by Miranda Lee
‘No, never. I can’t think of anything worse than having sex with a virtual stranger.’
‘That’s very...um...’
‘Old-fashioned of me?’ she said.
‘I was thinking more along the line of unusual in this day and age.’
‘I suppose you have one-night stands all the time.’
‘Not very often. But there have been times in my life when some mindless sex with a virtual stranger fits the bill.’ Like when I was going crazy after seeing you with that French sleazebag. ‘Look, if you don’t mind, do you think you could put your clothes back on? Unless, of course, you want seconds.’
Bella just stared at him. ‘I’m not sure I could manage seconds. I feel a bit wrecked.’
‘You don’t look wrecked. You look beautiful.’
She flushed. ‘I think you’re a devil with the ladies too,’ she said, reaching for her clothes. ‘Just like your friend Jeremy.’
Sergio shrugged, thinking he was nothing like Jeremy. Jeremy didn’t fall in love. He always said falling in love was for fools.
Not that falling in love with a woman as unique and beautiful as Bella should make any man feel a fool. If truth be told, if he put aside his prejudices over whose daughter she was, Sergio could see Bella wasn’t a chip off the old block. If she’d been a ruthless gold-digger like her mother, she’d have already married one of her wealthy lovers. That Russian billionaire had been mega rich. Neither was she as promiscuous as he’d imagined. She was actually very sweet and sensitive, a woman worth loving. A woman worth marrying, even.
This last thought shocked Sergio to the core. It was one thing to fall in love with Bella. Another thing entirely to want to marry her. Now that was foolish. Aside from the fact that she didn’t love him back, Bella didn’t want to marry. She’d said so.
But was she telling the absolute truth? Sergio wondered as he started packing up the picnic basket. Maybe she just said that because no man had ever asked her. Maybe it was her pride talking. Sergio hoped so. Because now that he’d had time to accept the truth of his feelings, he realised that falling in love with Bella was a game changer. He would have been content with a month of her in his bed when he’d believed it was just lust he felt for her. But a mere month of sex was no longer on his wish list. He wanted a lifetime of loving Bella, wanted her as his wife and the mother of his children.
Hell, Sergio, you don’t make things easy for yourself, do you?
Still, he’d already won over her body. Now all he had to do was win over her heart.
Easier said than done.
‘So in your bachelor world, Sergio,’ Bella remarked thoughtfully as she dressed, ‘does a friend with benefits have to share?’
Sergio wasn’t sure what she was getting at. Till the penny dropped.
‘I suppose you’re referring to the Countess,’ he said.
‘Call me old-fashioned—or unusual, if you prefer—but I wouldn’t like you to go from her bed to mine tonight.’
Sergio liked her being jealous, or possessive. Or whatever you would call it. It wasn’t the same as love, but it was a good start.
‘I would never go from Claudia’s bed to yours, sweet Bella,’ he said, and leant over to kiss her lightly on the mouth.
When his head lifted he noted a wealth of doubt still in her eyes. Sergio supposed he had no one to blame but himself. He’d painted himself as a swinging bachelor and was now living with the consequences. He imagined that Bella wasn’t about to fall for him—let alone marry him—till he showed he was a man of his word whom she could trust.
‘I have never slept with the Countess,’ he told her. ‘She is a friend and neighbour, nothing more. Look, why don’t you come with me tonight? I can easily ring Claudia and explain I have a guest.’
She frowned, then shook her head. ‘No, no, please don’t. I really don’t want to have to wear that silly wig and be introduced as someone else.’
‘Then come as yourself. The Countess loves nothing better than to entertain a celebrity in her home.’
‘But I thought you wanted to keep my identity a secret!’
‘That was before. I realise now that I was being paranoid about the paparazzi. Besides, Claudia won’t tell anyone if I ask her not to. On top of that, what kind of holiday is it if you can’t relax and just be yourself?’
Her frown dissolved into the loveliest of smiles. ‘You really are a very nice man,’ she said. ‘When you’re not being wicked,’ she added before he could take her compliment to heart.
‘I’m only wicked around you,’ he said, and she laughed.
She was still smiling when they boarded the boat.
‘What’s so funny?’ he asked.
‘I was thinking how much I enjoy being your friend with benefits. I’m going to miss you when I have to go back to New York.’ She sighed. ‘If only you didn’t live so far away...’
‘There are planes, you know, Bella. I can be in New York in a few hours.’
She looked genuinely surprised. ‘You’d come and visit me?’
‘I think I could be persuaded,’ he said, having resolved not to rush things.
‘What would I have to do to persuade you?’ she asked.
He smiled what he hoped was a devilishly charming smile. ‘I’ll show you later tonight.’
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
BELLA WASN’T OFTEN nervous these days. But she felt nervous tonight. Or was it excitement that was making her heart pound as she walked, hand in hand, with Sergio to the villa next door?
I’ll show you later tonight...
She hadn’t been able to get his erotically charged promise out of her head.
He was a devil with the ladies, she accepted. A very handsome devil. He looked utterly gorgeous tonight dressed in tailored black trousers and a snow-white silk shirt, opened at the neck. He’d shaved off the macho stubble he’d been sporting since she arrived, but it didn’t make him any less attractive to her. She found his well-groomed appearance even sexier, because she knew the conservative image he projected tonight wasn’t the real Sergio. The real Sergio was nothing like she’d always imagined. There was nothing conservative about the man who’d suggested their friends with benefits relationship. A shiver ran down her spine as she wondered what more benefits lay in store for her later tonight.
‘Are you cold?’ he asked straight away.
‘A little,’ she lied. How could she possibly be cold when her whole body was burning with desire?
‘You should have brought a wrap,’ he said. ‘That outfit you’ve got on is lovely but not exactly designed to be worn outside on a cool evening.’
Bella was wearing a white pantsuit with flared trousers and a halter-necked top with a mostly bare back. The top was lined but the amount of skin exposed meant that a bra was out of the question. She hadn’t brought many clothes with her, but this outfit was a staple with her when travelling. It could be rolled up into a ball then unravelled without a single crease. She’d paid a small fortune for it but her stylist at the time had said the outlay would be well worth it in the end.
And it had been.
It was also a sexy garment that suited her colouring and made her look very tall and elegant when she wore it with high heels. Tonight, however, she’d teamed it with low-heeled silver sandals for the ten-minute walk Sergio had said it would take to reach the Countess’s villa. Her hair was up so that it wouldn’t be messed up by the breeze from the lake.
‘I didn’t bring a wrap with me,’ she said. ‘I packed in rather a hurry.’
‘Then let me keep you warm,’ he said, folding an arm around her shoulder and pulling her close.
Bella suppressed a groan as she instantly responded, her nipples peaking like bullets against the silk lining, her lower belly tightening. Never in her life had she been so
aware of her body, especially that area between her legs that was already throbbing with need. The thought of sitting at some dinner table for hours making small talk with someone she didn’t know was horrendous. She would much rather be back in Sergio’s bedroom, letting him show her what she could do to persuade him to visit her in New York.
Whatever it was, she would do it. She would do anything to have Sergio in her bed on a regular basis. She could not imagine life without him in it. He made her feel things that she’d never felt before. When she was with him, she didn’t feel a failure. Or a bore. She felt deliciously sexy and fabulously free of all those negative emotions that lovemaking had always produced in her. Maybe one day she would find another man who satisfied her as much as Sergio did but she doubted it. He was a fantastic lover, with a magnificent body just made for sex. On top of that, he was a true friend. He didn’t try to con her with lies, or seduce her with flattery. He was honest with her. God, but she liked that. A lot.
‘We don’t have to stay too late, do we?’ she asked.
* * *
Sergio’s heart turned over at the urgency in her voice. She might not love him, but she wanted him. Wanting someone could be very powerful, as he well knew. But it was not love.
Making Bella fall in love with him would require more than just giving her sex whenever and wherever she wanted it. Whilst he did not agree with the popular male mantra of treat ’em mean and keep ’em keen, he did understand that the female sex liked a man to be a challenge. In view of that idea, he vowed not to hurry home tonight. He would make her wait. Make her want him very badly. And if his conscience pricked him at this tactic, if there was an element of vengeance in pushing her frustration to the brink, then so be it. Let her suffer a little the way he’d suffered all these years. Let her know what it was like not to have what you wanted.
Sergio suspected it might be a new experience for Bella.
‘I’m sorry, Bella,’ he said, ‘but I couldn’t possibly offend Claudia by leaving early. She was most excited when I told her who I was bringing for dinner. Now don’t pout. You’ll enjoy her company, I assure you. Not to mention her food and wine. The Countess only serves the very best.’
‘I am not pouting.’
‘Oh, yes, you are. And very prettily too. I’d kiss you into a better mood if Claudia wasn’t watching us from the terrace. So be a good girl and smile.’
‘Good Lord!’ Bella exclaimed once the Countess’s home came into better view. ‘That’s not a villa. That’s a palace!’
‘Not quite, but it is grand, I admit,’ Sergio said as he steered her up the steep path towards the stone steps that would lead them up onto the imposingly large terrace. ‘Wait till you see the main reception room,’ he added before they were within earshot of their beaming hostess. ‘Acres of marble and the most expensive antique furniture money can buy. Of course, the Count was very rich. And very old. He died shortly after their first wedding anniversary. Rumour has it he died with a smile on his face.’
‘I can imagine,’ Bella whispered as they mounted the steps. ‘She’s very beautiful.’
‘But not as young as she looks,’ he whispered back, then said, ‘Claudia!’ in a normal voice. ‘How lovely you look tonight.’
‘Why, thank you, Sergio,’ she replied in her fake Italian accent. Sergio knew full well that she wasn’t Italian born, his father having confided in him that she’d come from Albania, having been born into a dirt-poor family a few years after the war. Sergio never let on that he knew the truth about her background. Everyone was entitled to at least one secret in their life. He certainly had his, vowing that he would never tell Bella how much he’d always wanted her. Such knowledge would not enhance his attractiveness in her eyes.
‘And this is the very beautiful Bella,’ the Countess said, coming forward to take both of Bella’s hands in hers. She was a toucher, was Claudia. And very charming. ‘Alberto was very fond of you, my dear. Proud too. He went to London to see you perform, did you know that?’
‘No, I didn’t,’ Bella said, looking discomfited by this information.
‘He would be very glad to see you and his son together.’
Sergio waited for Bella to deny that they had a relationship, but she didn’t. She just smiled, then threw him a look that said please rescue me.
He wasn’t inclined to do any such thing. He wanted Claudia to think they were an item. But he didn’t want the whole world to know. Not just yet.
‘We’re keeping our relationship a secret for now,’ he told their hostess. ‘Don’t want the paparazzi getting wind of it. So as I told you over the phone, Claudia, not a word about her staying at the lake here with me.’
‘I will not breathe a word,’ she replied with a conspiratorial smile. ‘But you must promise me that I will be the first to know, if and when you plan to announce your engagement.’
Bella looked startled whilst Sergio laughed. ‘We’re not quite at the engagement stage yet. But if and when we are, you’ll be the first to know.’
‘Wonderful,’ she said, clapping her hands together. ‘I love any excuse for a party, as you well know. Now we should go inside and into the dining room before Angela comes storming out in search of us. You know how she is. Italian cooks are such temperamental creatures,’ she informed Bella.
After that, the evening went smoothly, which was understandable, given the social skills of their hostess. The Countess had the knack of making her guests feel special, her questions never seeming to pry, even if the end result was that she uncovered all sorts of personal details in the process. Bella finally confessed over dessert that she had been feeling seriously burnt out for some time, and probably needed a longer holiday than a month, at which Sergio jumped in and said it would be no hardship for him if she stayed longer. Claudia smiled a knowing smile at that point whilst Bella astounded him by blushing, which seemed out of character for a woman of her age and experience. But then Sergio recalled what she’d told him earlier today about never having had a one-night stand. He’d found that unusual but rather sweet. He found her blushing sweet, yet sexy at the same time.
God, but he had it bad!
The maid appeared just then, the same girl Claudia always hired when she had a dinner party. Angela refused to wait on tables, claiming she was a cook, not a waitress.
‘We’ll have coffee in the music room, Gina,’ Claudia informed her. ‘Shall we?’ she added, waving imperiously to Sergio and Bella as she stood up.
They exchanged glances as they both stood up, Sergio taking Bella’s arm and steering her in Claudia’s wake. To reach the music room they had to walk through the main reception room, which had Bella telling him with her eyes that she was seriously impressed. The music room was just as impressive and almost as large, with several intimate seating arrangements and a grand piano situated very grandly in a semi-circular alcove that had floor-to-ceiling windows and a view of the lake that was truly spectacular during the day and still enchanting at night.
When they were seated—on a brocade-covered sofa and chairs, which were more comfortable than they looked—Bella complimented Claudia on the beauty of the room, then asked her if she played the piano.
‘Alas, no,’ their hostess replied. ‘The Count was the pianist. And a brilliant one at that. I loved listening to him play. Do you play the piano, Bella?’
‘I do,’ she admitted, surprising Sergio. He’d never heard her play during the years he’d lived in the same house as her. They hadn’t even had a piano. ‘Not all that well, however,’ she added. ‘In the performing arts school I attended, playing the piano was mandatory. We also had lessons in composition. It helps to play the piano if you want to write songs. Of course, most songwriters nowadays use an electronic keyboard rather than a piano. I keep one in my apartment in New York. It cost me the earth but then it does have a lot of features including auto recording, a must if you
don’t want to risk losing your work.’
‘You actually write songs?’ Sergio asked, then kicked himself for sounding surprised.
Her expression was rueful. ‘Yes, Sergio, I actually write songs. I wrote the main song for An Angel in New York. I’ve earned almost as much money from writing that song as I have from singing it.’
‘What a clever girl you are!’ Claudia said. ‘Ah, here’s Gina. Just put the tray down there, dear. I’ll pour. Now, after we’ve had our coffee, I insist you sing that lovely song you wrote, Bella darling. This room has perfect acoustics. You will sound like an angel. An Angel from New York,’ she added with her most persuasive smile.
Bella wasn’t just clever but exceptionally talented, Sergio was reminded as he listened to her play the piano and sing at the same time. Her voice was as unique as she was. Clear as a bell, with perfect diction, it could soften then soar with effortless ease. But it was the emotion she put into her performances that lifted her talent to a level that had made her the darling of Broadway. She might be burnt out at the moment, but you would never know it listening to her tonight. Singing and performing were her life-blood. Sergio could see that. She could never give it up. Any man who expected her to would be a fool.
Sergio didn’t consider himself a fool. If and when...no, when he married Bella, he would have to be prepared to put his own working life on hold occasionally whilst he supported her career. He would have to learn to delegate so that he could be with her in New York, or London, or wherever her career took her.
It wasn’t what he was used to doing. He’d been a very hands-on boss in their franchise business. He’d also been looking forward to the challenge of making the family business a success again. His falling in love with Bella, however, was forcing him to change his priorities. Winning her heart was now number one in his life. The family business would have to take a back seat till that happened. Though who knew? Maybe a miracle would happen and he’d find a way to turn things around during the next month. Of course, the only way to do that was to get started. Pronto. Come tomorrow, he would definitely be driving into Milan to see the lie of the land, up close and personally.
