Lost in Italy

by Stacey Joy Netzel

  “Sources say you invited her to dinner,” a female voice called out.

  “Did your sources tell you her answer?” Trent shot back.

  “She didn’t give one,” the reporter said.

  “Guess I’m losing my touch, then, aren’t I?”

  The crowd laughed, but it was Trent’s chuckle that mocked her all the way back to Ben’s room.

  Chapter 26

  Trent curbed his impatience as long as possible before shooting his publicity manager a warning look. He understood the need for the press conference given the news that had been circulating the globe the past few days, but reporters were reporters no matter what country they called home. Like starving bloodhounds, they smelled a story in Halli and hungered for any bit of gossip they could splash across the headlines.

  No way. She’d been through enough without them tearing her and her family to shreds. With barely two hours sleep, he’d been on edge thinking about talking to her. His future hinged on her answers to some pretty big questions, but last night he’d sensed a change. A distance between them he worried had already been given too much time to grow.

  Jerry’s ambush here on the steps was icing on the cake. If it weren’t for the international press in front of them, he’d consider strangling the short, media genius right now. Ignore the fact that the guy was doing what Trent paid him lots of money to do, wrap his hands around his skinny little neck, and—

  Finally he shouldered Trent away from the microphone, his strong voice and expensive suit lending an air of authority that his diminutive stature otherwise would not have commanded. “Sorry folks, that’s all we’ve got time for. Thank you.”

  Trent gladly escaped the resulting volley of hastily shouted questions. Inside the hospital, his publicist started toward a secluded corner. “I have two interviews set up for three o’clock, and then—”

  “No.” Trent kept walking straight ahead.

  Jerry changed direction, sputtering and arguing about damage control all the way to the elevator. Trent tuned him out.

  On the second floor, he stepped from the elevator to see Halli walking down the hall toward Ben’s room. His stomach rolled with nervous anticipation. When he said her name, she turned at the same moment his publicist grabbed his arm. Trent glanced down to see him frowning at Halli.

  “Is that her?”

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  Jerry tried to hold him back, but didn’t bother to lower his voice. “She’s not exactly your type. Is there something going on I should know about?”

  “No.” Annoyance forced the word out louder than Trent intended. Halli spun on her heel and he bit out his next warning in a rough undertone, “It’s none of your damn business. Back off.”

  More sputtering from his manager, but he clenched his jaw to contain a string of emphatic curses and rushed to catch Halli just before she entered Ben and Rachel’s room. “Hey.”

  Good—he didn’t sound desperate at all.

  She drew up short, hesitated, then turned to face him. “Hey. Good morning. Or should I say afternoon?”

  Her smile and expression were completely composed, her tone friendly and carefree. He didn’t buy it. Especially when she refused to lift her gaze higher than his chest.

  “We need to talk.”

  “Sorry, Trent, but I’ve got a ton of things to do before we head back to Wisconsin. Ben’s staying a few extra days, but Rachel and I are booked for tomorrow morning.”

  “You’re leaving?” Dumb question; she’d said all along she was heading straight home, and still the news hit with more impact than his boat exploding before his eyes.

  “Well, yeah, what else am I going to do?”

  “Stay. I can show you around…salvage some of your vacation.” He tried a teasing reminder of when they’d met. “You know, that quick spin around the lake? They’ll never know you were gone, sugar.”

  Her laugh was as brittle as her smile. “Thanks for the offer, but I already changed our flights.”

  “So change ‘em back.”

  She shook her head, fingers knotted together as she stared down at them. “I can’t.”

  Growing dread took the form of anger. “Can’t or don’t want to?”

  Clearly uncomfortable, she just shook her head. A glance to the side brought the realization they were the main attraction there in the hall. Damn. This lovely scene would get out just like the doomed dinner invitation.

  He took her arm as a flash registered in the corner of his eye. Halli jerked, eyes wide with surprise. This time Trent let the curses flow under his breath and ushered her into her family’s room before the reporter who’d made it past security could snap another money-making picture. He slammed the door and yanked the blinds to shut out the world.

  “Sorry.” Trent’s apology was as much for her as for disturbing Ben and Rachel, but when he turned to face Halli, he saw the room was empty save for the two of them. She’d leaned back against the window sill, arms crossed over her chest, chin raised at that angle that told him he was in for an argument.

  Shit. Where the hell had this wall of hers come from? Completely invisible; totally impenetrable, but there nonetheless. Good thing he could be just as stubborn. She wasn’t immune to the connection they’d shared, and he felt no remorse using it against her now.

  He stalked forward, careful to hold back his frustration. Her eyes widened a little, otherwise she remained perfectly still when he braced a hand on either side of her hips.

  “Where’s the woman who lived life in the moment?” He leaned closer, searching for any crack in her composure, but the move backfired when her fresh scent played havoc with his senses. His next words came out in a gruff whisper. “The one who not only stood by me through danger, but screamed my name as we made love?”

  Color flooded her face. “You want Italy Halli,” she accused.

  “What’s wrong with that?”

  She shook her head with a husky laugh. “She was a fluke. An accident, like the video and everything else that happened. Once I go back to Wisconsin, I’m just me again. You’d be bored in no time.”

  Her mouth snapped shut as if she’d said too much. A spark of hope ignited, but she suddenly shoved against his chest. He reluctantly gave her some space and watched her move to the other side of the room. The urge to haul her into his arms was squelched between clenched fists.

  “You could never bore me, Halli.”

  She sighed, then surprised him by turning to meet his gaze directly. “Please don’t make more of this than what it was. I mean, it was fun, but none of it was real. You of all people should know that.”

  His hope flickered in the cold draft left by her words. “Why don’t you enlighten me as to exactly what it was?”

  “Two people in a desperate situation trying to survive.”

  It was a hell of a lot more than that to him, but her stripped explanation undermined his natural confidence. The lead ball in his stomach grew heavier. He’d never worried about rejection before today, and the utter vulnerability caught him off-guard.

  Self-preservation kicked in. He searched in vain for his character. The go-to guy without emotion. He’d gotten the job done; it was time to cut his losses and move on. Where the hell had that guy gone?

  Somehow, he pulled a cocky half-smile out of the air. “Are we talking about sex again?”

  If sadness tinged her smile, he figured it was wishful thinking on his part.

  “As you pointed out on the boat, things happen in stressful circumstances, things we both know were never meant to be. There’s no blame, no obligation, nothing to worry about.”

  Such great lines. She’d just handed him a graceful exit from a sticky situation. He didn’t want out…but clearly, she did. He finally located his character and headed for the door where she stood.

  “So…this is it? You go back to producing television shows and I go back to making movies?” His hand rested on the door handle as he waited for her to look up. When she did, the
misery in her eyes made his heart stutter.

  Until she said, “I’ll always be grateful for what you did for us.”

  Grateful. If that didn’t say it all.

  Trent didn’t think. Didn’t give himself a chance to second-guess the wisdom of grasping her arms, hauling her up on her tiptoes, and crushing her mouth with his. Her gasp of surprise was muffled by his lips. He seized the opportunity to deepen the kiss, desperate to memorize her addicting taste; her intoxicating scent; the heaven of her soft skin.

  One last kiss, one last imprint, and he’d leave her to the life she’d planned before fate crossed their paths.

  Only...she responded. Pressed her lithe body against his, damn her, and opened to the fierce plundering of his tongue. Fire licked through his veins. He might never have let go had the door not opened and slammed into his injured shoulder. Sucking in a pained breath, he set her away from him.

  “Whoa—sorry,” Ben said, poking his head around the door.

  One look at Halli’s darkened eyes and glistening lips and Trent knew he had to get out of there before he said something to screw up her neat little wrap job on the past week.

  Ben started to back from the room with his IV stand, but Trent gritted his teeth and grabbed hold of the door. “We’re done here.”

  Halli turned away without protest. Ben hesitated, but Trent simply slid his back along the door and into the hall to make his escape.

  “Take care, sweetheart.”

  Chapter 27

  Halli no longer wondered. She knew the answer to the question she’d pondered two weeks ago on a sunny sidewalk outside the hospital in Menaggio, Italy.

  A person didn’t look any different after they’d fallen in love.

  Trent hadn’t seen her anguish when she lied that none of what they’d shared was real. Ben and Rachel bought her excuse that she was still working through the trauma of the trip. And not a single person at work had commented on how miserable she’d been since her return.

  Then again, maybe she deserved her own Oscar.

  Since the moment they’d arrived at the hospital until now, she’d been acting. Hours and hours of acting, every single day. Concentrated cheer succeeded in fooling everyone, and subtle makeup hid the evidence of sleepless nights, but she knew the truth as she tossed and turned in the dark.

  Denying Trent and attempting to bury her feelings hadn’t protected her from further heartache; it’d jump-started the pain.

  “Well, if it isn’t Halliwell.”

  Halli cringed, pasted on a smile, and turned from the lobby entrance as her fingers clenched on the strap of her purse. “Hi, Jennae.”

  Still bitter over a promotion lost to Halli six months ago, the station director’s tall, blonde, model-beautiful assistant paused to give her a venomous smirk. “Waiting for a date?”

  Usually she didn’t let the woman’s snide comments hit their mark, but thoughts of Trent left her vulnerable. It took extra effort to lift her chin, keep her smile in place, and tell the truth. “My car’s in the shop so my brother’s picking me up for dinner.”

  “Aw, how pathetically sweet.” Jennae flipped her stick-straight hair over her shoulder and sashayed away on three inch sandals with a satisfied grin curving her ever-glossed lips. “How was your little trip to Italy?”

  Halli answered with her standard, “Uneventful.”

  “Just like you planned.” The blonde’s patronizing chuckle bounced across the carpet before she backed into a conference room.

  “Yep,” Halli whispered. She shoved the lobby door open to wait outside in the late afternoon heat of August. “Just like I planned.”

  Definitely an Oscar.

  Since she’d returned, not a single one of her co-workers had recognized her in the grainy photos circulating in the tabloids. It never would’ve crossed their minds that she—boring Wisconsin Halli—could have a sexy, romantic adventure with a movie star like Trent Tomlin.

  Some days, even she found it hard to believe. Only in her dreams, held in his arms, did it all seem possible.

  You couldn’t have paid her to tell anyone she was the woman half-hidden behind Trent’s shoulder. Jennae would’ve had a field day with that information. She loved any opportunity to grind on Halli’s self-esteem and wouldn’t have hesitated to gloat over Trent’s absence now.

  It was bad enough she tortured herself, staring at pictures and watching Trent’s movies while she kicked herself for not trusting the emotion she’d glimpsed in his eyes and accepting his dinner invitation. If she’d taken whatever time he’d offered, she’d have a few more days worth of memories to cling to during her endless nights.

  And she might have, if his reply to the question “Is there something going on I should know about?” hadn’t been such an emphatic, “No.”

  Those last moments together plagued her memory along with everything else. How fleeting the warmth in his eyes that she cautioned herself against reading too much into. How quickly he’d accepted her assertion that the two of them were never meant to be. How swiftly he’d left without looking back.

  No fight. Just that last, unexpected, blistering kiss and, “Take care, sweetheart.”

  She checked for Ben’s red truck in the mostly empty parking lot before setting her purse down and dropping onto a nearby bench in defeat. It was stupid to go on like this forever, yet impossible to get Trent out of her mind. No matter what she did, she was left with only one solution.

  A solution that made her bury her head in her hands to take a shaky, fortifying breath. After reluctantly toying with the idea for a couple days, now it solidified in her mind and heart.

  She had to go see him.

  He’d probably flash that charming smile and try to figure out a kind way to tell her she’d been nothing more than stress relief, a passable distraction, and a pain in the ass. Or, he might just flat out tell her to get lost. She drew in another unsteady breath. If he did, she’d salvage the trip by thanking him for paying their medical bills in Italy, hold her chin high, and leave with her dignity intact. Then she’d cry in private and try to figure out a way to move on with her life.

  But it would be worth the risk. It had to be. Because what she was doing now was not living. Her experiences in Italy proved that truth without question. If there was the slightest chance of being held in his arms again…one more kiss…one more night…

  No. She had to be realistic. Wishful thinking would only make it that much harder if he laughed in her face.

  The muted rumble of an engine filtered through her conscious. Good. Ben and Rachel’s support was just what she needed right now.

  She reached for her purse, lifted her head and immediately lost the ability to breathe.

  It wasn’t the blue Mustang convertible that stole all her oxygen and threw her heart against her ribs; it was the baseball cap wearing, sunglasses cool, scruff-jawed man in the driver’s seat.

  Trent pulled himself up with a hand on the edge of the windshield and the other braced on the passenger seat headrest. He swung his jeans-clad legs up and over the passenger door and landed on the sidewalk only a few feet away from her bench.

  “Hi.”

  My God, even with just one word, he sounded as good as he looked. Halli rose on wobbly knees, clutching her purse in front of her. Her own “hi” stuck in her throat when the sunglasses were tossed back in the driver’s seat and she met his gold-flecked, green-hued eyes. Conversely, her “What are you doing here?” came out just fine.

  “Showing my confidence who’s boss, dammit.”

  “What?”

  “Nothing.”

  Halli heard the lobby door whoosh behind her and Trent’s gaze shifted. He smiled then, looking uncharacteristically nervous, and still better than she’d ever seen him. A second later, Jennae stepped up beside her.

  The downward sweep of her gaze and slow upward lift of her lips was pure invitation. “You’re not Halliwell’s brother.”

  “Not even close,” Trent agreed. His gaze locke
d on Halli’s, one corner of his mouth quirking in that half grin she loved so much. “How about a quick spin around the lake?”

  “Ooh, I’d love a ride,” Jennae purred.

  Possessive jealousy devoured Halli’s usual control. Didn’t help that Jennae was just the type who usually draped Trent’s arm. And he’d smiled at her. Halli turned and lifted her chin, somehow managing to look down her nose at the six inch taller woman.

  “You are not invited.”

  Surprise lit Jennae’s eyes. A second later she laughed. “Cute claws, Halliwell, but I don’t see how it’s your call.”

  “It will always be her call,” Trent stated.

  Jennae’s prowling bravado faltered as her gaze shifted between them. “You two actually know each other?”

  “Intimately,” Trent replied.

  Heat exploded in Halli’s cheeks, but she didn’t say a word. What the heck was he doing? Jennae’s gaze narrowed on Halli a second before her jaw went slack.

  “You?” she asked with disdainful disbelief. “You’re the mystery woman in Italy?”

  Realizing Halli hadn’t told anyone about them, Trent enjoyed putting the over-confident, insulting blond in her place with a dismissive glance. “If you’ll excuse us, this is a private conversation.”

  He took Halli’s arm and gently pulled her with him. At the convertible, he reached past Halli for the passenger side door. Silky brown hair tickled his lips when he leaned in and whispered in her ear, “I’m not usually a fan of jealousy, but damn, that was hot.”

  She spun around, knocking his arm away before he could grasp the handle. “She annoys me, that’s all.”

  Trent studied Halli’s unreadable expression. For the hundredth time, he beat back his nerves. He’d been an idiot in Italy. Her fears had fed his and convinced him to walk away. But not this time. This time he played for keeps.

  He braced his left hand against the side of the car. She backed up, but had nowhere to go as he leaned in and braced his right hand on the other side, trapping her.

  “If I hadn’t stepped in, Barbie would’ve lost her eyes to your cute claws.”