VITTORIO'S LOVER (Vittorio Series) (4 page)

Linette
had been the first to broach the subject.
I don’t mean to upset you even more, but…is there a chance you could be pregnant, Jilli?
 

I…I don’t th-think so
, Jillian had stammered.
My cycle should start in four days, so I’m probably s-safe
.

Please tell me you used protection
, Jenesa implored.

Of course w
e did
, Jillian said, getting weepy eyed all over again. 
I mean, we did the first two times anyway, but the third time…

She could still hear Jillian’s pitiful sobs
and the horrible way she’d cut herself down for believing he actually cared about her. Looking at him now, Jenesa could hardly blame her sister for losing her head over him; the man exuded sexuality as potent as one hundred proof whiskey and had the same dizzying effect on her equilibrium. In all honesty, she couldn’t really fault Luca for being attracted her sister either; Jillian was one of those enviously thin women who could eat whatever she wanted and never gain an ounce. She was also drop-dead gorgeous.

Granted, Jillian was an adult and
looked much more sophisticated than she was. Luca couldn’t have known that the distant, untouchable expression she’d perfected was her way of masking a lack of confidence where the opposite sex was concerned. Men misinterpreted it as cool disinterest and took it as a challenge. Still, that didn’t excuse Luca Vittorio’s carelessness in not using protection that third time, or his actions afterwards. Let the heartless rat sweat it out for awhile along with the rest of them. Why should he be allowed to resume his daily routine as if he hadn’t a care in the world when Jillian was facing a life altering situation that
he
had caused!

“Answer me, Jenesa. Are you pregnant?” he repeated.

“I…um…I don’t think so.”

A look of surprise flickered across his face before his expression became guarded.
Well…not completely guarded. His jaw flexed, giving her the impression he was clenching his teeth. She waited for the verbal abuse to start; harsh accusations about how she…or rather, Jillian…had purposely set out to entrap him. Maybe fooling him into believing she was Jillian wasn’t such a bad thing after all. She didn’t think her sister was emotionally equipped to handle the cruel remarks Luca was about to unleash on her. Bracing herself for the string of insults she felt certain was eminent, it threw her for a loop when he sounded genuinely concerned.

“You’ve been careful not to drink alcohol just in case, haven’t you? I know I have no right to tell you how to live,” he quickly added, “but it could be harmful to the child.”

“It’s a very slim possibility that I’m pregnant; but, no, I haven’t consumed any alcohol.”

“When will you know for sure?”

“I’ve made an appointment with the doctor for next Friday,” Jenesa replied truthfully.

She and Linette had opted to make a doctor appointment for Jillian rather than coax her into taking a home pregnancy test.
She was distressed enough as it was. Confirming she was pregnant by a man who had sneaked out of the room after getting her in that condition might push her over the edge. They decided it would be best to give Jillian some time to recover from the depression she’d fallen into, hoping it would enable her to cope better if, in fact, she was going to have a baby. And, if she took it badly…they would have a medical professional there to help them make her see it wasn’t the end of the world.

“My…cycle is due any day now,” she continued, her cheeks burning a vivid scarlet.
Even knowing she wasn’t talking about herself, it was embarrassing to discuss something so personal with a virtual stranger. “With any luck, I may not have to see the doctor at all.”

“Why wait a week when you can go to any pharmacy and pick up an early pregnancy test?”

“A number of reasons; one of them being credibility. In the event the test was positive, I knew you would demand proof and decided you were more likely to accept I was telling the truth if I had lab results versus a blue plus sign inside a plastic tester.”

“You’re right, of course, but why wait a week to see the doctor?”

Jenesa shrugged. “I wanted my own physician and that was the earliest date available.”

“I will take you,” he declared in a tone that broached no argument.

Heedless of the firm set of his jaw, Jenesa protested. “It’s going to be stressful enough without you hovering outside the waiting room door for me. Or do you think I’m lying about having an appointment?”

“I never said that. I just don’t want you to go through this alone.”

Once again his seemingly genuine concern threw her off balance. He couldn’t go with her, of course, because then he would know the appointment was really for Jillian. And how heartbroken would poor Jillian be when she found out Luca Vittorio didn’t remember anything about her except that they’d spent the night together? It was too disastrous to even think about. But she couldn’t refuse his offer without a plausible explanation why either.

“I won’t be alone,” Jenesa told him. “My sisters
are coming with me.”

Non-pulsed, he brushed her excuse aside. “Then I
will have to make sure the car I’m driving that day can accommodate them as well.”

“I really don’t…”
her voice trailed off when he leaned forward, settling his warm hands on her shoulders.

“Despite what you may think of me, I do not take my responsibilities lightly. You don’t seem like the type to take a risk without putting serious thought into it either, so I
can only assume there is something about each other that made us both lose our heads that night. Whatever the consequences, they are ours to share.”

“Okay, you can come with me,” Jenesa said in a moment of weakness. Who could deny this man anything when he was standing so close?

He looked insanely handsome in a dark suit and crisp, white shirt. Unlike the other men at the party who wore ties, Luca had chosen to go without and leave his collar open, exposing a hint of the smooth olive colored skin beneath. Her fingers itched to reach up and undo another button to see whether his chest was bare or covered with the same dark hair on his head. Her gaze drifted up past his firm chin to his mouth, her body fusing with heat when she recalled how it felt to be kissed by him.

"
Be very careful,
cara mia
,” he said in a low growl. “Keep looking at me like that and I will do something very stupid again.”

Jenesa’s heart did a wild flip. His accent, which had been barely discernible up to this point, was decidedly pronounced and laced with an inherent sexuality
that made her insides liquefy. Warning bells clamored in her head.
Don’t do it
, she told herself, even as her eyes shifted to meet his. It was a huge mistake.

When she was in her early teens, Jenesa and her sisters had gone down to the river near their grandparent’s house. She was a strong swimmer and eager to prove it,
foolishly going out much farther than the other girls. She’d been caught by an undertow and dragged beneath the water; sheer panic had given her the adrenalin rush needed to flail her way out of it and back to safety. It struck her now - that same terrifying feeling she was drowning and that no matter how hard she struggled against it, there was nothing she could do to save herself.

 
“I need to go,” she said abruptly, twisting out of his grasp.

There was no getting around a mountain though, not when it moved with the agility of a sleek panther
intent on capturing its prey. His arms were like steel bands around her waist, the contact from shoulder to thigh demolishing what little will power she’d been clinging to. The helpless whimper that whispered past her lips could not have come from her, nor could the moans of pleasure that followed as he proceeded to kiss her into a mindless stupor. Jenesa Eloise Harding did
not
behave like this.
Ever
. She was calm and sensible, carefully weighing the pros and cons objectively, assessing the…
oh!

The muscles in her abdomen contracted
, each successive bone melting kiss triggering a chain reaction of erotic sensations that wound her muscles tighter and tighter. It was a strange mixture of pleasure and pain, of bold desire and uncertainty; a desperate need for more that made Jenesa lose sight of everything except the heat of passion that was consuming her. She felt the first violent shudder begin to ripple through her as the heavy coiling finally reached a snapping point and started to unravel. Her entire body became a minefield of synchronized explosions; a relentless assault that left her weak as a kitten and gasping for air in its wake.  

“Madre di Dio,”
he groaned, “That is the first time I have never made a woman climax merely by kissing her!”

As the fog rolling around inside her head began to clear, Luca’s words slowly sank in.
It was mortifying to find herself clinging to him like a limpet, and beyond mortification to know that she had…had…and that it had been so easy for him to bring her to a…a… Jenesa squeezed her eyes shut, too embarrassed to put a name to it. Her self control where this man was concerned was non-existent and, to her shame, she had once again betrayed Jillian.

“Please,” she managed to choke out, “I have to go.”

“
Go?
” He sounded incredulous. “How can you even think of leaving after what we just shared?”

“I have to!” she cried. “Can’t you see we’re only making matters worse?”

“You’re wrong, Jenesa,” his deep voice swept over her like a lover’s caress. “You are so responsive, so giving…it excites me to think of watching you fall apart as I make love to you. Come away with me,
carissima
. My house is on a private island; we could fly there tonight and surrender to this incessant fire, indulge in sexual fantasies that can only be fulfilled with each other.”

Sexual fantasies?
Until she’d met Luca, Jenesa’s sexual fantasies consisted of a getting a decent good-night kiss after a mediocre date! Now, thanks to him, she was having extremely vivid visuals that included ripping his shirt off and lying in a tangle of sheets with a deliciously satisfied smile on her face. Struggling with a burgeoning hormonal revolution and emotions that were hell bent on pulling a coup d’état on her brain, Jenesa was finding it exceedingly difficult to say no.

The way he was looking at
her and what he’d said about surrendering to this incessant fire made her toes curl. But she couldn’t give in no matter how much she wanted to, and she really,
really
wanted to. Even so, she turned her head away when Luca attempted to kiss her again, her resolve to remain strong surviving for all of two seconds before making a rapid descent when he took advantage of her exposed neck. His mouth blazed a moist, hot trail down the side of her neck to an excruciatingly sensitive spot on her shoulder where he commenced to torture her with gentle nips followed by feathery swirls with his tongue.

Praying her wobbly legs wouldn’
t buckle without the benefit of Luca’s strong arms holding her up, Jenesa pressed her palms to his chest and pushed him away. Okay, so she didn’t exactly push him; that would have been tantamount to moving a concrete wall. But she
was
able to put some distance between them by pushing herself away. She even managed to take a few steps back without falling off her spiky heels, not an easy feat considering her legs still felt as if they were made of rubber.

“I can’t do this,” she
said shakily.

A huge boulder lodged itself in her throat. Jillian would despise her if she found out what happened here tonight.
And despite the fact she’d at least had the fortitude to put a halt to it, Jenesa wasn’t particularly fond of herself at the moment. Because she
liked
being kissed by Luca, and because she still had an uncontrollable urge to throw herself back in his arms and say,
yes, yes, I’ll go with you!

It was sheer insanity. Of course it was. She barely knew the man, and what she
did
know of him was not very flattering. Yes, he stirred feelings inside of her that she had never experienced before, but Jenesa told herself it had more to do with physical attraction than any genuine emotions. For her sister’s sake, she had to be strong. Just the thought of Jillian discovering how abominably she’d behaved made her stomach knot.
She would never forgive me, and who could blame her?

“
She?”
Luca said. “Are you talking about Caroline?”

Jenesa grimaced.
She really had lost her mind; now she was verbalizing her thoughts without any recollection of having done so!

                                                     ***

Guilt and shame played across her face but Raffaele refused to let it affect him. Hadn’t he already established that she was a consummate liar, an actress whose skillful performance had nearly drawn him into her web as easily as Luca had apparently been snared? Perhaps she’d hoped to string him along, make him hot for her lush body and then pull back, pretending to be appalled by her inability to resist him. Fortunately for Raffaele, she hadn’t yet realized that her plan had backfired.