The Unwanted Conti Bride (The Legendary Conti Brothers) (3 page)

Suppressing every instinct to take over the reins of the kiss—he’d never waited to be pleasured—he let her seduce him. She obliged, stroking the inside of his mouth with bold flicks, teasing and incinerating. Took his mouth with a carnality that left him shaking to the very marrow.

Christo
, he’d never been so aroused by just a kiss.

* * *

The sound of footsteps behind them brought Sophia back to earth with a thud.

Her mouth stung with the taste of Luca, her body thrumming with unsatisfied desire. The crisp hair on his wrists teased her palms.

But she felt anything but exultant. She wanted to cry. She wanted to ask him to take her to his bedroom, turn off the lights and—no, not his bedroom. Not the place where he’d probably made love to a horde of lovers, each more stunning and thin and wispier than the next. Maybe they could slip away into that veranda, hide under the moonlight and he could kiss her a little more.

She could pretend that he’d never broken her heart and that he wanted her just as much as she did him.

Because when Luca kissed her, Sophia was always carried off to some faraway land. A land where she could be strong enough to be weak, where she could let someone care for her, where she didn’t worry about her family, where she was not mocked for who she was.

Where a man like Luca didn’t have to be induced into seducing a woman like her...

She hid her face in his chest. His heartbeat thundered against her cheek. He was warm and male, both exciting and comforting, something she hadn’t realized until this moment she missed.

Sophia couldn’t dredge up anger for that kiss. Toward him or herself.

His fingers wandered up and down her hips, questing and caressing. “I’d rather we kissed again, but I keep my word.” Deep and hoarse, his voice pinged over her heated skin. “So tell me, why do you wish to...”

Suddenly, a hand on her shoulder pulled her from his arms, turned her around.

“Tina,
non
!” she heard Luca shout dimly.

Sophia didn’t see it coming. Someone slapped her. Hard.

Her head went back, pain radiating up her jaw and through her ear. Tears blurred her vision and she blinked to clear them away. Pulling in a shuddering breath, she looked up.

Valentina—Luca’s sister and Kairos’s wife, stood before her, her lithe, willowy body shaking with rage. Her entire face was mobile with emotion, turning her into a volatile beauty. “You...
you tart
!”

Sophia raised a brow, refusing to show her dismay. “Tart, really?”

Her composure seemed to only rile the younger woman more. “You’re determined to go through all the men in my family, aren’t you? First Kairos, and now Luca? And to think I felt sorry for you when Leandro broke your engagement.”

“Basta, Tina!”
Luca again. His arm around Sophia’s shoulders, he was a wall of lean strength against her. A dark scowl framed his features, his fingers rubbing against her arm in unconscious comfort.

Against every rational warning, Sophia felt her body leaning into his.

“You know the rumors about Kairos and her?” Tina screeched, her eyes filling with tears.

“If there’s truth to them, confront your husband, Tina.”

“Fall into her clutches, then. Maybe she will leave my husband alone.” Her black gaze raked over Sophia in a sneer. “Although I do not see the appeal.”

Valentina left with the same fierceness as she had come in. Like a storm, leaving a minefield of awkward silence behind.

Sophia untangled herself from Luca’s side and ran her fingers tentatively over her cheek. She thought she might be a little sick but it could be because of how much dessert she’d eaten in her anxiety tonight after the strict diet of the last two weeks.

Luca pulled her to him; she tried to swat him away.

He won in the fight for possession of her. She swallowed hard. Fingers on her chin, he examined her cheek. “I apologize. She had no right to behave like that.” His mouth became a hard line. All the charm, the wicked laughter, was gone.

She waited for the inevitable question about her and Kairos, but it never came. But then, the one thing Luca had never been was a hypocrite.

“Marriage to Kairos is not good for her.”

She frowned but he didn’t elaborate. “Kairos can be hard to—” he raised a brow and she realized she’d jumped to her supposed lover’s defense “—understand.”

“You feel sorry for her?” he said, amazement in his eyes.

Sophia shrugged. Despite the sting in her cheek and the burn in her stomach at the comment on her looks, something inside Sophia recoiled at the vulnerability in Valentina’s eyes. A palette of emotions for Kairos, who was as hard-hearted as hell, to see. And everything was acted upon, too...

No man was worth that self-doubt, that haunting sense of inadequacy, Sophia wanted to tell Valentina.

Swift anger rose through her at Kairos; he was supposed to be her friend. Couldn’t he have reassured Valentina instead of using Sophia to keep his own wife at a distance?

“It’s obvious that what I suggested is a disastrous idea.” She chanced a glance at Luca, greedy to the last second. She’d make sure it was another decade before she saw him again. Something in her clenched tight. “Forget what I suggested.”

Without waiting for his answer, Sophia turned and walked away.

And in that moment she hated all men.

Antonio, for planting that horrible idea in her head, for using her desperation to promote his own agenda.

Kairos, for using their friendship as a barrier against his own wife.

Salvatore, for never giving her a chance in the company, even though he called her his daughter.

And the man behind her, more than anyone else, for kissing her like he meant it. Now and ten years ago. For making her want him so much, for making her weak and foolish, for making her imagine, even for a second, that she was all the things she could never be.

CHAPTER THREE

L
UCA
SPENT
THAT
Monday morning with Huang from the design team of Conti Luxury Goods, studying the prototype for new heels that would be released the coming spring.

Huang and he had worked together for almost ten years now, since Leandro had convinced Luca to take a small part in Conti Luxury Goods. Luca interacted only with Huang, and Huang worked with the rest of the design team.

He picked up a royal blue pump, tracing the aerodynamic sole with his fingers. The success of these pieces didn’t worry him. As always, anything he designed, from pumps to handbags, became instantly covetous among the fanatically fashionable.

Seeing something raw and shapeless transform into something so pleasing, that was success to him. But this particular design run had come to fruition and he felt the loss of it keenly. It had been quite a challenge—the design of the new heel. Now the production team would take over.

Familiar restlessness slithered through his veins. What to work on next? Sophia’s outrageous proposal from Friday night winked at him.

Dio
, but that had challenge and fun and all kinds of things written into it. She hated him—had every right to, but she was still attracted to him. When his looks tripped Sophia into that kind of a kiss, he couldn’t quite hate them. It should have been one of a hundred kisses, she one of numerous, interchangeable faces he filled his life with and yet, the taste of her lips lingered, the passion with which she had taken him lingered, filling him with a restless craving for more.

Since he had no intention of following that up with Sophia, he needed a woman. To forget her and her kisses and that he had no place in her life.
Soon.

He was at the door when Huang said, “You’re not going to wait?”

“For what?”

“You don’t even know, do you? Your brother—” Huang’s smile dimmed for the rift between Leandro and him, the first in their life, was fodder for office gossip “—is at the board meeting today. The one that’s going on now.”

“Well, he’s the CEO of CLG, Huang.” His mind ran over the next few days. He couldn’t disappear without checking on Tina first.

“There are rumors that he’s making a big announcement today.”

Luca stilled.

His brother claimed to have changed, that he regretted ruthlessly arranging Tina’s marriage to Kairos, pulling such deception over their sister, even if he intended it for her own good. But Leandro did nothing without reason. Needing to control everyone and everything around him was an itch in his brother’s blood.

A lot of fates depended on Leandro’s decision. Including Salvatore’s. And Sophia’s.

Her problems are not yours.

No warning could curb his thoughts, though. The poor state of the Rossi finances was common knowledge now. What would be her next move? Who would she propose marriage to next?

Curiosity was wildfire in his gut, eating away at that restlessness that never deserted him. Her expression when she had walked away, defeated yet resolute, stayed with him.

If nothing, it would be amusing to see what Sophia would do next. So Luca waited, for Sophia was a breath of fresh air, cold and yet invigorating, in his predestined life.

* * *

Leandro was stepping down as the CEO of the CLG Board.

Two hours and a million thoughts later, Luca still hadn’t recovered from the shock. For years Leandro’s life had been CLG. Kairos, his brother-in-law, would be the front-runner for CEO.

What use would his sister, Tina,then be to the ruthlessly ambitious Kairos once he had that?

His thoughts in a tangle, Luca walked past the alarmed secretary and pushed the door open to his brother’s office.

Kairos was in Leandro’s office, his hands on Sophia’s shoulders.

Jealousy twisted Luca’s gut, his blood singing with that same possessive fury again.
Dio
, only Sophia reduced him to this. Willing control over his emotions, he stayed by the door. The question he’d refused to ask, because he’d believed that Sophia was above such disgusting behavior as him, even after Tina’s accusations gnawed at him now.

How well did Sophia know him?

Sophia’s quick shake to Kairos’s whisper, the intimacy their very stance betrayed...suggested something more than an affair, something far more dangerous.

He couldn’t be the only man in the world who realized Sophia’s worth, the only man who wanted to claim her in every way. Did Kairos want more, too?

Even if they weren’t having an affair, it was clear Sophia had something with Kairos that Tina could never reach.

He’d hated this match between Tina and Kairos from the beginning, but seeing the stars in his sister’s eyes, he had stayed out of it. Even now, every instinct in him wanted to let Kairos have the CEO position he’d pursued with such cunning and ruthlessness, to let their marriage reach that destructive conclusion.

Only the tears he’d seen in Tina’s eyes at that party stayed his hand now.

It had been Leandro who had brought Tina to live with them after their mother’s death but it was Luca who’d made her laugh. Luca who’d gained her trust first; Luca she laughed with over all these years.

With her smile and generous heart, Tina loved Luca unconditionally, provided as much an anchor in his life as Leandro had.

Smarting at the direction of his thoughts, Luca ran a hand through his hair.

If there was a chance that Tina’s marriage to Kairos could be saved, he had to take it. He had to trust in Leandro’s belief that Kairos was the right man for Tina.

And to give Tina a running chance, he’d take away what stood between his sister and Kairos—the CEO position of CLG and Sophia Rossi. Luca’s seat on the board, which he’d have to claim for the first time in his life, would see to the first.

The second...

The solution that appeared released a panic in his gut, as if a noose were tightening around his neck.

Of all the women in the world, Sophia was the last woman he should be contemplating marriage to. She had proved to be dangerous to his peace of mind even as a chubby, composed nineteen-year-old. Now she was a force to be reckoned with.

“Can we borrow...
your office, Kairos
?” Luca interrupted the sweetly nauseating scene. “Sophia and I have something important to discuss.”

“I won’t let you bully Sophia.”

“How about you show that concern for my sister? Your wife, remember?” Luca retorted.

Another squeeze of Sophia’s shoulders and Kairos left.

“That looked like a very cozy scene, very tender,” Luca said, leaning against the closed door, batting away at the ugly emotion festering in his gut. “I gather he knows what Tina did.”

He saw her spine stiffen, making her look like an angry crow in her black dress. “I didn’t tell him. And I came by to tell him that he should clear this misunderstanding with Valentina.”

As always, the black linen was unadorned with the skirt falling demurely past her knees, high necked and severely cut. Yet the very cut and the way it enfolded all of her emphasized the very voluptuousness of the woman’s curves. If her intentions were to cover up that exquisitely luscious body with those painfully severe dresses, then she was an abysmal failure.

The only thing her horribly dowdy dresses showed was her rejection of style and fashion. Of her femininity. That she found herself not worthy enough of even trying.

He wanted to tear the ugly fabric off her and dress her in slithery silks, discover that satiny soft skin that he’d tasted once thoroughly, make her—

“Luca?”

Christo
, two minutes in the same room and he could imagine only one scenario. The easy way she unmanned his control made Luca’s tone uncharacteristically harsh and bitter. “How did he receive
your mutually beneficial proposal
? Should I be flattered that you asked me first?” Disgustingly shameful words, he realized the moment he spoke.

She stilled, dismay pouring out of her entire frame. That she was hurt by his callous remark, that she could be pushed to some reaction by him, any reaction, elated Luca.
He was truly a twisted devil.

“No,” she said, boldly meeting his eyes, only the shadows in her own betraying her emotions, “you’re the only one I’ve proposed marriage to. And before you ask another disgustingly hypocritical question, no, I’ve not propositioned Kairos into some sort of illicit affair, either.

“I do not sleep with married men. Much less a close married friend. Much less a man who already asked me to marry him and I refused.”

Shock stole coherence from Luca. Suddenly, he saw it.

Ruthlessly ambitious, Kairos had first wanted Sophia and Rossi Leather. When she’d refused, he’d set his sights on Tina and the Conti Board instead, with Leandro’s blessing.

And now his dear brother-in-law probably wanted to eat his cake, too...

Dio, now he couldn’t undo knowing that Tina’s marriage was in trouble.

Sophia hitched her handbag over her shoulder, knuckles white, and glanced at her watch. “If you’ll excuse me, I have several other men I have to proposition, blackmail, extort so that I can save my family’s livelihood. If you’ve had enough fun at my expense, I’d like to get started.”

“I want to talk about your proposal.”

Her hands stilled on her desk. “No.” Fury bristled from her. “I used to think you still possessed some notion of decency. But no. You are every horrible thing I thought of you all these years.”

“I’m serious, Sophia.”

Something shone in her eyes. He’d never met a woman who worked as hard as Sophia did, one who dusted herself off even after being denied every opportunity she deserved.

Such strength, such endurance and yet he knew, like no one else did, that she was vulnerable, too. Was it any wonder she fascinated him?

* * *

Sophia stared at Luca, trying to gauge his mood. Trying to banish the taste of him from her mouth.

Even as she knew that she had a better chance of forgetting how to breathe. For a week, she’d lain flushed and restless in her bed, touching her lips, as if she could invoke that feeling again.

Ran a hand over her breasts and down low, where she’d been already damp. Just imagining his fingers down there, his mouth on her heavy breasts, she’d been aching all night. Reaching for something only he could give and she could never ever want again.

Today, he was wearing a V-necked gray sweater and black jeans. With a bristly beard and dark shadows beneath his eyes, he looked exactly the man he was—a recklessly gorgeous playboy with a long night behind him.

“Sophia?”

She came to with a startle, her cheeks on fire. He was serious? He wanted to hear her proposal? “I’ve heard that Leandro and you are on the outs now?”

“Si.”
One long finger traced the edge of the desk, and Sophia could tell this was something that bothered him—this rift with his brother.

“With Leandro stepping down, your vote could become the deciding factor on a lot of things.”

“Like whether Rossi Leather should be cut for pieces and distributed among everyone.”

She nodded, hiding her shock. For a self-indulgent, indolent playboy, Luca grasped the situation far too quickly. “You enjoy the extravagant lifestyle being a Conti affords you. I mean, you’re used to those custom designed Armani suits, that flat in downtown Milan, that Maserati and all those women, yes?” she said spitefully, knowing full well that Luca could be a pauper and women would still strip for him in the middle of a birthday party.

He sighed, even as deep amusement glinted in his eyes. “You know I do. I dread losing any of it. I didn’t realize Leandro was serious about letting it all go to hell.”

“If you give me the required rights, I will do everything Leandro has done for you all these years. Represent you on the board and take care of your interests in CLG. You won’t have to lift a finger.”

“I see you’ve used your superior knowledge of my likes and tastes to reel me in.” If there was any justice in the world, her glare should have turned him into dust.

“What do you get in return?”

“If we marry, my stepfather could be convinced to bring Rossi’s under the umbrella of CLG. He’s been resisting it because he thinks his legacy would be swallowed up.”

“
Dio
, controlling old men and their obsession with their legacies. So this agenda is not driven by Kairos, then.”

“What?”

He shrugged. “You have to admit it’s a good theory. Kairos decides you’ll marry me, can have me by the balls and consequently, has my vote in his bid to be CEO.”

“That is too ruthless even for him. Not forgetting the obvious flaw in the plan that I, of all women, could have your ba—” She gasped; it was like there was her own personal furnace inside her, and the rogue grinned as she cleared her throat. “Could have you under my control, in any manner.”

“I could never marry a woman who lacks in feminine wiles.”

She gritted her teeth. He had to pick the most uncomfortable aspect of that. “Another fantastic reason for why it’s a crazy idea.”

He gave her a considering look. “If you have such faith in that bastard Kairos, then why not accept his help?”

“Luca, what is your problem with Kairos?”

“He’s too hungry for power. Which means he’ll do anything in his hunt for it.”

“Yes, how infinitely atrocious that Kairos is so ambitious when he could be chasing woman after woman in eternal pursuit of pleasure.”

“Why isn’t he helping you with Rossi’s?”

“He offered but I don’t like his solution. Everyone, including Kairos, has an agenda for Rossi Leather without considering what’s actually best for the company or my family. And the problems we have aren’t going to be solved by a simple influx of cash. Salvatore will bring us back here into this same situation in a year again. No one can help us.”

Not even Antonio.

The minute she didn’t toe the line—which would probably include some impossible task like domesticating the devil in front of her—Antonio would tighten the screws on her. Threaten their company or withdraw his support.