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Luca stood at the window of his office a floor below the apartment. Rio was a carpet of twinkling golden lights as far as the eye could see. He spoke into the mobile he held to his ear.
His voice was tight. ‘Let’s just say that I have my doubts about whether she did it or not, and I’d appreciate your help in finding out.’ There was a pause, and then Luca said curtly, ‘Look, Max, if it’s too much trouble—’ He sighed. ‘Okay, yes. And, thanks, I appreciate it.’
Luca cut the connection and threw his phone down on the table behind him. It bounced off and hit the carpeted floor. He ignored it and turned back to the view. Any conversation with his brother drove his blood pressure skywards. He knew that Max didn’t blame Luca specifically for the fact that they’d been split up the way they had between their parents...but guilt festered inside Luca even now. He was the elder twin and he’d always felt that responsibility keenly.
Pushing thoughts of his brother aside, Luca hated to admit it, but he felt altered in some way. As if some alchemy had taken place in his head and body since he’d stood looking at this view the last time—just before Serena had arrived almost a week ago.
He scowled at his fanciful thoughts. There was no alchemy. It was physical attraction, pure and simple. It had been between them from the moment their eyes had first locked. And now he was going to sate it. That was all.
The fact that he was prepared to allow Serena DePiero to sign an agreement which would potentially offer her employment with his company for the foreseeable future, and to be seen with her in public, were things that he pushed to the deepest recesses of his mind.
He focused instead on the increasing anticipation in his blood and his body at the knowledge that soon this ever-present hunger would be assuaged.
CHAPTER SEVEN (#ubb6ae970-dd5a-5023-8a3d-e5fd159fa382)
THE FOLLOWING EVENING Serena waited on the outdoor terrace that wrapped around the entire apartment, a ball of nerves in her gut. The fact that Luca had said he was taking her to a charity function had been conveniently forgotten when she’d succumbed to exhaustion the previous evening—and in the whirlwind of the day she’d just had.
She’d woken early and had some breakfast just before his sleek assistant Laura had arrived, cracking a minute smile for once. She’d handed Serena a sheaf of papers and hot embarrassment had risen up when she’d seen it was the contract assuring her of work if she completed her trial period successfully. The contract she’d demanded.
To her relief there was no mention of the more personal side of their agreement. Luca’s cool efficiency was scary.
After she’d signed, Laura had taken her down to the first floor, where the offices for the charity were based, and introduced her to the staff. Serena had spent such a pleasant day with the friendly Brazilians, who had been so nice and patient with her rudimentary Portuguese that she’d almost fooled herself into forgetting what else awaited her.
But she couldn’t ignore it any longer. Not when she’d returned to the apartment to find a stylist and a troupe of hair and make-up people waiting to transform her for Luca’s pleasure. Or delectation might be a better word. She felt like something that should be on display.
An entire wardrobe of designer clothes seemed to have materialised by magic during the day, and this whole process brought back so many memories of her old life—when her father had insisted on making sure his daughters had the most desirable clothes...for the maximum effect.
The thought of the evening ahead made her go clammy. Right now, weakly, she’d take a jungle full of scorpions, snakes, bullet ants and even an angry Luca Fonseca over the social jungle she was about to walk into.
And then she drew herself up tall. She was better than this. Was she forgetting what she’d survived in the past few years? The intense personal scrutiny and soul-searching? The constant invasion of her privacy as she’d faced her demons in front of strangers? And not only that—she’d survived the jungle with Luca, who’d been waiting for her to falter at every step.
Although right now that didn’t feel so much of a triumph as a test of endurance that she was still undergoing. They’d exchanged the wild jungle for the so-called civilised jungle. And this time the stakes were so much higher.
At that moment the little hairs all over her body stood up a nano-second before she heard a noise behind her. She had no time to keep obsessing over whether or not she’d picked out the right dress. Squaring her shoulders, and drawing on the kind of reserves that she hadn’t had to call on in years, Serena turned around.
For a second she could only blink to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. Her ability to breathe was severely compromised. Memories of Luca seven years ago slammed into her like a punch to the gut. Except this Luca was infinitely harder, more gorgeous.
‘You’ve shaved...’ Serena commented faintly. But those words couldn’t do justice to the man in front of her, dressed in a classic tuxedo, his hard jaw revealed in all its obduracy, the sensual lines of his mouth even more defined.
His thick dark hair was shorter too, and Serena felt an irrational spurt of jealousy for whoever had had his or her hands on his head.
She was too enflamed and stunned by this vision of Luca to notice that his gaze had narrowed on her and a flush had made his cheeks darken.
‘You look...incredible.’
Luca’s eyes felt seared, right through to the back. She was a sleek, beautiful goddess. All he could see at first was bare skin, arms and shoulders. And acres of red silk and gold, sparkling with inlaid jewels. A deep V drew his eye effortlessly to luscious curves. There was some embellishment on the shoulders and then the dress fell in a swathe of silk and lace from her waist to the floor. He could see the hint of one pale thigh peeping out from the luxurious folds and had to grit his jaw to stop his body from exploding.
She’d pinned her hair back into a low bun at the base of her neck. It should have made the outfit look more demure than if her hair had been around her shoulders in a silken white-golden tumble, but it didn’t. It seemed to heighten the provocation of the dress.
Luca registered then that she looked uncomfortable. Shifting minutely, those long fingers were fluttering near the V of the dress, as if to try and cover it up. The woman Luca had seen in Florence had been wearing a fraction of this much material and revelling in it.
She was avoiding his eye, and that made Luca move closer. She looked up and his pulse fired. He came close enough to smell her clean, fresh scent. Suddenly it felt as if he hadn’t seen her in a month, when it had been just a day. A day in which he’d had to restrain himself from going down to the charity offices.
Danger.
He ignored it.
He might have expected her scent to be overpowering, overtly sensual, but it was infinitely more subtle.
Familiar irritation that she was proving to be more difficult to grasp than quicksilver made him say brusquely, ‘What’s wrong? The dress? You don’t like it?’
She looked up at him and need gripped Luca so fiercely that his whole body tensed. But something very cynical followed. He’d had an entire wardrobe of clothes delivered to the apartment—and she wasn’t happy?
Her eyes flashed. ‘No, it’s not the dress.’ Her voice turned husky. ‘The dress is beautiful. But what were you thinking, sending all those clothes? I’m not your mistress, and I don’t want to be treated like one.’
Surprise lanced him, but he recovered quickly. ‘I thought you’d appreciate being prepared for a public event.’
Serena looked down and muttered, ‘You mean public humiliation.’
Something shifted in Luca’s chest. He tipped up her chin, more concerned than he liked to admit by her uneasiness. Colour stained her pale cheeks and Luca almost gave in to the beast inside him. Almost. With a supreme effort he willed it down. ‘What I said before...about exposing you to public scrutiny...that won’t happen, Serena. I won’t let it.’
Her eyes were wide. Wounded? Her mouth thinned. ‘Isn’t that part of the plan, though? A little revenge?’
Luca winced inwardly. What did this woman do to him? She called to his most base instincts and he could be as cruel as his father ever had been. Shame washed through him.
He shook his head, something fierce erupting inside him. ‘I’m taking you out because I want to be seen with you, Serena.’
As he said it he realised it was true. He genuinely wanted this. To have her on his arm. And it had very little to do with wanting to punish her. At the thought of adverse public reaction a protective instinct nearly bowled him over with its force.
Before he could lose his footing completely, he took her by the hand and said gruffly, ‘We should leave or we’ll be late.’
In the lift something caught his eye, and he looked down to see Serena’s other hand clutching a small bag which matched her dress. Her knuckles were white, and when his gaze travelled up he could see the tension in her body and jaw.
The lift jerked softly to a halt and almost against his will Luca found his hand going to the small of Serena’s back to touch her. The minute his hand came into contact with the bare, warm, silky skin left exposed by the backless design she tensed more.
He frowned as something had dawned on him. ‘Are you...nervous?’
Serena’s eyes flashed with some indefinable emotion and she quickly stepped out of the open doors of the elevator, away from his touch, avoiding his narrowed gaze.
‘Don’t be ridiculous. It’s just been a while since I’ve gone to anything like this, that’s all.’
Luca sensed that there was a lot more to it than that, but he gestured for her to precede him out of the building, realising too late what awaited them outside when a veritable explosion of light seemed to go off in their faces. Without even realising what he was doing he put his arm around Serena and curved her into his body, one hand up to cover her face, as they walked quickly to his car, where a security guard held the passenger door open.
In the car, Serena’s heart was pumping so hard she felt light-headed. The shock of that wall of paparazzi when she hadn’t seen it in so long was overwhelming. And she couldn’t help the fierce pain of betrayal. Everything Luca had just said was lies...and she hated that she wouldn’t have expected it of him.
She was a sap. Of course he was intent on—
Her hand was taken in a firm grip. She clenched her jaw and looked at Luca in the driver’s seat. His face was dark...with anger?
‘Serena, I had nothing to do with that. They must have been tipped off.’
He looked so grim and affronted that Serena felt something melt inside her. Felt a wish to believe him.
‘It won’t happen again.’
She took her hand from Luca’s and forced a smile. ‘Don’t worry about it.’
The imprint of Luca’s body where he’d held her so close was still making her treacherous skin tingle all over. The way he’d drawn her into him so protectively had unsettled her. She’d felt unprotected for so long that it was an alien sensation. Maybe he hadn’t planned it. She recalled him biting off a curse now, as if he’d been as surprised as her...
Once they’d left the paparazzi behind she pushed a button to lower her window, relishing the warm evening Rio breeze and the tang of the sea.
‘Are you okay?’
Serena nodded. ‘Fine—just needed some air.’
The setting sun was bathing the sky in a pink glow, and from somewhere distant Serena could hear cheers and clapping.
She looked at Luca. ‘What’s that?’
Luca’s mouth twitched. ‘Every evening sunset-worshippers applaud another stunning sunset from the beaches.’
Serena couldn’t take her eyes off the curve of Luca’s mouth. ‘I love that idea,’ she breathed. ‘I’d like to see the sunset.’
She quickly looked away again, in case that dark navy gaze met hers when she felt far too exposed. Her cheeks were still hot from that moment when she’d been captivated by the way he filled out his suit so effortlessly. The obviously bespoke material did little to disguise his sheer power, flowing lovingly over defined muscles.
‘Where do you live when you don’t stay at the apartment?’ Serena blurted out the first thing she could think of to try and take her mind off Luca’s physicality.
He glanced at her, his hands strong on the wheel of the car.
‘I have a house in Alto Gavea—it’s a district in the Tijuca Forest, north of the lake...’
She sneaked a look. ‘Is it your family home? Where you grew up?’
He shook his head abruptly, and when he answered his voice was tight. ‘No, we lived out in the suburbs. My parents wouldn’t have approved of living so near to the beaches and favelas.’
Serena thought of what he’d told her about his parents so far and asked, ‘You weren’t close to them?’
His mouth twisted. ‘No. They split up when we were six, and my mother moved back to her native Italy.’
Serena had forgotten about that Italian connection. ‘You said we... Do you have brothers and sisters?’
She could sense his reluctance to answer, but they weren’t going anywhere fast in the evening traffic. Luca sighed. ‘Yes, I have a twin brother.’
Serena’s eyes widened. ‘Wow—a twin? That’s pretty amazing.’ Her mind boggled slightly at the thought of two Lucas.
He slid her a mocking look and said, ‘We’re non-identical. He lives in Italy; he moved there with our mother after the divorce.’
Serena processed this and turned in her seat to face him. ‘Wait...you mean you were split up?’
The thought of anyone splitting her and Siena up at that young age made her go cold. Siena had been the only anchor in her crazy world.
Luca faced forward, his voice emotionless. ‘Yes, my parents decided that each would take one of us. My mother chose me to go to Italy with her, but when my brother got upset she swapped us and took him instead.’
Serena gasped as that scenario sank in. ‘But that’s...horrific. And your father just let her?’
Luca looked at her, face hard. ‘He didn’t care which son he got as long as he got one of us to be his heir.’
Serena knew what it was to grow up under a cruel tyrant, but this shocked even her. ‘And are you close now? You and your brother?’
Luca shrugged minutely. ‘Not particularly. But he was the one who bailed me out of jail, and he was the one who arranged for the best legal defence to get me out of Florence and back to Rio, avoiding a lengthy trial and jail time.’
His expression hardened to something infinitely cynical.
‘A hefty donation towards “the preservation of Florence” was all it took to get the trial mysteriously dismissed. That money undoubtedly went to corrupt officials—one of whom was probably your father—but I was damned if I was going to hang for a crime I wasn’t even responsible for. But they wouldn’t clear me completely, so every time I fly to Europe now I come under the radar of Europe’s law enforcement agencies.’
Serena felt cold. She turned back to the front, staring unseeingly out of the window, knowing it was futile to say anything. She’d protested her innocence till she was blue in the face, but Luca was right—his association with her had made things worse for him.
They were turning into a vast tree-lined driveway now, which led up to a glittering colonial-style building. When Luca pulled up, and a valet parker waited for him to get out, Serena took several deep breaths to calm her frayed nerves.
Luca surprised her by not getting out straight away.
He turned to her. ‘I’m not interested in the past any more, Serena. I’m interested in the here and now.’
Serena swallowed. Something fragile seemed to shimmer between them...tantalising. And then he got out of the car and she sucked in another shaky breath.
He came around and opened her door, extended a hand to help her out. She took it, and when his gaze tracked down her body and lingered on her breasts a pulse throbbed between her legs.
He tucked her arm into his as they moved forward and joined similarly dressed couples entering a glittering doorway lit by hundreds of small lights. It was a scene Serena had seen a million times before, but never heightened like this. Never romantic.
She asked herself as Luca led her inside, greeting someone in Portuguese, if they really could let the past go. Or was that just what Luca was willing to say so that he could bed her and then walk away, with all that resentment still simmering under the surface?
‘Do you think you could crack a smile and not look as if you’re about to be subjected to torture?’
Serena glanced at Luca, who had a fixed social smile on his face. She sent up silent thanks that he couldn’t read her thoughts and said sweetly. ‘But this is torture.’
Something flared in his eyes—surprise?—and then he said, ‘Torture it may well be, but a few hours of social torture is worth it if it means that a favela gets a new free school staffed by qualified teachers.’
Serena felt immediately chastened. ‘Is that what this evening’s ball is in aid of?’
Luca looked at her assessingly. ‘Among some other causes. The global communities charity too.’
Serena thought of that sweet little girl in the village—a million miles away from here...and yet not.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said huskily. ‘You’re right—it is worth it.’
Serena missed Luca’s speculative look because a waiter was interrupting them with a tray of champagne. Luca took a glass and looked at her when she didn’t.
She shook her head quickly and said to the waiter, ‘Do you have some sparkling water, please?’
