“Yeah.”

We had this discussion before and I was eager to stand my ground. Having Jett over wasn’t a good idea. First of all, both Sylvie and Jett’s egos were enormous. You simply don’t put two people, who show delusions of grandeur when it comes to their meaning in life, in the same room. And then there was the fact that Jett and Alessandro weren’t exactly friends.

“Ask him.” Sylvie shrugged.

“You’ll be good?”

“You know me.” She shot me a wide smile.

“No fighting?”

She heaved an exaggerated sigh and rolled her eyes slowly. “I’d never do that.”

Yeah, right!

Biting my lip, I stared at her innocent face for a few moments. I really wanted to believe her but Sylvie could be a little too overprotective, which turned her into a dragon. But she and Jett were extremely important to me, so wasn’t it about time they got to know each other? Just in case Jett and I were long-term material.

“You’re right,” I said. “Maybe I should ask Jett for his opinion. A male perspective’s always interesting.”

It was the truth. I wanted to hear his opinion because I trusted his judgment. But that wasn’t the only reason I needed him around. I wanted him by my side because he was the only one who made me feel safe.

Chapter 18

The clock was moving closer and closer to seven p.m. With every second, my heart pounded harder and faster against my chest. It had been doing that ever since my chat conversation with Jett.

Will u have dinner with us @ 7?

It had been my clue to him that Sylvie was ready to forgive him and that I wanted to see him today. Two minutes later, his text message pinged back.

I’ll bring wine.

For the past hour, my stomach had been fluttering and indulging in major wishful thinking. And not only because of the promise of a hot night. My phone beeped again. Expecting another message, I flicked it open. As I opened the photo attachment, I let out a spat of air, blushing.

Holy mother of pearls!

It showed me sleeping half naked on my stomach, my legs peering from under the sheets, where my tiny nightshirt had ridden up, my hair a mess and—earth swallow me up whole—my mouth slightly open. But, worst of all, the shirt I was wearing barely covered my ass. Below the picture he wrote, “Wish I would see the look on your face when you see this.”

I stared at the screen in shock, my hands moving across the keyboard.

Oh God, u didn’t do that.

Short silence, then my phone beeped again.

What?

The picture u just sent me!

I don’t know what you' re talking about?

Seriously? Now he was pretending he hadn’t sent me the picture.

I want u to delete it. I look horrendous.

A brief pause, then came his answer.

I thought the one showing your boobs was a pretty good shot, so there’s no chance in hell I’m deleting it. If I want to picture myself satisfied, I just have to look at them and rewind the memories I have with you.

I looked at the picture again. It definitely didn’t show my boobs. How many pictures did he take? I was about to text him again, when another text arrived.

p.s.: Can’t wait to see you. I’m sick of making out with my pillow and pretend it’s you.

My heart did a cartwheel. I texted him back, but no more messages arrived. Now dinner couldn’t come fast enough. Sylvie noticed my frazzled state of mind, but didn’t comment on it. As per her instructions, I showered, put on a dress of her choice, and let my hair fall onto my shoulders in cascading waves. I even let her apply my makeup, praying she wouldn’t go too far. She wanted me to look amazing, and I did. Standing in front of the mirror, I regarded my mint colored, off shoulder Grecian drape dress with fine lace embroidery and hand sewn pearls around the waist. Probably designed for an evening party or gala, it hugged my figure in all the right places, and gave my slightly tanned skin a golden hue. Definitely well worth the horrendous price tag Sylvie probably paid for it.

“Wow. I’m so proud of you,” Sylvie gushed.

“It’s just the three of us having dinner. It’s not like I’m graduating, or moving to Europe. But thanks for the thumbs-up.”

“I know but look at you.” She pointed down my body. “You’re spreading your wings and learning to fly.”

I turned around to inspect the dress in the mirror. “Where did you get it from? I’ve never seen it in your wardrobe and can’t remember you packing it.”

“I bought it yesterday,” Sylvie said.

“So you went to Milan?” I asked.

She shook her head, touching the dress. “No, there wasn’t enough time, because I wanted to be back in time for you. I found this small shop in Bellagio, not far from the pizzeria we went to. Half the stuff wasn’t that bad. And then I saw the dress and I had to get it. I thought it’d be a perfect fit for you.” She shot me a bright smile, which made me eye her carefully. She always talked this much, but there was something in her tone that made me listen up.

“For me?”

Sylvie nodded, and her smile widened just a little bit more.

“Thank you.” I hugged her tight. “But why would you get me something like this?”

“Feeling bad?” She winked.

Oh god.

Call it intuition but I just knew something was fishy.

I narrowed my eyes on her. “Feeling bad for—” I was cut short by the bell. I checked my watch. It was barely six. Jett was supposed to be here at seven. I turned to Sylvie, confused. “Who’s that?”

Judging from the grin on her face, something was up. “I asked Jett to be here early.”

“But why?” I looked around my messy room. Clothes and shoes—mostly Sylvie’s—were scattered all over the place. There was makeup, body lotion, and yet more makeup on the bed. No way would I let Jett see all the clatter.

She motioned me to follow her down the stairs to the front door. “Don’t be mad but I have a date. I reckoned you’d be fine without me.”

“You have what?” I almost tripped in my high heels as I tried to keep up with her.

“I’ve met someone.”

“Who?”

She shrugged, as though it wasn’t important, which was the exact opposite of what she really thought. “The guy from the bar.”

No freaking way!

Why did I believe her when she claimed it was going to be just one drink? From all the people in the world, did she have to go for the local mafia?

Sylvie’s hand clasped around the doorknob. Before she could open the front door, I grabbed her hand, forcing her to turn around.

“What about Jett and dinner?” My eyes spew fire, matching the angry flames blazing inside me.

“Don’t worry about him. He’ll take good care of you. Besides, I asked him to bring dinner, because you can’t cook worth shit. So you’ll be just fine.”

I rolled my eyes, ignoring her remark. I had no doubt that Jett and I would have a good time. “No, Sylvie. That’s not really my concern. I don’t like you going out with that guy, and you know it. What happened to ‘one drink only, I’m not gonna marry him’?”

She shrugged again in that non-committal way of hers. Cringing, I clamped my mouth shut. My hopes and dreams of Jett and Sylvie spending more time together in order to get to know each other were about to run down the toilet. I wanted the ice broken between the two most important people in my life. That was never going to happen if Sylvie kept finding excuses to stay away from him. I could take care of that later. Right now my issue was her going out with a guy I didn’t know.

“Sylvie, why would you go on a date with someone without telling me?”

Hypocrite alert.

Wasn’t that what I had done the last few times? I began to rub my temples in the hope she wouldn’t catch the guilty look on my face.

“I’m telling you now. If I can’t find a decent club in the area, I need a date. Besides, I haven’t had one of those in ages,” she said. “I’ll spill everything when I get back.”

I honestly didn’t want her to go and yet what could I do? I was in no position to make demands. In the end I found myself whispering, “Please be careful.”

Sylvie leaned in whispering back, “When you find someone special, he’s probably worth hanging on to. Don’t stop trying to make it work. In fact, today’s a good day to tell him how you feel about him. You take a risk, okay?”

Where the heck did the sudden Dr. Phil life coaching session come from? I stared at her, open-mouthed. Her lips touched my cheek gently and she patted my arm. That’s when everything dawned on me.

There was no sense in trying to convince Sylvie to stay. I knew a lost cause when I saw one. Yes, we had been in Italy for a few days now. But as much as she wanted to fool me into thinking she was missing guys and parties, I sensed the real reason why she couldn’t wait to leave me and Jett alone was to give us a chance to get back together.

“Promise me you’ll text me where you are,” I said.

With a sigh, Sylvie nodded and opened the door. My breath caught in my throat when I saw Jett in front of us. He was dressed in a black leather jacket, a sexy white tee, and even sexier jeans, holding a large box of what I supposed contained dinner. I grabbed it out of his hands and placed it on the side table in the foyer.

“Hey!” A smug grin lit up his eyes.

How could he make one word sound so deliciously sensual? For a brainless moment, I imagined kissing his butter-melting lips and wrapping my legs around his majestic body, dissolving into him, the way I did earlier today in the hotel room. Or yesterday in the Jacuzzi. Or the time before that, on the boat.

“Hi. I’m glad you could come.” Sylvie stepped out to greet him, throwing her arms around him, as though they were best buddies. In the silence of the evening, she whispered loud enough for me to hear. “Take good care of her. If you hurt her, I promise I’ll cut off your balls and feed them to the ducks on the lake.”

Jett glanced at me with an amused grin.

“You were probably drunk because I’ve never seen ducks swimming in that lake. But if I ever hurt her, I’ll buy them for you so you can serve my balls on a silver tray. No worries, I’ll keep her safe.” He smiled, his gaze never leaving mine. “I’m not going to waste a second not giving her a good time.”

Holy mother of double meanings!

His eyes twinkled with mischief, sending my memory retrieval system into overload.

My knees almost melted beneath me at the countless memories of us together, our limbs intertwined.

Thank god Sylvie caught none of that.

“You better take this seriously, Mayfield.” She walked past him and turned around, calling over her shoulder, “Have fun, guys.”

Chapter 19

“She’s quite something,” Jett said, as we watched Sylvie disappear around the corner.

I snorted. “Can you blame her?”

“Not really.” He laughed. “Since I sensed a serious threat, I’d better start treating you well. As of now.” He kissed my cheek, then picked me up in his arms and slammed the door shut with his foot, not putting me down. “Where’s the kitchen?”

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