Love in the City, an erotic romance novel (36 page)

“What was her name?”

“Lisette.”

“French?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Her family owns some vinyards in France. She knows lots of people in Europe. It’s her stomping grounds so she traveled a fair bit, but we got together when we could.”

“How long were you together?”

“Just a couple of months,” he said.

“What happened?”

“Marcello happened.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, I was surfing the web one day, she was out of town visiting friends she’d said, and there was a news item about a recent racing champion. Marcello. He’s a famous Italian race-car driver. One of the photos with the article showed the usual scene, big smiles, raised arms, giant trophy, champagne flying everywhere, girls. Only one of the girls standing right next to him was Lisette.”

“Maybe she was just a racing fan?”

“I had hoped so, but another picture with the article showed the two of them kissing. In a manner that suggested they knew each other. Quite well.”

“Maybe that was just a French thing?”

“Oh yeah, just a French thing,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Anyway, I called her up to ask her about him. She claimed he was a friend. I called B.S. on that. She was just cavalier about it, though. She didn’t really care that I was upset. She called me uptight and told me that I didn’t understand Europeans. I reminded her I was Greek. She just scoffed at me and said that didn’t really count.” He laughed at the ridiculousness of the statement. “She meant places like France, Italy, Spain and pointed out that I was mostly raised in America and that Americans were uptight and not as free-thinking.”

“Geez, she’s a real snob.”

“That’s one way to put it,” he said dryly. “Anyhow, I asked her point blank if she was sleeping with him. She huffed and said, yes, of course, he was her ‘friend’. I asked her how many of these types of friends she had, and she said not many. Just a few.”

“Wow, really. And she didn’t see anything wrong with it? “

He shook his head. “Nope. In fact, I seemed to be irritating her to no end with my ‘prudish ways’ as she put it.” He sighed. “When she got back to New York, she called, but I told her that wasn’t the kind of relationship I wanted. She was genuinely surprised. She made it sound like I was an idiot for feeling that way. What do you say to that?”

“Not much,” Anabelle added.

Giorgio nodded and rubbed the back of his neck, feeling some tension building with these memories. “Sometime after that is when I got talked into that stupid Top 10 eligible bachelor thing. As I told you, I got bombarded with bizarre offers from women, some were incredibly forward, asking for all kinds of kinky interludes, sending me photos, asking me for more photos of myself, and I don’t mean head shots…”

Anabelle giggled.

“What’s so funny?”

She blushed. “Well, from the sounds of it, I think they
were
asking for head shots.”

His jaw dropped. “You have a dirty mind, Ms. Parker.”

“It’s completely your fault,” she said. “It only happens around you.”

He smirked at her. “Sure, sure.
Anyway, most of these women seemed like they were nuts. Some were obviously just trolling for an easy mark, realizing I was well-off, etc. Then I met Erin.”

“Your ex-fiancée?”

“Yeah. She seemed more normal at first, but like I said, she and I couldn’t agree on the massive, over-the-top wedding she wanted in a swanky Manhattan hotel. I couldn’t stand it. I thought it was too ostentatious. I’m just not like that. I’m more private. I asked her to compromise with me, but it became apparent that her dream New York City high-society, ‘wedding event of the year’ was more important to her than I was.”

“Women do get set in their ways with weddings sometimes,
some dream of it their whole lives,” Anabelle said.

“What about you? What’s your
dream, if I may ask?”

“Sure. My friend Sarah and I are actually very non-traditional. The only thing we’ve ever talked about was eloping somewhere warm. Neither of us can stand all of the planning and details, it seems way too stressful and expensive, and frankly, it’s just not our thing. We’d rather spend the money for a nice honeymoon somewhere, just relax about the whole affair and have fun.”

“Nice,” he said, smiling.

“A wedding should really be about the couple,” she said, shrugging her shoulders, “and what feels right to them. Both of them.”

“
That’s what I thought.” He sighed. “I do get that women fantasize sometimes their whole lives about their dream weddings, I considered that. I’d much prefer to elope, too, so I thought I was being really fair in just asking her to tone things down a bit. I mean if we were going to have 550 people there, I’d probably only know about 75 of them. Why share such a special, personal day with 475 strangers? Just to impress people. And then pay over half a million dollars to do it.” He ran his fingers through his hair.

“I
totally agree.”

He smiled at that, then
took a deep breath. “You know the rest. She was with an older, richer guy a couple of months after we broke up. They’d known each other before, he’d had a thing for her for a long time. I’m certain they were up to something while we were still together. She’d grown distant and really vague towards the end when we weren’t getting along too well. Supposedly spending time with ‘girlfriends’, overnight trips and so on.”

“Kind of rough,” Anabelle said, touching his knee.

He nodded, looking down at her hand. “They’re married now, that also happened pretty fast. When the engagement ended last year, I stopped dating for awhile…until I met you.” He looked back up at her and smiled.

“Really?” she asked, the surprise evident on her face.

“Really. Why do you look so surprised?” he asked.

“Because, you were one of New York City’s most eligible bachelors, and like I said you’re gorgeous, young, successful. I would think it would be impossible for you not to have women constantly hanging al
l over you, workaholic or not.”

He shook his head.
“After the kind of experiences I had I felt pretty used and rather jaded. Plus, my father also died last year and when I was appointed CEO, my life changed dramatically. It was hard to lose him like that and at the same time get thrust into such an all-consuming and demanding role.”

Anabelle
felt for him. “That must have been a terribly difficult time for you.”

He nodded.
“I wasn’t in a good place so I withdrew into work. On the dating front, I didn’t really trust anyone anymore, so I avoided it like the plague. Figured I had really bad judgment when it came to women, that I was just destined for more unpleasant games. I didn’t want that. So I stopped.” He looked over at her with a sly smile. “Until one day, this beautiful girl comes along and promptly dumps coffee on me.”

“Quite the come-on,” she said, giving an embarrassed laugh.

“Yup. Then she doesn’t want to have anything to do with me.”

“Well, as I told you, you were a little intimidating. And I wasn’t prepared for it.”

“Me neither. But you just shone like a beacon to me. I was so drawn to you.”

“Because I wouldn’t give you the time of day? That probably means that you’ll be losing interest in me any time now.”

“Not a chance,” he said. “Besides, in some kind of bizarre way it was refreshing to meet a woman who treated me like just some guy on the street trying to hit on her, rather than like I’m being tracked and hunted.”

“Aha, see it’s just the chase,” she said, waving a finger. “Maybe you just like me because I’m different from other women you usually come into contact with. A new and novel experience.” She was half-joking, but deep down it started to get her thinking.

He shook his head. He leaned over on one hip towards her and took her hand in both of his. He looked down at her hand, gently stroking it.

She was again taken by how handsome he was.

“I don’t just like you, Anabelle Parker. I’m in love with you.” He looked up at her, his big blue eyes now serious, filled with emotion. “I know you think I’m some kind of over-sexed playboy, and maybe I don’t blame you for that, considering how strongly I came on to you.” He kept stroking her hand. “But, I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. Not even close.” He rubbed his lips together, then looked at her. “I need you to believe that. To believe in me.”

Her heart started beating faster in her chest. “I do…it’s just, sometimes I’ve wondered, if that day we bumped into one another, if that wasn’t a common type of occurrence for you. You have so many opportunities.”

“That day, seeing you, was anything but commonplace.” He kissed her hand. “M’lady, I told you, I hadn’t been with anyone in months. Nearly a year. Not since Erin. That’s not much of a playboy, is it?” His voice was soft and low.

She shook her head. “No, but it’s just that you were so forward with me, so sexual so quickly.”

“Hey, to be fair, that was both of us,” he pointed out. “And like I said, it had been quite awhile since I had been with a woman. And then there you were, all pretty and adorable and charming, with beautiful womanly curves. As a Greek male, I was a goner. I needed to meet you, to see if there could be anything there between us.”

Anabelle smiled at that, feeling very flattered. “I’ll admit to taking note of how attractive you were, too.”

“Oh, checking me out, were you?”

“Mmmhmm, kind of hard not to,” she said, running her finger down his chest, to his waist, across his hip, and then down his thigh.

He sighed as he watched her trace a line down his body. He leaned over more and stretched his arm out across her, to rest just above her knees. “So, I enticed you then?” he probed, looking at her lips.

“You did.”

He leaned in and kissed her lightly, tenderly. “Do I still?”

“Oh yes,” she said, then continued kissing him. She ran her hand up and down the side of his hip, then held it firmly, and stroked him with her thumb. “I’m sure you could tell by what I did to you the other night.”

“Oh, I remember,” he said, the erotic memory vividly coming back to him.

“In fact,” she added, “you’
re perfect to me.”

He paused for a moment.
He tilted his head. He had an inquiring look on his face. “Physically?”

She looked at him curiously. “Giorgio…”

“Yes?”

“Is that your way of asking me if that’s all I’m interested in?”

“Maybe,” he replied, shrugging his shoulders.

She laughed. “That’s usually what the woman is wondering. Men are supposed to be happy if that’s all a woman wants from them.”

He let out a long breath, and looked down at where his hand rested on her leg. “Am I being painted with that brush, too?”

“No, not any more,” she said, nuzzling him.

He gave a half smile. “It’s just that…” he stopped himself.

“What?”

“Well, when you say things to me, when you look at me,” he paused, blushing, feeling awkward about this subject. He wasn’t sure how she was going to take it. “It’s often in a…sexual way. Like you were saying, even after I came over to your place the other night to explain things and apologize to you, it ended up being highly sexual.”

She waited
quietly for him to continue, not understanding where he was going with this.

H
e rubbed his lips together, thinking. “Things had been so rocky between us before then. I hadn’t expected you to do anything remotely like that. We had just finished talking and the next thing I knew I was completely naked and you were getting me so…” he stopped. “You moved so fast. I was stunned. Not that I mind. Any of it. Not at all. I love it, feeling desired by you, what you did to me, but…”

“But what?” she asked, starting to feel confused and a bit put off.

He took her hand in his. “I just wanted to be sure…I guess I need to know if there’s really more to your feelings for me than that. I know you joked about it earlier, but part of me wonders...”

“
You
need reassurance that I want more than just your body? That
I’m
here for more than just sex?” Her tone was incredulous.

“Is that so ridiculous?” he asked, looking up at
her with an earnest expression.

“Um, yes. Completely.”

He sighed. He needed to make her understand where he was coming from. “Anabelle,” he said softly, “women aren’t the only ones with feelings you know. My past experiences didn’t leave me feeling like I had a lot of value outside of what those women were after. I meant nothing to them beyond it. It’s kind of hard to trust people after that.”

She considered his words.

He looked down at their hands clasped together, half expecting her to pull away.

She didn’t.

He once again felt the sting of recent events. “And then after what Portia did to my brother, to me…which also almost cost me my relationship with you…I just don’t want any more bad surprises. I’m not sure how clearly I’m able to gauge things, to see what’s really going on with someone. I seem to be kind of blind to things sometimes.”