Revenge In The Boardroom: Fonseca's Fury / Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Boss? / Unfinished Business. Nina Harrington
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Serena saying she wanted to see the sunset... Would she have gone to the beach? At this time of night?
Panic turned to fear. He took out his phone and made a call to Serena’s mobile but it was switched off. Rio was a majestic city, but at night certain areas were some of the most dangerous on earth. Where the hell had she gone?
* * *
Serena stalked into the apartment and the door slammed behind her with a gratifyingly loud bang. She was still shaking with anger, and her emotions were bubbling far too close to the surface for comfort.
She kicked off her shoes and made her way out to the terrace, taking deep breaths. Damn Luca Fonseca. It shouldn’t matter what he thought of her...but after everything they’d been through she’d foolishly assumed that he’d come to see that she was different.
This was the real her. A woman who wanted to work and do something worthwhile, and never, ever insulate herself against life again. The girl and the young woman she’d been had been born out of the twisted machinations of her father.
Her hands wrapped around the railing. Self-disgust rose up inside her. To think that she was willing to go to bed with a man who thought so little of her. Where was the precious self-esteem she’d painstakingly built up again?
She knew where... It had all dissolved in a puddle of heat as soon as Luca came within feet of her. And yet she knew that wasn’t entirely fair—he’d treated her as his exact equal in the jungle, and earlier, in the charity offices, she’d been surprised to find that he’d already put in motion discussions on her idea for a high-end tourist shop showcasing products from the villages and credited her with the plan.
She heard a sound behind her and tensed. Panic washed through her. She wasn’t ready to deal with Luca yet. But reluctantly she turned around to see him advancing on her, his face like thunder, as long fingers pulled at his bow-tie.
She still got a jolt of sensation to see him clean-shaven. It should have made him look more urbane. It didn’t.
LUCA THREW ASIDE his bow-tie just before he came onto the terrace and bit out, ‘Where the hell were you? I’ve been all over the beachfronts looking for you.’
His anger escalated when he saw Serena put her hands on her hips and say defiantly, ‘What was it? Did you think I’d hit some nightclub? Or that I’d gone to find some late-night pharmacy so I could score some meds?’
Luca stopped. He had to acknowledge the relief that was coursing through his veins. She was here. She was safe. But the rawness he felt because she’d walked out on him and looked so upset when he’d suggested she was acting out a charade was still there.
An uncomfortable truth slid into his gut like a knife. Perhaps this was her. No charade. No subterfuge.
And just like that, Luca was thrown off-centre all over again.
He breathed deeply. ‘I’m sorry.’
Serena was surprised. She blinked. ‘Sorry for what?’
Honesty compelled Luca to admit, ‘For what I said at the function. I just... You...’
He looked away and put his hands on his hips. Suddenly it wasn’t so hard to say what he wanted to say—as if something inside him had given way.
He dropped his hands, came closer and shook his head. ‘You confound me, Serena DePiero. Everything I thought I knew about you is wrong. The woman who came to Rio, the woman who survived the jungle, the woman who gave those villagers the kind of courtesy not many people ever give them...she’s someone I wasn’t expecting.’
Serena’s ability to think straight was becoming compromised. Emotion was rising at hearing this admission and knowing what it must be costing him.
Huskily she said, ‘But this is me, Luca. This has always been me. It was just...buried before.’ Then she blurted out, ‘I’m sorry for running off. I came straight here. I wouldn’t have gone near the beaches—not after what you said. I do have some street-smarts, you know.’
Luca moved closer. ‘I panicked. I thought of you being oblivious to the dangers.’
Now Serena noticed how pale Luca was. He’d been worried about her. He hadn’t assumed she’d gone off the rails. The anger and hurt drained away, and something shifted inside her. A kind of tenderness welled up. Dangerous.
She had to physically resist the urge to go to him and touch his jaw. Instead she said, ‘I’m here...safe.’
His hands landed on her hips and he tugged her into him. She was shorter without her heels. He made her feel delicate. Her skin was tingling now, coming up in goosebumps in spite of the warm air. Emboldened by his proximity, and what he’d just said, she lifted her own hands and pushed Luca’s jacket apart and down his arms.
He let go of her so that it could fall to the ground.
Without saying anything, Luca took her by the hand and led her into the apartment, stepping over his coat.
Serena let herself be led. She’d never felt this connection with anyone else, and a deep-rooted surge of desire to reclaim part of her sexuality beat like a drum in her blood.
Yet when Luca led her into what she assumed was his bedroom, because of its stark, masculine furnishings, trepidation gripped her. Perhaps she was being a fool? Reading too much into what he’d said? Didn’t men say anything to get women into bed? There was so much in her past that she was ashamed of, that she hadn’t made peace with, and Luca seemed to have an unerring ability to bring all of those vulnerabilities to the fore. What would happen when he possessed her completely?
Her hand tightened around Luca’s and he stopped by the bed and turned to face her. Serena blurted out the first thing she could think of, as if to try and put some space between them again. ‘I lost my virginity when I was sixteen...does that shock you?’
He shrugged, his expression carefully veiled, ‘Should it? I lost mine at sixteen too—when one of my father’s ex-mistresses seduced me.’
Serena’s desperation rose, in spite of her shock at what he’d just revealed so flatly. ‘It’s what men expect, though, isn’t it? For their lovers to be somehow...innocent?’
Luca made a face. ‘I like my lovers to be experienced. I’ve no desire to be some wide-eyed virgin’s first time.’
A wide-eyed virgin she certainly was not. Innocence had been ripped from her too early.
Luca pulled her closer and heat pulsed into Serena’s lower body. She could feel his arousal between them, thick and hard. It scattered painful thoughts and she welcomed it like a coward.
‘I want you, Serena, more than I’ve ever wanted anyone. I’ve wanted you from the first moment I laid eyes on you...’
For a heady moment Serena felt an overwhelming sense of power. She reassured herself that the emotions rising inside her were transitory; sex had never touched her emotionally before, so why should it now?
When he reached for her Serena curled into him without even thinking about it. It felt like the most necessary thing. The world dropped away and it was just them in this tight embrace, hearts thudding, skin hot.
His fingers spread out over her back, making her nipples harden almost painfully against the material of the dress. And then he lowered his head and his mouth was on hers, fitting like the missing piece of a jigsaw puzzle. Serena’s lips opened to his on a sigh, tongues touching and tasting, stroking intimately. Her hands wound up around his neck, fingers tugging the short strands of hair, exploring, learning the shape of his skull.
Luca’s wicked mouth and tongue made her strain to get even closer. After long, drugging moments he drew back, breathing harshly. Serena had to struggle to open her eyes.