“It doesn’t sound like it,” Cole said.
Before Marie could respond, a harried young woman carrying a clipboard approached them. From what Cole could glean from her excited, rapid-fire Italian, they’d located a last-minute replacement for Lola.
“Meno male.” Marie’s clasped her hands together, and her shoulders sagged in relief. She turned to Cole. “Your sister has burned a big bridge here today. If she keeps it up, no one is going to want to work with her. There aren’t many girls as beautiful as she is, but there are plenty who are more reliable.”
Cole loved his sister, but this time he couldn’t defend her behavior. Tia had tried to talk to both him and Victor about Lola, but they’d both dismissed her concerns. Maybe it was time for them to have a sit-down with the youngest member of their family about her conduct.
An American reporter from a tabloid television show snagged Marie’s attention. A camera in her face, she immediately snapped back into character with her synthetic Italian accent intact.
Cole grabbed a bottle of sparkling mineral water from the corner table. Twisting off the cap, he decided to take a few minutes before returning to the fray outside the break area.
“Ms. Bertelli, tell me, do you have any fireworks in store for us this afternoon on or off the runway?” the reporter asked.
Cole watched as Marie feigned an exaggerated disbelief at the question as she faced the cameraman. “Who, me?”
Both she and the reporter burst into conspiratorial giggles. “You’ll just have to wait and see, won’t you?” Marie teased.
Having had enough of watching the media dog and pony show, Cole left the break area. The crush of people had lessened considerably. With the show scheduled to start in twenty minutes, he presumed most of them had already found their seats surrounding the runway stage.
He handed an attendant his ticket and was immediately escorted down an aisle to the row of chairs closest to the stage. Sitting in his seat, Cole inclined his head at the young star of the reality show Sugar Daddy. The octogenarian seated on the other side of her wrapped a possessive arm around his borderline jailbait girlfriend and shot Cole a murderous look.
What in the hell had he gotten himself into?
The chair on the other side of him was vacant, and Cole didn’t even want to speculate who would eventually sit in it. He glanced at his watch. Hopefully, this freak show would start on time and wrap up quickly.
“Is this seat taken?”
Cole’s body recognized her voice before his brain could kick into gear, and his heart thumped wildly against his rib cage. Slowly he turned toward the familiar sound, hoping it wasn’t a product of wishful thinking.
“Sage.” Standing, he smiled as he said her name.
She wore a red wrap dress, his favorite color on her, and ridiculously high heels. Her coat was draped over an arm, and her kinky curls were piled on top of her head in some kind of updo his fingers itched to set free.
“I thought I imagined you,” she said, the grin on her face rivaled his. “I can’t believe you’re here. When? How?”
Cole pulled her into his arms and stifled her questions with a kiss. He didn’t care about the how or the why. He was just thrilled to see her, to hold her, to kiss her.
Sage flung her arms around his neck. She moaned softly into his mouth as his tongue caressed hers. The tenderness of the kiss belied his all-consuming hunger for her.
A few moments later, Cole ended the kiss but only so he could look at her face again and reassure himself she was really in his arms.
“I missed you.” They said the words simultaneously as they took their seats.
Cole reached for Sage’s hand. He didn’t ever want to let it go. He didn’t ever want to let her go. Again, his body instinctively knew what his brain had yet to register.
He’d fallen hard for Sage Matthews.
She squeezed his hand, and Cole gripped hers even tighter. He would have thought his feelings would have him running scared in the opposite direction. Instead, his fear was the very real possibility she didn’t feel the same way.
For now, he simply wanted to revel in the fact that for this moment they were together. Cole raised Sage’s hand to his lips. As he kissed it, he caught sight of Marie from the other side on the wide runway stage. Even at a distance, he could make out the frown on her face.
Realization dawned and he nearly laughed aloud. It looked as though Bertelli’s showing of the upcoming fall and winter fashions was going to have to stand on its own because a ceasefire had been declared in the battle between Nashville’s two cosmetics companies. From now on, he and Sage would be making love, not war.
“Oh, my God, I think I just spotted Marie Bertelli,” Sage said. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was scowling at us.”
“You’re imagining things,” Cole said, not wanting to ruin the show for her.
Shortly afterward, the lights dimmed and music began to play as an announcer welcomed the audience, in both English and Italian, to the showing of the House of Bertelli’s ready-to-wear collection for the fall and winter seasons.
The models soon began strutting down the catwalk dressed in sweaters, dresses and coats in the autumnal colors of orange, yellow and rich brown. The clothes were stunning, Cole thought. He could hear Sage’s excited oohs and aahs at nearly every piece.
Too bad Marie didn’t realize she wouldn’t need controversy to grab a share of the spotlight for her talented team of designers.
A leggy model walked onto the stage wearing a short yellow dress and a pair of high-heeled black boots. Immediately, Cole imagined those studded boots on Sage.
He leaned over and put his lips against her ear. “I want to see you wearing those boots and red lipstick,” he said. “Nothing else.”
“I suppose you want me back in that linen closet, too.” Sage spoke into his ear so only he could hear.
Cole was about to tell her exactly where he wanted her, when a disturbance broke out in the other front row on the opposite side of the runway. He recognized the faces instantly, a rapper-turned-actor yelling at a boxer.
Both the music playing in the background and the models onstage came to an abrupt halt.
“Stay the hell away from my wife,” the irate former rapper yelled.
The boxer bellowed a string of curses in reply.
Some of the models fled the stage in their teetering heels while others turned to watch the rapidly escalating argument. Security guards were pushing toward the fracas, but not before the former rapper threw a punch that connected with the boxer’s jaw.
It appeared Marie was getting too much of the controversy she’d wanted.
Cole turned to Sage. “Let’s get out of here.”
She nodded her agreement. With the crowds edging closer to the melee, the two of them were able to easily slip out of the giant tent.
Sage shook her head in amazement. “Who’s dumb idea was it to sit them next to each other?” she asked. “Their social media beef has been all over the news.”
Cole shrugged. The same person who’d thought, after that article in America Today, that seating them next to each other would generate tabloid headlines, he thought. However, he’d explain all that to her later. Right now, he just wanted to enjoy her company.
“Have you eaten?” He asked as they navigated the tents, equipment and people in the castle’s courtyard to the street.
“Not yet,” she said.
“Then you’re in for a treat,” he said. “Walk with me.” Cole held out his arm, and she linked hers through it.
He hesitated, glancing down at her shoes. “Can you handle a fifteen-minute walk in those?”
“I’ll do my best,” she said. “I’ve never seen more fashionably dressed people in my life than I’ve seen here. Not even in Paris.”
<
br /> Cole nodded as they walked along the narrow walkways leading to their destination. “What Milan lacks in Roman monuments and Renaissance splendor, it makes up for on the fashion front.”
A long line snaking down the street signaled to him that they’d made it to their destination. Sage frowned as they stood at the end of it. “I have no idea what we’re waiting for, but are you sure it’s worth it?”
“Absolutely.” Cole patted her arm, still looped through his “You will, too, once you taste a panzerotti from Luini’s. It’s a Milan institution.”
Fortunately, the long line gave them a chance to talk, and Cole filled Sage in on the reason he suspected Marie Bertelli had personally invited them to her fashion show.
Sage snuggled into him. “I should probably be offended, but right now I couldn’t care less why we’re here. I’m just glad we’re together.”
Cole disentangled his arm from hers, and then wrapped both his arms around her waist. The heart this woman had managed to capture in such a short time expanded in his chest as he kissed the top of her head.
Finally, they made it through the doors of Luini’s and were soon walking out again, their hands wrapped around the bakery’s specialty.
Sage peeled the paper wrapper back on the half moon–shaped pocket of fried dough as they stood outside the bakery. Hers was stuffed with cheese and tomato sauce. “They look like fancy Hot Pockets.” She inhaled. “But it smells heavenly.”
“Try it,” Cole encouraged.
He watched her take a tentative bite. A smile formed on her face as she chewed. “Oh, my God, the dough is sweet. This is like having your meal and dessert in one.” Immediately, she took another bite.
“So was it worth waiting in line?”
“I’d wait in a line ten times as long for one of these,” she said enthusiastically.
Cole had pulled back the wrapper on his salami-and-mozzarella-stuffed panzerotti and was poised to dig in to it when a familiar figure approached.
The man slapped Cole on the back, a broad smile on his face. “So it is you,” he said. “I thought I saw you at the Bertelli show earlier before that fight broke out. So when did you get to town, Admiral?”
“Oh, now that you’re not working for me, you can call me that to my face.” Cole laughed at Sean Cox, the man he’d hired to work at Force Cosmetics when was a kid fresh out of college.
Years later, when Cole left Force, he’d recommended the young man as his replacement.
Sean laughed. “Back then I was too busy quaking in my boots to even think it.”
Cole remembered his manners. “Sean Cox, this is...”
“Sage Matthews of Stiletto Cosmetics,” Sean finished, turning to Sage. “I’ve read about you and your company.”
As the two shook hands, a mental red flag went up in Cole’s head. More like his former protégé had been briefed on Sage’s company.
Sean gave Cole a pointed look. “In fact, I was on a conference call the other day where both of your companies were mentioned.”
Cole nodded, getting Sean’s message loud and clear. Force Cosmetics wanted to add both Espresso and Stiletto to their brand portfolio. The only question was what lengths would the mammoth company go to in order to acquire them?
They talked a few more minutes and then Sean excused himself so he could stand in the growing line for his own panzerotti. “I’ll be in touch,” Sean said to Cole, as they parted.
Cole turned his attention back to Sage. He decided not to mention the impending offers for their companies that were almost sure to come from Force. Not yet. At this point, it was speculation on his part. Besides, there would be plenty of time for them to obsess over work.
For now, he wanted to continue to enjoy this time with her.
“So are you free for the rest of the afternoon?” Cole took a bite of his forgotten panzerotti.
“My schedule just happens to be clear for the next two days,” Sage said.
“So what would like to do?” Cole asked. “We could take a walk along the rooftop of the Duomo or go shopping along the Quadrilatero d’Oro. Just say the word, and I’ll take you anywhere you want to go.”
She smiled up at him. Her brown eyes held their mischievous spark. “Take me to bed.”
Chapter 15
Patience wasn’t Sage’s strong suit.
“Delayed gratification is for saints and suckers,” she said, when they arrived at her hotel room. “I’m neither.”
Housekeeping had turned down the bed, which beckoned a few feet from where they stood. Foil-wrapped chocolates adorned the plump pillows. However, there was only one sweet confection Sage was interested in unwrapping, and it was rock hard and pressed against her belly.
Sage ground against him as he held her. Cole’s sharp intake of breath indicated she was one step closer to getting the satisfaction they both wanted.
“You’re killing me,” Cole whispered.
“Good,” Sage said, continuing the slow grind. “Think of it as payback.”
“Payback? After spending last weekend together, I assumed we were both out of the retaliation business.”
Sage slid her index finger down the soft cashmere of his sweater to the center of his chest. “That was before my sleepless journey across the Atlantic, where all I did was yearn for your touch, ache for your kiss and dream of having you naked and inside me.”
Cole gulped. Sage watched his Adam’s apple bob in his throat as he struggled with his resolve. He dropped his arms from around her waist, and then took a step back.
“It’s obvious I want you.” He glanced down at the bulge in his pants. “Badly.”
Sage raised a brow and inclined her head toward the bed.
Shaking his head, Cole grasped her hands. “But I don’t want a romp on a hotel bed.” He raised her hands to his lips and pressed a kiss to them. “Not with you.”
The intensity of Cole’s gaze startled her. His dark brown eyes brimmed with an emotion Sage had never seen in them before. Or perhaps it was a reflection of her own feelings and the emotion she’d been waylaid by this afternoon at the unexpected sight of him—love.
Sage froze, startled by the realization. It didn’t make sense. They were competitors. It was too soon, she told herself, but her heart wasn’t buying into it.
“I want to take you to my place,” Cole continued. “To my bed, where I plan to take my time making love to every inch of you until we’re both too exhausted to move.”
Sage’s legs wobbled slightly at the illicit images his words brought to mind. “I promise to make it worth the wait.” His melodic baritone rumbled through her.
Pull yourself together, she silently admonished, struggling to maintain her outer cool. Her insides, like her panties, were already on meltdown.
“Okay, you’ve convinced me,” Sage said, managing to keep her voice from quivering like the rest of her body. She eyed his erection, which appeared on the verge of breaking through the front of his pants. “As long as I get what I want.”
Cole followed her gaze. “Oh, you’ll get it all right.”
The short time it took them to check out of her hotel and arrive at Cole’s place felt like an eternity to Sage. She’d clung to his hand during the short walk, savoring the innocuous contact of his skin on hers as he made lazy circles against her palm. She’d barely registered walking hurriedly along the unremarkable streets of the metropolitan city center, past the famed Duomo and ducking down narrow cobblestone side streets to avoid the chaotic temporary fashion hub set up around the Sforzesco Castle.
There was only one attraction Sage was interested in right now, and although it wasn’t in her guidebook, she was positive it was the best this city would have to offer her this afternoon.
Cole stuck his key in the door of a charming older building tha
t age and decades of summers had bleached into a muted shade of gold. Red shutters and window boxes surrounded its windows. Inside, he cast a glance at the ancient elevator, which, like the building, appeared to be a nineteenth-century throwback.
“I’m on the fourth floor, but you can’t always trust the elevator,” he said, then looked at her shoes. “I’ll carry you if you’d like.”
Sage eyed the steep flight of stairs. “I’ll walk now, but save your energy.” She shot him a look she hoped conveyed her meaning. “I anticipate climbing aboard and riding later.”
Before she could register what was happening, Cole scooped her up in one swift motion. The air came out of her lungs with a whoosh as he tossed her over his shoulder caveman-style.
“Then it’s your energy we’d better conserve,” he said. “It’s going to be a wild ride.”
“That’s mighty big talk,” Sage called out from over his shoulder. “Hope you can...”
A sudden smack on her ass silenced her.
“Save that brash, sassy mouth of yours for when I get you upstairs,” Cole said.
Sage pressed her lips together and did as he ordered. The general was fully prepared to let the admiral take charge.
With one hand lifting her suitcase and the other holding her firmly by the backside, Cole effortlessly climbed the flights of stairs. He set her suitcase down long enough to unlock the door, before carrying her and it inside and kicking the door closed with his foot.
Sage lifted her head off his back and glanced around at her surroundings. The gleam of the hardwood floors, the beauty of the art on the walls and the sumptuous furnishings were lost on her. Sage didn’t care where they were, as long as she was with him.
“I think you can put me down now,” she said, finally.
Ignoring her suggestion, Cole marched through the living and dining rooms with her still draped over his shoulder and his hand still splayed on her backside. As his sure stride ate up a long corridor off the dining room, Sage couldn’t help noticing that, while he’d said his condo was on the fourth floor of the building, he’d failed to mention it was the entire fourth floor.
Moonlight Kisses Page 14
