VITTORIO'S LOVER (Vittorio Series) (21 page)

So,
why hadn’t he divulged that information to Raffaele?

Because Grady didn’t know, Jenesa concluded. Maybe Luca never actually got
around to discussing the investigation on Jillian, or it could be that Grady was simply gathering information and had no reason to know what her sister looked like just yet. That had to be the case. Grady assumed she was Jillian because Raffaele hadn’t used her name in his presence. Although she hadn’t understood what they were saying during that heated conversation after landing on the island, she
did
hear the two men mention Luca a few times, but neither of them had called her by name.

It was probably a good thing the phones were down. She could only imagine how disastrous
it would it be if Grady uncovered the truth and called Raffaele before she had the opportunity to tell him herself. Raffaele wouldn’t believe a word she said…if he allowed her to explain at all. Time was working against her, slipping away at alarming speed and stealing the precious minutes she needed in order to work things out in her mind. 

Picking up on her distress, but totally misconstruing it, Raffaele
was quick to reassure her. “There is no need to worry, I promise you. The worst of the storm has already passed so the phones could be restored as early as tomorrow evening.”

Jenesa’s smile was
grim as he curled his arm around her waist and guided her up the grand staircase and through the series of turns that led to her room. A day and a half was all she could hope for to unfurl the twisted version of the story she’d told him before it all came crashing down on her head.

                                                    ***

Until Jenesa Harding walked into his life, Raffaele had always thought of himself as an intelligent man. The use of sound reasoning and common sense was second nature to all five Vittorio brothers; a trait they had inherited from their father. It was unfortunate that they also seemed to have inherited his damnable pride in being honorable because it created a solid barrier between doing what was right and doing what he wanted. There was nothing noble about the thoughts running through his head as he escorted Jenesa upstairs, although he’d grudgingly held onto propriety long enough to see her to her room.

T
he sexual tension that vibrated between them was affecting his ability to think beyond plotting to get her back into his bed. Or the first convenient flat surface. What he wouldn’t give to spend the next two days indulging in the fantasies he’d been having about Jenesa. On the other hand, Raffaele amended when visions of her delectable body reminded him how good they’d been together, it would take a hell of a lot longer than two days to relieve this insatiable hunger and get her out of his system.

It didn’t help that the attraction wasn’t purely physical. Raffaele turned away from the window where he’d been for the better part of
two hours and sat down at his desk, not that he had any intention of working. Leaning back in his chair, his eyes wandered around the room he used as an office when necessary, but he wasn’t really seeing it.  Instead, he replayed the conversation they’d shared at breakfast and the way Jenesa had laughed at his childhood stories. 

She’d laughed just as hard at her own tales and the antics she and her sisters had gotten up to.
It was infectious, and Raffaele had laughed too. Not the polite chuckle he’d perfected for female companions who had more beauty than brains and lacked Jenesa’s sense of humor, but a gut deep laughter that he hadn’t been able to contain.  They’d talked about other things too and he’d thoroughly enjoyed himself. He liked how engrossed she became in the things he had to say and could tell she was really listening. And he liked the way Jenesa looked at him, as if he was the most interesting man in the world.

He’d never met a more enchanting or dangerous woman in his life. She stimulated both his mind and body, and Raffaele had no experience dealing with that lethal combination before. It w
as unsettling, especially when he’d felt compelled to deprive himself of her bewitching presence in order to gather his wits. But there was no escaping the mental snap shots he’d taken of Jenesa in the short time they’d had together, he thought, with a rueful shake of his head. Images that refused to go away no matter how hard he tried to force them from his mind.

Raffaele
rose from his chair, expelling a resigned sigh. He saw no reason to avoid being with Jenesa when she haunted his thoughts anyway. Besides, he should be strengthening the bond with her, not weakening it; otherwise, there wouldn’t be anything to keep her from walking away once she knew who he really was. Two days max, that’s all the time he had to set things in motion that would insure everything went according to plan. How hard could it be? Women proclaimed to have fallen in love with him all the time without any encouragement on his part.

                                                       ***

“Is it your move or mine?” Jenesa asked.

Raffaele
arched a villainous brow. “That is a loaded question,
tesoro
, are you sure you want me answer?”

“Very funny, Mr. Vittorio,” she replied dryly as they sat down at the small
checkered table to resume the chess game they’d started earlier. 

During the long hours they’d spent together today, Jenesa discovered he enjoyed teasing her and making her blush.
She discovered a lot of things about Raffaele after he came to retrieve her, although she’d learned very little about Luca. But that was okay, she decided, because her crusade to help Jillian had proved to be a flop right from the beginning. 

Oh, she would be a
rock for her sister to lean on once they returned home, and if Jillian wanted to speak to Luca, Jenesa was willing to go with her. But whatever issues existed between Jillian and Luca would have to be resolved by them. Nothing she or Raffaele said or did would make any difference, and that was a tough pill to swallow because she wanted so badly to take away Jillian’s pain. She imagined it was the same for Raffaele and his brother.

Jenesa looked up from the table that served as a chess board
and offered a wobbly smile. “I believe it was your move.”

“You were very far away a moment ago,” he said softly. “Why so sad,
bella
?”

“It’s…nothing.”

“When a woman says it’s nothing, that usually means it is something that inevitably involves a man.”

Jenesa hesitated. How much should she reveal about Jillian, or should she tell him anything at all?
Better not divulge too much before she was ready to spill the whole thing, but she didn’t want to lie either. It was that reluctance to lie, combined with the look of concern on his handsome face that finally made her open up.

“
I was just thinking about my little sister. She’s going through a rough time right now and I feel bad that I can’t do anything except offer moral support.”

Raffaele nodded knowingly. “And part of the reason you were so upset about not being able to call your sisters was because you didn’t want to add to her worries.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to put a damper on the mood.”

“You didn’t,” he said with an understanding smile.
“I think it’s admirable that you care so much about your sisters. There is nothing more important than family. Regrettably, the old family values of watching out for each other and maintaining a close relationship with your relatives are no longer a cherished part of life like it used to be.”

“I guess we’re both lucky in that respect.”

“Yes, we are. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for my parents or siblings,” Raffaele said with such vehemence Jenesa had the uncanny feeling he was issuing a warning, a feeling that persisted even after his expression softened into a warm smile.  “Are you ready to finish the rematch before we start dinner?”

“Of course. Although I don’t intend to lose this time.”

Raffaele merely grinned as he studied the board and contemplated his next move. 

Jenesa swallowed the enormous lump in her throat. If things didn’t work out as she hoped they would, Raffaele’s absence was going to leave a horrible void in her life.
  Would he miss her, as well? Possibly, although she highly doubted the impact of her absence would have the same dismal effect.

                                                      ***
     

“You played a good game,” Raffaele told her later as they were washing up the dinner dishes.

“I lost.”

“True, but you are a worthy adversary.”

Jenesa rolled her eyes. “I still lost.”

“Do you always pout when you lose?”

“I am
not
pouting,” she insisted, vigorously scrubbing a pot that was already spotlessly clean. 

“Of course not,” he chuckled and rescued the pot before she could scour a hole through the bottom. “Here,” Raffaele handed her another pot
with the remains of pasta sauce sticking to the sides, “take your hostility out on this.”

Jenesa plopped it in the soapy water with an indignant huff. “
You know, defeat would be easier to accept if you weren’t such a poor winner.”

“
A poor winner?”

“Don’t play innocent with me,” she admonished, attacking the pot with renewed vigor. “You totally gloated, which is very unsporting by the way.”

“It is not unsporting to express pleasure over a hard earned victory.”

Jenesa rinsed the pot off and thrust it in his hands. “You didn’t
express pleasure
; you
hooted
and then strutted around like a peacock showing off his plumage! Didn’t anyone ever tell you the polite thing to do is gloat in private so your opponent is left with some dignity?”

“I admit I may have been a bit…zealous in celebrating my win, but it’s only because you were you a tough rival to beat.”

Jenesa didn’t dare look at him, not while he was standing so close she felt cocooned in the delicious warmth of his body. “Do you really mean that, or are you saying it just to appease me?”

“Do you honestly believe I would assault my considerable male pride with that admission unless it was absolutely true?”

That made her laugh. “All right, I believe you, but since
my
pride has taken a thrashing, maybe we can find something to play other than chess.”

“Just what type of…game did you have in mind,
carissima
?”

Jenesa’s heart fluttered at the same time a
familiar heaviness coiled in her pelvis.  It happened every time Raffaele used that deep, seductive tone and she was powerless against the visceral reaction it provoked. She pressed her lips together as she drained the water from the sink, deliberately taking her time rinsing the soapy bubbles off the porcelain before reaching for a dish towel to dry her hands with. Only then, when she felt somewhat composed, did Jenesa turn to him.

It was a short lived moment of self-control.

Raffaele tossed the damp cloth he’d been using onto the countertop and plucked the dry towel she was holding from her loose grasp. “Allow me,” he said with a sinfully wicked grin. 

H
er pulse was pounding like jackhammer and she had to bite back a groan as he gently dabbed the moisture from her skin.  He finished drying one hand and lifted the other, allowing her fingers to rest in his palm while he administered the same tender care. It was impossible for him to miss the way her fingers trembled or the path the tremor took as it shimmied up her arm and threaded its way throughout the rest of her body. And it was just as impossible to pull away from him and make this exercise in eroticism stop.   

“Your hands are so small compared to mine
,” he said, lightly raking his thumb over the throbbing vein in her wrist. “It’s strange that such a tiny, delicate thing can wield so much power.” Raffaele lifted his eyes to hers, his voice thick and raspy. “I think about it all the time, the way your hands felt against my bare skin and how they shook, just as they are doing now. The lightest, feathery touch from your fingers and my blood is instantly on fire. I can’t think or breathe because it is pure agony and sheer heaven all at once.”

“Please don’t…” Jenesa
squirmed, her plea fading into oblivion beneath his smoldering gaze.

“I know what I promised, but that was before I realized the
hell I would through to keep that promise. I need to kiss you. I need to touch you, to feel the heat of your passion when we make love and watch you shatter into a million pieces. Don’t turn me away tonight, Jenesa, please…don’t turn me away.”

                                                    
***

Jenesa bolted straight up, blinking in the darkness, her breath little more than ragged gasps as she struggled for air.
The sheets were soaked with sweat and she shoved them away, wishing with all her heart that the dull ache in her chest could be pushed aside as easily. More than anything, she wanted to race across the hall and slip into bed with Raffaele and beg him to make love to her. Instead, she pushed herself up from the mattress and trudged listlessly to the bathroom to take a shower.