by Simply BWWM
She drew a sharp breath and he realized that he was still holding her. “Are you all right?” he asked in his soft deep voice.
Gabriella wasn’t sure she was all right at all. She stared up at him, unable to look away from the warm brown eyes, the chiseled cheeks and jaw, the soft dark pink lips, and the wet tangle of black curls that hung over the brow of the man holding her in his arms against his warm, wet body. Her hands were pressed against the hard curves of his biceps, and as she took a breath and tried to remember anything at all, his voice wrapped around her just as his arms had, and she felt her lips form a smile.
“I’m… I’m fine. I’m sorry. I didn’t know that anyone was in here,” she said softly, a little laugh escaping her. Every bit of annoyance that she had been feeling for Julian had completely dissipated.
He let his arms move away from her slowly, and he smiled at her. “Oh no, I’m sorry.” He shook his head. I should have been looking where I was going. I’d have seen you if I hadn’t had my towel up to my face.” He looked slightly embarrassed as he grinned at her. “Are you all right?”
She shrugged a little. “Yes, I’m fine.”
He couldn’t look away from her eyes and found himself not wanting to. “I’m Antonio,” he told her, extending his hand to her.
“Gabriella,” she answered, taking it and liking the gentle warm strength she found there. He smiled and she saw a dimple form in his cheek. She thought it was cute and seeing it there made her smile.
He hesitated for a moment, lost in her gaze, and he realized that she was standing there in swim clothes. “Were you coming to swim?” he asked in confusion, tipping his head back to indicate the huge swimming pool behind him.
She laughed a little; light and sweet, and he was charmed by it. “No, I was actually coming in to change into clothes for lunch,” she answered.
He nodded and bit his lip thoughtfully. “You’re here for lunch?” he asked as a bubble of happiness rose up in him. Antonio wasn’t sure why something so simple as her staying for lunch could make him feel good, but he was happy about it all the same.
“I guess so. I’m here with Julian,” she said, not liking the sound of Julian’s name in her mouth.
Antonio looked slightly crestfallen to her. He was quiet for a moment and nodded. “Oh, I see. You’re dating my brother?”
Gabriella blinked in surprise, wondering how anyone as beautiful and sweet as the man standing before her could possibly be related to someone like Julian. “Dating him?! God no,” she said in horror, and then realized who she was saying it to. She softened her tone. “I’m sorry. No… we aren’t dating; it’s a business meeting. I work for him. I don’t mix business and pleasure.”
Antonio smiled again and laughed a little bit. “Julian does.” He lowered his thick long dark eyelashes a moment, looking down, and then raised his dark brown eyes to her again. “So… just business? That’s good.” He couldn’t get over how entrancing she was.
Gabriella felt butterflies begin to move in her stomach. “You’re Julian’s brother?” she asked, still amazed at their connection.
He nodded and rolled his eyes a little. “As difficult as it is for me and many others to believe, yes. I am his older, more responsible, less fun, less wild, less interesting brother.”
She laughed at him and kept her eyes on his, shaking her head slightly. “I somehow doubt that you are less in any good way.”
Antonio chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. “Thank you. I try to take being the older brother seriously.” He paused then, his eyes sweeping over her face as he gazed at her. “Are you discussing business at lunch today?” he asked curiously.
He found himself hoping that she would say no, and that maybe he could join his brother and Gabriella, just to be able to be around her a little longer, but her answer took that chance away from him.
“Yes,” she said, watching him and wondering about him, “it’s definitely supposed to be a business lunch, and I’m going to do my best to make sure that it stays that way.” She wanted him to know without a doubt that there would be nothing happening between her and Julian, no matter what Julian wanted.
She wasn’t sure why it felt so important to her to make that clear to him, whether it was because she just didn’t want him thinking that she was nothing more than another of his brother’s flings, or because he made the butterflies dance in her stomach.
Antonio chuckled lightly and nodded. He was relieved that she was so adamant that her connection to his brother was strictly business, but he felt the remnants of disappointment in him knowing that it would be lunch he could not join in on.
“Well,” he said quietly, his smile lingering on his mouth, “I guess I should let you get changed then. I’m sorry to have held you up.” He stepped away from her and his distance slowed down the butterflies in her. He gave her a friendly look. “Perhaps I’ll see you once more after your lunch, before you go.”
She felt her breath catch a little and she nodded and smiled back at him. “I’d like that.” She replied, and then he turned away from her and made himself walk out of the door, wondering in amazement at the woman who had just turned everything in him upside down.
It never happened. He never felt that way about women. Women would show interest in him, almost as much as they did Julian, but he never felt much interest back for them. It had been longer than he could remember, if ever, that a woman had arrested his attention and his feelings as swiftly as Gabriella had.
There was something about her that had completely taken him in and he marveled at it as he walked down the hallway away from her, hoping that he would see her again and planning on spending as much time as he could in the kitchen and near the dining room, in hopes of ensuring that he would see her at least once before she left.
Gabriella took a long deep breath as the door closed behind her, and she raised her hand to cover her heart, patting it slowly to try to calm it down. She had no idea what it was about him that made her heart beat faster or the butterflies in her dance, but she liked it, and grinned and giggled to herself, hoping that she would see him once more before she left the house with Julian.
Changing quickly, she pulled on a sundress and tucked her swimsuit into her day bag. She touched up her makeup and straightened her braids. She had looked pretty when he saw her, she decided, giving herself a slightly critical inspection in the mirror. That made her smile, and she left the pool room and headed toward the dining room, so bubbly from meeting Antonio that she wasn’t bothered at all by Julian, not even when she walked in and saw his eyes move slowly over her body.
They sat down to lunch together and as she had requested, salad was served along with salmon and lemon dill sauce. Julian tried to talk about everything but the cover, keeping his focus on her, but she worked the cover into almost everything they talked about until he was so fed up with hearing about it that he stopped talking about it all together and began to speak of mundane things, telling her about himself.
Lunch ended and all the while that they ate it, she couldn’t quite keep her thoughts from Antonio, wondering where he was; if he was still at the house, if he was anywhere there that she might see him again, and her attention was only moderately spent on Julian; a fact which he was constantly aware of and entirely displeased about.
With lunch finished, Julian suggested a stroll through the gardens, but Gabriella shook her head. “No, thank you, I do need to get back. I have other commitments today that I have to get to.” She smiled coolly and pressed her lips together, closing the conversation.
Julian frowned and nodded. It was going to take much more work to get her into his bed than he had originally thought. He was beginning to grow slightly annoyed with her resistance. A voice sounded from the doorway as they walked out into the garden and they both turned to look behind them.
Antonio was walking out behind them, closing the door at his back. “Hello Julian, Gabriella,” he said cheerfully. “I hope you both had a nice lunch.” He smiled at t
hem, seeing by her satisfied expression and Julian’s frustrated eyes that lunch had gone just as he secretly hoped it would. His brother had made no headway at all with Gabriella, if he had been trying to. Antonio could never be completely sure of what his brother wanted or was up to, and he never cared to get too involved in anything that his brother did, but in the case of the woman standing before him, he felt a small wave of victorious satisfaction that his brother had not gotten more than business from her.
Gabriella smiled widely and waved her hand at Antonio. “Hello! We’re just leaving. I’m glad I got to see you once more before we head down to the boat.”
Julian frowned darkly. “You know each other?” he asked in confusion, looking from one of them to the other.
“We just met earlier in the pool room,” Antonio said, his eyes steady on Gabriella and a smile on his face. He walked toward them and Gabriella reached her hand out to him. He took it and gave it a gentle shake, letting his fingers close around her hand gently and linger there for a long moment before letting her go.
Julian watched as the two of them gazed at each other with sweet smiles, and he wondered just what had happened in the pool room that would cause the two of them to look at one another that way. He felt ire rising up in him and he reached his arm possessively around her waist, pulling her close to him.
“Well, we need to be going,” he snapped shortly, finally catching his brother’s eye and giving him a subtle yet unmistakable shake of the head. His message was clear. Hands off; she’s mine.
Antonio shrugged and looked back at Gabriella, who was still watching him. “Well, it was wonderful to meet you. You have been the loveliest part of my day today. I’m grateful for it.” He inclined his head and she laughed lightly again, giving him a smile and a wave as Julian pulled her toward the car.
“It was really nice to meet you as well. I hope I’ll be seeing you again.” She gave him one last glance as they got into the car and Julian drove them away from the house. Antonio watched her until the car was gone, amazed at the energy in him that was flooding him with happiness. He went back to the house, and for the rest of the afternoon and evening his thoughts returned to her again and again.
Julian helped Gabriella back into the boat and neither of them said anything; though both of them were thinking of Antonio. Julian tried to keep the scowl from his face while Gabriella could not keep the wide smile from hers. She had never met anyone who had struck her so sweetly and so deeply that quickly.
She looked up at Julian as he sailed them out into the water and she cocked her head to the side. “What’s your brother like?” she asked, watching him and hoping he would tell her all about Antonio.
Julian did not wish to discuss his brother at all with her. “He’s uninteresting,” he said flatly, his sharp eyes focused on the water ahead of them.
She could see that he wanted nothing more to do with the conversation and so she let it go, smiling to herself and turning her back to him to look at the ocean ahead, her thoughts going back to Antonio as she sighed happily.
That evening when she returned home, she sank into her sofa and called Lila. She had promised to let her know how it all went, and she wanted to tell Lila about everything.
“Hello?” Lila asked with a grin. “So am I talking to a cover girl? What happened?” she asked anxiously.
Gabriella sighed. “Well, not yet you aren’t, but I’m still working on that,” she stated resolutely.
Lila gave a disappointed moan. “I’m sorry to hear it. What happened?”
“Well, at dinner last night he kept saying things that made me wonder if he had other intentions, but he didn’t really do much, except he did kiss me on the cheek when we left and I didn’t quite expect that. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t a really chaste kiss, either. Nothing too scandalous,” she said with a little smile.
“He asked me to go out on his sailboat with him today and I said I had to work, but he told me he would call Kathy and get me out of work and he did, so I went sailing with him. He has a gorgeous boat, and while we were out on the water he said he was going to take me to lunch.
He sailed his boat up to this dock and the dock is on a private beach. His beach. He has a huge mansion up on the hill overlooking the beach. I couldn’t believe it. It’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen. I’ve never been in a house that big. I’ve never been in any building as fancy as that one was. It’s crazy to me that anyone can live like that.” She shook her head thinking of it.
“He took you to his house? What for?” Lila asked suspiciously.
“Well,” Gabriella rolled her eyes as she continued. “He said it was for lunch, and we did have lunch, but he made it clear that he had other things on his mind. I’d probably still be there right now if I’d have said yes to him, but I let him know that he and I weren’t going to do anything of the kind, and that was that.”
“Good girl! You keep him honest! If you aren’t interested in him that way then don’t let him come after you at all. You get that cover job the right way,” she encouraged.
“That’s exactly what I’m doing. I’m not interested in him that way, but I did meet his brother Antonio while I was at the house, and I have to tell you something, his brother is nothing like him. It’s like Julian got all the bad character traits and Antonio got all of the good ones. Girl… he made me forget to breathe for a few moments today. He’s so good looking and sweet. I could spend some time with him, that’s for sure.” She laughed and a shy naughty grin came over her face.
Lila laughed with her. “Well at least something good came out of today. Did you get this Antonio’s number?” she asked.
“No…” Gabriella sighed. “I think he liked me too, but we didn’t really have any time to talk. It was kind of fast. I met him when I was on my way to the pool room to get changed for lunch, so we had a few minutes alone without Julian there, but when I was leaving I saw him again and I think Julian was jealous of him. He yanked me out of there so fast. I didn’t get to talk to him again, but I’m glad I got to meet him. He was something else! He made my whole day!”
Lila laughed again and their conversation drifted to other things. When Gabriella went to sleep that night, she found herself dreaming of Antonio, and her dreams were sweet.
Chapter4
Two days later, Gabriella felt like her world was shifting back into place, and though she hadn’t heard anything about whether or not the cover would be hers, she was glad to be busy in the studio. Kathy was colder than usual to her, but quiet and saying next to nothing to her.
James had just finished up another shoot with them when Gabriella’s phone rang and she saw that it was Julian. Sighing, she crossed her fingers and answered the call.
“Hello?” she asked with a seed of hope in her stomach.
She could hear him smiling as he spoke to her. “Hello Gabriella, my dear. How are you doing?”
“I’m fine, Julian. Thank you. How are you?” she asked in return. She was hoping with everything in her that he would tell her she was going to be on the cover.
“Very well, thank you. I’m having a party at my home tomorrow night, and I want you to come as my companion for the evening.” The way he said it, it sounded almost like a request, but there was an undertone of his request being a requirement rather than a choice for her.
She frowned for a moment and then realized that Antonio might be at the party since it was at the Medici home. She wanted to ask if he would be there, but didn’t want to annoy Julian, so she smiled to herself and decided that she would go.
“I’d like that. Thank you so much, Julian,” she said pleasantly. Her mind was already going over the multitude of dresses in her closet, wondering which one to wear with Antonio in mind.
“I’ll send a car for you at seven.” He paused a moment, “Gabriella, it won’t be hard for you, but I want you to look extra special…” he trailed off suggestively and she knew what he was getting at. He wanted her to dress for him, but she had ot
her ideas in mind, so she laughed lightly and said she’d seem him the following night.
Gabriella took extra care and time readying herself for the Medici party. She decided on a silver gown made of silk that was draped just over her shoulders in soft thin twists; it was backless with a deep V-neck that offered a hint of a view of the curves of her breasts. It wasn’t form fitting or snug anywhere, but it moved around her as she walked, touching her body here and there, like a breeze was dancing underneath it as she walked, silhouetting itself against her.
She tied her hair up and left a few strands of the braids hanging straight down her bare back where they laid almost to her waist. Her makeup was subtle but defining, and between that and her dress, she knew that her eyes and her lips stood out, and that her figure was elegantly carved beneath the delicate material of her gown. She loved how she looked.
The car arrived for her at half past six, and she climbed in, feeling like Cinderella going to the ball. Her stomach was light and the butterflies were waiting in the wings to dance; she could feel them ready to jump at any moment, wondering if she would see Antonio there, and wondering more than that why it mattered to her.
She’d seen him for not more than a few minutes during her visit to the house, and she could not seem to get him off her mind. She was curious and hopeful about seeing him again, and she was sure that it would be a good night if she could even just to talk for a few minutes.
The car pulled up to the house and she was let out. She stared up at the grand façade of it; lights on in every window, people all over going in and out, music playing, and the hum of conversation punctuated with laughter.
It sounded like the party was on its way to going full swing, and she was just in time for it. She walked up the stairs to the front door, and passed a few people as she entered. She stood in the foyer, and not having been into the house from that direction before, she was awestruck as she took it all in. The grandeur of it far surpassed her own imagination, and she felt like a child standing in wonder, gazing at all of it.
