Page 9 of His Fantasy Bride (Things To Do Before You Die)

Hah. Never going to happen.

She’d been living in fantasyland.

He would have run a mile from the real Gabby. The real her wassonot his type. She knew because she had studied his type, turned herself into his ideal woman. And as far as she was concerned—his ideal woman was a boring prude.

But in case he turned up again, she needed a plan of action. Something to tell him that would get him off her back once and for all. And if she felt a little twinge of…sadness at that, well, suck it up, bitch. He might be the best looking man she had ever kissed, and he might have the biggest cock she had ever encountered, and he might know exactly what to do with it…

All that was beside the point.

None of it changed the fact that his big cock was attached to a D’Ascensio, and was therefore off-limits and always would be.

When she came out of her bedroom, dressed and ready to go, Theresa was still sitting where she had left her. She glanced up as Gabby came into the room. “Luca called.”

That wasn’t good news. “What? When?”

“Five minutes ago. He wanted to know if I’d seen you.”

Gabby caught her upper lip between her teeth, worried on it for a while. She was quite aware that Theresa hated lying to her brother. But she wasn’t ready to face Luca yet. With luck, she’d soon be able to repay the money she owed him, and then she’d put an end to this. “What did you tell him?”

“That I hadn’t seen you in a while. Well, it was sort of true—I didn’t bother to define ‘a while.’ What’s going on between you two? Why are you hiding?” She pursed her lips. “What did my brother do to you? I’ll kill him.”

“Nothing. Really.” She shrugged. “I agreed to do him a favor and I sort of failed. But he lent me some money and maybe he’s a little pissed.”

“The money for your mother’s treatment? I wondered where you’d gotten it. I know you were broke at the time, but you clearly weren’t ready to talk.” Her lips turned down, and she rested her hands on her hips. “And Luca made you do something for it? My brother’s an asshole.”

“I wanted to help.” And she had at the time. And it hadn’t seemed such a bad thing, saving the family honor, or regaining it…or whatever. Now, it just seemed totally stupid, like something out of a bad movie. “Look, I’ve got to head out. I’m going to be late, and I’m already not the most popular person there. I don’t want to give Anton any more reason to be pissed at me.”

“But you’ll talk to me soon?”

She crossed to where Theresa stood and gave her a hug. “Yeah. Soon.”

After grabbing her bag, she headed for the door. As she exited the flat she almost catapulted straight into Vito. He stood just outside, finger raised as if to ring the doorbell.

Holy freaking moly.

She glanced back to make sure Theresa hadn’t spotted their visitor, and pulled the door closed behind her.

“What do you want?” The words came out harsher than she’d intended, but she was in shock. Why did he have to keep popping up where he wasn’t supposed to be? And how had he found her? She’d thought she would have a little more time to get her act together.

Christ, what had she decided to tell him? It had sounded so plausible when she’d come up with her plan in the shower.

“To talk.” His answer was clipped. “Don’t you think you at least owe me that?”

Of course she did. She’d behaved atrociously. For a moment, she considered telling him the truth. But just for a moment. She couldn’t reveal the extent of her bad behavior without mentioning Luca, and there was a chance that would get Luca in trouble. She needed to clear it with him first, which she would as soon as she had the money to pay him back. Hopefully that would be soon, but not yet, so she had to put Vito off some other way.

But right now, she didn’t have the time. “I’m late for work,” she muttered, taking his arm and almost dragging him away. She didn’t want him and Theresa meeting up and introducing themselves. That would be seriously bad news.

He raised an eyebrow but allowed himself to be pulled out of the building. “I’ll drive you.”

The theater was a fifteen-minute ride on the underground from Theresa’s small flat, maybe the same by car if the traffic wasn’t too bad. She chewed on her lip as she decided, then gave a quick nod. He raised his hand, and a long dark, expensive car pulled up beside them. Of course he would have a driver. He was a billionaire. Or he had been—he’d told her it was purely temporary. That was when she’d started to realize that no way was he the monster Luca made him out to be.

She climbed into the back and shuffled across to the far side, fastening the seat belt as he got in beside her and the car pulled smoothly into the traffic. She stared out of the window, totally conscious of his big presence beside her, her body tingling with sexual awareness.

They’d spent a month together on Sicily, and she’d not felt a fraction of what she was feeling now. Oh, she’d wanted him from the moment she saw him, but guilt had held her back from giving in to the sexual pull between the two of them. Plus, she’d been acting a part—a good girl. But how many times in the last six months had she wished they’d made love just once so she had one memory to take with her when she’d run? Well, she had her memory now.

She gave him a quick sideways glance. Tonight he was dressed in black pants and a white shirt, the sleeves rolled up over his forearms. His hands rested on his thighs, big hands with long fingers. Fingers that had touched her intimately, pushed inside her. Wet heat flooded her core, and she shifted on the seat.

Stop thinking about sex.

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