The balcony led to a staircase down to the gardens below, and Luciano met Serena at the top. He held up his palm—an invitation to link hands.
The slight sneer she failed at hiding amused him. So much about her amused him. Perhaps because while she kept that perfect icy mask impeccable in public, when they were alone together she could not seem to help resorting to her true self. Even if that true self hated him, it was amusing.
But she also did what needed doing, and as much as he’d like to hate that about her, he could only respect it.
He felt that she had to respectsomethingabout him as well to be here. To be doing this. For all her little barbs, shedidtreat him like an equal partner in this. She did not ridicule his ideas. She had not once treated him as his father often had, as if everything he did was the wrong step.
Besides, he had no doubt there was at least some small part of her thatwantedhim. Maybe she didn’t like it any better than he did, but it was there. Vibrating underneath the surface. They could both ignore it, they could both use it. It didn’t matter. It wasthere. An entity and a being he didn’t think either of them knew how to fully parse.
Her hands were soft, fingers long and slender like her legs as they linked with his. For a completely incomprehensible moment, he found himself wondering if so much would be different if they had not been raised as rivals, raised to hate one another. Would there be mutual attraction and respect without all the complicated thorns of being a Valli and an Ascione?
Because if she treated him like an equal, she saw him as one, and that was very rare in his life indeed. He made sure of it.
And why the hell should that matter? It didn’t.
There was the faint scent of lavender that seemed to cling to her or the air. He wanted it to be the air, but he’d been in her bed and knew what her sheets smelled of.
He had to fight off a scowl as they descended the staircase. She led him through a pathway through the unlit garden. He only had the general feeling of lots of growth, but the darkness did not give away any detail.
She opened a gate, and out they stepped onto the beach. It was a small slice of sand, mostly barricaded by big rocks. But not too far down the waterline there were lights. Some resorts, along with other houses and estates along the water.
“Do you really think someone would be watching?” Luciano asked.
“What I know is at least two cars followed you up to my gate. My security team will be determining their identity, but I would imagine it was press of some kind. If they know you’re here, they know air and sea is the only other way to get a glimpse. I’m not sure we’ve reached helicopter or drone levels of interest yet.”
“Yet, being the operative word.”
“One hopes. No doubt anyone in Genoa will be intrigued, and the way social media can make a story of anything might give us some global reach, but one never knows what will catch the public’s imagination.”
“Indeed not.”
“So, do I think someone is out there watching?” She gestured out along the shoreline. “I think we have a fifty-fifty chance, so we might as well take it. It’s about the only way I’d let your hand hold mine, naturally.”
He smiled in spite of himself. “Naturally,” he agreed. “But hand holding is so…childish, is it not?” He dropped her hand, lifted his to her back, then slid it down the curve of her spine as they walked. “There are far more intimate touches a man and woman might engage in on a moonlit walk on the beach.” He ran his hand back up, curled his fingers around the nape of her neck and felt the shudder there, the soft escape of her breath.
He did not care for how much his own body seemed to shudder in response, but it was all for the end goal. All of it.
“I have some ideas on how to handle the Francos next week,” she said after a moment. She did not try to dislodge his hand from her neck. She did not angle herself so that they were not essentially hip to hip as they walked. She even seemed to be trying to relax into his touch, rather than stiffen against it.
But the change of topic was clear. She was accepting the touch on the fifty-fifty chance they were being photographed, but she would not engage in innuendo.
Yet.
So, he responded to her change in topic in kind. “As do I. In fact, I think we should approach this meeting as a team. Go into it together.”
“We are not officially a partnership yet,” Serena said, a faint frown on her face. “We will need everything in place legally before we start muddying up those waters.”
“Then, let us move forward with that.”
Starlight dappled the sand. The quiet sounds of waves echoed gently as they walked. If there was any romance in the world, it was in this setting. So, it was time to get on with the show.
He pulled the box from his pocket, fingering the velvet as he watched her.
She looked remote in profile. An untouchable goddess with her hair down and her face upturned to the moon so she seemed to glint silver as she considered his suggestion. For all her strength and determination andhatetowards him, the moonlight made her seem ethereal. Lit from within. Someone else entirely—like the perfect Serena could be soft and romantic somewhere underneath all those sharp glaciers.
And maybe she could. To someone else. Not tohim.
The strange pang in his chest at that thought was…nonsensical. Ridiculous.
