‘Not at all.’ Cathy stood up. ‘It’s time the two of us were going anyway. Rick?’ she prompted sharply as her husband made no move to get up out of his chair.
‘What? Oh. Yes. Sorry.’ He rose abruptly to his feet, then seemed to realise he still had a glass in his hand and looked around for somewhere to put it.
‘Here.’ Cathy took the glass and placed it on the coffee table next to her own. ‘I’ll call you in the morning, okay?’ She gave Lia a hug. ‘Nice to meet you, Gregorio.’ She nodded. ‘Say goodnight, Rick,’ she instructed dryly. Her husband still looked slightly dazed by the speed of their departure.
‘Goodnight, Rick,’ he repeated as he was pulled down the hallway by his wife.
The apartment door closed quietly behind them seconds later.
Leaving an awkward silence.
A very cold and very uncomfortable silence that caused Lia to give a shiver as the chill seemed to seep into her bones.
‘Your rudeness was completely uncalled for,’ Gregorio snapped finally.
‘No.’ Lia’s chin rose as she faced him. ‘No, it really wasn’t. I don’t know what happened between the two of us earlier, but it isn’t going to happen again. I won’t let it happen again,’ she added firmly. She was totally unsettled by their earlier passion. ‘And we certainly aren’t ever going out for the evening with any of my friends, as if the two of us are together.’
Gregorio was having to exert great willpower so as not to lose his temper. He made a point of never losing his temper—no matter what the provocation. But he had not encountered anyone as stubborn as Lia before.
He had been disappointed when he’d realised Lia’s visitors had to be Cathy and Rick Morton, the couple he had seen her with at her father’s graveside two months ago. He knew, from the daily security reports he received, that Lia had lived with the other couple before moving into her apartment at the weekend.
Rather than remaining in Lia’s bedroom like a dirty little secret she was keeping hidden away, Gregorio had decided to dress and join them.
He had no experience of being in the company of a woman’s friends or family, but he had thought he was doing quite well. Being charming to Cathy. Talking football with her husband. Pouring them all wine. It had seemed perfectly logical to him, as the other couple were obviously close to Lia, to suggest they all spend the rest of the evening together.
Lia’s vehemently negative response to that suggestion had been immediate. And, to his surprise, her words had hurt.
He was close to his two brothers. Well...as close as he could be when he was based in London, Sebastien was in New York, and Alejandro was taking care of the estate and vineyards in Spain. He also had a large extended family, of which he was the recognised patriarch.
He had sex with the women who flitted in and out of his life, but he did not become involved with their family or their friends. He rarely even met any of their friends, let alone their family. He had been willing to make an exception with Lia, and he’d received a verbal and public slap in the face for his trouble.
He would not make the same mistake again.
‘What happened earlier is that you used me for sex,’ he bit out coldly, his accent more clipped in his anger. ‘No doubt any man would have sufficed. I am pleased I was able to give you one orgasm, at least, before we were interrupted.’
The colour had drained from her cheeks. ‘You bastard!’
Gregorio shrugged his shoulders. ‘You were the one at such pains to explain exactly what we have between us, I am merely agreeing with you. When you feel in the need for sex again perhaps you should give me a call? If I have the time I—No, I do not think so.’ Gregorio grasped hold of Lia’s wrist as her hand arced up towards his cheek. He used that grip to pull her up close against him. ‘I warned you the last time you did that I would not allow you to do it again without retaliating.’
Her top lip turned back in a sneer. ‘I should have known you were the type of man who would hit a woman!’
Gregorio’s jaw tightened. ‘Any man who strikes a woman, for whatever reason, no longer has the right to call himself a man. My retribution will be of quite a different kind, I assure you.’
Lia swallowed. Gregorio’s threat was all the more disturbing because he’d delivered it in such a calm and conversational tone. As if they were discussing the weather rather than his retribution.
‘Let go of me,’ she said evenly.
He quirked one dark brow. ‘Are you going to slap me again?’
‘No.’ That impulse had passed. Besides, she had never felt tempted to hit anyone before Gregorio.
‘Pity.’ He bared his teeth in a humourless smile as he released her wrist and stepped back. ‘I believe I would have enjoyed punishing you. Perhaps I still will...’ he mused.
Lia breathed shallowly. ‘Punishing me?’
Black eyes glittered through narrowed lids. ‘You are not someone who likes to feel out of control, are you?’
That sounded more like a statement than a question, and Lia treated it as such. ‘Neither are you,’ she defended.
‘I do not remember objecting when you made love to me earlier.’
The warmth in her cheeks deepened as she recalled her aggression. And her pleasure...
Which was another reason she wasn’t going to allow herself to be alone with Gregorio again. He affected her, drove her wild with passion in a way no other man ever had. Including the man she had intended to marry.
She and David had spent the night together regularly after their engagement. Nights she had enjoyed even as she had known there had to be more. Although she had enjoyed David’s lovemaking she had never reached the pinnacle of physical pleasure when they were together.
A few minutes of just being kissed by and kissing Gregorio and she’d had her first orgasm. He hadn’t even touched her. The stimulation had come from those kisses alone.
Just being with him physically excited her.
As much as it disturbed her.
Because she wasn’t sure she even liked Gregorio.
Lia moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue. ‘I really think you should leave now.’
Gregorio had given her far too much to think about. Not just what had happened between the two of them, but the truth about David’s involvement in the demise of her father’s company.
Because, no matter how confused she was about her feelings for Gregorio, she knew he wasn’t a liar. In fact, he was the opposite: Gregorio tended to be brutally honest.
Lia knew she had to see and talk to David again. To find out for herself if what Gregorio had said about him having a gambling habit was true, at least. To try and get David to tell her the part he had played—or not played—in the downfall of Fairbanks Industries.
‘THIS ISN’T PART of my job description.’
Gregorio quirked one dark eyebrow as he looked at Lia, standing in the doorway to the office in his penthouse suite. ‘My PA has called in sick this morning. I’m not sure it’s altogether wise for you to refuse to assist your employer on only your second day of employment.’
Lia wasn’t sure it was either. But neither did she think it was coincidence that Gregorio had requested she be the one to assist him. Although he