by Leanne Banks
“Why? The Lexus is much more dependable.”
“When my aunt saw it, she asked me if I’d won the lottery.”
Irritation crossed his face. “Can’t you just tell her you decided to lease it?”
“Not on a waitress’s salary,” she said.
“I could give her one, too and tell her it’s part of her compensation package,” he mused.
So they would be even more in his debt? Bella choked. “I don’t think that’s necessary. I’ll be happy to get my VW back.”
“I’ll get it back for you with the understanding that if it becomes unreliable again, it will be replaced. And if it breaks down, you’re to call the emergency number I gave you.”
“Okay,” she said, because she would make sure the VW didn’t break down again. “Now if I can just keep her focused on the spa and not matchmaking for me, then maybe—”
“Matchmaking,” he echoed. “Why?”
“When my aunt isn’t sick, she’s a force to be reckoned with. If she decides I should be dating, then she’ll do everything possible to make sure I am.”
“Interfering family members. I’ve never had that. My brothers and I hassle each other every now and then, but we wouldn’t interfere.” He took a drink from his beer. “Go ahead and tell her you’re involved with me.”
“Absolutely not. She would freak out if she knew this deal was dependent on you and me…” She cleared her throat. “Besides, you agreed that we would keep it—”
Michael’s cell phone rang, interrupting her tirade. He glanced at the caller ID and his expression turned odd. “I need to take this,” he said and rose. “Dan, you have some information about Leo?”
She watched as he strode a few steps away with his broad back facing her. Something in his demeanor tripped off her antennae. His stance was tense as if he were braced.
“Damn. Nothing,” he said, his voice full of disappointment. “Anything else you can do?”
The taut silence that followed swelled with raw tension. She’d never glimpsed this kind of emotion in Michael.
“Do it, and keep me posted,” Michael said then turned around.
She glimpsed a flash of powerful emotion in his eyes, but it was gone before she could identify it. He narrowed his gaze and his nostrils flared as he returned to the table.
Bella vacillated over whether to keep silent, but her curiosity and a strange concern won out. “Who’s Leo?”
He met her gaze with eyes that lit like flames of the devil himself. “My brother. He was with my father when he died.”
Bella winced at the visual that raced through her head. “I haven’t heard you say much about him. Where is he?”
“He could be dead, but we don’t know for certain.” He took a long draw from his beer. “His body was never found.”
“How terrible,” she said and gingerly put her hand on his arm. He glanced down at her hand for a long moment, making her wonder if she should pull it away. “Are you trying to find him?”
He sighed and lifted his gaze to hers. “Always. I was the one who was supposed to be travelling with my father that day. Leo was there in my place.”
Her heart wrenched at the deep-seated guilt on his face. “Oh, no. You don’t really blame yourself. You were just a child. You couldn’t have possibly—”
He jerked his arm away. “Enough. This subject is off limits. I’m going to bed.” He stood and stalked out of the room, leaving her reeling in his wake.
The depth of the grief and guilt she’d glimpsed in his eyes shook her. Michael might project himself as a self-contained man with little emotion, but she’d just seen something different. He had clearly suffered over the loss of his brother for years. Bella wondered what that must be like, to blame oneself for the loss of a brother. Absolution would be impossible for a man like Michael. She sensed that he would be harder on himself than anyone else. In this case, he didn’t have resolution either.
A yawning pain stretched inside Bella. She bit her lip, glancing into the gas fire. She felt a strange instinct to comfort him, to salve the wounds of his losses. He spoke about his upbringing in a matter-of-fact way, as if the losses had been efficiently compartmentalized. But they hadn’t.
“Miss St. Clair, I’m Glenda. Can I get anything for you?” a woman said from just a few feet away.
Bella looked at Glenda, still hung up on what she’d just learned about Michael. He was human after all.
“Would you like something else to eat?” Glenda asked. “Dessert?”
Unable to imagine eating another bite, Bella shook her head. “No, but thank you very much. I’ll just take my dishes to the kitchen.”
“Oh, no,” Glenda said. “I’ll do that. Are you sure there’s nothing else I can do for you?”
Bella picked up her glass of wine and took a sip for fortitude. “Nothing, thank you.”
Rising, she glanced in the direction of the hallway that would take her to her room and the stairway that would take her to Michael’s.
Six
H e heard the door to his bedroom open and the soft pad of her feet against the hardwood floor before she stepped on to the sheepskin rugs surrounding his big bed. He heard a rustle and a softly whispered oath. She must have stumbled a little.
He couldn’t suppress a twist of amusement. An illicit thrill rushed through him.
Bella was coming to him.
He heard her soft intake of breath, as if she were bracing herself. Before she’d opened the door, he’d been a turbulent mass of emotion. Now, he was…curious.
She crawled on to his bed slowly. He waited, feeling a spurt of impatience. What was she going to do? When was she—
He felt her body against his. Her bare breasts brushed his arm. Her thighs slid against his. He felt a blast of need.
She skimmed one of her hands over his shoulder and down his chest. He felt her lips against his throat and his gut clenched at the softness, the tenderness…
Rock hard with arousal, he was more comfortable with sex and passion than tenderness. “Why are you here?” he asked, clenching his hands together, biding his time.
“I—” She made a hmm sound that vibrated against his skin. “I didn’t want you to be alone.”
He gave a rough chuckle. “I’ve been alone most of my life.”
“Not tonight,” she said.
In a swift but smooth motion, he pulled her on top of him. He felt her breathless gasp of surprise and even in the dark, could see her wide eyes. “If this is pity sex, you may get more than you bargained for.”
She paused barely a half beat. “Pity a superhero?”
He couldn’t withhold another shot of amusement, but the urgency to take her again taunted him. He took her mouth in a long kiss that made her writhe against him. He began to sweat.
“Hold on,” he muttered and slid his hands down the silky skin of her back and positioned her so that his aching erection was just at the entrance of her warm femininity.
She moaned and he pushed inside a little further. It took all his control, but he wanted to feel her need, her desperation. She arched against him then lowered her mouth to his; this time, she was the pursuer. Every part of her body seemed to talk to him—her skin, her hands, her hair…
Pulling away from him, she lifted backward and kept her gaze fastened on his. He forced himself to keep his eyes open as she bit her lip and slid down, taking all of him inside her.
His ability to wait shredded, he grabbed her hips and their lovemaking turned—as it had from the beginning—into a storm of passion that sated him at the same time it made him hungry for more.
After that night, the unspoken connection between her and Michael grew stronger. When she was apart from Michael, she sometimes wondered if she imagined the tie, but when she was with him, there was no doubt. It still wasn’t love, she told herself. It was passion and power, but it wasn’t the sweet, comforting love she’d known with Stephen.
Progress on the spa took place swiftly. It was all Bella
could do to keep her aunt from working twenty-four hours a day. Getting a second chance with the spa seemed to have given Aunt Charlotte twice as much energy. Unfortunately, Charlotte wasn’t budging from her so-called mission to get Bella back in action.
So far, she’d arranged for four men to stop by to meet Bella. Two of them had asked her out, but she’d demurred.
This morning, she put away inventory that had arrived in the mail and double-checked the postcards advertising the opening. Charlotte bustled around, tinkering with the decor to accommodate the new sports grooming package for men.
A knock sounded on the glass door and Bella glanced up to spot a nice-looking man in his upper twenties. A familiar dread tugged at her. Not again.
Charlotte rushed to the door and gave a little squeal. “Gabriel, it’s so good to see you. Come on in. Bella, please fix Gabriel some coffee. His mother is one of my longtime clients.”
“It’s good to see you,” Gabriel said to Charlotte while Bella dutifully poured and served his coffee. “My mother insisted that I stop by.”
“Cream or sugar?” Bella asked.
He shook his head. “No, thanks. Black is fine. Is Bella your daughter?”
“In every way that counts,” Charlotte said. “Gabriel is a lawyer, Bella. Isn’t that impressive? I bet he might want to use some of our new services for men.”
“What services?” he asked, his expression wary.
“Sports manicure and pedicure. Massage,” Charlotte said. “You look like you work out.”
Bella tried not to roll her eyes at her aunt’s obvious flattery.
“Some,” he said. “I like to run.”
Charlotte nodded then frowned. “Bella, I just realized you never took lunch. Maybe you and Gabriel could—”
The door swung open and Michael walked in. Bella felt her gut twist at the sight of him. This could get interesting, she thought.
“Michael, what a nice surprise,” Charlotte said. “Michael is our new business partner. If it weren’t for him, the spa wouldn’t exist. Michael Medici, this is Gabriel Long. He’s a lawyer—his office is down the street.”
Michael nodded and shook Gabriel’s hand. “Gabriel,” he said.
“Michael Medici. I’ve heard your name mentioned often by my business clients.”
“I was just saying that maybe Bella and Gabriel could go grab a bite,” Charlotte interjected.
Michael paused a second and shot Bella a glance that seemed to say we did it your way, now we’re doing it my way.
“I hate to interrupt, but I had planned to ask Bella to join me for dinner tonight,” Michael said in a charming voice that almost concealed the steel underneath.
Charlotte dropped her jaw and stared at Michael then at Bella. “Oh, I didn’t know you two were—”
“We’re not,” Bella quickly said, inwardly wincing at the lie. She glared at Michael. “I’m just as surprised as you are by the invitation.”
Cool as ever, he dipped his head. “If you’re hungry, then…”
An awkward silence followed where Bella refused to give up her mutinous stance.
“Of course she is,” Charlotte rushed to say, then glanced at Gabriel as if she didn’t know what to do with him. “I will give you a special coupon for our sports treatments,” she added as she walked him to the door. “Now, you be sure and tell your mother I said hello…”
“You agreed,” Bella whispered tersely to Michael.
“It was necessary. This is becoming ridiculous. Things will be easier now. Trust me,” he said in a low voice.
“You don’t under—” She cut herself off as Charlotte returned.
“Michael, I’m so glad to see you,” Charlotte said. “I wanted to show you some of my ideas. Bella, would you help me get some things from the inventory closet?”
Upset by the latest turn of events, Bella nodded and followed her aunt to the walk-in supply closet. Charlotte immediately turned to her. “What’s your problem? Michael Medici is gorgeous.”
“He’s not my type,” Bella said.
“Gorgeous and wealthy isn’t your type, plus, he’s been wonderful to us. It won’t hurt you to be nice to him in return,” Charlotte said firmly.
“It won’t?” Bella asked. Charlotte met her eyes and instantly knew what Bella was talking about.
“This is not the same situation as your mother. Get that thought out of your mind. Michael isn’t married to a woman.”
Bella closed her eyes, struggling with guilt and shame. “He’s not Stephen.”
“No, he’s not,” Charlotte said. “Michael Medici is a stronger man than Stephen ever was. I never was quite sure Stephen was the best match for you, anyway.”
“Charlotte,” Bella said in shock. “You always liked him.”
“I like dogs, too. Doesn’t mean I want you to marry one. Now go on out with Michael and enjoy yourself. It hurts me knowing that you aren’t having any fun in your life right now. Life is short. You need to live it while you can.”
Charlotte pulled out some magazines and product catalogs and put them into Bella’s hands. “Here, take these.”
“What are you going to tell Michael about them?”
“I’ll figure out something,” Charlotte said.
An hour later, Bella sat silently in Michael’s Viper as he drove the luxury car. Drumming her fingers on her denim-clad thigh, she looked out the window, still upset.
“Would you like seafood?” he asked.
“It doesn’t matter, but I’m not dressed for a four-star restaurant since this was a surprise invite.”
Michael pulled up to the valet desk at one of the more exclusive, popular restaurants he owned in the Atlanta area. “It doesn’t matter how you’re dressed. You’re with me and this is my restaurant,” he said and got out of the car.
He escorted her inside the restaurant where the host immediately greeted him. “It’s good to see you, Mr. Medici. We have a corner alcove for you.”
“That will be fine,” he said, touching Bella’s arm as they walked to the table. She was so prickly he half expected her to swat him off.
Baffled by her reaction, he shook his head. Many women he’d dated had done everything but taken out a billboard ad announcing their involvement.
“For goodness sake, why are you so cranky? You’d think I murdered one of your relatives,” he said after they sat down.
“I told you that I didn’t want my aunt to know about our arrangement. You agreed.”
“She doesn’t know about any arrangement. All she knows is that I wanted you to join me for dinner.”
“We were supposed to keep this secret.”
“That was before she started interfering in order to get you dating. Why did she get so worked up anyway?”
“She knew about my breakup. She knew the guy I was involved with and how much I—” She broke off and shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. I just didn’t want her to know. And you agreed.”
A server appeared, eager to please. He explained the evening specials. Michael ordered a whiskey double for himself and a Hurricane for Bella.
“Hurricane?” she said after the waiter left.
“It seemed to fit with your frame of mind.”
Her lips twitched, albeit reluctantly.
“So tell me why you changed your mind about letting your aunt know I want to ask you out for dinner. And I want to know more about this man who you dumped after you got back from your year in Europe.”
“First, I didn’t dump him. He broke it off with me before I arrived home.”
“Really?” he said. “What an idiot.”
Her lips twitched again as the server returned with their drinks. “Very flattering. Thank you.”
“Lobster or steak?” Michael asked. “Or both?”
“I’m not that hungry.”
“Both for the lady,” he said, deciding for her. “Make the filet medium. I’ll take the same, but make my steak rare.”
“Of course, sir,” the waiter
said.
“I want to know more about this imbecile who dropped you,” he said. “I’ll bet he’s kicking himself up and down the street for his stupidity now.”
She gave a reluctant chuckle and shook her head, sighing. “He’s engaged to a beautiful blonde.”
“Oh,” he said and took a sip of his whiskey. “Lucky for me.”
“You are the very devil himself,” she said, shaking her head again and taking a sip of her potent drink. “End of discussion about my ex.”
Not likely, he thought, but shelved the subject for the moment. “Fine. Why are you overreacting about your aunt knowing we’re seeing each other?”
“Because we’re not seeing each other. We have an agreement,” she said bitterly and looked away.
He narrowed his eyes, sensing there was more to the story. “What else is going on? There’s more. I can see it on your face. This isn’t just about you and me.”
She frowned, but still didn’t meet his gaze. “I didn’t tell you everything about my mother. She was living in California when she died, but she wasn’t married. She was the mistress of a wealthy, powerful man. A married man. I vowed never to get into that situation.”
Michael paused a long moment, searching his mind for the best approach. “So that’s why you’re uncomfortable about your arrangement with me. This is different.”
Her head snapped up. “What do you mean? I may as well be your mistress. I’ve made an agreement in exchange for your assistance and support.”
“For one thing, I’m not married. Never will be for that matter. Secondly, you made that choice for the sake of someone very important to you. I don’t get the impression your mother did the same. Besides, I wouldn’t have even made the offer if I didn’t believe there was a chance of making the business a success.”
She stared at him in surprise. “Really?”
“Really,” he said. “I broke a few rules of my own for you, but not all of them. So we’re on more equal ground than you imagined. You can enjoy your lobster and steak without remorse.”
