Chapter3
Gabriella awoke the next morning wondering how real the night before had been, and not completely trusting Julian Medici, she called Kathy’s office to be certain of what would be happening that day.
Kathy confirmed that Gabriella would not be going in and that Julian had called to say she would be working for him that day. Her tone was icy and her words were short, but Gabriella knew then that Julian meant what he said. She hung up the phone with Kathy and readied a day bag with her swimsuit and extra clothes.
An hour later, she was standing on the dock where Julian’s sailboat was, and he was stepping off the boat to greet her. He strode toward her in his white pressed pants with his polo shirt unbuttoned enough that dark curls of hair peeked out through the top of it. He gave her a grin and she smiled back.
When he reached her, he stopped directly in front of her and reached both of his arms around her waist, pulling her intimately close to him in his embrace, leaning in to kiss her cheek softly, lingering there a moment before he leaned back and looked at her with a sly smile.
“You smell incredible. I like that perfume on you.” He held her a moment longer and she tried to make her heart slow down just a little. She felt more nervous than she had the night before at dinner; almost like an animal uncertain if it was in danger or not.
She took a small breath and leaned back from him. “Thank you,” she said quietly. Little seeds of awkwardness and doubt began to drift through her, and she wondered again what she was doing there with him, and how much her time with him really pertained to her getting the cover of the magazine.
He watched her and his expression changed subtly. He could see that she wasn’t warming up to him, and he discovered that he was slightly put out by the unusual phenomenon. Julian was much more accustomed to women coming onto him all the time, and working to get their attention and interest was something he never had to do. He let her go and hid the frown that he felt coming on.
“Well, we should get going. Welcome aboard, Gabriella,” he said coolly, reaching for her hand to help her up onto the sailboat. She let him help her, but once they were both on the boat, he noticed that she pulled away from him and kept a little closed off from him. Irritation laced its way through him and he smiled and got the sailboat pushed away from the dock and headed out to sea.
She turned her attention from Julian to the moment and the feel of the cool wind on her skin and in her hair, and the wide open ocean out in front of them. It was a beautiful day; the golden sun glinted brightly off of the vast expanse of blue before them, glittering like diamonds scattered as far as she could see, and Gabriella found herself breathing it in, letting it relax her and soothe the small tensions that had been building in her. It wasn’t a bad way to have a day off from work, gliding along on the sea as they were.
Julian watched her as he sailed them along the coastline, his eyes taking in all of her form, her beauty, and her mood. He had been so sure the night before that he would have her riding him in the back seat of his car, but by the end of dinner, he knew she wasn’t getting into his car with him, and he had decided that she needed a little more coaxing. She wanted the cover. She was an intelligent woman. She must realize that the easiest way to get it would be to seduce him, but she had kept up a wall and a little distance. He was perturbed by it and the more he watched her, the more he wanted her. She was complicated and distant, and he was completely unaccustomed to having to do much work at all to get a woman to please him any way he wanted her to.
He was bothered by her disinterest in him, and he decided that she could take a little more convincing. It wouldn’t be that hard, he decided. He could take her to his home; his sprawling mansion on the coast, take her to his bed and do everything to her that had been playing through his thoughts since he had met her. There would be no way that she could not want him if he got her into his home and his bedroom.
She’d be amazed at his wealth, his power, his gorgeous body, and they would be alone with no distractions, no interference, and he could lay it on the line then, if she wasn’t already pleading to climb onto his lap, he could tell her that the only way he would give her the cover would be if she would work in his bed for it. He thought of the hours he would keep her there, and all of the things he wanted to do to her, and have her do to him.
“Let’s stop at my place for lunch,” he mentioned a short while later, his eyes intense on her, his hands tight on the wheel of the boat. “I’m getting to be very hungry.” As he spoke, he held her eyes with his, and she reached her arms around herself instinctively, wondering if he meant that he was speaking of food or not.
She wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, but the fire in his eyes told her that he was thinking of something far different than what he was saying aloud. She shrugged nonchalantly. “I guess so. I’m a little hungry too,” she answered. “I’d love a salad,” she added, just in case he wasn’t talking about food.
He chuckled and nodded. “I’ll see what I can come up with for you at the house,” he replied and she looked at him in surprise.
“At the house?” she asked, wondering just what he had in mind.
He lifted his chin and nodded to the small golden hills off to one side of the boat. “Yes, I thought we’d have lunch at my home, since we’re so close. It would be handy,” he said with a sly grin.
She turned to look and saw that there was a dock and a boathouse on a deserted beach, not too far from a little beach house that was nestled onto a sandy dune at the base of a hill. The beach house was good sized, pristine and picturesque, but it was nothing compared to the back of the enormous mansion that rose up from the top of the hill, commanding everything around it in a powerful and dominant way. She had never seen a home so big in her life.
It was an Italian villa; cream colored with a terra cotta roof and windows all around it on every side. There was a wide and exquisitely manicured garden filled with statuary and fountains that stretched from the back of the mansion out to the edge of the hill where the land ended and the hill sloped down sharply to the beach below.
A road went from the beach house up to the main house, winding along the round edge of the hill, and disappearing from view in places until it reappeared at the crest of the land and the side of the gardens. It was elegant and breathtaking, and as Gabriella looked at it, she could only shake her head as she tried to take it in. She had no idea how anyone could live in a place so surreal and beautiful. It looked like a dream, or a dream of a dream.
“That’s where you live?” she asked in wide-eyed wonder as he pulled the sailboat up to the dock.
He chuckled. He knew she’d be completely impressed with it, and he grinned to think how much she would love his enormous bedroom. “Yes, I live here. It’s a beautiful place. Do you like it?” he asked, reaching for her hand to help her to the dock from the boat.
“I love it. It’s amazing!” she breathed. “I’ve never seen anything like it.” She walked slowly down the dock, looking at the beach house and small part of the grounds of the mansion that she could see from where they were.
He walked over to a car that was parked at the boathouse and opened the passenger door for her. “I’m pleased that you like it. I’m looking forward to showing you more of it.” He said as he gazed at her while he shut the door. They drove up the hill and she stared at the gardens as they passed them, and then at the house as they pulled up to it.
He parked the car at the back of the house and helped her from her seat, taking her hand in his and walking with her as her attention was completely taken be the beauty and wonder all around her. He walked her into the back of the home and she gasped as she passed through the door into what in her mind could only have been described as a palace.
The floors and pillars were marble, there were massive crystal chandeliers hanging in the bigger rooms, enormous intricately woven oriental rugs were set about, museum quality paintings hanging on the twenty-foot-high walls, and wide arched doorways between the rooms that they passed through.
He watched her from the corner of his eye, smiling to himself, knowing that she was mesmerized and would be so easy to lay back in his bed, spellbound as she was by his home, his lifestyle, and he mused to himself, by his body once she saw it. She would be begging him to take her over and over, and he would take her in every way he wanted to for hours, all afternoon. Heat and tension pulled at his groin and he felt himself harden yet again for her.
They entered the kitchen and he instructed the older woman who seemingly appeared from nowhere to make lunch for them. She nodded and vanished as quickly as she had come, and Julian poured each of them a glass of champagne.
“I’m glad that you like it here,” he said, handing her glass to her and drawing near her. “The Medici home is one of the most beautiful on the coast, but it shines a little brighter because you’re in it right now,” he told her, reaching his arm around her and nuzzling her neck with his nose and mouth again.
The dream bubble around Gabriella suddenly seemed to pop, and reality poured in like cold water crashing forcefully all around her. She realized then as she felt his mouth moving along her skin, leaving warm wet kisses on her neck, that he fully intended to seduce her there at his home where she would have no way to leave, no way out, no recourse or option. Anger and panic shot through her and she pulled away from him, looking at him sharply.
“Julian, I hope you know that I’m here only so that we can discuss the cover of the magazine. I have no interest in any other kind of interaction with you. This is nothing more than business… you know that, don’t you?” she said firmly as she looked at him directly.
The tension in him tightened and he took in a breath, watching her closely, trying to judge everything happening between them. She stood before him in her dark blue bikini, her body svelte and toned, her skin frosted over by the sheer gauzy swimsuit cover she wore, and all he could focus on was how hard he was growing.
He he wanted to tear the cover and the suit from her body and lay her down beneath him. He envisioned filling her with himself, running his hands and his mouth over her, making her cry out his name with ecstasy until he came. But there she was, standing there looking stubborn and defiant, telling him that it was all business.
He was confounded by her, and it served to irritate him further, and turn him on even more. It was beginning to feel like a cat and mouse game; a power play. He regarded her quietly for a moment before speaking in a calm tone.
“Gabriella, of course we are here to discuss business. I just happen to find you attractive…” he stepped toward her and she held her ground, her eyes steady on him. “…irresistibly so. Can I help it if I’m drawn to you? You would deny me the little pleasure of a soft touch? An innocent kiss on your cheek? A small taste of your neck when I embrace you? These are such insignificant things…” He spoke slowly and deliberately as he stood a breath away from her, his fingers lifting to touch her shoulder lightly and then drift down her arm as he spoke more.
“They are merely appreciative flirts, that’s all. Little teases and sweet little enticements.” He leaned close to her again and spoke into her ear softly. “Do I want more? Oh yes… my dear, I would so love to enjoy more of you, but I am taking my time.
We are here for business, it’s true, but there’s no reason why we couldn’t have some pleasure while we are here together. Don’t you agree, my little cover girl?” he teased, his lips grazing her ear before he stood back and looked at her with hungry eyes.
She felt her stomach twist and turn as she looked up at him. She was thoroughly disgusted. She knew then just what he wanted her to do and what he was getting at. She was determined to beat him at his own game.
“I think we should focus on the business,” she replied coolly. “I would like to change for lunch. Is there somewhere that I could do that?” she asked, lifting her chin resolutely. She didn’t want to be in her bikini around him at all, knowing what he was thinking.
He shrugged. She was playing hard to get, he thought. She wanted him to come after her. He would. He wanted her bad enough then that he was willing to play her game and take his time, and he knew that it would make it all the more sweeter when he laid her back in his bed and buried himself in her. He’d have won her then, and she would be his trophy; his delicious prize, at least for a week or so.
Julian smiled at her. “Of course. Just down that hallway you’ll find the indoor pool room and there are changing rooms.” He was disappointed that she would be taking her swimsuit off, but he appreciated the view as she walked away from him and left the room.
Gabriella was fuming as she headed down the hall. Everything he had said to her the night before and all that day suddenly clicked into place and she knew that he had been wanting to get her into his bed the entire time in exchange for the cover.
She wasn’t about to lose the cover, and she knew that he had the power to stop her from being on it, just as much as he had the power to put her on it. She wondered if he had any genuine interest in her or if it was only lustful sex that he had on his mind. He had taken a good deal of time the night before getting to know her, and that made her wonder just what it was that he was after. Whatever it was, she thought to herself, he wasn’t getting it until she had the cover, and then she would how she felt about him at that point and make a decision as to whether she wanted anything with him.
She yanked open the door to the pool room and immediately collided with someone. Gasping, she stepped back hurriedly and lost her balance. Two strong arms reached out for her, wrapping around her as their hands clasped her back firmly and she looked up with wide eyes, finding herself in the arms of a strange and beautiful man.
He looked down at her and blinked, unable to breathe for a moment. It had happened so fast; he’d been coming from the pool, opened the door, and suddenly she had walked right into him from out of nowhere. He’d seen her nearly fall and his instant reaction was to catch her, but it had placed her in his embrace, and as he stared down at her silvery blue eyes looking back up at him, he felt like he was falling into them slowly, as if there was some gravity in her lovely face that was pulling him, drawing him gradually in, and somehow he felt as if he didn’t want it to stop.
She drew a sharp breath and he realized that he was still holding her. “Are you all right?” he asked in his soft deep voice.
Gabriella wasn’t sure she was all right at all. She stared up at him, unable to look away from the warm brown eyes, the chiseled cheeks and jaw, the soft dark pink lips, and the wet tangle of black curls that hung over the brow of the man holding her in his arms against his warm, wet body. Her hands were pressed against the hard curves of his biceps, and as she took a breath and tried to remember anything at all, his voice wrapped around her just as his arms had, and she felt her lips form a smile.
“I’m… I’m fine. I’m sorry. I didn’t know that anyone was in here,” she said softly, a little laugh escaping her. Every bit of annoyance that she had been feeling for Julian had completely dissipated.
He let his arms move away from her slowly, and he smiled at her. “Oh no, I’m sorry.” He shook his head. I should have been looking where I was going. I’d have seen you if I hadn’t had my towel up to my face.” He looked slightly embarrassed as he grinned at her. “Are you all right?”
She shrugged a little. “Yes, I’m fine.”
He couldn’t look away from her eyes and found himself not wanting to. “I’m Antonio,” he told her, extending his hand to her.
“Gabriella,” she answered, taking it and liking the gentle warm strength she found there. He smiled and she saw a dimple form in his cheek. She thought it was cute and seeing it there made her smile.
He hesitated for a moment, lost in her gaze, and he realized that she was standing there in swim clothes. “Were you coming to swim?” he asked in confusion, tipping his head back to indicate the huge swimming pool behind him.
She laughed a little; light and sweet, and he was charmed by it. “No, I was actually coming in to change into clothes for lunch,” she answered.
He nodded and bit his lip thoughtfully. “You’re here for lunch?” he asked as a bubble of happiness rose up in him. Antonio wasn’t sure why something so simple as her staying for lunch could make him feel good, but he was happy about it all the same.
“I guess so. I’m here with Julian,” she said, not liking the sound of Julian’s name in her mouth.
Antonio looked slightly crestfallen to her. He was quiet for a moment and nodded. “Oh, I see. You’re dating my brother?”
Gabriella blinked in surprise, wondering how anyone as beautiful and sweet as the man standing before her could possibly be related to someone like Julian. “Dating him?! God no,” she said in horror, and then realized who she was saying it to. She softened her tone. “I’m sorry. No… we aren’t dating; it’s a business meeting. I work for him. I don’t mix business and pleasure.”
Antonio smiled again and laughed a little bit. “Julian does.” He lowered his thick long dark eyelashes a moment, looking down, and then raised his dark brown eyes to her again. “So… just business? That’s good.” He couldn’t get over how entrancing she was.
Gabriella felt butterflies begin to move in her stomach. “You’re Julian’s brother?” she asked, still amazed at their connection.
He nodded and rolled his eyes a little. “As difficult as it is for me and many others to believe, yes. I am his older, more responsible, less fun, less wild, less interesting brother.”
She laughed at him and kept her eyes on his, shaking her head slightly. “I somehow doubt that you are less in any good way.”
Antonio chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. “Thank you. I try to take being the older brother seriously.” He paused then, his eyes sweeping over her face as he gazed at her. “Are you discussing business at lunch today?” he asked curiously.
He found himself hoping that she would say no, and that maybe he could join his brother and Gabriella, just to be able to be around her a little longer, but her answer took that chance away from him.
“Yes,” she said, watching him and wondering about him, “it’s definitely supposed to be a business lunch, and I’m going to do my best to make sure that it stays that way.” She wanted him to know without a doubt that there would be nothing happening between her and Julian, no matter what Julian wanted.
She wasn’t sure why it felt so important to her to make that clear to him, whether it was because she just didn’t want him thinking that she was nothing more than another of his brother’s flings, or because he made the butterflies dance in her stomach.
Antonio chuckled lightly and nodded. He was relieved that she was so adamant that her connection to his brother was strictly business, but he felt the remnants of disappointment in him knowing that it would be lunch he could not join in on.
“Well,” he said quietly, his smile lingering on his mouth, “I guess I should let you get changed then. I’m sorry to have held you up.” He stepped away from her and his distance slowed down the butterflies in her. He gave her a friendly look. “Perhaps I’ll see you once more after your lunch, before you go.”
She felt her breath catch a little and she nodded and smiled back at him. “I’d like that.” She replied, and then he turned away from her and made himself walk out of the door, wondering in amazement at the woman who had just turned everything in him upside down.
It never happened. He never felt that way about women. Women would show interest in him, almost as much as they did Julian, but he never felt much interest back for them. It had been longer than he could remember, if ever, that a woman had arrested his attention and his feelings as swiftly as Gabriella had.
There was something about her that had completely taken him in and he marveled at it as he walked down the hallway away from her, hoping that he would see her again and planning on spending as much time as he could in the kitchen and near the dining room, in hopes of ensuring that he would see her at least once before she left.
Gabriella took a long deep breath as the door closed behind her, and she raised her hand to cover her heart, patting it slowly to try to calm it down. She had no idea what it was about him that made her heart beat faster or the butterflies in her dance, but she liked it, and grinned and giggled to herself, hoping that she would see him once more before she left the house with Julian.
Changing quickly, she pulled on a sundress and tucked her swimsuit into her day bag. She touched up her makeup and straightened her braids. She had looked pretty when he saw her, she decided, giving herself a slightly critical inspection in the mirror. That made her smile, and she left the pool room and headed toward the dining room, so bubbly from meeting Antonio that she wasn’t bothered at all by Julian, not even when she walked in and saw his eyes move slowly over her body.
They sat down to lunch together and as she had requested, salad was served along with salmon and lemon dill sauce. Julian tried to talk about everything but the cover, keeping his focus on her, but she worked the cover into almost everything they talked about until he was so fed up with hearing about it that he stopped talking about it all together and began to speak of mundane things, telling her about himself.
Lunch ended and all the while that they ate it, she couldn’t quite keep her thoughts from Antonio, wondering where he was; if he was still at the house, if he was anywhere there that she might see him again, and her attention was only moderately spent on Julian; a fact which he was constantly aware of and entirely displeased about.
With lunch finished, Julian suggested a stroll through the gardens, but Gabriella shook her head. “No, thank you, I do need to get back. I have other commitments today that I have to get to.” She smiled coolly and pressed her lips together, closing the conversation.
Julian frowned and nodded. It was going to take much more work to get her into his bed than he had originally thought. He was beginning to grow slightly annoyed with her resistance. A voice sounded from the doorway as they walked out into the garden and they both turned to look behind them.
Antonio was walking out behind them, closing the door at his back. “Hello Julian, Gabriella,” he said cheerfully. “I hope you both had a nice lunch.” He smiled at them, seeing by her satisfied expression and Julian’s frustrated eyes that lunch had gone just as he secretly hoped it would. His brother had made no headway at all with Gabriella, if he had been trying to. Antonio could never be completely sure of what his brother wanted or was up to, and he never cared to get too involved in anything that his brother did, but in the case of the woman standing before him, he felt a small wave of victorious satisfaction that his brother had not gotten more than business from her.
Gabriella smiled widely and waved her hand at Antonio. “Hello! We’re just leaving. I’m glad I got to see you once more before we head down to the boat.”
Julian frowned darkly. “You know each other?” he asked in confusion, looking from one of them to the other.
“We just met earlier in the pool room,” Antonio said, his eyes steady on Gabriella and a smile on his face. He walked toward them and Gabriella reached her hand out to him. He took it and gave it a gentle shake, letting his fingers close around her hand gently and linger there for a long moment before letting her go.
Julian watched as the two of them gazed at each other with sweet smiles, and he wondered just what had happened in the pool room that would cause the two of them to look at one another that way. He felt ire rising up in him and he reached his arm possessively around her waist, pulling her close to him.
“Well, we need to be going,” he snapped shortly, finally catching his brother’s eye and giving him a subtle yet unmistakable shake of the head. His message was clear. Hands off; she’s mine.
Antonio shrugged and looked back at Gabriella, who was still watching him. “Well, it was wonderful to meet you. You have been the loveliest part of my day today. I’m grateful for it.” He inclined his head and she laughed lightly again, giving him a smile and a wave as Julian pulled her toward the car.
“It was really nice to meet you as well. I hope I’ll be seeing you again.” She gave him one last glance as they got into the car and Julian drove them away from the house. Antonio watched her until the car was gone, amazed at the energy in him that was flooding him with happiness. He went back to the house, and for the rest of the afternoon and evening his thoughts returned to her again and again.
Julian helped Gabriella back into the boat and neither of them said anything; though both of them were thinking of Antonio. Julian tried to keep the scowl from his face while Gabriella could not keep the wide smile from hers. She had never met anyone who had struck her so sweetly and so deeply that quickly.
She looked up at Julian as he sailed them out into the water and she cocked her head to the side. “What’s your brother like?” she asked, watching him and hoping he would tell her all about Antonio.
Julian did not wish to discuss his brother at all with her. “He’s uninteresting,” he said flatly, his sharp eyes focused on the water ahead of them.
She could see that he wanted nothing more to do with the conversation and so she let it go, smiling to herself and turning her back to him to look at the ocean ahead, her thoughts going back to Antonio as she sighed happily.
That evening when she returned home, she sank into her sofa and called Lila. She had promised to let her know how it all went, and she wanted to tell Lila about everything.
“Hello?” Lila asked with a grin. “So am I talking to a cover girl? What happened?” she asked anxiously.
Gabriella sighed. “Well, not yet you aren’t, but I’m still working on that,” she stated resolutely.
Lila gave a disappointed moan. “I’m sorry to hear it. What happened?”
“Well, at dinner last night he kept saying things that made me wonder if he had other intentions, but he didn’t really do much, except he did kiss me on the cheek when we left and I didn’t quite expect that. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t a really chaste kiss, either. Nothing too scandalous,” she said with a little smile.
“He asked me to go out on his sailboat with him today and I said I had to work, but he told me he would call Kathy and get me out of work and he did, so I went sailing with him. He has a gorgeous boat, and while we were out on the water he said he was going to take me to lunch.
He sailed his boat up to this dock and the dock is on a private beach. His beach. He has a huge mansion up on the hill overlooking the beach. I couldn’t believe it. It’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen. I’ve never been in a house that big. I’ve never been in any building as fancy as that one was. It’s crazy to me that anyone can live like that.” She shook her head thinking of it.
“He took you to his house? What for?” Lila asked suspiciously.
“Well,” Gabriella rolled her eyes as she continued. “He said it was for lunch, and we did have lunch, but he made it clear that he had other things on his mind. I’d probably still be there right now if I’d have said yes to him, but I let him know that he and I weren’t going to do anything of the kind, and that was that.”
“Good girl! You keep him honest! If you aren’t interested in him that way then don’t let him come after you at all. You get that cover job the right way,” she encouraged.
“That’s exactly what I’m doing. I’m not interested in him that way, but I did meet his brother Antonio while I was at the house, and I have to tell you something, his brother is nothing like him. It’s like Julian got all the bad character traits and Antonio got all of the good ones. Girl… he made me forget to breathe for a few moments today. He’s so good looking and sweet. I could spend some time with him, that’s for sure.” She laughed and a shy naughty grin came over her face.
Lila laughed with her. “Well at least something good came out of today. Did you get this Antonio’s number?” she asked.
“No…” Gabriella sighed. “I think he liked me too, but we didn’t really have any time to talk. It was kind of fast. I met him when I was on my way to the pool room to get changed for lunch, so we had a few minutes alone without Julian there, but when I was leaving I saw him again and I think Julian was jealous of him. He yanked me out of there so fast. I didn’t get to talk to him again, but I’m glad I got to meet him. He was something else! He made my whole day!”
Lila laughed again and their conversation drifted to other things. When Gabriella went to sleep that night, she found herself dreaming of Antonio, and her dreams were sweet.