grim. This afternoon with Lia had been a revelation. She was correct in her belief that in the past twenty years he had bedded many woman. So many he had forgotten some of their names.
He would never forget Lia’s name.
Would never forget Lia.
She was unforgettable.
Not because she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Which she was.
Nor because she was the best lover. Which she was.
No, he would never forget her because she was Lia.
Fiery of temperament. Passionate of nature.
Lia.
* * *
‘What happened to you yesterday—? Careful,’ Cathy warned as Lia’s hand jerked so suddenly she almost tipped her glass of water all over the table. The two women had met up at the gym after work, and were now enjoying a relaxing cold drink together in the bar there. ‘I expected you to telephone last night, but now I really want to know what happened yesterday.’
The other woman eyed Lia knowingly.
‘Which part?’ Lia couldn’t quite meet her friend’s gaze.
She had gone to bed early last night—had pulled the covers over her head and slept for almost twelve hours. Today she was back working behind the reception desk at the Exemplar Hotel, so obviously Gregorio’s PA had recovered enough to come in today. Or maybe not? Maybe Gregorio was doing the same as Lia? Trying to ignore her existence as she was trying to ignore his. She certainly hadn’t seen anything of him in the hotel today.
‘The part that’s making you blush,’ Cathy said with relish.
Lia winced. ‘I’d rather not.’
‘At least tell me if it involves Gregorio de la Cruz?’
She sighed. ‘It does.’
‘Wow!’ Cathy had a dreamy expression on her face. ‘I love Rick to bits, but being married doesn’t make me blind and Gregorio is something else.’
Yes, he was. But quite what that something else was Lia had no idea.
She knew she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him since she’d left his apartment late yesterday afternoon. Since she had made... Well, it hadn’t quite been the walk of shame, because it hadn’t mattered that the clothes she was wearing were the same ones she had worn to work that morning. But it had certainly been an embarrassing exit from the hotel after Lia had collected her coat from the staffroom. Made more so by the fact that the other receptionists had cheerfully wished her goodnight before she left—just as if it had been a normal working day at the Exemplar Hotel.
There had been nothing normal about yesterday as far as Lia was concerned.
The pleasurable aches and pains in her body when she’d woken up that morning had seemed to agree with that sentiment. Which was why she had suggested meeting up with Cathy at the gym after work. The two women had been using different apparatus since they’d arrived, so sitting in the adjoining bar, sipping iced water, was the first opportunity they had found actually to chat.
‘I can see by the smile on your face that he’s every bit as satisfying as I thought he might be.’
‘Cathy!’ Lia’s cheeks were ablaze with revealing colour.
‘Lia!’ she came back teasingly. ‘You never had that cat-that-got-the-cream expression on your face after spending the night with David.’
Lia sobered at the mention of her ex-fiancé. ‘I saw David yesterday too.’
‘What?’ Cathy sat forward. ‘When? Why?’
She sighed heavily. ‘Gregorio told me some things about him and I wanted to know if they were true.’
‘And were they?’
‘Yes.’ Lia had no doubt now that Gregorio’s suspicions about David would prove to be correct. Or that he was right to be cautious about to what David might do once Gregorio had evidence against him.
‘More secrets?’ Cathy eyed her sympathetically.
Lia blinked back the tears that never seemed to be far away nowadays. ‘Gregorio thinks David is responsible for my father’s financial problems and subsequent heart attack. I’m inclined to agree with him.’
‘Oh, Lia.’ Cathy placed her hand over Lia’s and gave it a squeeze. ‘I’m so sorry.’
‘But not surprised?’ Lia quirked a rueful brow.
‘Not really, no,’ her friend acknowledged with a pained wince.
Lia laughed softly. ‘You really will have to be more honest with me in future regarding the men I date!’
‘Gregorio has my full approval,’ Cathy supplied instantly.
He had Lia’s full approval too. But that didn’t change the fact that she was just another sexual conquest to him. Unfortunately she had to accept that her emotions didn’t function in the same compartmentalised way as his. She already cared more for Gregorio than she should, and she didn’t need to have her heart broken for a second time in a matter of months.
Had David’s desertion broken her heart?
If Lia was honest, the answer was no. It had hurt that he had ended their engagement so abruptly after her father’s death, but she hadn’t been heartbroken in the way she would be if she allowed her emotions to become fully engaged where Gregorio was concerned.
If they weren’t already...
* * *
‘I was wondering when you were going to arrive home.’
Lia stiffened as she stepped out of the lift and saw David standing in the hallway, directly outside her apartment. ‘How did you get in here?’
There was no reception at this small apartment complex, but it did have a key-coded panel outside the front door, and a security number that had to be logged in before the door could be opened.
She had also left Raphael, her protector for the day, sitting outside in his SUV on the other side of that locked door.
David gave an unconcerned shrug. ‘I told one of the other tenants I was a new neighbour and I’d forgotten the door code. She was only too happy to let me inside.’
Lia was pretty sure there had been a lot of David’s false charm involved in that conversation. Although she really would have to introduce herself properly to the other tenants, so that they knew exactly who their new neighbour was in future. They also needed to be more cautious about letting unknown people into the building.
In the meantime, she had to deal with David’s unwanted presence. ‘How did you find out where I’m living now?’ she demanded as she walked down the hallway.
He shrugged. ‘It wasn’t that difficult. A friend
