Player's Ultimatum (19 page)

Cool, calm and unaffected by the commotion he was causing, Paolo made a beeline right toward her.
Where was he going?

Was he traveling with someone? Or was he off to see another woman in some exotic locale?

Not wanting their paths to cross less al her answers be answered—ignorance could be such bliss—Yvonne hustled the two people in front of her along. Her efforts succeeded in getting her through security and onto a transport bus to the main terminal, but it didn’t forestal the tears stinging the back of her eyes.

What was wrong with her? Why was she close to tears? She should use his philandering way to exercise him from her mind and body. Wasn’t that the reason for this trip?

Easier said than done, Yvonne mused. Despite her best efforts, she’d slipped along the way and given him her heart. Wel , nothing like a good kick in the but to get one’s priorities back in order!

Like al airports in the states, Fiumicino’s main terminal resembled a mini mal . Shops and restaurants provided one with the basic essentials such as magazines, gelato, French fries, and bottled water. While more high-end tastes were tempted with duty-free Louis Vuit on bags and Hermes head scarves.

Yvonne swept past all the shops and hunkered down at the back of an English-style pub steps from her departure gate. Bright and crowded with sports fans watching the pre-game commentary before the start of an Italian league basketbal game, she garnered a few curious glances, but otherwise no one bothered her.

“What can I get you, love,” a woman asked with a crisp British accent.

Her vision blurry, Yvonne tried to read the drink menu. What beer went good with tears?

*****

Two pints and a bowl of pretzels later, Yvonne boarded her flight with only five minutes to spare before departure. Since she’d refused Robbie’s offer to buy her a first class ticket, she ended up in the middle aisle sandwiched between a young family of four.

Per her usual pre-flight ritual she located the exit signs and studied the airplane’s safety card. She barely had her seat belt fastened when one of the stewardesses stopped at the end of her row.

“
Scusi, Signorina
. We have a few seats open in
magnifica
, our business class, if you would like to upgrade.” Surprised at her sudden stroke of luck, yet not looking a gift horse in the mouth, Yvonne grabbed her purse and followed the willowy red head to the front of the plane to the very first row of seats nearest the exit door.

Now this was an upgrade!
Yvonne sat down in the leather seat near the window. Like a kid in a candy store, she tried out the reclining back and footrest. Her day was final y turning in a more positive direction! Her pride stil smarted, but the comfortable flight over would help it heal that much easier.

Drawn by the ground crew’s preparations, Yvonne looked outside her window. Her eyes drifted over the other planes lined up outside the terminal and she foolishly wondered which one Paolo had boarded.

“Missing Robbie already?”

Robbie?! Yvonne whipped around and came face-to-face with Paolo. Wavering between slapping him and kissing him, she could only gape as he took the aisle seat. One thing was for sure, her heart threatened to break through her breast bone.

“W-what are you doing here?”

As if she were a child, Paolo buckled her seat belt. He leaned toward her and despite her best efforts Yvonne’s gaze drifted to his ful lips. “I’m on vacation with my lover.”

Yvonne refused to acknowledge how much his cal ing her his lover affected her. “What about the playoffs?” Paolo pulled out the inflight magazine from the seat pocket and proceeded to flip through it. Peeved by his nonchalance, Yvonne snatched the book from him and tossed it. “Hey!” someone objected from the seat behind them.

“Both of us know the team was given three days off. Instead of lazing around Rome, I decided to laze around you.” His words evoked images of them lying about his estate naked over the past several weeks. A wave of desire swept over her and she shivered.

Stay on course, Yvonne! Ten minutes ago you were crying in your pale ale.

“Why are you here, Paolo?” She asked, knowing there was much more to his being here than just sex. He could get that anywhere.

“Curiosity.” Sensing her confusion, Paolo continued. “I wanted to know what it would be like to be around you without al the obligations and responsibilities surrounding us in Rome. For the next four days, I want to see how you are with your guard down. I want to see you laugh and be carefree without worrying if someone is watching us. I want to wake up with you in my arms.”

Boom! He blew her wel laid plan not to fal in love with him out of the water. “B-but I have to prepare for my dissertation review.” Okay, she was grasping for straws but who could blame her when she was slowly sinking with the ship.

Paolo bounced his eyebrows up and down. “I’l help you study.”

Well, what could she say to that?

“Would you like a glass of wine before we take off?” he asked.

Why not?
He’d just killed her buzz. “Two glasses, please.”

*****

“Rise and shine, sleeping beauty.”

Yvonne blinked. She blinked again as her memory filtered in with the morning sunlight streaming through the open curtains.

“Are you hungry?” Paolo asked.

“Starving.” Yvonne groaned as she rolled over on her back. She felt like a human pretzel. Soon after landing, Paolo hustled them to the hotel, upgraded her hotel room to a suite, and then once inside had his perverted way with her.

And she’d loved every single orgasmic minute of it.

“Why are you staring at me like that?” He asked, running a hand through his rumpled hair. Even with a bad case of bed head and eyelids heavy with sleep he had to be the sexiest man alive.

Yvonne sighed like a love-sick teenager as she rolled from the bed. Before he could beat her to it, she picked up the complimentary terry cloth bathrobe she’d discarded earlier and wrapped it around her. “No reason.” Without warning he reached out and pulled her onto his lap. “If you want me to leave, I’ll go,” he said as he ran the tip of his nose along the side of her neck.

Yvonne wrapped her arms around his neck. He only had to touch her and she melted.

“Do you want me to leave?”

Despite her better judgment, she whispered, “no.”

A smile curved his lips and like a cliché romance novel her heart performed a cartwheel. Geez, she had it bad! Real y, real y bad.

“Since that’s settled let’s order something to eat, then we can get down to business,” he said while setting her on the bed.

Before she could give into the foolish urge to pul him back into her arms, he stood up. With more grace than any man deserved, Paolo padded across the room and flipped open the hotel directory.

“Do you know what you want?”

You.
Now where did that come from? She only needed to be around him for more than a just a few hours and she was already picking out china patterns?

What about Robbie? He needed her.

Why couldn’t she help Robbie and enjoy herself with Paolo at the same time? This was only for a few days and there was no guarantee
Roma
would make it to the finals. So why not take the moment for what is was worth and face the consequences later?

Yvonne leaned back on her elbows. “I’m going to live a lit le. I want some turkey sausage and a Belgian waffle with strawberries?”

“Sounds good. Maybe we can get a side of whip cream.” He looked up at her and winked.

Yvonne watched him as he called down to room service and with each touch of the phone pad, a piece of the wall she’d erected to protect her heart crumbled.

What if every day could be like this? Who was she kidding? There would never be a ‘them’. The man had his own Wikipedia page.

“Breakfast wil be up in forty minutes or less,” he said, hanging up the phone.

Yvonne groaned. “I’m hungry now.”

“I can think of something else we can do while we wait.”

As he walked back over to the bed, she scrambled to the center. He plopped down next to her, and then reached out to pull her over to him. Yvonne went wil ingly, but in the last minute she put her hands on his chest before he could seal the deal and turn her into one big shuddering hormone.

“What’s wrong?”

“Why are you doing this?”

“I told you I wanted to be alone with you.”

Yvonne shook her head. “Not this weekend. I’m talking about our arrangement.” Sighing, Paolo sat up. “I guess my wanting you isn’t enough?”

“Not real y buying it,” Yvonne muttered. “Not only am I engaged, but look at you and look at me. You can have anyone you want why me.”

“I hate not getting what I want.”

“That’s it?” Yvonne pitched herself off the bed. She didn’t get very far because he caught her arm and pulled her back around to face him.

“As a child I grew up in a concrete block no bigger than the bathroom with nothing but a thin sheet of metal between me and the sky. No bed, no electricity and barely enough to eat. Every night before I went to bed, I prayed to God that when I awoke it would all have been a bad dream. My prayers were never answered. So I stopped praying for that and instead promised myself whatever I wanted, and if I had the means, I would never let anything or anyone stand in my way.” His fingers tightened on her waist as if she were his lifeline. “If that makes me a selfish bastard then that’s the cross I have to bear. I was shaped by a brutal environment that would have eaten me alive if I would have let it. I survived unrepentant.” Unable to help herself, Yvonne leaned into him. “And here I thought you were going to tel me I was different.” Chuckling, Paolo fel back onto the bed, dragging her on top of him. “You are different. You do something to me no other woman has ever done in a very long time.”

“And what’s that.” Yvonne cocked her head to side, giving him the proper angle to kiss the side of her throat.

“You make me come back for more.” He nipped at her ear and Yvonne groaned. “I know this may have started with a much baser objective, but I’m fal ing for you.”

Why did he have to hit her below the belt and turn her al mushy inside! Heck, she could barely put a sentence together. She assumed this was al one sided. His confession just brought their arrangement to a whole new level. And she wasn’t prepared for it, either mental y or emotional y. Thank goodness she was lying down because her knees had gone weak.

Paolo must have sensed her dilemma because he traced her bot om lip with his thumb, gaining her attention. “Caught you off guard?” he asked.

Understatement of the year!
“With my pants down.”

Paolo’s lips quirked upward into a lopsided grin. “That makes two of us.” His expression grew serious and Yvonne braced herself. She wasn’t sure she was prepared for any more of his revelations. “Leave Robbie and be with me.” If that wasn’t the perfect sucker punch! Yvonne knew she’d probably catch flies with her mouth hanging open but she couldn’t help it. He’d total y broadsided her. She could barely think straight with the way her blood was pounding in her ears.

Stil , she gave him the only answer she could give. “I-I can’t.”

Paolo chuckled. “How did I know you’d say that? We have no history or past like you and Robbie.” Yvonne gasped as he moved off of her and onto his back. “Just means I have to try harder.”

“Try harder to do what?” Yvonne asked as she rolled onto her side to face him.

“Haven’t you been listening? I want you and I’m not going to rest until I have you.”

*****

Paolo picked up her dissertation and walked over to one of the club chairs by the bedroom.

“What are you doing?” Yvonne stopped brushing her hair. After breakfast, she’d jumped in the shower. They’d agreed to spend the day exploring Tampa’s Ybor City. They hadn’t spoken any more about his confession yesterday morning and she wanted to keep it that way. Despite her feelings, she had to, needed to remain loyal to Robbie.

“I’m going to quiz you,” he said matter-of-fact. He’d sat down and plopped the folder containing her dissertation across his lap. He was serious!

“B-but you haven’t read it.”

“I read through it while you were sleeping.”

“And you were able to grasp what I’d written?”

Paolo rolled his eyes. “I’m a soccer player, not a model,” he said, flipping to page one. “Plus, I have a one hundred and forty-seven I.Q. and a photographic memory.” To prove his point, he closed the folder. “The New Face of Capitalism and How Post-Colonial Societies Wil Influence Business Practices.”

Yvonne sat down across from him. His serious expression was such a turn on she had to cross her legs to mitigate the heat flooding to her sex. Too bad her precautionary measures didn’t lessen her sudden appetite for his beautiful body. Yvonne reached up and pulled at the collar of her bath robe. Was it just her or was it getting toasty in here?

“Ms. Floyd,” he paused to clear his throat. “As a product of a post-colonial society, I’m curious as to what is your opinion of the current state of the economies of both India and Brazil and their relation to their former governing powers.” Of course she heard his question as clear as day, but somewhere along the way her mind flipped a switch and he’d lost her when he started to speak geek. Her pulse quickened and her fingers itched to trace every single hard angle of his bare shoulders. An intellectual response was the furthest thing from her mind. More like, “were there anymore strawberries left over from breakfast?”

“Do you need me to repeat the question, Miss Floyd?”

“Please because I swear you just asked me if I thought Brazilian men were superior in bed than American men.” Yvonne acted upon his momentary surprise. She stood up and walked over to him. As she held his gaze, she untied the robe then let it slip from her body.

Empowered by his stricken expression, she gave him one of her most innocent smiles while palming her breast.

“You’re not going to blame me later if you fail your review?”

She shook her head. “I know my dissertation front and back, in and out.” Yvonne smiled as a shiver racked his broad shoulders.