Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 118245 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 591(@200wpm)___ 473(@250wpm)___ 394(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 118245 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 591(@200wpm)___ 473(@250wpm)___ 394(@300wpm)
She pulled her head back and gave him a playful glare. “Only after you threatened to kill him if he didn’t.”
Barone shrugged. “All I remember is the doctor saying we should fuc—”
Her eyes widened as she slapped her hand over his mouth. “Barone!” She then tilted her head to the side in my direction.
His dark eyes fixed on me as if he had truly forgotten I was in the room.
What would it feel like to have a man so enamored and in love with me he forgot everything that was going on around him, including a stranger who had clearly been boorishly rifling through his desk?
The silence stretched as they both stared at me expectantly.
I cleared my throat. “A reason? Yes, of course, I have a reason.”
As soon as I think of one.
After clearing my throat a second time, I said, “I was just looking for… Matteo! Yes, Matteo. I don’t have his mobile phone number and the winery is so large that I thought maybe he had a schedule posted that would tell me where he would be right now.”
They exchanged a look.
They didn’t even remotely believe me. The question was whether or not they would call me out on it.
Barone took a deep breath and narrowed his gaze.
Uh oh.
Finally, he said, “Matteo is in the main winery building, helping repair the destemmer-crusher machine. I can escort you there.”
I held up my palms. “No. I don’t want to inconvenience you. I’ll just help clean these up and then go find him.”
Before I could kneel again to pick up the piles of files, Amara intervened. “Leave it. I’ll handle it.”
Under normal circumstances, I would have objected and insisted on helping, but it was clear they were suspicious.
I nodded. “Of course. Sorry again.”
Barone nodded his head toward the window. “Matteo is in the rectangular brick building just over there.”
Not wanting them to see that the dress I was wearing barely covered my ass, I backed up, facing them as far as I could before turning and fleeing.
As I crossed the courtyard, my right ankle rolled slightly after stepping on a stone. These stupid high heels. I missed my ballet flats. Once again, I shifted up onto the balls of my feet and stepped gingerly down the path, careful to avoid any more stones. There was a slight hitch to my step as I favored my right leg, causing my hips to sway.
The moment I entered the building, I was immediately self-conscious.
Despite the whirr and hum of machinery, all human activity seemed to come to a standstill as the predominately male staff stopped to stare.
Again, I tugged on my hem as I lowered my head to conceal my face with the fall of my hair.
Ignoring the looks, I walked down the wide, tiled corridor, searching for Matteo.
And that was when the catcalls started.
“Ciao bella!”
“Dammi un bacio!”
“Bel culetto!”
“Vuoi scopare?”
Offensive as some of the comments were, there was only one voice I heard above all the others.
“Goddammit,” growled Matteo.
CHAPTER 28
MATTEO
Alfonso kicked my boot from where he stood over me. “Matteo, I think you’re needed.”
The sound of my men calling out had barely caught my attention as I wrestled with a rusted bolt on the destemmer-crusher machine I was helping disassemble.
My boot heels dug into the tile floor as I bent my knees to slide the rolling creeper I was lying on out from under the machine. “What’s up?”
Alfonso gestured with his chin.
I turned my head to see my girl in a tiny dress and fuck-me boots. With each step, her generous hips swayed in an exaggerated saunter as if she were deliberately trying to capture the attention of every red-blooded male in the building.
But I knew better… now.
There was no doubt in my mind that she was Ella, not Antonia.
A part of me had known all along, but I had ruthlessly ignored the red flags.
The signs had been there. The tiny blunders in her speech whenever I talked about our upcoming marriage or the latest outrageous thing her sister had said to me. Her innocent response to my touch. Her blushes at our sex games. Deep down, I think I knew it wasn’t Antonia playing at being a shy virgin.
No one was that good at hiding their true nature.
It wasn’t just the sex, or her thin excuse not to fuck me until we were wed.
It was more than that.
There was a warmth and intelligence that shone through Ella’s eyes, which was lacking in the vapid snake eyes of her sister. I had seen it firsthand at dinner and afterward in the gazebo.
And last night in the kitchen.
Then I heard her play the cello, and I knew… I knew.
What I hadn’t known was what I was going to do about it.
There was no turning back at this point.
Not after I’d held Ella in my arms. The idea of tossing her aside to honor my original agreement to marry her sister, Antonia, was repulsive to me.