignacio but never pressed to meet him because she’d always downplayed her relationship with him. Now it seemed with good reason when she looked back at their so-called relationship.

  Daníella could only imagine how her family would react when they found out it was Carlo. She was brought out of her musings when Sophia leaned over to hug her.

  “I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”

  “Thank you, but we all knew it was just a matter of time before the relationship between Ignacio and I fizzled out.”

  “Yeah, well, it did more than fizzle,” Tierra muttered.

  “Personally, I would have found something more than cold water to pour on them,” Talía stated.

  Daníella laughed. “Believe me, if I had, I probably would be sitting in jail instead of having lunch with you right now.”

  Amalía, who’d remained quiet up until now, finally spoke. “Well I’m going to ask what everyone else is afraid to. How does Carlo play into all of this?”

  Daníella shrugged her shoulders in response. Truthfully, she didn’t have an answer. “I don’t know, Amalía. What I can say is we are going to give our relationship another try.”

  Tierra looked at Daníella with confusion. “Why do you sound so hesitant about it?”

  Daníella sighed heavily before answering. “Because I don’t want to make Carlo a rebound person.”

  She looked up in surprise as her friends began to laugh. Talía was the one who chose to fill her in on what was so humorous.

  “Carlo can’t be classified as the rebound since technically, you never got over him. Ignacio was the rebound. Always was.”

  Her mouth dropped open at their reasoning. Sometimes her friends had a way of relaying things to her that made perfect sense.

  “You know there are times when I can’t stand any of you.”

  Amalía leaned closer to her. “You know you love us.”

  “Actually, I don’t.”

  “Yeah, she is saving it all for Carlo,” Sophia teased.

  Daníella rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Honestly, I think you guys are worse now than you were in high school.”

  Talía shook her head. “I don’t think we could get any worse.”

  Daníella arched a dark brow at her. “Trust me. You can.”

  They all looked up as the door to the private room opened. She felt her heart rate speed up as Carlo entered the room, followed by Hayden and Antonio. All three men were attractive but none more than Carlo. His gaze met hers, and she felt his heated stare all the way to her toes.

  “We came to check on you ladies. It was reported that you all were having too much fun.”

  Amalía gave Hayden a teasing look. “Not without you I wasn’t.”

  Hayden leaned down and gave Amalía a brief kiss. “Smart answer, woman.”

  Amalía winked. “What can I say? Intelligence has always been one of my strong points.”

  Daníella returned her attention to Carlo as he neared her. Amazing how the man could make her forget everything but him when he was near.

  Not that she minded. Carlo was more than pleasant for her to look at. If it were a hobby, she would be more than happy to show up.

  “Are you enjoying your lunch?”

  “I always do when I’m with my friends.”

  “I know. I’m glad you all stayed close over the years in spite of what happened between us.”

  “Why wouldn’t we have, Carlo? You were the one who called our relationship to an end. No one had reason to be mad at me.”

  He chuckled. “I guess you have a point there.”

  “We both know I do.”

  “How has your day been so far?”

  She released a pent-up breath. “Not too eventful, just dodging my family, but there is nothing new about that, especially with the worrisome sisters I have.”

  The corner of his mouth curled up, causing her heart to skip a beat.

  “They want to know who you are bringing to dinner.”

  She confirmed his guess with a nod. “Yes, and they are about to drive me insane because of it.”

  He chuckled, but she knew if anyone knew how difficult her sisters could be, it was him.

  “Well, why don’t you let me make it up to you by taking you to dinner?”

  Her eyebrows arched high on her forehead before she could hide her surprise at his suggestion. “What about dinner with your family?”

  “We had breakfast with them this morning, but if that is what you want.”

  Daníella paused for a moment, trying to make sure she heard him correctly. She’d been so distracted since last night, she had to have people repeat things for her more than once. “So you were talking about a private dinner?”

  “Sí, tesoro mio. Like we did the other night at your place.”

  Daníella looked down at the remainder of her lunch. If she looked Carlo in the eyes right now, he would see everything she was trying to hide. It was times like these that she hated he could read her so well. She didn’t want him to suspect being alone with him made her nervous. Not only would he enjoy knowing that, he would want to know why, and right now it wasn’t the right time or place to be getting into a long, drawn-out conversation over this subject.

  Taking a calming breath, she smiled before looking up at Carlo. It was easier to do than she thought it would be.

  “Actually, I won’t be available for dinner tonight. My new bed will be delivered tomorrow. I have some rearranging to do before it is.”

  Carlo looked like he wanted to protest for a moment, but luckily he didn’t. Truth be told, she didn’t have the strength to debate with him over this.

  “Okay then. What time should I come by to pick you up tomorrow evening?”

  “Six o’clock should be fine. Mother still serves dinner around six thirty.”

  He nodded before giving her a kiss that left her lips tingling. “Enjoy the rest of your day. I’ll pick you up tomorrow.”

  Antonio and Hayden took it as their cue to leave as well. She couldn’t take her eyes off of Carlo as he left the room. Until she realized four pairs of eyes were watching her every move. Closing her eyes briefly, she braced herself for what was to come. “What is it?”

 
Talía just shook her head. Sophia smiled. Amalía just stared. Tierra was the one brave enough to speak up.

  “You realize you have it bad right?”

  She looked at Tierra with puzzlement. “What are you talking about?”

  “You want Carlo so bad I can taste it,” Tierra said.

  She didn’t bother to deny the factual statement. It would only end with her being tormented until she admitted the truth.

  “Yeah, well, it doesn’t mean I’m going to go insane and throw myself all over him.”

  “Well, you ought to,” Talía muttered.

  Daníella shook her head, wondering how she managed to remain sane. If her friends weren’t driving her to the brink of insanity, her family was. She was the oldest of three girls and probably considered to be the most rational of three. Nikkía was two years younger and had recently become engaged to her boyfriend, Edoardo. Silvana was the youngest by four years and was involved in a serious relationship with Gaetano. She loved her sisters dearly, but a lot of the time they drove her crazy. Nikka was a drama queen, and therefore almost everything was two times more dramatic than it should be. Silvana couldn’t stand more than five minutes of silence and would run her mouth constantly, especially if she was nervous.

  Personally, her sisters grated Daníella’s nerves on occasion, and she didn’t see a need to torture herself daily if not necessary. It was probably one of the reasons she booked and led the most tours. However, anxiety swelled in Daníella at the thought of what her family’s reaction was going to be when they saw the person she was bringing to dinner. She was ready for any outcome, but she hoped they were okay with the fact of Carlo bring a part of her life again. The idea was still somewhat of a shock to her as well, but the Carlo she was making plans with seemed to be very similar to the one she had been married to.

  It felt strange to refer to Carlo as two different people at times, but it felt that way quite often. The accident had changed Carlo in many ways. It had changed her as well, but some things still remained the same. Seeing him walk through the door several minutes ago had made time stand still.