Rare and Precious Things (8 page)

Really?
Ethan knew people at this party? I suppose it wasn’t as bad as he’d predicted it would be after all. Couldn’t wait to bust him about his whining to come here.

“Oh, well that’
s great. I look forward to meeting them. But first, I need to get some water. I’m really thirsty after spending a long time swimming in the sea today. Must be all the salt.”

“Come with me, bella, I will take care of you.”

ONE hour later and I was so ready to blow this taco stand. Unfortunately, I was the only one who felt that way. Ethan and his old
friend
,
Carolina, sat next to each other on a sofa laughing and chatting about the Italian elections and everything in between; from the best ski slopes in the Italian Alps to Ferragamo shoes. Looked like they were having a great time together. I, on the other hand, was stuck fending off the lewdly inappropriate glances coming at me from Rogelio, who apparently wasn’t giving up on trying to get a good look at what was under my dress. And he wasn’t with Carolina as I originally assumed, either. Rogelio was with another woman who gave her name as Paola—an Italian model I had seen in photos but never met before tonight. She eyeballed me too, almost as much as Rogelio was doing, but for different reasons. Rogelio was just a skeevy creep, but Paola saw me as a threat. She didn’t have anything to worry about from me though; I sure wasn’t interested in what she was doing—practically sprawled on Rogelio, letting him feel her up. Were they going to start screwing in front of everyone in a minute for an encore?
This lecherous creep and exhibitionist slut are who I get to talk to?
Not fair.

Ethan was
oblivious.

I shifted in the seat and fidgeted with the hem
of my dress, wishing it was a little longer to cover more of my legs. I wanted to go home and crawl into bed, but Ethan didn’t take my subtle hints when I rubbed his leg or squeezed his hand. He just kept flapping away as if he could keep it up for hours. What in the hell had gotten into him? He was not usually chatty, but for all intents and purposes he sure was tonight—at this party he begged me not to drag him to.

It wasn’
t lost on me Carolina was a very beautiful woman, either. Elegant, and lean, in that Euro way that intimidated the hell out of me and my pregnant curves, which would only grow more pregnant, and more curvy in the coming months.

I patt
ed Ethan on the leg.

He turned to me and smiled, covering my hand with his.

And returned right back to his conversation with Carolina, dismissing me with an affectionate brush of his thumb over my hand.

A server brought a tray of gelato through and I couldn’t resi
st taking one, even though everyone else declined it.

The rich frozen chocolate cream tasted like heaven. At least I could enjoy something nice here, since the rest of it sucked.

Paola clucked at me. “So many calories in the gelato. I never indulge.”

Well, you sure do indulge in being
a massive bitch, Paola.
“Really? I do. In fact, my doctor in London told me to start packing it in. As many calories as I can stand. It’ll be healthier for my baby if I gain some weight.” I smiled warmly and shoved another spoonful of gelato in my mouth.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it, you stupid cow!

She narrowed her eyes at me. “You are pregnant?”

I rubbed over my bump, which due to the shape of my dress, was pretty much invisible. “Yep. And married.” I held up my left hand and showed my ring. “I’m so lucky; sometimes I think I must have won the lottery of life.” I leaned into Ethan’s arm with an affectionate caress of my cheek.

I felt more than a little satisfaction when she rolle
d her eyes at me and huffed off to get a drink. Rogelio just snickered in his quietly leering way and adjusted his erection, now that it was out there for me to see. Ugh.
Get me the hell out of here.

Ethan was so unaware of what
was going on, the look on his face was blank when I interrupted him and said, “Simba just called and said it’s an emergency.”

“What?”
he questioned with a blink.

I hardened my expressio
n and tried again. “Simba needs us to come home.”

“He does
?”

“He said
now
, Ethan.”

ETHAN
drove us home as I pouted in my seat. “You’re not feeling well, are you?” he asked after several minutes of quiet.

“What
ever gave you that idea?” I looked out the window at the pretty lights set out in jars in front of the houses. It was a local custom that we’d discovered on our trip here. Wishing jars they were called. You put your wishes inside on tiny slips of paper that burned away from the candle inside the jar. As the words were consumed by fire, your wish was released into the spirit world to maybe be granted.
I wish I never went to that party.

“Well, you didn’t seem to be in a very social mood back there.”

“Well, you sure were.” I folded my arms and looked over at him.

“What? I was just having a conversation with an old friend. Thank God there was somebody I
could
talk to, or I would have gone mad. Let’s remember that I didn’t want to go to the fucking thing in the first place, Brynne. It just turned out to be more pleasant than I imagined it would be.”

“How do you know Carolina?” I hated that I felt insecure asking him about her. I didn’t want to know if they had ever been more than
“friends,” but had to be pragmatic that it was a strong possibility.

“We met when I was working an important job for the Italian PM years back. She’s a cultura
l consultant for the government,” he said a little too quickly, as if he’d already prepared what to say when I asked.

I sensed some
hedging on his part. The way he was acting reminded me of that night at the Mallerton Gala when the strawberry-blonde “he went out with just the one time” was vying for his attention.

My heart did a little drop and I felt insane jealousy at the thought of Ethan and Carolina being together at some point in the past. He’d fucked her. I knew it.

“Oh…” I couldn’t think of a better response. I just wanted to go to bed and put the unpleasant thoughts out of my mind.

I didn’t wait for Ethan to come around and open my door when we arrived back to the villa. I just got out and headed toward the steps.

I didn’t make it very far before s
trong arms wrapped around me from behind, pressing me back into the hard planes of his body. “Where do you think you’re going?” He nuzzled at my neck and rubbed thumbs over my collarbones seductively. My body responded immediately, my nipples hardening into peaks that gave me the now familiar sting of pain when it happened.

“To bed
, Ethan.” I knew that he knew I was pouting. I didn’t care. I couldn’t help how I felt—jealous, and insecure, and more than a little hurt.

“Not yet, my beauty.”
He kissed behind my ear, the rough sound of desire evident in his tone. “I went to your party and played nice, and now I get my date with you on the beach that I wished to have in the first place.”

My stiffness melted at his words, and I spun around to face him, burying my face into his chest, breathing in his scent of spice and cologne that had captured me from day one. “It was an awful party,” I muttered, “I hated it.”

He stroked over my hair and kissed the top of my head. “I can see that, but I can make it better now,” he promised. “Forget about that pretentious party and come with me.”

“So
, you didn’t want to stay there and talk to Carolina longer? You were obviously old
friends
catching up.” My spiteful words just slipped out before I could stop them.

He gave me the blank look again and tilted his head. “Baby, what does that mean?”

I shrugged. “I got the feeling that you and she were past…that the two of you had—”

His eyes grew wide b
efore he started laughing. “Okay, I get it now. You thought that Carolina and I had gone out together.” He shook his head slowly at me. “No, baby. We’re just friends and colleagues. Besides, she’s got at least a decade on me.”

“Well, she’s still very beautiful. I doubt her age would bother a man much at all.”

He laughed at me some more. “The fact that she only does women would.”

“Oh…well, that’s good. I mean—that makes sense then. Wait, Carolina is a lesbian? That beautiful woman is not into men?”

“Nope. She bats for your team, baby. Why do you think I sat between us tonight? I didn’t want her getting even the chance to be close to
my
beautiful wife.” He kissed me softly, with nibbles to my lips. “Not that I’m worried that you would ever switch teams on me, but why take the chance?”

“Oh, God. Like that would ever happen.” I pushed at his chest and shook my head. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard in my life.”

“Have you not yet learned that I don’t take chances with you, my darling? I don’t, and I never will.”
His gaze was unflinching.

“I guess I’ve learned a few things tonight
...” I felt like a stupid fool now, but still, the fact that Ethan had been championing me at the party instead of ignoring, soothed my fears greatly. “One of them being that this dress wasn’t a good choice for me to wear to a party.” I looked up at him sheepishly. “It
is
too short, and I won’t be wearing it anymore when we go out again.”

He blew out a relieved sigh. “Well, you look gorgeous in it, but I won’t deny that I appreciate your offer.” He smoothed his hands over my ass in a possessive caress. “Because this is
mine
,” he growled, as he descended for another slow kiss, plunging his tongue into my mouth in a demanding tangle that showed me he really meant it.

I was his.

When he reluctantly pulled his tongue out of me, I realized he wasn’t done with his explanation. “I thought I was going to have to scoop out Rogelio’s eyeballs at one point. Watching that cocksucker pant over you just about killed me. I had to turn away or he’d probably be blind right now…and I’d be locked up for mayhem in an Italian jail.” He shrugged, offering no apology for how he felt. Ethan was a very honest man. It was one of the traits in him I admired, and loved. I had just learned a valuable lesson about trust.

“
Oh my God, Rogelio was disgusting. I hated him.”

“Agreed.
” He kissed me on the nose. “Now let’s stop talking about that hideous party, and go have the date on the beach I want with you. Off with your shoes, Mrs. Blackstone.”

As we slipped off our shoes, I realized that Ethan had enjoyed every moment of my discomfort. The twinkling laughter in his blue eyes told me so. I couldn’t deny that Carolina’s sexual orientation relieved me, but I wasn’t dumb enough to think I wouldn’t run into some of Ethan’s former lovers in the future. It would happen, and I would have to deal with it when it did.

“
What are we doing on the beach?” I asked, as he led me along the cool sand under my bare feet.

“
Having our date. Trust me, baby. This is something I have all planned out for us.”