Page 85 of The Tycoon's Affair: Tempted By Desire
She was a sap. Ofcoursehe was intent on—
Her hand was taken in a firm grip. She clenched her jaw and looked at Luca in the driver’s seat. His face was dark...with anger?
‘Serena, I had nothing to do with that. They must have been tipped off.’
He looked so grim and affronted that Serena felt something melt inside her. Felt a wish to believe him.
‘It won’t happen again.’
She took her hand from Luca’s and forced a smile. ‘Don’t worry about it.’
The imprint of Luca’s body where he’d held her so close was still making her treacherous skin tingle all over. The way he’d drawn her into him so protectively had unsettled her. She’d felt unprotected for so long that it was an alien sensation. Maybe hehadn’tplanned it. She recalled him biting off a curse now, as if he’d been as surprised as her...
Once they’d left the paparazzi behind she pushed a button to lower her window, relishing the warm evening Rio breeze and the tang of the sea.
‘Are you okay?’
Serena nodded. ‘Fine—just needed some air.’
The setting sun was bathing the sky in a pink glow, and from somewhere distant Serena could hear cheers and clapping.
She looked at Luca. ‘What’s that?’
Luca’s mouth twitched. ‘Every evening sunset-worshippers applaud another stunning sunset from the beaches.’
Serena couldn’t take her eyes off the curve of Luca’s mouth. ‘I love that idea,’ she breathed. ‘I’d like to see the sunset.’
She quickly looked away again, in case that dark navy gaze met hers when she felt far too exposed. Her cheeks were still hot from that moment when she’d been captivated by the way he filled out his suit so effortlessly. The obviously bespoke material did little to disguise his sheer power, flowing lovingly over defined muscles.
‘Where do you live when you don’t stay at the apartment?’ Serena blurted out the first thing she could think of to try and take her mind off Luca’s physicality.
He glanced at her, his hands strong on the wheel of the car.
‘I have a house in Alto Gavea—it’s a district in the Tijuca Forest, north of the lake...’
She sneaked a look. ‘Is it your family home? Where you grew up?’
He shook his head abruptly, and when he answered his voice was tight. ‘No, we lived out in the suburbs. My parents wouldn’t have approved of living so near to the beaches andfavelas.’
Serena thought of what he’d told her about his parents so far and asked, ‘You weren’t close to them?’
His mouth twisted. ‘No. They split up when we were six, and my mother moved back to her native Italy.’
Serena had forgotten about that Italian connection. ‘You saidwe... Do you have brothers and sisters?’
She could sense his reluctance to answer, but they weren’t going anywhere fast in the evening traffic. Luca sighed. ‘Yes, I have a twin brother.’
Serena’s eyes widened. ‘Wow—a twin? That’s pretty amazing.’ Her mind boggled slightly at the thought oftwoLucas.
He slid her a mocking look and said, ‘We’re non-identical. He lives in Italy; he moved there with our mother after the divorce.’
Serena processed this and turned in her seat to face him. ‘Wait...you mean you were split up?’
The thought of anyone splitting her and Siena up at that young age made her go cold. Siena had been the only anchor in her crazy world.
Luca faced forward, his voice emotionless. ‘Yes, my parents decided that each would take one of us. My mother chose me to go to Italy with her, but when my brother got upset she swapped us and took him instead.’
Serena gasped as that scenario sank in. ‘But that’s...horrific. And your father just let her?’
