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“I could,” he replied smoothly.
Well, crap. She’d meant it as a throwaway line, an indication she was attracted to him. But his ready agreement unsettled her. Why on earth would a guy like him want someone like her? The women he took to bed probably knew how to do all kinds of things. Sexy things. Dirty things.
And Marianna was still yet to see a man fully naked.
Oh god, do not think of naked men right now.
Too late. Her brain switched gears. Suddenly it was all bow-chicka-wow-wow, and she couldn’t help but drop her eyes down to his lap.
Stop it. You do not seduce a man by openly drooling over his crotch.
“Could, but I don’t,” he clarified. “I’m rather…particular.”
“I’m glad we cleared that up. You’re perfection in man form and you have high standards.”
Higher standard than what would include an awkward woman who could talk ad nauseum about syntax and morphology, anyway.
Nico laughed. The sound was so genuine and carefree that the bartender looked at them with a raised brow, as though it was a highly unusual occurrence. “And what about you, Bianca? Can you have any man you want?”
“Well, I…” Oh dear. She was even worse at answering questions than she was at asking them. “I have been known to attract men…on occasion.” She reached for her drink and tossed a long gulp back. “Some men.”
“Some men?” He looked like he was trying not to laugh.
“Real men. Not internet men.” Dig up, stupid. “You know what I mean.”
“I really don’t.” He rubbed a hand along his jaw.
“It’s a complex situation,” she said.
“Sex and attraction? It’s the simplest thing in the world. After all, it’s what we humans have been programmed for. It’s our nature.”
Then why had it been so freaking hard for her? Her brothers were the final nail in her very boring, very lonely coffin. Even without their overbearing protectiveness she suspected that pickings would have been slim.
“Nature isn’t always easy,” she said. “You know, survival of the fittest and all that. Not everyone excels. Although I’m sure you have no idea what that’s like.”
The ground needed to open up and suck her deep under the earth’s crust. Like, now. Why did she think she could do this?
“I’m very good at surviving.” An undercurrent of darkness in his voice sent a tremor through her.
A guy like him didn’t merely survive. He attacked life full-force, like a lion.
She gulped. “More than surviving, I would say.” Her voice had taken on this breathy quality. Marilyn Monroe–esque. She didn’t sound like herself. “You look like you’ve come out swinging.”
“I could say the same,” he teased, rubbing his jaw.
Kill. Me. Now.
“You look like you can take it.” She swallowed. “You have a very strong jaw.”
“Are you flirting with me?” Nico asked. His amusement burned through her, stirring up the shame from the darkest depths of her soul.
You’re destined to die a virgin. #foreveralone.
“I guess if you have to ask, I’m not doing a very good job of it.”
She was ready to walk away then. It would be easy enough to step down from her barstool, thank him for the drinks, and try her luck somewhere else. With someone else. Like any good student, she could learn her lesson and pick someone a little less intimidating. She could chalk this up to a practice run. After all, there would be no consequences here. That was the whole point of it.
But the second she went to move, a big hand wrapped around her wrist. There was such a contrast between them—her pale complexion against his rich tan, the size of him against her.
“Why did you want to have a drink with me?” he asked. “Other than to make up for the punch.”
“I…” She swallowed. Should she give it one last-ditch attempt? “I was hoping you might be able to show me around. I’ve never been to Corfu before.”
He nodded slowly. “Then why didn’t you ask me that?”
“I was working up to it.”
“Finish your drink. Then we can go.”
…
Nico wasn’t sure why he was encouraging Bianca/Marianna. The whole situation was strange, from her awkward sincerity and adorable fact-spouting to her trying to flirt with him and doing a terrible job of it. The woman wasn’t a great actress…unless she was brilliant at acting like she was terrible at acting. Could Daniel Halsey be pulling the strings in the background?
He wanted to find out what the endgame was.
If she was meant to seduce him into a business deal, then her brother had sent the wrong woman for the job. He should have used a practiced seductress, a woman confident in her abilities. Not this sweet woman who was oddly charming and socially clumsy. A woman who was, from everything he could discern, so far from his type that she might as well have been an alien species.
And yet, he was enjoying the hell out of himself and didn’t want to be anywhere else. Nico’s Maserati GranTurismo ate up the road, propelling them forward while Bianca/Marianna sat beside him, hands tangled in her lap, eyes wider than the large plates those fancy restaurants used to serve miniscule portions of food.
