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He laughed. “Really? You’re gonna toss that at me?”
“Toss what?”
“An underestimation of your self-worth.”
She blew out a laugh. “I know who I am and what I look like.”
“You seriously don’t think you’re beautiful?”
“Beautiful?” She laughed. “I’ll give you pretty. But only when I wear makeup. Which I don’t.”
“You don’t need it.”
She laughed gaily at the stupidity of this conversation. Though they were talking about her, it was much better than worry over Constanzo and Antonio or speculating about Antonio’s mom. “According to Maria Bartulocci I do.”
“Maria was very clearly angling that day. She wanted my attention and she wanted a commission for getting me close to Constanzo. If she put you down, it was to make sure she didn’t have competition.”
“Competition?” She snorted. “Maria knows she’s a beautiful woman.”
“You think?”
“You don’t?”
He shook his head.
Her eyes widened. “You seriously don’t think she’s beautiful?”
He snorted. “How would I know? Underneath all that makeup she could have the face of a howler monkey.”
“Howler monkey?” Vivi gaped at him. “That was mean!”
“No. That was honest.”
She heard the sound of him shuffling on his seat and turned to see he’d sat up and was facing her.
“What I did to you this morning...pushing you to talk when you didn’t want to...that was mean.”
She was glad for the darkness so he couldn’t see the pleasure that came to her face at his apology. Just as at the Jason Jones signing, his behavior proved he wasn’t such a bad guy after all. “You didn’t know.”
“No. I didn’t, but I should have suspected something serious had happened from the law suit. You wouldn’t have just called somebody a name on the street or harassed someone. You’re not a flippant girl, Olivia.”
Her heart stuttered, filled with warmth. Not only did he believe her, but no one ever called her Olivia. No one. The way her name came off his lips was sensual, mesmerizing.
“You try to be flippant. You use your sassing as a way to make people think you’re in control. Then you turn around and ask a million questions, proving you’re not.”
Good Lord. No wonder he was rich. He saw right through a strategy that had worked for years. She wasn’t sure if she was pleased or frightened.
“There’s nothing wrong with asking questions. It’s a good idea to try to get a handle on what’s going on when you’re confused. But you really should ditch the sassing.”
She laughed, but kept her gaze averted.
He caught her chin and forced her to look at him. “I am sorry about this morning.”
The smoothness of his fingers against her skin nearly made her shiver. And his eyes—those striking green eyes that saw everything—held her prisoner. Her heart trembled with longing. She hadn’t even kissed a guy in years and she desperately wanted him to kiss her. A short, sweet, simple kiss...or a kiss filled with passion and honesty. She didn’t care. She just wanted a kiss.
But that was wrong. As she’d begun recovering from Cord, she’d promised herself that she’d never again put herself in the position of being with a man so far beyond her socially. And she’d meant it.
So it was best to let him off the hook about pushing her and return them to their normal relationship. “It’s okay.”
He sighed and rose from his chaise. “No. It’s not.”
“Yeah. It is.” She rose. too. “You see, when we got back to Constanzo’s and we started talking about his son, all those emotions you had dredged up were eclipsed by the feeling of pride I had over doing a good job with Antonio.”
He stopped a few feet short of the pool and faced her. “So you’re okay?”
She shrugged. “I’ve been okay for a while. But it felt different—better—that I could totally forget it once we started talking about work.”
“So demanding answers from you was a good thing?”
She laughed. “Don’t push your luck.”
Somehow they’d ended up standing face-to-face again. Under the luxurious blanket of stars, next to the twinkling blue water, the only sound the slight hum of the filter for the pool.
He reached out and cupped the side of her face. “You are a brave, funny woman, Miss Prentiss.”
Though she knew it was dangerous to get too personal with him, especially since his nearness already had her heart thrumming and her knees weak, she was only human. And even if it was a teeny tiny inconsequential thing, she didn’t want to give up the one innocent pleasure she was allowed to get from him.
She caught his gaze. “Olivia.”
“Excuse me?”
“I like it when you call me Olivia.”
He took a step closer. “Really?”
She shrugged, trying to make light of her request. “Everybody calls me Vivi. Sometimes it makes me feel six again. Being called Olivia makes me feel like an adult.”
“Or a woman.”
The way he said woman sent heat rushing through her. Once again, he’d seen right through her ploy and might even realize she was attracted to him—
Oh, who was she kidding? He knew she was attracted to him. After the episode playing pool the night before, neither one of them could be coy anymore.
Even as yearning nudged her to be bold, reality intruded. The guy she finally, finally wanted to trust was rich, sophisticated and so far out of her league she was lucky to be working for him. She knew better than to get romantically involved with someone like him.
She stepped back. “I wouldn’t go that far.”
He caught her hand and tugged her to him. “I would.” He kissed her so quickly that her knees nearly buckled and her brain reeled. She could have panicked. Could have told him to go slow because she hadn’t done this in a while, or even stop because this was wrong. But nobody, no kiss, had ever made her feel the warm, wonderful, scary sensations saturating her entire being right now. Not just her body, but her soul.
His lips moved over hers smoothly, expertly, shooting fire and ice down her spine. Her breath froze in her chest. Then he opened his mouth over hers and her lips automatically parted.
The fire and ice shooting down her spine exploded in her middle, reminding her of where this would go if she didn’t stop him. Now. Just as Antonio’s mom had been, she was poor. Very far out of Tucker’s league. It was foolish to even consider kissing him.
She jerked away, stepped back. His glistening green eyes had narrowed with confusion. He didn’t understand why she’d stopped him.
Longing warred with truth. If he could pretend their stations in life didn’t matter, she could pretend, too. Couldn’t she?
No!
She’d done this before. She was a small-town girl and he was a man of wealth and power. She might be nothing more to him than a conquest. She was too wounded, too cautious to take the risk that someone like him could be serious about someone like her.
She took another step back. “Well, okay then. I guess I’ll see you at breakfast.”
It was the stupidest, most inane thing she could have said but she took pride in having any voice at all as she turned and raced to her room. She closed the door and leaned against it. She hadn’t even kissed a man in years, but in another thirty seconds, she would have willingly let him take her. A man she barely knew. A man with whom she had nothing in common. A man who might only want sex from her. Hell, she wasn’t even sure he liked her. Yes, he was attracted to her, but it never really seemed that he liked her.
And her feelings for him? Well, they were getting out of control and she had no idea how to stop them.
CHAPTER EIGHT
THE NEXT MORNING, THE FULL idiocy of what she had said—and done, she couldn’t forget she’d run from the patio—hit her, and when she went downstairs for breakfast she had to steady herself outside the dining room door.
She ran her damp palms down the skirt of her second sundress, grateful to have her favorite dress to wear for confidence. But that didn’t help much now that she was two seconds away from seeing the man she’d kissed last night, the man she was growing to like, even though it was wrong.
She didn’t know how to stop any of this. Her fears after being attacked had robbed her of the normal dating experiences most women had. Though those fears were subsiding and Tucker was making her long for things most women took for granted, she knew—absolutely knew—she was going to get hurt.
Still, she had to go in. If she didn’t, it would only make things worse. With a deep breath, she held her head high and stepped into the dining room to find Constanzo and Tucker reading the paper.
Constanzo rose. “Sweet Vivi, good morning.”
He pulled out her chair and helped her sit. When he returned to his seat, Tucker looked up from the newspaper.
“Good morning...Olivia.”
Her blood rushed hot through her veins again, but she refused to be embarrassed or even think through what it might mean. Had he taken her request to heart that she liked to be called by her first name? Or was he taunting her? Reminding her of a kiss that had warmed her blood and made her feel like a woman just as he’d suggested the night before.
Constanzo’s maid brought a woman who looked to be about thirty into the dining room. Wearing a suit that had to be handmade and carrying a Gucci bag, she could have given Maria Bartulocci a run for her money.
Constanzo jumped up again. “Patrice!” He caught her hands and kissed both of her cheeks. “Tucker, Vivi, this is Patrice Russo.”
After shaking both their hands, she said something to Constanzo in Italian. Constanzo smiled. “Tucker speaks Italian. Vivi, no.”
“Then we speak English.”
Constanzo pulled out a chair for Patrice. “Would you like breakfast?”
“Just coffee.” She smiled at Vivi. “So you are my contact.”
“Actually, Mr. Engle is in charge of the project.” She glanced at him briefly, long enough to see his eyes narrow as she spoke. Embarrassment flared. Why couldn’t she have thought of something suave, something sophisticated to say before she’d ran from him and his earth-shattering kiss? Why couldn’t she have sashayed into the house as if the kiss had meant nothing?
Taking his seat, Constanzo laughed. “She is modest, our Vivi. This is her plan.”
Vivi’s gaze shot to Tucker again. He turned his attention to his breakfast. “It is her plan. And Antonio seems to respond to her. She should be your contact.”
A serving girl poured coffee for Patrice, and Vivi explained her idea. Patrice very quickly outlined the process of bringing an artist’s work to a gallery for a showing.
“The very least amount of time we’d need would be two weeks. But I’d suggest a month. We’ll spend the first week ironing out the details of our agreement and then I’ll take three weeks to choose paintings and get things set up.”
“Sounds great.”
After finishing breakfast, they wasted no time. Constanzo called for a limo to be brought out front. Vivi and Patrice entered first. Constanzo slid in and sat beside Patrice. Tucker automatically sat beside Vivi. No hesitation. No comment. No complaint.
Knowing it would look childish to slide as far away from him as she could, she stayed where she was, but it was torture. The vague scent of him brought back memories of that kiss. Worse, she had no idea what he was thinking. Had he even liked kissing her? Did he think she was an idiot?
Probably.
When Antonio answered the door, Patrice took over, stepping forward and shaking his hand. “Antonio! It’s wonderful to meet you. Mr. Engle and his assistant, Miss Prentiss, raved about your work and we knew we had our artist for the showing Mr. Bartulocci wants to do.” She stopped talking, turned to Constanzo and brought him forward. “This is Constanzo Bartulocci. He is your benefactor for the show we’d like to put together.”
Tears filled Constanzo’s eyes and Vivi blinked back a few of her own. He was meeting his child, his son, the person who should be heir to everything he owned. The person who should be filling his quiet life with noise and love and laughter.
Antonio held out his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Composing himself, Constanzo shook his hand. “It’s good to meet you, too.” He pulled in a quick breath and smiled. “So where are these remarkable paintings?”
Antonio laughed. “I don’t know about remarkable.”
Tucker said, “Antonio, this is no time for modesty. Hundreds of people will come to your showing expecting a man confident about what he’s done. Confident that he’s made a statement. You need to be that guy.”
Antonio laughed again and Vivi, Tucker, Constanzo and Patrice followed him into the room he referred to as his painting room.
Patrice looked at the pictures then glanced at Tucker. “You’re right. They’re splendid.”
Relief wove through her voice, but Vivi’s nerve endings crackled anyway. Maria Bartulocci definitely wasn’t Tucker’s type but pretty, stylish, educated blonde and beautiful Patrice? Tucker belonged with somebody like her.
She drew in a quiet breath and told herself not to care as she walked over to Antonio. Tucker and Patrice lost themselves in discussions about his paintings and Antonio looked a bit like he was going to throw up.
“First time having anybody see your work?”
“No. I had a lot of interest in New York, but nothing ever panned out.”
Constanzo put his hand on Antonio’s shoulder. “This will pan out. We’ll do the showing. People will love your paintings. This time next month, you could be famous.”
“I don’t want to be famous. I want to paint...and eat.” He laughed nervously.
Constanzo frowned. “Don’t you want people to enjoy what you’ve done?”
“Yes.”
Like a father, Constanzo softly said, “Then this is all good.”
Vivi said, “You’ll be fine. You’ll simply have to figure out how to strike a balance between fame and a private life. Lots of people do it.”
“Thanks.”
They spent another hour looking at the paintings and talking with Antonio. Before they left, Patrice gave him her card and told him to be at her office the following day to sign papers. Constanzo explained that because he was footing the bill for the showing, Antonio would get every cent paid for any of his paintings, minus the commission for Patrice’s gallery. But there was still a need for a formal agreement.
As a precaution, Tucker had Patrice email the agreements for him to peruse that night. They arrived in his in-box right at dinnertime, but Tucker told Constanzo he wasn’t hungry anyway. He stayed in his room all night, and Vivi was sure he thought her so much of a ninny he didn’t even want to be in the same room if possible.
But he came to breakfast the next morning and seated himself. “You’ve given your son quite a good deal.”
Constanzo laughed. “Of course, I have.”
Vivi relaxed. “So, we’re paving the way for you to tell your son who you are.”
“I don’t think we’re quite ready for that yet.”
Her gaze shot up and over to Tucker. But Constanzo laughed. “You’ve switched sides.” He pointed at Vivi. “First you wanted to hold back and he wanted to tell.” He faced Tucker. “Now you want to hold back and she wants to tell.”
“Whatever Olivia wants is fine.”
She quickly looked away. “Since we started off slowly maybe we should continue to move slowly.” But when she risked a peek at Tucker a few minutes later, he was still watching her, studying her.
After breakfast they took the limo to retrieve Antonio then drove along twisting country roads to Bordighera. Cobblestone streets and walkways took them to Patrice’s villa gallery. As they drove, Constanzo pointed out the villa of a British royal, the sites Monet had painted and the homes of two novelists.
When they stepped out of the limo, the June sun washed them in warmth. The sound of the surf caused Vivi to turn and see the ocean.
“It’s beautiful.”
Antonio said, “Now you can see why I decided to stay.”
She laughed and nodded, as Patrice opened the front door of her villa and welcomed them inside.
Vivi glanced around in awe. Rich red Oriental rugs accented the white marble beneath them. White drapes billowed to the floor. Chandeliers were everywhere. Eight or ten paintings hung on each wall. Antique tables held small sculptures and blown glass.
“I can’t imagine living here.”
“I don’t,” Patrice said, leading them to a stairway and her office. “Well, technically, I do since I have an apartment on the third floor. But I always thought this villa too beautiful to keep to myself.” She smiled at Vivi. “I made it a gallery so I can share it.”
They signed the agreements in Patrice’s office—a warm, welcoming space, different than the formal rooms of the gallery. Right from the beginning, working for Tucker Engle had been eye-opening, and coming to Italy would probably top her list of favorite things she had done in her lifetime. But standing in a gallery, surrounded by paintings and sculptures, blown glass and jewelry so perfect it had to be displayed as art, was surreal.
Oddly, she felt she belonged here. As if she had come home.
Antonio, Constanzo and Patrice shook hands. Patrice made arrangements to go to Antonio’s house the next day to begin selecting paintings. Constanzo suggested dinner at his home to celebrate and though Patrice declined, Antonio happily accepted.
They played pool. Ate dinner outside. Drank Scotch.
And the whole time Tucker watched her.
It made an otherwise enjoyable evening nerve-racking. As early as politely possible, she excused herself and headed for her room. She showered and almost slid into her pajamas but it was still too early to sleep. Knowing the men would spend hours playing games in the den, she put on jeans and a T-shirt and headed for the pool.
This time she saw Tucker standing by the sparkling water before she turned the doorknob to go outside. Boldness surged through her. He’d badgered her until she’d told him about Cord. He’d held her feet to the fire, forcing her to take charge of the Antonio project since they were using her idea. And he’d kissed her.
Then today he’d stared at her all day as if she were some sort of bug under a microscope.
Half of her wanted to go out and brag. Her idea might not have seemed like a good one to him, but he had trusted her with it and it was working. Her idea was working. She was not going to fail.
The other half wanted to go out and...well, brag too. But in a sharing way. She wanted to say, “Look what we’re doing! Look what we’re accomplishing! We’re bringing together a lonely dad and his son. Even though we don’t seem like we belong together, we are a good team.”
But that was actually the point. If she went out there and they celebrated their success, weren’t they tempting fate?
He might like her but he didn’t want to. Hell, he wasn’t even really sure he wanted her as an assistant. Forget about anything else. And she knew the dangers of getting too close to someone so far out of her league.
She took one last longing look at him, standing by the pool, looking as if he might be waiting for her—
She turned and went back to her room.
CHAPTER NINE
THE NEXT DAY they returned to Antonio’s with Patrice. As he had the day before, Tucker watched Vivi happily help Antonio as he worked with Patrice, an odd feeling in his gut. When he looked at her and Antonio, he saw a couple. When he thought of himself and Olivia together, he saw a disaster.
So why—two days later—did the memory of her breathy request to call her Olivia still fill him with a yearning so primal, so hot, that he wanted to do more than kiss her?
He had no idea. But sharp need pressed in on him. Something about her appealed to him on an elemental level he’d never experienced before. And maybe it was time he stopped denying it?
Patrice began examining paintings, setting two side by side, and a minute later sending one to a group on the right and the other to a group on the left. A process that Tucker would have thought would take days seemed to be taking minutes.
Finally, she sighed. “Here’s the deal. I like them all. I can put almost half of these in the downstairs of my gallery, but if I open the second floor I could double that number.”
Though Tucker thought that was wonderful news, anxiety flitted through Antonio’s eyes.
Constanzo apparently didn’t notice. His face beamed with pride. “And we will invite everybody. I have ordered my personal assistant to begin a list. I’ll have a thousand people at that showing.”
This time Antonio looked like he would faint. Olivia caught his arm. “Hey, this is your showing. If you don’t want a thousand people, just tell us what you do want.”
Tucker frowned. Interesting that she wasn’t nervous around Antonio. Only around him. No. Strike that. She wasn’t nervous around him either. Except when they were close. Or getting personal. Then she got antsy.
He knew the feeling. Once he’d gotten through puberty no woman had made him nervous or confused. Yet with her everything was weird. Different. Confusing.
Antonio took a breath. “I’d like the doors to be opened and people to come in off the street.” He glanced at Vivi. “Because they want to come in. Not because they’re invited.”
Patrice smiled patiently. “But you also need to advertise. Send out invitations at least for the opening night.”
Olivia said, “How about this? We’ll send out invitations for the opening. That will let Mr. Bartulocci’s friends know he’s sponsoring a showing. We’ll get RSVPs for the actual opening night and invite the rest to stop by while your pieces are on display.”
Pride stirred within Tucker. Once again she saw what everybody else seemed to miss. While Patrice thought about making money and Constanzo had found a way to introduce his son to the world, Olivia watched the star and knew he was falling.
Antonio sucked in a breath. “That sounds a little more doable.”
“The goal of your show is to sell your paintings,” Patrice reminded him.
“And our goal,” Constanzo quietly countered, finally seeing what Vivi had noticed all along, “wasn’t to make money but to introduce a wonderful new talent. That’s why I’m paying for everything. There’s no chance of a loss for you.”
Patrice smiled woodenly. “Of course.”
Antonio hugged Vivi. “Thanks.”
Her face reddened, but her eyes danced with pleasure. Still, she didn’t get the look—the look she’d gotten when she’d asked him to call her Olivia. The look that still filled his blood with lust every time he thought of it.
She might like Antonio but she wasn’t interested in him. Not the way she was interested in Tucker.
Constanzo chatted through the entire limo ride. But when they got to his house, his maid approached him with a message. He read it then excused himself to make a call. Olivia went to her room. Tucker ambled back to the den, poured himself a draft and threw a few darts before Constanzo joined him.
“I’m afraid I have some bad news.”
Tucker turned from the dart board. “Bad news?”
“The call I had to return was to Maria.” He winced. “She’s managed to get herself into a bit of trouble with her mother. It’s nothing that a visit from me won’t cure but it’s also not something I’d expect my guests to endure.”
Tucker laughed.
“So you and Vivi have the whole house to yourselves tonight. I’ve instructed the cook to make spaghetti Bolognese for dinner. Serve it with the Sangiovese. Make yourselves at home.”
“Thanks.” Anticipation pricked his nerve endings. He and Olivia would be alone? They hadn’t had two minutes alone since that kiss...
Maybe it was time they did?
Knowing Olivia was already nervous around him, he decided not to tell her. When she went to the pool, he returned to his room to read emails and make calls.
He checked on dinner before showering and changing into trousers and a white shirt, which he left open at the throat. No tie. No sport coat. Nothing to make her feel—what had she said? Less than?