Her Roman Holiday (20 page)

Calia spent the remainder of the afternoon nosing around the internet, researching the two companies, one of which was located in Paris.
 
Though her mind kept wanting to stray to thoughts of Gio, Calia remained disciplined about pushing it back on track.

“Larissa tells me you have been on the computer for hours.”

She glanced up from the monitor to find Gio looking down at her, leaning against the wall beside the alcove where Larissa and Cosimo kept their computer.

“I must have lost track of time.”
 
She checked her watch, then shook her head.
 
“Sheesh!
 
I hope they weren’t wanting to use it.”

“No, no.
 
Nothing like that.”
 
He straightened, his expression bland.
 
“So what were you doing that had you so engrossed?”

“Just researching a few companies,” she said, before going on to explain the latest developments on the job front
—
all the while doing her best to inject some enthusiasm into her tone.
 
She made herself grin up at him.
 
“Exciting, isn’t it?
 
I’m waffling a little about whether to follow up with the Paris firm, since I loved the city so much.
 
But really, I think this offer in Frankfurt will have me doing exactly the kind of job I want, so I might just take that and be done.”

He was frowning as she talked.
 
“By when do they want your answer?”

“As soon as possible, from what I understand.”

“Forward me the contract and I will have my lawyers look at it, to make sure it is all on the level.”

Though she hated to be further indebted to him, Calia couldn’t quite see her way to refusing his offer.
 
After all, it would be prudent to have the contract double-checked to make sure her interests really were protected
—
particularly since her German wasn’t up to deciphering the nuances of legal wording.
 

“I suppose I should also offer you my congratulations,” he added, his tone grudging.

“Hey, don’t bowl me over with your enthusiasm, Gio.”

He scowled at her.
 
“I am supposed to be pleased that you are busy implementing your plans to leave me?”

Calia felt a thrill at his growled comment.
 
But to him, she just sighed.
 
No point in wearing her heart on her sleeve.
 
“I’ve been thinking, Gio.
 
I know what I said before about long distance relationships
—
but maybe I was a little hasty.”

He was watching her, the beginnings of a smirk playing about his lips.
 
“Hasty?”

She nodded.
 
“I’m thinking that maybe, if this thing between us hasn’t fizzled, we can consider continuing our…”
 
She trailed off, uncertain of what label to use in describing their relationship.

“Passion play?” he offered.

She snorted.
 
“I suppose that’s as good a way of putting it as any.”

“Not ready to walk away from it so soon?”

She gave him a saccharine smile.
 
“Not unless I get bored.”
 
Then, she dropped the grin with a shrug.
 
“Or, at least, unless one of us gets bored.”

“You do believe in living dangerously, do you not?
 
You know I will take that as a personal challenge.”

She gave him a sidelong glance, the excitement bubbling up inside her.
 
“I’m actually counting on it.”

A long, lazy evening turned into a blissful night of passionate lovemaking.
 
Hours later, Calia felt herself being kissed gently awake.

Blinking her eyes open, she found Gio standing above her in the shadowed light of early morning.
 
He was already dressed for work.
 
“I must go.
 
But tomorrow, we will celebrate.
 
I will take the day off and we will spend it together,” he murmured.

It was only later, after she had dozed some more and the early morning had brightened into full daylight, that she woke enough to realize, belatedly, that she hadn’t returned to her own room after they had finished their marathon lovemaking.
 
She hadn’t even noticed, at the time.

It had just felt so right to fall asleep in his arms.

She rolled out of bed, pushing her hair back from her face and rubbing away the last of the sleep from her eyes.
 
As she showered, she faced up to the prospect of the empty hours stretching out before her, without Gio, and decided she wasn’t going to become a languishing female who awaits the pleasure of her man.
 
Not even for one day.

But, though she headed into the city to do more sightseeing, brutal honesty forced her to admit, if only to herself, that the fascination of Rome had palled.
 
She had undertaken the excursion to distract herself
—
unsuccessfully
—
from thoughts of Gio, rather than out of any continued interest in seeing the sights of Rome.

So, it was with some amount of resignation that she headed back to the villa after spending the afternoon wandering about the city.
 
As she rode the metro home, she realized, with some chagrin, that she could not have named a single street she had walked or sight she had seen over the past several hours
—
she had been totally engrossed in her own thoughts.
 
She did have some vague recollection of stopping for coffee on a small side street, but she wouldn’t trust herself to find that same café again.

Gio was waiting for her at the metro station once again, frowning as he scanned the faces of the people emerging from building.
 
His frown darkened as he spotted her and came forward to greet her.
 
“Why did you not borrow one of the cars, if you wanted to go into town?”

Calia gave him a look.
 
“Driving in Rome may come as second nature to you, but to me it would be like navigating one of the inner circles of Dante’s Inferno.
 
I prefer to use transit, thanks.”

He shrugged, his expression relaxing into a heart-stopping grin as he leaned in to give her a peck on the lips.
 
“Your choice, of course.”

As he pulled away, Calia felt a tug at her heart.
 
His good looks really bordered on the edge of credibility
—
and something in the glow of his silver eyes and the slant of his expression seemed especially compelling today.
 
Or was it simply her own enamoured gaze which made it seem so?

“How did the meeting go?”

There was no mistaking the fierce exhilaration in his expression this time.
 
He grinned, but it was the smile of a predator who had feasted well on his kill.
 
“Excellently.
 
Though Sorvignac might not agree.”

“Oh?
 
Is he walking with a limp now?”

His grin widened.
 
“Something like that.
 
I put some people on that information you gave me about the report Sorvignac wanted released.
 
Some of the investigations yielded interesting leads
—
that was what I was following up on yesterday, in fact.
 
It turns out the Foundation they were discussing is a charitable institution, begun by Sorvignac’s father.”

He opened the car door for her and waited while she settled into her seat, before closing the door and going around to the driver’s side.
 
“I have a number of sources,” he continued, “one of whom was able to tell me that the Fondation Céline has actually been raising a few flags in certain official circles.
 
Though no investigations have yet begun, questions are being asked about its allocation of funds.”

“So you think Sorvignac’s been using the Foundation in order to undertake some shady dealings?”

He started the car and pulled out of the parking lot.
 
“Perhaps.
 
But if it is already under surveillance, then that has less to do with me
—
though it did make me wonder about Sorvignac’s methods.
 
If he has no qualms about misappropriating funds that are meant for charity, then what other things is he willing to misrepresent in his actual business dealings?”

“Fair enough.”

“And further digging revealed that such suspicions were not unfounded.
 
It turns out that Sorvignac’s foundation had given a certain independent research institute a hefty amount of funding in order for them to run tests on one of the plastic compounds that is being produced by the company we are in negotiations to purchase.
 
The institute’s preliminary findings are positive
—
and Sorvignac wanted to use this as a trump card to further drive up the price of the company, since we will be purchasing the processes as part of the assets.”

“But would that have any kind of effect on things if the deal is on the verge of being sealed?”

Gio nodded.
 
“Sorvignac planned to use the report, from this supposedly independent institute, as a pretense for renegotiating, so that he could drive up the asking price.
 
But, thanks to you, I was able to go into the meeting prepared.”
 

Calia felt a warm glow settle in her chest at the glance of admiring approval he sent her way.
 
“So what happened?”

“I let him play his hand
—
which he did, in due course, producing the findings as if he had nothing to do with the institute or with the timing of the release.”

Calia was beginning to see the pattern of Gio’s strategy.
 
“But of course, you knew otherwise…”

He nodded.
 
“Thanks to you, I was able to make this connection between Sorvignac, the Fondation Céline and their seemingly unrelated funding of the Institut Gerbeaud.
 
I was also able to confirm that these preliminary findings were released at Sorvignac’s insistence.
 
Many of the researchers were not happy doing it.”

“So what about the deal, then?”

“I refused to bargain with him for a new asking price.
 
He announced that if this were so, then he would withdraw from these negotiations and open up the bidding to other parties.
 
All along, he has been hinting that he has had other expressions of interest for this particular holding.”

“He walked away from the negotiations?”

Gio pulled up in front of the villa and turned to her with a grin.
 
“He did not.
 
You see, I was also able to learn that the press release from the Institute Gerbeaud was extremely selective.
 
While these early results were nominally positive, they were far from conclusive.
 
This particular plastic also has some dubious properties that will require further investigation.”
 
He shrugged.
 
“So, I made sure he knew that I knew of all this.
 
And once that started to sink in, I also hinted at certain other pieces of knowledge I had managed to acquire…”

Calia closed her eyes, shaking her head with a slow smile.
 
“Of course.
 
Like the connection between the Fondation Céline and the Institute Gerbeaud…”

He nodded, still looking altogether pleased with himself.
 
“And perhaps a few oblique references to misappropriated funds in what is meant to be a charitable organization.
 
Since Sorvignac is not yet aware that the foundation is being observed, this was enough to spook him.”
 
He spread his hands.
 
“He became extraordinarily amenable to signing off on our original agreement.”

Calia laughed.
 
“Congratulations, Gio!” she exclaimed, leaning across the gearshift to kiss him.

After several moments of toe-curling intimacy, he broke away to look down at her upturned face.
 
With gentle fingers, he brushed a lock of hair from her face.
 
The warmth in his expression ignited a pool of heat in Calia’s belly.
 
“So.
 
I said we would celebrate.
 
Pack your things.
 
We are going away for the weekend.”

“But it’s only Thursday.”

“I have just sealed a deal on exactly the terms I wanted
—
thanks to you.
 
My weekend begins now.
 
With you.”

They arrived at their destination late, and so it was that Calia had her first sight of Venice by night, as they rode a water taxi up the winding Grand Canal, before turning along a smaller canal.
 
She basked in the sight of the ancient, elegant city
—
and tried not to blink for fear of missing something.
 
By night, Venice had a fairytale beauty that utterly enchanted her as she sat, comfortably nestled into the curve of Gio’s arm.

But not even the lovely, dignified houses that fronted the canals they rode through prepared her for when they pulled up in front of a regal palazzo.

As the taxi driver moored the boat and began unloading their bags, her eyes widened, and she glanced at Gio questioningly.
 
“This is our stop?” she murmured, awestruck.

He nodded.
 
“This palazzo has been in my family for generations.
 
Fortunately, it is far enough from the San Marco Square that we do not get too many of the tourists coming through this way.”
 
He disembarked with a graceful ease and held out his hand to help her across the gap between the boat and the pier.
 
“I called ahead yesterday to have the place prepared for us.”
 
Even as he spoke, the doors behind him opened, spilling golden light out onto the darkened dock.
 
A tidy, stocky man, somewhere in his middle years, emerged.
 
He and Gio exchanged a few words in Italian, before he moved past them to pay the taxi driver and collect their bags.