Authors: Pamela Ann
Hah. The whole time I was with the green-eyed monster, Bass didn’t even pop anywhere inside my head because I was too freaked out with Lander. “Well, I guess, it worked,” I admitted, smiling before I started laughing like a loony with him.
“Look at yourself, Emma. Can you see any traces of the woman who was crying out in pain with ice cream to soothe it six hours ago?”
My hair was straightened out with a soft curve in the end. The right front side had the whole nineteen-twenty's wave. The black, silk-topped, mini frock paired with nude, four-inch, strappy stilettos made my legs look like they could go on forever. The winged, black liner on my lids and the matte, scarlet red lips made me look mysterious. The hours I spent on the beach paid off with a great tan, but the maddening way Lander had my skin polished gave me a luminous glow that I had never had before. “No.” I looked
really
good. Classy. Chic. Elegant. Composed and in my element.
“They say beauty is only skin deep, but what they don’t understand is that beautifying helps heal and conceal scars. By making yourself beautiful, you start feeling beautiful. After all, true beauty comes from within. This is my mother’s way of beauty therapy and I’m happy that it worked for you, too. For years, I thought she was full of it each time she made an excuse for this said therapy, but I guess mothers know best,
ne?
”
“Your mother sounds like my kind of woman. I bet she’s amazing!” Smiling as I glanced at him.
“She is. My mother has a passionate nature. My father thought it too passionate at times. She has a flare for dramatics, but they work great together.” He looked thoughtful a moment, as if picturing his parents in his mind. By the way he smiled it was obvious that his parents were happy together.
“I know this might sound stupid and a few hours delayed since we’re already here, but I’ve been wondering… why are we in Paris?” I was too caught up in my own head that I hadn’t asked questions when he decided to bring me to another country.
I was that distracted with Bass.
“We’re having a celebratory party for one of my good friends. Are you familiar with car racing?
Formula One?
”
Racing? “Um, no, not really familiar with that. Though I know what it is, I didn’t find it all that interesting.”
“Please, I would love to see the men’s faces when you say that.” Dimitris laughed as he ushered us out the door and headed to dine at some fancy restaurant.
The men
, he forgot to mention, were heart-stopping, gorgeous men. The urge to lick my suddenly dry lips from nervousness was killing me. “This is Jacques Bertrand,” Dimitris introduced me to the French champion. Jacques was tall with sexy side-stubble, longhair that ended behind his neck, but it was worn back in a band, with tawny eyes and had all the makings of an ultimate playboy.
“Good evening, ma belle,” Jacques greeted me the European way, kissing both cheeks.
I was blushing furiously, but I didn’t have time to ponder since Dimitris was on to the next lothario. “This is Luca de Medici.”
Luca was taller than Jacques by a few inches, had the most amazing chocolate eyes fringed with sooty, long lashes and a pair of killer dimples. I tensed when he kissed me the way Jacques did, but whispered something into my ear. “You smell wonderful, carina.” The Italian Casanova.
“Lastly, this is the infamous Spanish Duke, Andrès Franco.” Dimitris gestured to the dark haired man with emerald green eyes.
I was surprised that he held out his hand, briefly shook mine, but didn’t let go. “Would you like to be my companion for tonight? I’d rather talk to you than these
dos locos
,” Andrès drawled in a sexy accent.
God, these men!
They made Bass sound so tame.
“Shut it, Franco. Emma’s going through a rough time, so you guys will look at her like a sister,”
Dimitris spoke with a don’t-mess-with-me voice.
“Okay, we’ll behave. Who’s the bastard, Emma?”
Andrès asked just before Jacques intruded and ushered me towards the table to join them. “What can we get for you, ma belle?”
“Sí, carina, have a drink and laugh tonight. You’ll be good as new tomorrow.” Luca smiled at me, his flirtatious self was gone.
Three hours later, the trio of aristocratic adrenaline junkies made me laugh so hard about their stupid stories that my stomach was cramping. We got to the club right around midnight, where the celebratory party was held. It felt good to laugh again.
As it turned out, Paris was just what I needed. I was ready to have a good time and dance the night away.
~E~
The thought of going back to Aspasia made my stomach drop. So much so that I didn’t want to step on the island any more. It was dreadful, but I knew I had made a commitment to finish the movie.
Bass
… I wondered how his weekend had gone.
Right about sundown,
Dimitris got me back on the island. He was persistent to take me back to the cottage, but I told him no. “Thank you for being a great man, D. I can’t express how grateful I am. I feel so much better now. Still hurting, but tolerable.” I hugged the life out of him before giving him a kiss on the cheek.
“I do what I can to help my friends out,” he said with a big smile on his face. “Get some rest. I heard the guys, especially Jacques, kept you late. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Another wave of goodbyes and I went to the awaiting ride.
I released a long sigh as I entered my
bedroom, my eyes longingly gazed at the large bed as I dropped my weekend bag on the floor. Taking my shoes off, I dropped to the bed with a soft thud. “So sleepy,” I groaned out loud, closing my eyes with a smile.
“
Where were you all weekend?
” Bass started yelling, momentarily confusing me.
Right, when did he get here? Why did he sound suspicious anyway? What’d he expect me to do? Stay here all weekend long and count as the time ticked by? Well, that was my plan… until
Dimitris whisked me away to Paris and introduced me to the dark champions, giving me a night to remember. “Somewhere,” I finally murmured.
“Where?” Bass demanded.
Paris. “Sight-seeing.”
“Were you
with him?
”
Ah, here it comes, I thought with disdain. He thought I was with Carter. Funny, Carter was a baby next to those three bad boys, but why does it matter if I did or didn’t? It was obvious that he was through with me. “Think whatever you like, Bass.” I got up, ignoring where he was and left my bedroom. I was in the kitchen, drinking water when he pestered again.
“
Did you fuck him?
”
I just shrugged in response to his question. Even if I was hurting this much, I couldn’t help feeling good that he was the one seeking me now.
Bass strolled closer to me, just enough to make my heart gallop faster. His eyes were like they were made out of ice—cold, haunting and dead. “Answer the question, then I’ll leave you alone.”
“Sure. I did.
Happy?
”
Chapter 7
“Love is like a war: easy to begin but very hard to stop.”
- H. L. Mencken
Bass
“Sure. I did.
Happy?
” Emma had the gall to finish her glass before leaving me in the kitchen and then slamming her bedroom door shut.
I was shaking with rage that I didn’t even trust myself to be near her for the rest of the night.
The next afternoon, I was thinking of ways to lash out at Emma when I heard someone approach Dimitris. “Kosta! I didn’t know you were friends with Formula One’s Jacques Bertrand and Luca de Medici?”
Glancing sideways, I saw an overexcited Trick (a diehard racer, but loved making films, too) shove a magazine at
Dimitris. “I thought after Luca got the second place in Monza, he and Jacques would be enemies.”
“Do they look like they’re fighting?”
Dimitris sounded bored.
Trick was laughing as he stabbed the article repeatedly with his finger. “Nah. I think the only fight here was who gets to take home the blonde, right? Who won?” Trick kept yapping, and then stopped before releasing a loud, disbelieving gasp. “What the fuck, man!
Is that our Emma Anderson?
”
That made me crane
my neck like a crazed person towards the men.
Emma was out with Formula One men?
WHEN? I launched myself out of my seat and grabbed the magazine out of Trick’s hand, almost crushing it. “What the fuck are you talking about!?”
Trick held up his hands, taking a step back from my sudden attack. Shocked at my intense reaction. “Shit, Bass! Sorry. We’re still tight, right? ‘Kay, man,
laters.”
Emma in an extremely short, halter-neck, black dress with no bra on—her nipples were blatantly obvious—her beautiful legs looked amazing as she smiled at the camera as the two men sat on either side of her, comfortable as one man had his arm around her shoulder and the other had one on her knee. Her makeup was so dramatically done that I had to take a second look to make sure it was
her. Yes, the woman in the picture was definitely my Emma.
I grabbed
Dimitris by the collar as I angrily made my intention clear. “You better start speaking, Kosta, because if you don’t provide it in the next sixty seconds, you’re going to make an enemy of me.”
“Go ahead, I don’t scare easily,”
Dimitris said, unruffled with my outburst.
That got me even more riled up. What the fuck was
Kosta playing at with Emma? It was foul. “Don’t fucking push me. You’re messing with my life here and I take that very seriously,” I spat at him.
He snorted in disgust. “You mess your own life up very well. This place was practically dead, apart from the people who worked here. Emma was alone all weekend while you partied your ass away. I came back from Athens because I felt bad for her. She was alone, crying while eating ice cream! How could you leave her like that? I know the island is practically safe, but a drunkard could go in there and hurt her knowing that there are not many people to hear her screams.”
Fuck. My hand slowly eased off him as his words set in. When did I ever forget to protect Emma? I knew I was angry, but I should’ve thought of her safety first. “You’re right. I’m sorry, I was…”
What?
Ballistic? Going crazy with thoughts of Emma with Carter and now other men?
“If you’re just going to act like a teenager, Bass, and can’t see that she is a good woman, then maybe you should stop whatever it is that you’re thinking and leave things as they are. I know a few men who would gladly take your place.”
I bet he did. There was Carter and now it seemed that the list of men kept on growing. “Did she sleep with any of them?”
He thought for a second before he shrugged, clueless. “I don’t know. You have to ask that yourself.”
Dimitris
left Emma alone
with international playboys? “How can you not know!”
“Because I was busy with Claudine.”
Fucker was busy getting his dick attended before he made sure mine was safe. What the FUCK! “I can’t believe you put your sex life before Emma’s safety. She could’ve been drugged or hurt from any of those men!”
Dimitris
darted me a murderous glare. “Of course I made sure she was safe, Bass!
Or I wouldn’t have left her to begin with.
Emma shooed me away anyway.”
Did she now. Why would Emma do that when the only man she knew there was
Dimitris?
Then
—I remembered what she told me last night. “
Who was she with?
” I thundered, almost wanting to continue fighting. I wanted to roar and knock everything that was around me.
“Jacques. She was with Jacques Bertrand.”
“Jacques,” I whispered, choking the hateful name out of my lips.
It was Jacques she slept with,
not Carter.
Emma, what have you done to us?
What have you done to me?
I thought as I walked out of the tent, stopping in my tracks when I spotted the person who was turning my life upside down; all the way down to hell.
Chapter 8
“Sometimes you need to run away just to see who will come after you.”
- Lisa Brooks
Emma
“Has he slept with any of these women?” I wondered out loud. If there was one person who knew the gossip here, it was Ants.
“There are rumors, but you know? Rumors are almost never true. Most are fabricated by jealous, crazy people,” he tried to reassure me, but failed.
“But do you think they are?”
“All I know, Emma, is that you and Bass are crazy for each other.”
“
Were
, past tense.” Well, mostly in his case. Me, on the other hand, I’m still trying.