VITTORIO'S LOVER (Vittorio Series) (24 page)

“
Linette didn’t get the chance to tell me who Jillian had been with that night because I cut her off when I spotted the helicopter approaching. I was so upset when she told me it wasn’t Luca, I just couldn’t listen to any more because I thought…well, you know what I thought.”

“That it was Raffaele who’d slept with your sister?”

Jenesa nodded, pain washing over her in cruel, unrelenting waves. “Thank you for hearing me out and being so kind,” she said, suddenly so exhausted it was all she could do to keep her eyes open.           

“You shouldn’t be thanking me. I
t’s my fault you were broadsided by Luca and took such a beating from them. I should have stuck to my guns and refused to tell Luca where Raffaele was.”

Grady
told her that Simon, the oldest of the Vittorio brothers, had spotted them as they slipped out the terrace doors leading to the gardens but thought nothing of it at the time. None of the brothers had questioned Grady when he told them Raffaele was called away on business until they didn’t hear from him for two days. Grady just happened to be in Simon’s office when Luca came in and said he was concerned about Raffaele because he hadn’t mentioned a business trip and it wasn’t like him not to check in.

Simon had laughed. “I wouldn’t worry too much. I saw Raffaele leaving
your party with that pretty blond. You know, the one that arrived with Marcus Zanelli.”

Apparently, Luca didn’t find it as amusing as Simon did. “He made off with Zanelli’s date? Not exactly proper etiquette.”

“I don’t think there was anything going on between Marcus and the Harding woman,” Simon replied. “I saw him working the room for his next ex-girlfriend shortly after they arrived.”

“Harding? T
he event planner I told you about that did such a great job for the
Capisano’s party?”

“That’s the one. Jenesa Harding.”

“You mean Jillian,” Luca corrected.

Simon shook his head. “No, Marcus introduced her as Jenesa. I remember commenting on how unusual her name was.”

“They’re sisters,” Grady said without thinking. Both men turned their heads to stare at him, waiting for him to elaborate. That’s when it hit him; Raffaele had absconded with the wrong woman. “It was Jillian you met at the Capisano’s,” he said more as a statement than a question.

“Yes. I’d neve
r heard of their company before then. Quite a coincidence, don’t you think,” Luca said. “Meeting Jillian and then having her sister show up at my engagement party with Zanelli.” 

“What are you getting at?” Simon asked.

“I’m saying it’s a little suspicious, especially since she seems to have run off with Raffaele. Stop the investigation, Grady, we won’t be doing business with the Harding sisters after all.”

“I’m not sure I understand,” Grady said. “I haven’t uncovered anything negative about their operation
, or any of the ladies, for that matter.  Nothing.  Not one disgruntled customer, no criminal history, no financial problems, not even a speeding ticket.”

Luca shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. Jenesa Harding arrived with Zanelli and left with my brother. I don’t care to business with a woman who has so little respect for herself that she is willing to use her body in order to procure a business deal.”

“You’re making assumptions that have no merit,” Grady argued.

“Regardless, I’m no longer interested in contracting them.”

Grady turned to Simon. “Surely, you don’t agree that Luca is being fair in his judgment when there’s no proof Miss Harding has done anything wrong.”

“
Sorry, but this is his call. I am curious about something though. Why are you so quick to come to her defense? What do you know that you’re not telling us, Grady?”

“But you had to tell them,” Jenesa said when Grady finished. He looked so guilt-stricken
, she couldn’t help feeling sorry for him. “What choice did you have? In a way, I’m glad it happened because it opened my eyes about how delusional I’d been to think Raffaele’s feelings were genuine.”

“How do you know they weren’t? Maybe…”

“No, Raffaele proved how little I meant to him when he refused to let me explain.”

Jenesa looked down at the purse she’d been cl
utching in her hands ever since they’d boarded the helicopter. She watched a fat teardrop plop onto the delicate beading where it shimmered for a fraction of second before slipping through the minute crevices between the beads and soaked into the cloth below. The enormity of what she’d lost hit her hard. She had to get out of there and into the house before the dam broke and unleashed the waterworks.

“Thanks for everything, Grady. I mean that.” She reached for the handle and pushed the door open, praying her wobbly legs wouldn’t give out until she was safely inside.
As she paused to scoop her shoes off the floorboard, Grady pressed something into her hand.

“My card,” he said. “In case you need some to talk to, a shoulder to cry on. A friend.”

Jenesa didn’t know what to say so she merely nodded. She grabbed her shoes and started to climb out of the car but there was one more thing she needed to say to Grady. Facing the man would have been a huge mistake when she was close to bursting into tears so she kept her back to him.

“Just for the record
, it was real. Despite the horrible thing Raffaele believes I’m guilty of, what happened on the island…the way I feel for him. For me, it was real.”

                                                  ELEVEN

Raffaele sat at his desk staring out the window at the darkening clouds. A
bad storm was brewing, which made him think of Jenesa. Frowning, he turned away from the window with a frustrated sigh.
Why was she still haunting him?
Night and day, at home, at work, with every tortured breath he drew, Jenesa was there. He didn’t want to remember their time together on the island, didn’t want to recall the way it felt to sink into her feminine warmth or the taste of her kisses. He tried to close his mind to the sound of her laughter, the scent of her skin, that beautiful smile, those expressive eyes.  It was an exercise in futility.

Damn her!
Damn her for consuming his thoughts and making him feel so…so
raw
inside, as if someone had taken a knife and plunged it into his gut. Every time the golden haired witch crossed his mind, the knife twisted, gouging a little deeper and drawing more blood. 

He despised her for what she’d done.
No woman had ever played him for a fool the way she had and it was not in his nature to forgive such contemptible behavior. It was fortunate he discovered how calculating and cold-hearted she was before any real damage had been done. It was only his pride she’d hurt, Raffaele told himself. Jenesa had tromped all over it and he was still feeling the sting, that’s all.

What he
should
do is find another woman. The type of woman he was used to and understood, the type that didn’t ask if he had brothers or sisters and wasn’t interested in hearing what his job entailed or whether he liked what he did for a living. A woman who knew the rules and didn’t gaze at him as if the sun rose and fell at his command or tried to make him believe she actually
cared
. Yes, a warm and willing body in his bed was just the thing he needed to take his mind off Jenesa Harding.

With a purposeful stride, Raffaele crossed the room to his desk and settled back in his chair.
There was any number of women he could call that would drop everything at a moment’s notice to meet him for an afternoon tryst. He wouldn’t even have to pretend it was something other than what it was; sex purely for the enjoyment of having it with a partner who wouldn’t make him feel guilty for leaving afterwards and didn’t expect anything more than he was willing to give. No emotional involvement. Just a brief, satisfying and uncomplicated sexual encounter.

Six months without a woman
was too long. No wonder he was always on edge and so quick to unleash his temper on anyone that crossed his path. A few hours with a tall, leggy brunette would do him a world of good. Raffaele contemplated his choices, refusing to acknowledge there was a reason he deliberately excluded blondes from the list of potential bed partners. 

One by one, the females who had once excited and brought him such pleasure were eliminated.
Those whose expensive, clingy perfume arrived five minutes before they did were the first to go. Make-up so thick it had to have been applied with a putty knife; gone. If their hair was too short, their breasts too small, or they had nothing substantial in the rear to grab onto, Raffaele mentally ticked them off the list. He was hungry for a woman who could match his voracious appetite, someone who blushed like a virgin when he striped his clothes off, and yet devoured him with her eyes as if he was the last drink of water in a blistering hot desert. 

“
Madre di Dio,
” Raffaele muttered twenty minutes later, “it should not be this difficult.”

Surely,
he could single out at least one woman who possessed the attributes he desired for an afternoon of casual sex. Hell, the encounter would be meaningless anyway so what did it matter who he chose to share his bed? Raffaele leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes. Casual. Meaningless. Emotions checked at the bedroom door. Elements of all the relationships he’d had with the women in his past, and Raffaele had been just fine with that until he’d gotten a taste of Jenesa Harding and experienced physical pleasures he’d never known before.

God help him, but Raffaele still wanted her.
 

                                                      ***

“Go out with me tonight. We’ll dine at one of those exclusive restaurants that serve microscopic proportions and charge obnoxiously high prices. I’ll even take you dancing afterwards and get you home at a scandalous hour that will make you the topic of neighborhood gossip for weeks. What do say?”

Jenesa smiled into the phone but didn’t dare let her amusement transfer to her voice. “Thanks for asking, Grady, but I really don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“Of course it is. It’s a spectacular idea. Jenesa, you need to move on with your life and start dating again.”

“Grady…”

“Okay, okay. It’s not a date then. Consider it an outing with a friend who is deeply concerned that you’re working yourself to death and deserve a night off.”

She
did
deserve a night off, Jenesa acknowledged. She’d been running herself ragged for the past six months, deliberately working sixteen hour days, seven days a week just so she could fall into an exhausted sleep at night. It was the only way to insure she didn’t have the time or energy to think about Raffaele. She knew her sisters were worried about her because she refused to talk about the time she’d spent on the island with him, but she’d already had her heart ripped out once; talking about Raffaele would only open up wounds that hadn’t even come close to healing yet.

With Grady, at least she could let her guard down and
didn’t have to hide her misery behind a plastic smile. He’d been wonderfully supportive during those first few months when Jenesa was two seconds away from an emotional crash and burn at any given moment. He hadn’t pushed her to talk about Raffaele; he’d simply…been there for her. Their friendship had developed over the days and weeks that followed and she was grateful that he allowed her an occasional crying jag, offering comfort in the form of a broad shoulder and non-judgmental silence.

Obviously, their company hadn’t taken on Vittorio Enterprises as a client, although she knew Grady had presented a glowing report and high recommendation to Luca. According to Jillian, she received a written notice from Luca stating just that:
Although JLJ comes highly recommended, I have elected to employ a more suitable company for our needs. No further communication with Vittorio Enterprises or its corporate staff is necessary.
In other words, neither he nor Raffaele ever wanted to see or hear from her again.

Jenesa couldn’t really blame either of them. Luca had been falsely accused of cheating on his fiancé and had every right to resent it. Of course, Jenesa hadn’
t unraveled the truth until Linette and Jillian had shown up at her doorstep a few hours after Grady dropped her off.  She felt bad about the misunderstanding and the damage she’d almost caused to Luca’s relationship with Caroline and was more than willing to offer a sincere apology, but after he’d refused four calls from her and several more from Jillian, they both decided it was best to let sleeping dogs lie.

“It’s not your fault,” Jillian had insisted, “and I love you both dearly for what you tried to do. I guess I was too emotional to realize th
e babble that was coming out of my mouth. You and Lin kept asking who he was and where he worked but I wasn’t ready for the barrage of questions that would follow if I told you his name. When I finally caved and blurted out his name, I tried to cover it by telling you that Alessandro worked at Vittorio Enterprises.”

“Alessandro?”
Jenesa had asked.

The smile that lit Jillian’s face almost made everything Jenesa had gone through worth it.