Page 102 of Where Wild Hearts Dance
I pan my gaze to my right and shoot a glare of my own at Nicolò. “What?”
“You’re not usually this quiet. I assumed there’d be a medical reason for it.”
“I’m preoccupied,” I snap.
“Don’t worry.” He waves a relaxed hand. “We’ve got this place locked down. No Marchesi’s are getting in here. I went through all the IDs myself and Augie has got a whole army surrounding the place.”
That does make me feel a little better.
“Good. I need to make a call.” I stand and push my chair back, which makes a loud enough noise that the whole room looks up. Her gaze burns my skin. I don’t need to make a call but I do need to get out of this room.
I can still feel the sting of her stare as I head outside and light a cigarette. I’m not a regular smoker but I need something to calm my agitated nerves. If only I had just Tess to worry about—now I have Federico fucking Falconi and the Marchesi’s-on-a-mission to contend with too.
I smoke half a pack before I eventually go back inside. Darkness has fallen but it gives me some sense of relief to see shadows in every corner. I know they’re Augie’s men watching the perimeter of the hotel.
The lights inside have been dimmed too and most of the guests have moved into the bar area. I can’t bear to see her apathy, knowing there’s fuck-all I can do about it until after the wedding, so I dip my eyes as I work my way through the designer dresses and tailored suits. My cell feels hot in my pocket as I wait for a call from Beppe. If it doesn’t come, I can only hope the Falconi kid has flown someplace else.
Just as I reach the bar, a small figure turns around, not looking where she’s going, and walks right into me, sloshing the contents of four champagne flutes over my suit. My teeth grit until I realize who it is.
“Oh gosh!” Tess gasps, then averts her eyes faster than a rat flying up a fucking drainpipe. “I’m so sorry. Can I get you a towel?”
Her question sends me right back to when she stripped down to ‘next to nothing’ and I practically threw a towel over her. “I’m not naked,” I say, then bite the shit out of my tongue.
Her cheeks flush so hard I want to lick them, and all kinds of things are happening south of my belt. And if that wasn’t unfortunate enough, I feel Cristiano’s eyes on the back of my neck, watching me doing exactly what he told me not to.
“That’s not what I meant,” she says quietly, looking at the floor.
“I know. Sorry.” I rub a hand round the back of my neck trying to erase the sensation of Cristiano’s glare. “I’ll replace those.”
I nod to the bartender who quickly pours out four more flutes of champagne while I unbutton my jacket and shrug it off my shoulders. I hang it on a hook beneath the bar and roll up my sleeves. It’s a reflex but I’d do it a million times over just to see her gaze flit to my forearms and the flush creep a little higher up her cheeks.
God, there’s nothing I want more than to reach out, take her pretty chin between my fingers and press my lips onto hers, but the sensation on the back of my neck is only growing hotter.
I place a few notes on the bar then speak to the thickly perfumed air above her head. “Enjoy your evening,” I force out. Then I turn around and walk away.
Contessa
“Pink or silver?” Bambi waits, wide-eyed for my verdict.
I have to drag my attention from the cool, calm sea outside, back to the room. “Pink or silver what?”
“Crystals,” she replies, frowning. I drop my gaze to her nails. They’ve been painted a bright bubblegum pink and she’s now sitting, tweezers in hand, poised to embellish them with sparkling gems.
“Silver.”
I turn to see Sera with her hands full of Trilby’s bleached blond hair. She looks like she’s taken on Kate Bush in a battle of the blow-dryer and she isn’t winning.
I glance at my empty flute and go to refill my glass but nothing comes out.
“I think this is the last of thechampagne.” I hold the bottle upside down and inspect the mouth for drips. “I’ll call room service.”
“No!” Sera says, her mouth full of hair pins. “They’ll just give us the house stuff. I put a couple of the expensive bottles to one side for us.”
“I don’t mind going to get them,” I offer.
“Okay, great. Yeah, I might be a while.” She jerks her head toward Trilby and it does appear Sera underestimated how long the hair preparation would take.
I get to my feet, grateful for an opportunity to stretch my legs. “Where do I go?”
