He couldn’t seem to stop thinking about it. About how the oddness suited her, interested him,charmedhim. For all her attempts to be average and customary on the surface, she was anything but underneath.
As he arrived at Ascione, he told his assistant he would be indisposed until after lunch. To hold his calls, allow no one in. Then he’d let himself into his father’s office.
Hisoffice.
He’d redecorated, finding it necessary to not spend his time in his father’s oppressive style. Luciano didn’tmindthe heavy handed opulence his father employed like a power move, he simply didn’t think it was necessary.
He much preferred everyone to underestimate him. So everything was simple. Expensive, of course, but sleek lines and minimalism as a direct contrast to his father’s maximalism. It suited his purposes here and, even better, Luciano knew his father would have hated it. So there was satisfaction in that.
“I hope there is a view from hell,” he murmured to the line of portraits on the wall. The one thing he hadn’t been able to get rid of. The line of Asciones who had built this company, built the wealth he’d used as a jumping off point for his own. This row of bastards who’d treated everyone around them like a pawn or an enemy.
Because Luciano might have disdain for them all, but he knew he was one of them. He had tried to be good, noble. Tried to be a protector.
And never managed.
This was his legacy, his blood. Might as well remember it.
He moved for his desk, pushed away all thoughts that weren’t next steps. He went over all the information Serena had sent his pretend man of affairs again. Her plan was thorough, but not complete. She was looking for stability. Shoring up foundations. The attention their union, their merger, would draw would be huge and it would no doubt win some of their lost customers back. But that was all she’d planned for. Getting the old back.
Per usual, he thought bigger. Not just setting themselves up for what they’dhad, but destroying the American interlopers in the process and giving themselves the opportunity for more.
As she’d said the other night: billionaires never needed an excuse for wanting more.
So, in his own document, he used the foundation of her plan to make a bigger one. No doubt hers stopped short ofbigger, because she had plans for what would happenafter.
Once they vanquished their common foe, they would become enemies once again, even if they were legally wed. He would need to have a plan in place to come out on topthen. She clearly did.
So, he would. But he would need some…subterfuge. A distraction. Last night had started the seeds of that plan, and going over all this, adding to it, made it clear—the only thing that would work against Serena was the one thing she was so sure wouldn’t.
He would simply have to seduce her.
He ignored the troubling wriggle of doubt in the back of his mind, because it did not stem fromdoubt, but rather how little the prospect bothered him. It would be no hardship, because there was a bloom ofsomethingunder all that ice. A fire he seemed well adept at bringing out.
Thatconcerned him. His own physical reaction to it. A shade too eager for his liking. But that only required control, and he knew how to wield it when it was necessary.
Besides, ifhefelt it, so did she. He had never seen her falter, except the few times he’d managed to have his hands, no matter how chastely, on her.
She was innocent, clearly, but not immune. His biggest hurdle would be convincing her that one didn’t need tolikethe other person for the physical match to be enjoyable.
So perhaps she was due a lesson.
CHAPTER SEVEN
SERENA DID THElaundry herself once he was gone. It was cathartic to strip the bed he’ddefiledwith his long, rangy body, to heft the entire basket of bedding down to the washer and dryer and handle it with her own two hands.
An exorcism of sorts. She would wash away the memory of waking up to him in her bed, sprawled out inhersheets,herduvet,hers. He had looked fierce, even in sleep, like some ancient conqueror. And she had sat there in her window seat, staring for far longer than she’d like to admit, wondering what it would have been like to have woken upnextto him. To feel his body heat, his skin and all the ways her body reacted to those things.
She’d had to leave her own room, just to find her usually firmly in place common sense. She’d avoided any good-bye because sheknewembarrassment would swamp her.
But now she’d washed him away and all would be well. She’d make sure of it.
Because the sheets had put her behind schedule, she’d decided to work from home. She had a few calls, lots of e-mails to respond to, but no meetings that required her in the office today, thank goodness.
During her lunch, she’d gone ahead and written out her ridiculous and petty list as a fun little break. Maybe it was pointless as they were not rules she would enforce, or even show him, but it felt therapeutic to put all her wishes into the written word. Complete with stickers depicting donkeys in flower crowns.
Do not utter my name.
Do not touch me.
