so that he could open the door when Room Service delivered their late lunch, Lia realised.
‘It was nothing of any importance.’ And it wasn’t. None of it. David. Their less than satisfying relationship. Their broken engagement. My lucky escape—that seemed more appropriate. ‘I’m too comfortable to get out of bed.’ She gave Gregorio a satiated smile.
His smile was indulgent. ‘Would you like me to bring the food to you in here?’
‘That sounds like an excellent idea.’ Lia tucked the sheet about her breasts as she sat up against the pillows.
Gregorio sat on the bed beside her. ‘You are very beautiful to me, Lia.’ His fingertips ran lightly down one of her flushed cheeks.
Lia believed him this time. How could she not after the exquisite way Gregorio had made love to her for hours? After he had shown her time and time again how beautiful she was to him.
So why was he now the one frowning?
‘I want you to promise me you will not see Richardson alone again.’
Ah.
Gregorio’s eyes narrowed. ‘Why are you looking at me like that?’
‘Probably because I’m wondering if this is the reason you’ve made love to me all afternoon.’ She eyed him suspiciously. ‘To distract me, and also so I’d be more amenable to whatever you ask of me.’
He stood up abruptly. ‘You have never for a single moment been amenable, Lia,’ he bit out impatiently. ‘Dios mio.’ He ran a hand through his already tousled dark hair. ‘Is that what you think of me?’ He glared down at her. ‘That I would use sex to manipulate you?’
Exactly. Sex.
She had been making love...falling in love...while Gregorio had been having sex. Very good sex, but nonetheless it was just sex.
Lia wondered why some women—herself included, apparently—had to pretty it up by calling it ‘making love’. Maybe because that was exactly what it did—it prettied up what was basically a primal sexual urge. There was a much more crude word Lia could have used to describe it, but she was too much of a lady to use it.
Gregorio scowled his impatience at Lia’s lack of a reply. ‘I do not remember having to force you into doing anything this afternoon.’
On the contrary, after her initial shyness Lia had proved to be a very adventurous lover. Satisfyingly so.
So why were the two of them arguing again?
Because their conversations always—usually sooner rather than later—became an argument. One of them would take umbrage at something the other had said, and a disagreement would ensue.
‘I think I should leave.’ Lia avoided his gaze, keeping the sheet wrapped about her breasts as she moved to swing her legs out onto the carpeted floor on the other side of the bed.
‘Is this how you usually behave?’ Gregorio snapped in frustration. ‘You run away whenever you are confronted with a situation you cannot control?’
Her eyes flashed as she turned to glare at him. ‘I don’t have control over a single part of my life right now. Including this part, it seems,’ she added vehemently, standing up and taking the sheet with her. ‘I no longer think I should leave—I am leaving.’
She kept the sheet wrapped around her as she marched over to the door.
‘Lia!’
She turned in the doorway. ‘Let me go, Gregorio.’ Tears glistened in her eyes.
Gregorio’s shoulders dropped in defeat. He knew he had no desire to force Lia into doing anything. ‘As long as you agree not to see Richardson again on your own. My investigation into his lifestyle, and the money missing from your father’s company, is still ongoing.’
And Lia’s interference would not only put that investigation in jeopardy but also Lia herself.
‘You really believe he did it?’
‘I do, yes.’
‘And that caused my father’s heart attack?’
‘Yes.’
‘Very well.’ She nodded. ‘But you’ll keep me informed?’
‘I will,’ he conceded tautly. ‘Now I insist you allow Silvio to accompany you home and remain outside your apartment building.’ After what she had revealed during her conversation with Richardson earlier today, he believed it was now even more necessary that Lia be protected.
She breathed deeply as she obviously fought a battle within herself. ‘Do you really think David would hurt me?’
Gregorio’s mouth tightened. ‘I believe that today you challenged and cornered a man who does not like to be thwarted in any way. By meeting him, saying the things you did, you have now made Richardson aware of some of your suspicions regarding him—if not all of them. It is never a good idea to allow the enemy to know what you are thinking or feeling.’
Lia eyed him quizzically. ‘Is that how you’ve become so successful? By treating everyone else as the enemy?’
He breathed in deeply. ‘You are angry with me and deliberately twisting my words.’
Lia was angry with herself—not Gregorio. After all that had happened these past few months she had still allowed herself to be a naïve romantic where Gregorio was concerned. She was twenty-five years old, and had already been used and manipulated by one man for his own selfish purposes. It was time she stopped romanticising and accepted that she and Gregorio had simply spent a pleasurable afternoon in bed together.
And now the afternoon was over.
She forced the tension from her shoulders and half smiled. ‘Let’s not part as bad friends, hmm, Gregorio?’
Gregorio’s eyes narrowed. Friends? Lia believed the two of them to be merely friends? After the afternoon they had just spent together?
‘Will we be friends with benefits?’ he mocked harshly.
‘No.’ She kept her gaze downcast. ‘What happened this afternoon will not happen again.’
‘You truly believe that?’ he scorned. The sexual tension between them crackled and burned even now. When they were arguing or when they weren’t.
She raised her chin as she looked at him, her gaze clear and unwavering. ‘It’s time I took charge of my own life, Gregorio,’ she stated flatly. ‘And that includes who I go to bed with.’
‘And it will not be me?’
‘No.’
Gregorio nodded abruptly. ‘Silvio will be waiting downstairs to accompany you when you are ready to leave.’
‘Thank you.’ Lia disappeared into the hallway, and there followed the sound of the bathroom door closing seconds later.
Gregorio
