Mistress To a Latin Lover
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She’d accompanied Emilio to Sicily to show Maximos she didn’t need him anymore, or want him any longer, and then she’d return to Rome and get on with her career and her life.
Fighting a wave of icy panic, Cass plucked at the plunging neckline of her white lace slip dress. She couldn’t attend a young woman’s rehearsal dinner wearing a sheer white lace dress with her breasts and thighs exposed.
Cass knew she had flaws and faults—many, many—but she couldn’t do this. She couldn’t humiliate another woman—much less Maximos’s sister—and she couldn’t humiliate herself.
But what about the baby?
Cass leaned against the counter’s edge and covered her mouth, trying not to gag.
But there wasn’t a baby, not anymore, and nothing Emilio could say or do would bring the baby back…
Numbly, resolutely, Cass changed out of the white lace dress and put her turquoise gown back on. She struggled to get the zipper back up before smoothing loose tendrils of hair back into the elegant twist, tucking a few new pins into the twist to secure it better.
Cass was partway down the hall when Emilio appeared at the head of the stairs.
It was hard to read his expression in the shadowy hall but his tone betrayed his fury. “You didn’t change.”
“It didn’t fit,” she said calmly, reaching for the banister but before she could start to descend the staircase Emilio grabbed her by the upper arm and dragged her back.
“I don’t appreciate you wasting my time.”
“Take your hands off me.”
He wrapped his fingers tighter around her biceps. “Change. Now.”
“I can’t.” But she didn’t sound the least bit apologetic and she knew it. “The dress didn’t fit. I’ll send it home with you so you can return it in Rome.”
For a moment he said nothing. He didn’t move. He just studied her in the dim light of the hall.
Then swiftly he took a step toward her, reached for the front of her turquoise gown and jerked violently on the fabric, ripping the designer gown wide-open.
“Oh dear, it looks like this gown doesn’t fit, either.” He made a sympathetic clucking sound before turning away. “Put on the dress I gave you or I shall go straight to the reception and announce to everyone that you weren’t just Maximos’s mistress—but the mother of his late child.”
Cass swayed on her feet, her right hand clutching the torn gown to her breast. “I didn’t come here to ruin the wedding—”
“But you did want to humiliate him—”
“No.” Her voice quavered. “No, I don’t want to humiliate him, I’d never want to humiliate him. I love him. I’ve always loved him.”
“You have a funny way of showing it.” Emilio turned away, headed for the stairs but paused briefly on the top step. “Hurry. You’ve five minutes before I leave for the restaurant, and don’t think I won’t spill the beans. I’d like nothing better than to spoil sweet Adriana’s special night with really bad news. And trust me, Cass, this would be really bad news.”
Cass put the dress on and walked out of the room without even looking in the mirror. She didn’t need to look in the mirror. She knew exactly what she’d see and it made her sick.
Outside, Emilio was gunning the engine. He said nothing as Cass slid into the passenger seat but in the glow of the dashboard light she saw the satisfied curl of his upper lip.
The rehearsal dinner was being held at a restaurant near the cathedral and Emilio found parking on a narrow street not far from the restaurant. Just before Emilio pocketed the car keys he reached over, tugged on Cass’s French twist, pulling the pins out until her heavy honey-brown hair fell to her bare shoulders.
But he wasn’t finished yet. With the tip of his finger he smudged her lipstick up over the bow of her upper lip, below her lower lip, and then with his thumb he smeared her eyeliner beneath her eyes. “Better,” he said, wiping his hands off. “Nice and slutty. Just the way I like my women.”
Despite her flaming cheeks, Cass steeled herself, clamping down on her emotions, refusing to let herself think or feel as she walked next to Emilio. She hated him. That’s all she knew. She hated him and somehow she had to get through this evening, survive the shame of this evening until she could speak to Maximos and try to explain.
And what would she say?
She was sorry? She hadn’t meant to embarrass him? She hadn’t meant to ruin Adriana’s wedding?
Her throat squeezed closed, and she stepped carefully over the rough curb stones in her dangerously high heels, paused in the restaurant doorway and straightened her shoulders. Just do this. Just get through this. And then go home as soon as you return to the palazzo.
The wedding party was already at the restaurant and Cass spotted Maximos almost immediately. He wasn’t alone, either. He was standing with the young woman who’d been sent to find him earlier, the beautiful brunette in the pale pink dress, and his arm rested lightly around her waist.
Cass halted inside the door, her legs turning to lead.
Maximos was with her. She was his date.
Cass blinked, feeling thick, stupid. She didn’t know why she was so shocked. Of course Maximos had a new woman. There was no reason for him not to. He was a man, a man in his prime, and he was physical. Sensual. Sexual.
Cass felt Emilio’s hand in the small of her back, urging her forward but her legs wouldn’t cooperate.
Of course he had a new woman, she silently repeated, but what stunned Cass, what hurt her so much, was the face that his new lover wasn’t kept in the background, wasn’t a woman he saw late at night or only on the weekends. This new woman wasn’t a mistress…but a partner.
“Sophia,” Emilio said, his voice in Cass’s ear. “That’s Sophia d’Santo. Maximos’s longtime companion.”
Longtime companion? Cass couldn’t look away from Maximos and pretty Sophia. Had Maximos possibly been seeing another woman when he was seeing her? She suspected Emilio was lying, just as he lied about everything else and yet it didn’t take much to throw Cass, not when she was already feeling so vulnerable…so ridiculously insecure.
“How long?” she asked faintly, stomach churning.
“Three years. Four. Maybe longer.”
Cass glanced up, saw that Emilio was serious. But again, that could be Emilio acting. And he seemed to have a genuine talent for drama and theatrics. “You know her?”
“I knew her sister better.”
“Her sister?”
“Lorna.” Emilio shot Cass a sly glance. “You should ask Max about Lorna sometime. It’s not often a man gets both sisters.”
“Gets?”
“Possesses.” Emilio shrugged. “But then Maximos is rich, and powerful, and connected. No wonder Sophia still throws herself at Maximos even though he treated her older sister shamefully.”
Cass glanced at pretty Sophia but saw nothing in the girl’s manner, or behavior, to indicate that Sophia was anything but sophisticated, and refined. “Is Lorna…the other sister…here?”
Emilio hesitated, then shook his head. “No.” His hand slid from her waist and he took her elbow instead. “Let’s get something to drink.”
Emilio steered her through the throng toward one of the restaurant staff passing out champagne to guests. “I can’t wait to see his face when he sees us,” he added, dropping Cass’s elbow to take two champagne flutes from one of the passing waiters. “His expression will be priceless.” Emilio handed her a glass before raising his own. “To revenge.”
He took a large swallow from his glass before noting her cold expression. “Come on, smile. This is fun.”
She turned her head away, sickened. She couldn’t do this. Couldn’t pull this off. “Emilio—”
“No.”
“I can’t do—”
“Too late. We made a deal.” His voice dropped, his hand returning to her arm. “There’s no backing out now. Remember?”
She felt the lump grow in her throat. “I don’t want to hurt him—”
“But I do. Badly.” He reached for her chin, and leaned toward her as if to kiss her but she turned her head away and his kiss landed on her cheek. “Bad form, cara,” he whispered.
“I never agreed to physical intimacy,” she answered, forcing her lips up in a ghoulish smile as another couple passed close by, both blatantly staring at the front of her gown and Cass suddenly remembered what she was wearing.
God. What a disaster. All of it. Meeting Maximos, falling so madly in love, losing him, losing the baby, losing her mind…
Emilio dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “We’re drawing attention,” he whispered, nodding to the room at large. “I can pretty much guarantee that Max will be here to greet us very soon.”
Cass followed Emilio’s gaze and saw the way people were looking at them. Men and women alike were giving them disgusted looks and it was obvious that the elegant men and women gathered in the salon silently, strenuously objected to Emilio’s presence, their objection a tangible thing. Whatever feud existed between Maximos and Emilio extended to the rest of the Guiliano family.
“And here he comes,” Emilio murmured, stepping back so Maximos could get a clear view of Cassandra in her see-through gown. “He looks fit to be tied, doesn’t he?” he added, twirling a long strand of Cass’s hair around two fingers. “You should see his face every time I touch you.”
“You’re sick,” she choked, trembling on the inside, unable to look away from Maximos’s face. His jaw was thick, his dark eyes glittering with barely concealed rage.
Emilio smiled. “I know.”
CHAPTER FIVE
CASS watched Maximos walk toward them, the air bottled in her lungs. She’d long admired the way Maximos moved, but tonight her admiration was tempered by fear. And dread. Fearful, and yet fascinated, she followed his progress through the crowded salon, watched as people parted for him.
“Cass,” Maximos said quietly. “Sobato.”
Cass lifted her head, and her eyes met Maximos’s. He looked so angry…so disgusted. Hot tears burned the back of her eyes and her fingers curled into the palms of her hands as she prepared for the worst.
Maximos’s dark gaze slowly slid over her, the examination bold, deliberate, possessive. He was letting her know—letting Emilio know—that she was his, that she belonged to him. Still.
Cass flushed beneath his intense gaze, her skin heating even as her insides contracted. She felt her breasts swell, firm, her nipples hardening, jutting against the delicate lace fabric. She felt rather than heard Maximos harsh intake, a deep swift breath that told her he’d noticed the tightening of her nipples. He couldn’t ignore her, just as she couldn’t help responding to him. They were a rather desperate pair, weren’t they?
“You seem to be missing something,” Maximos said, his deep voice pitched even lower, the sound intimate and harsh, so like him, so very Maximos Guiliano.
Cass felt herself blush again, her face and body on fire, her heart hammering wildly. Her skin tingled. She felt a hot fizz in her veins. Want. Need. Desire. “My dress,” she whispered, only to feel Emilio squeeze her arm, his fingers pressing on a tender spot, but she didn’t wince.
“Did you spill something on your other gown?” Maximos asked, his attention focused solely on Cass, his attention so personal that she felt as if they were the only two in the room, the only two that mattered.
How she’d missed him. Missed his arms, missed his body, missed his strength. She’d missed his endless confidence, the ease with which he spoke, moved, lived. She’d always felt empowered by Maximos. His strength had fed her own. “It ripped.”
“How?”
For a moment she couldn’t speak, words deserting her, thought impossible. All she saw was Maximos. All she felt was Maximos. If only she hadn’t asked for more…if only she could go back, be the light and convenient mistress she’d once been. But some things couldn’t be undone, and the hurt had been too deep…
Maximos reached for her, brushed Emilio’s hand from her arm, and brought her toward him, brought her close enough so she could feel his warmth, smell the subtle scent of his elegant cologne. Even built as hard, as rough as Maximos was, she found him impossibly attractive. She loved his eyes, his cheekbones, his jaw, his mouth.
His mouth.
Her gaze clung to his mouth, to his incredible mouth, and his firm lips that always softened against hers…
“Your dress,” Maximos repeated, his hands firm on her shoulders, his hands both comforting and a torment, a pleasure and a tease. She remembered the way his hands used to caress her, hold her, touch her. She loved his hands. Loved the way he’d made her feel. Because he’d made her feel…and feel…
“How did it rip?” he asked again.
She looked up at him, feeling blind, exposed. “Stepped on it, I think.”
“You think?” Maximos’s eyebrows lowered.
“It’s been a long day.” She tried to smile, but her lips quivered with the effort. She was fighting emotion, fighting passion, fighting memory. At that moment she thought she’d give just about anything for one more night with him. She’d give anything to be loved…wanted…cherished.
But he didn’t cherish her. He liked sex. Because the sex was good. No, the sex was fantastic. But it wasn’t really her that kept his attention. It was just her body.
Blinking back tears, Cass tried to lift her chin. “It’s hard to keep everything straight.”
“The stories, you mean?” he asked gently, but the question was perceptive. Maximos was sharp. Too sharp. She felt her smile slip and the grittiness returned to her eyes.
“It’s a warm night,” he added, “but not that warm.” And before she knew what he was doing, Maximos was shrugging out of his black dinner jacket and draping it around her shoulders.
She bit her lip as she felt his hands clasp her shoulders, a brief touch but comforting, especially after the awful day she’d had.
“Thank you,” she whispered, unable to look up and meet his eye. This was Maximos, her Maximos, the man who’d been her heart, her soul, her world for three years…
And then he was turning away, returning to Sophia where she waited for him near the front of the restaurant.
The seating for the dinner had been preassigned and Emilio and Cass had been given seats at the end of the table farthest from the members of the wedding party.
As they sat down, their end of the table fell silent and everyone turned to look at them. Despite Maximos’s coat wrapped around her, Cass still felt exposed as she sat down and drew her chair closer to the table, pretending to be oblivious of the pointed stares.
No one wanted them there.
It was worse than awkward, she thought, glancing at Emilio.
“Ever feel like everyone hates you?” Emilio asked, propping his elbows on the table and leaning toward Cass.
“Yes.” She felt like an intruder, and she hated forcing herself on the Guiliano family now. Weddings were special occasions, once in a lifetime celebrations to be shared with those nearest and dearest not with strangers or family enemies.
But Emilio chuckled as he whispered in Cass’s ear. “Isn’t it great?”
“No,” she answered, lifting a shoulder, puzzled by Emilio’s behavior.
Emilio didn’t care that no one wanted him there. In fact, the more people excluded him, the more people whispered, the happier he became. He’d come to inflict pain and misery and he was succeeding brilliantly.
“God, I hate these people,” he said abruptly, savagely. “They’re a bunch of hypocritical snobs.”
“And yet you came for the weekend.”
“I came to make a point.”
Cass took a nervous sip from her wineglass before carefully placing it back on the linen tablecloth. “And what point would that be?”
“That they can’t touch me.” His expression cleared and he looked almost good-humored and boyish again. “That they’ll never be able to touch me. Because I’m smarter than they are. At least I’m smarter than good old Max.”
She glanced down the table to look at Maximos, and just then, Maximos lifted his head, met her gaze. For a moment she and Maximos stared at each other, sizing the other up, the way they had that first night at the reception in New York.
They’d met at a business function in New York and the attraction had been immediate and intense. They’d barely made it out of the reception and into a taxi before Maximos’s hand had slid beneath her dress to find her hot, feverish skin.
There’d been no looking back after that. She wanted him, and she’d wait for him, and she did.
In the beginning, the waiting had been a game. She’d see how well she could fill the time between his calls. She knew he’d eventually call—he always did—but it was her game that helped her survive.
It helped that she knew when he’d—and when he wouldn’t—call. He never phoned early in the morning. He never phoned before early afternoon, and even then, it was unlikely. If he called, it would be late afternoon, from his limo, on the way to someplace, or late at night when he’d returned to his penthouse. But otherwise, he didn’t call.
She wouldn’t just sit there. She’d go do her own thing. But in the back of her mind, she’d know when he should call, or when he possibly might, and despite her best intentions, she’d try to be available. Which meant keeping phones on, available. Which meant being only so engaged with something that she could drop all when he did call.
It hadn’t seemed so bad at first. She’d been genuinely busy that first year but it had gotten worse. Harder. It had gotten to the point that the nights between calls became a point of madness. Pain. Call me. Call me. Call me. She’d watch the clock, watch the minutes slowly change and think, I could have weeks of this…I might not hear from him for weeks still.
And that’s how the anger began to build. That’s when she realized becoming his mistress had been the most dangerous, self-destructive thing she could have done. Because waiting for him, waiting on him, waiting to be loved made her doubt everything about herself. Including her self-worth.
The waiting created need, and anger, and resentment. But then, when Maximos did finally call, he’d be so warm, so interested, so devoted. She’d agree to see him and being with him, alone with him, would make her throw caution to the wind. She loved making love with Maximos, loved everything about the sex and the emotion and the intimacy, and she’d lose herself, lose control.
The lovemaking was unreal in its intensity. The lovemaking made her believe in love.
And then there were the trips they took together. He’d book her into a lavish resort and he might or might not stay with her. He might or might not have business. He might or might not spend an entire night with her and the uncertainty of it all became an obsession. Why did she have so little of him? Why was their life together so brief, so short, so rigidly controlled?
As her frustration grew and her anger mounted, she knew she needed to get out of his life and back into hers. But it had been so long since she’d really thought about what she needed—other than more of Maximos—that when she looked inside herself it was just a big black hole.
“You can’t take your eyes off him.” Emilio’s hard voice sounded in her ear.
Cass jumped guiltily. “What did you say?”
“You’ve been staring at him ever since we sat down.” Emilio turned her chair to face his. “He’s got you in the palm of his hand again, doesn’t he? One night in his house and you’re his little plaything again. God, how pathetic!”
“You know nothing.”
He laughed, his expression bitter, brutal. “I know women like you. Women that pretend to be smart and strong until you get them in bed. Women who act independent, but find their hot button and make them come and they’re your slave for life.”
She shook her head. “I’m not listening.”
“Yes, you are. I can see the wheels spinning.” He leaned toward her to whisper in hear ear. “So file this away for future reference. An orgasm isn’t love. An orgasm is just an orgasm.”
Blood surged to her cheeks and she pulled back, putting distance between them. “Thanks for the biology lesson.”
“He slept with you, but he loved another.”
Cass’s head turned and she fixed a hard gaze on Emilio’s face. “You need serious help. You know that, don’t you?”
He smiled lazily. “So I’ve been told.”
She moved her legs so they wouldn’t touch his. “Is this why Maximos ended your professional association? He found out you weren’t completely stable?”
Emilio’s smile faded little by little. “Italia Motors was my success, not his. My car. My design, an innovative design that took the market by storm, winning us every industry award our first year alone.”
“So Maximos did nothing to contribute to Italia Motors’ success?”
“Nothing, compared to my contributions.”
“So it wasn’t his money that financed Italia Motors?”
“He wrote some checks—”
“Nearly twenty million dollars worth.” She interrupted, reaching for her wineglass and giving it a little swirl. “Because the first car did win awards and yes, it did capture the public’s imagination, but wasn’t there a design flaw? Something in the engineering which resulted in a tragic accident and a ten million dollar lawsuit settlement.”
“That wasn’t my fault. Maximos was in charge of research. If he didn’t run enough tests—” Emilio shrugged, hands extending “—you can’t blame that one on me. I had my area of responsibility and he had his, and the bottom line is that Maximos needed me. Needed my mind, my creativity—”
“Because Italia Motors was all about your genius, right?” She leaned on her elbows. “He resented you for being the brain behind the company while he was just the moneybags.”
“Yes.”
She couldn’t help shaking her head in disbelief. Emilio was ludicrous. Absolutely ludicrous. “Isn’t this the oldest story around? Two men go into business together and one has the money and the other has the brains—”
“It’s true.”
“Or maybe it’s true that you resented Maximos because he had money and brains.”
“No.”
“Then why are you so obsessed with him? Why should you want to make him suffer?”
“Because we had something good, very good, and he blew it. He ruined me.”
Cass glanced toward Maximos. He was engrossed in conversation with the people seated directly across from him and something inside her tugged. Maximos was such a strong person, such a powerful presence that she felt him even though he sat at the far end of the banquet table.
But suddenly his head turned and Maximos’s dark forbidding gaze met hers. For a long moment she just looked at him, drank him in, feeling the desire inside her stir. She missed him. God, she missed him.
Abruptly Maximos stood, crossed behind the table, walking toward Emilio and Cass.
Cass saw the taut, determined look on Maximos’s face, his cheekbones jutting harshly, his jaw set. Emilio saw it, too, and smiling idly, he touched Cass’s neck before running his hand through Cass’s hair.
Reaching their end of the table, Maximos spoke to the man seated on Cass’s right. The man stood and walked away, vacating his seat for Maximos.
Maximos pulled the now empty chair out and sat down.“Enjoying yourself?” he asked, leaning forward, looking Emilio in the eye.
Cass felt Maximos’s shoulder brush her breast and she shivered, nerves tightening.
“I am.” Emilio smiled, relishing the cat and mouse game he and Maximos were playing. “Your sister is beautiful. I’ve never seen her look better. She’s all grown up, isn’t she?”
Maximos didn’t even glance his sister’s way. “Adriana’s just twenty-one.”
“A woman.”
Maximos’s jaw thickened. “And you like other men’s women.”
Emilio laughed. “Not necessarily. But I do like women.” He clapped his hand on Cass’s knee, and rubbed his palm in circles over her kneecap. “Especially this one.”
Maximos didn’t answer and Emilio’s hand moved higher on Cass’s leg, sliding over her knee to her thigh. “She’s gorgeous, my Cass, isn’t she?”