Chapter 20 - Olivia

“ Signorina …” Luca drawls as he lifts my hand to his lips at the breakfast table.

It’s been a few days since my arrival at Luca’s compound, and he’s shown me around the villa. I’ve seen everything there is to see, except whatever is behind the doors of the supposed toolshed.

I know that’s where he keeps his arms – right under his nose but in a place so inconspicuous, it would appear to be an ordinary toolshed. Except, the security around it is doubled, every corner being watched by surveillance cameras and locked with a high-tech padlock that needs Luca’s fingerprint to unlock it.

“... I am glad you are feeling better,” he says as he gently replaces my hand on the table. He stares at me with wonder, his dark eyes glossing, and I know exactly where his mind is drifting.

It’s to that one place we haven’t explored yet – the place I’ve been avidly avoiding. It’s only reserved to his imagination for now, but I know he expects more from me.

Nonchalantly lifting my coffee mug to my lips, I feign ignorance by staring out of the kitchen window. I just need more time.

“You are feeling better, yes?”

I turn back with a smile on my lips. “Yes, of course, Luca.”

“Wonderful,” he smiles back. “Then we will pick up where we left off.”

“Luca, I–” I quickly begin, wanting to avoid this at any cost, especially when he lifts my hand again.

He shakes his head to cut me off, squeezing my hand gently. “We will visit Las Vegas again. Have dinner in that restaurant, and return to the hotel we were meant to stay at that night.”

“The hotel?”

He nods. “The Bellagio. If it wasn’t for what happened to you, that’s where I’d made reservations for us.”

I force a smile on my lips, knowing I’ll have to figure out an excuse not to go to that hotel. I’ve been great at acting and know I’ll figure something out.

***

“The villa is lovely, Luca,” I say as I sip on my wine. “I noticed you have a toolshed in the backyard. I didn’t think you worked with your hands,” I comment, glancing at his immaculate fingers.

Luca chuckles. “I don’t, signorina Vanessa.” He takes a bite of his dessert. “I don’t like getting my hands dirty.”

“Of course not,” I giggle. “Then why do you have the toolshed?”

Luca grows uncomfortable, tugging on his collar as he gulps. “It’s just where I keep my import stock,” he reveals. “I was thinking of setting up a painting studio for you there once it’s emptied.”

“Really?” I perk up eagerly.

He nods. “Yes. Soon, the toolshed will become empty. You can have your own space to paint, then.”

My mind lingers on the fact that he revealed that the toolshed will soon become empty. I need to find a way to get back to the villa and inform my team that they need to be on standby. I smile at Luca, making him believe I’ve accepted that he’s an electronics dealer who imports goods from China. He isn’t the wiser and wipes the corners of his lips before getting to his feet.

“If you’ll excuse me, signorina ,” he begins. “I will be right back.”

I watch as Luca heads to the restroom, getting an idea of my own in that moment. I turn back to the table, reaching for my wine glass, when I realize Luca’s seat is filled.

My heart skips a beat when I lock eyes with the brilliant emerald depths I never thought I would see again. Blinking in disbelief, my jaw drops when I realize I’m not imagining things.

He’s as real as the imminent, powerful aura radiating around him. The scent of musk arrests my airways, and a lump begins to form in my throat.

“Stryder…?”

I didn’t think I would ever see him again, not after what he did and how we parted ways so abruptly. I’d hoped I wouldn’t see him, my heart too torn to want to face him again. Yet, the mere fact that he’s here has me throwing caution to the wind and dropping my guard.

If he’s back for me, it’s the kind of gesture that I would accept as an apology. I’ve spent an entire week only thinking about him at every turn, feeling as if the seconds stretched into hours while time ticked by. I’d even convinced myself that I felt nothing more than a baser desire for him while he filled my time up on the island.

But it’s so much more than that, and while I soak in his presence, I realize just how much I’d missed him.

“What are you doing here, Olivia?” he asks with bitterness in his tone, his brows knitted tightly. The accusation flashing in his eyes snaps me out of my daze, and into the reality of his betrayal.

“I–” I purse my lips, quickly glancing over my shoulder, fearing Luca returning to find another man glaring at me from across the table. I can’t blow my cover now, not when I’m so close.

“You have to leave, Stryder,” I warn him urgently. “I can’t risk having Luca see you.”

“Luca, huh?” he scoffs. “You mentioned him before. He’s your boyfriend, isn’t he?”

I frown, appalled by his accusation. There’s no time to explain, and I don’t feel the need to explain myself to him. After all, he’s the one who betrayed my trust and withheld crucial information from me. If anything, I should let him suffer, and make him believe that I have a boyfriend here in the mortal world.

The mere fact that he’d let jealousy overtake him from what he might have witnessed between Luca and me means that he hadn’t been paying attention at all when I told him why I was being kidnapped when he found me. I should let him suffer. I should let him believe whatever he wants and wallow in his jealousy.

“I don’t have time for this, Stryder,” I say firmly, my mind and heart at war. My mind wins over, and I know I must do whatever it takes to save my career.

Just because Stryder is here now, it doesn’t mean he’ll be around forever.l He’s already proven his unreliability and showed me that I can’t count on him to be trusted. Just because my heart and body feel drawn to him, I can’t be foolish enough to gin into the charms he so naturally exudes.

“You have to go.”

“Olivia, please–”

I lift a dismissive hand in the air to stop him. “Just go. I can’t do this right now.”

“Is that it?” he asks as he rises to his feet, staring at me in disbelief.

I can’t help but soften when I see the way his eyes sadden as if I’d just struck him with a sharp blade through his back. Whatever happened between us, I know he wants a chance to explain himself. As much as I despise him for lying to me, I feel too much for him not to give him that chance.

“You have to leave before Luca comes back. He can’t know…”

Stryder nods, finally dropping the firmness that pulls his face taut. It’s all it takes for me to soften completely.

“Meet me outside the ladies’ room,” I tell him quickly.

He nods again, disappearing just in time before Luca returns. I gulp as I reach for my wine, the ruby liquid dousing the flames of my fear as the Italian returns to his seat.

“Excuse me, Luca. I need to visit the ladies’ room.”

Luca nods as I get to my feet. “When you are back, we will leave.”

“I won’t be long, then,” I smile. A wave of relief washes over me as I composedly head to the bathrooms. Glancing over my shoulder, I ensure I’m out of Luca’s sight when a familiar hand grabs my wrist, and I’m pulled into a corridor beside the ladies’ room.

“Stryder!” I exclaim when I’m pressed up against a wall, my hands instinctively pressed on his firm chest. The corridor leads to a walk-in freezer, and the chances of us being found are unlikely.

My heart begins to pound in my chest when I meet his eyes, the darkened orbs penetrating my soul and leaving me breathless.

“What are you doing?” I whisper when he leans in.

“I don’t care what you have to say, Olivia. I’ve seen enough to understand why you wanted to come back.”

I open my mouth, wanting to bite back and retaliate against his bitter words, but my mind becomes an empty void in which all I can think of is what his lips would feel like on mine. I’d been fantasizing about him in every waking moment spent away from him, and now that he’s here, I can barely remember why I was angry in the first place, my back arching off the wall as I pushed my breasts against his chest. My parted lips become his sign to snatch a kiss from me, and I willingly comply, melting into his arms.

When our lips reunite in the perfect symphony of the harmony we once shared before, the kiss reignites all the feelings I’ve buried away. Deep down, I know Stryder isn’t as cruel as I thought he was, as cruel as I decided he was when he kept a secret from me. Right now, I only want to lose myself to this man entirely. But another man is waiting in the restaurant for me, and I need to prevent him from taking me the way I so willingly give myself to Stryder.

“Stryder…” I say his name despondently as I pull away from the kiss, needing to catch my breath and my senses.

He makes it an almost impossible feat when his strong hand slides up my thigh beneath my skirt, settling on the top of my panties.

“You have to stop,” I plead.

“Tell me why I should,” he husks as his cheek presses against mine. “Tell me why, and I’ll stop.”

“Because…” I gulp, knowing that I have to say something believable. Since he believes that the Italian man is my boyfriend, I decide to run with that lie. It’s the only way I can continue with my plans, even if it pains me. My reason for lying to Stryder only drives in the fact that he’d lied to me for my own good – even if it was a despicable thing to do.

“... I don’t want you, Stryder,” I say, applying force on his chest to push him away. “I’ve moved on.”

When the lie leaves my lips, he steps away abruptly and glowers down at me.

“I don’t believe you,” he whispers in disbelief, shaking his head.

I quickly step away, my heart pounding from having to lie to him and watch his face fall as if his heart is breaking. All I can do is hang onto the knowledge that I actually mean something to him. It’s all I need to go on with my life, knowing that the dragon shifter cared about me more than he was willing to admit before. If this is the closure I need, I embrace it with both arms while fighting to protect myself and the life I worked tirelessly to build.

‘Goodbye, Stryder,” I say with remorse filling my gut as I turn to leave. Those words are the ones I couldn’t say before. Now, armed with the closure I needed, knowing I wasn’t the only one who felt something more for the man, I was able to say goodbye. With that, I walked away and joined Luca in the restaurant again.

I now have an excuse not to proceed to the hotel, and it’s one that Luca accepts.

***

“Goodnight, signorina ,” Luca bids me before turning around. I’d been able to keep him off me by claiming that I’d discovered I was on my period when I visited the ladies’ room at the restaurant in Vegas.

Of course, it wasn’t enough to prevent him from kissing me. Even now, as I lay in his bed, my tummy churns from the thought of having allowed him to kiss me. My only saving grace comes from shutting my eyelids tightly and imagining that Luca was Stryder. Even now, I can’t stand that I’m laying in Luca’s bed beside him, his mere presence stirring an unsettling feeling inside me. I lay staring at the ceiling, waiting for the perfect opportunity to snatch his cell phone the moment he falls asleep.

I’d distracted Luca enough to have him absentmindedly leave his possessions on the dresser. I always noticed how he kept his wallet and cell phone close, and tonight would have been no different if I hadn’t stepped forward and kissed him while he had those close possessions in his hand. He’d left them on the dresser table to perch his hands on my waist, and I’d given into the kiss only as a means to an end.

I have to make contact with Hawks tonight, having overheard the Italian speaking in his rich mother tongue with someone on the phone while we traveled back to Sedona tonight. My work has led me to be able to loosely translate Italian – enough to understand that the impending deal with the Russians will take place in two days.

I take a quick glance at Luca, noticing he’s asleep, before I quietly slip out of the bed. Checking to make sure he’s still sleeping, I creep to the dresser and pick up both his cell phone and wallet.

I have to ensure that I leave no stone unturned, quietly tiptoeing to the door and breathing a sigh of relief once I’m out. Even my breath is nothing more than a faint whisper, keeping as silent as I possibly can be until I reach the staircase.

Quietly stealing down the flight of stairs with Luca’s phone clutched in one hand, his wallet in the other, I attempt to unlock the screen before I make it down. It’s only when I enter the kitchen that I’m able to unlock it using the password I peeped him enter before.

I breathe another sigh of relief as I enter Hawks’s number on the dialing screen and lift the phone to my ear. That’s when I hear shuffling from somewhere inside the kitchen, gasping softly as I pull the phone away.

I was sure I was in the clear, but something was wrong. I can feel it in the pit of my belly, that instinctive feeling that I shouldn’t be here, holding Luca’s phone and risking being caught. Fear begins to stir inside me, and I suddenly have the urge to go back to his bed and pretend that I’m still asleep.

My fears are confirmed when I hear my name being called from the shadows, a shiver coursing down my spine as I’m frozen in the spot. My eyes grow wide like a deer caught in the headlights when I hear my name again.

“Olivia…”