He reached her just in time. Her thigh hit his as he swung an arm around her waist loosely, giving her space to pull away. She was tall enough in her boots that her breath hit his chin. Every single point of contact of her body against his burned.
“Matteo’s engaged,” she whispered, then pulled away. She walked through the French doors into his private patio.
Against the glittering lake, she should have paled. Instead, the open emotions on her face made her something to behold. There was a quiet grace about her, even in her distress.
He wanted to hold her, comfort her until she was sparring with him again. He wanted to kiss that mouth until all that remained on her lips was his name. Not his brother’s.
He didn’t remember a time when he’d wanted someone with this naked, fierce want. All his experiences with Violetta—that first rush of love, that stage of frantic, awkward lovemaking, that fierce need to be around her all the time, to please her, to prove his worth to her had been a lifetime ago.
Forgotten, like blurry black-and-white pictures with echoes of emotions he didn’t know anymore.
Dio mio, the first woman to grab his interest in years and she was Matteo’s ex. Biting back a curse, he went to the stocked bar. Usually, he limited his alcohol intake to one drink per week.
In the months following Violetta’s death, he’d consumed enough to damage his liver for a lifetime. Since drinking himself into an early grave would shatter his father and aunt, he’d channeled that madness into work. Tonight, however, he needed one more than one.
Because this was…Sam.Matteo’s Sam.
The Sam that Matteo had talked about nonstop for years. The Sam that had made Matteo take unprecedented interest in overseeing their California branch. The Sam that Matteo had been very careful to not betray as a woman, letting everyone assume that Sam was just a close male friend. Why hide her existence from them?
Staring at her phone, the woman shivered.
Leather jacket and drink in hand, he went to her. Relief filled him when she let him drape the jacket over her shoulders, grabbing the edges to pull it close. “Drink this.”
Her eyes flared wide. “No, thank you.”
A stab of something behind his ribs made him grit his jaw. He disliked how pliable she sounded all of a sudden. “You had a shock. This will help.”
“I can’t. It messes with my…meds.”
Shrugging, he finished the second drink. Even now, her gaze lingered over his throat. She was mourning his brother’s betrayal, and yet she watched him with such artless interest.
Alessandro wanted to taunt her for her awareness of him, but only a weak man attacked when their opponent was reeling.
“Is it Angelina Bianchi?” she said, looking out at the lake.
He studied her profile with greed he couldn’t corral. “He told you about her?”
She glared at him. “That you’ve been pressuring him because it’s a good match for the last year, yes. That you constantly push him to do more, yes. That you cast this huge shadow over his life that sometimes he can’t breathe, yes.”
Laughter burst out of him. Of course Matteo had painted himself as the victim. “Pace yourself, Ms. Fischer. We don’t want you to exhaust yourself this early in our acquaintance,vero?”
“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”
“I take my words back. You’re not clever at all.”
She faced him, all fury and disdain. “You don’t know me.”
The mere hint of her temper, the fight she’d shown him earlier, creeping back into her face made Alessandro push. “Do I need to, when you blame everyone other than the man who two-timed you? And he did two-time you, Sam, because you said you broke up four months ago, but he’s been seeing Angelina for at least six months already. You should be glad that your relationship already came to an end!”
“I’m not defending Matteo.” Her mouth opened and closed. “I just… I don’t like that you’re witness to this.”
Her blunt honesty took him aback for a second. “Because I refuse to sugarcoat reality?”
“Because you’re too eager to pass judgment. Matteo told me that you don’t date, you don’t socialize. That you might as well be one of the marble busts scattered around the grounds for all the emotion you feel and—” She pressed a hand over her mouth, eyes flaring at her own daring.
“When it comes to me, Matteo told you nothing but truth.”
She turned to him, big brown eyes pinning him to the spot. “I’m sorry. It’s unfair to attack you. And yes, you’re right that Matteo and I finished months ago. You seem to have a knack for aggravating me like no one else.” She sighed. “Would a little kindness be too much?”
