AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“And if I leave it?”
She twitched her lips, her eyes flashing. “Time to go for Plan B. Fortunately, Jordan’s already given me one. Now all I need to do is convince the school that he’d be a good substitute.”
She started to turn away, and Cole reached out and caught hold of her upper arm.
“Stay away from Jordan,” he said. “You’ve already messed up one Serenghetti. Don’t go for another.”
He’d gotten first dibs on Marisa more than a decade ago. And given their history, first dibs held even now, whether Jordan knew the details or not.
“I’m flattered you think so highly of my evil powers, but Jordan is a big boy who can take care of himself.”
“I’m not kidding.”
“Neither am I. I’m running out of time to find a headliner for the Pershing fund-raiser.”
“Not Jordan.”
She pulled out of his grasp. “We’ll see. Goodbye, Cole.”
Broodingly, Cole watched her exit the gym.
Their meeting hadn’t ended the way she’d wanted, but it wasn’t the way he’d envisioned it, either.
Damn it.
He had to keep her away from Jordan, and his script didn’t include admitting, I slept with her.
Three
Cole had to wait a week to corner his brother because Jordan had three away games. But he figured their parents’ house was as good a location as any for a showdown. As he exited his Range Rover, he looked up at the storm clouds. Yup. The weather fit his mood.
When he didn’t spot Jordan’s car on his parents’ circular drive, he quelled his impatience. His brother would be here soon enough. Jordan had replied to his text and agreed they would both stop by the house this evening to check on how their parents were doing. So Cole would soon have blessed relief from the irritation that had been dogging him for the past week. Marisa and his brother—over his cold dead body.
Cole made his way to the front doors. The Serenghetti house was a Mediterranean villa with a red-tile roof and white walls. In warmer months, a lush garden was his mother’s pride and joy, keeping both her and a landscaper busy. As Serg’s construction business had grown, Cole’s parents had traded up to bigger homes. The move to the Mediterranean villa had been completed when Cole was in middle school. Serg had built a house big enough to accommodate the Serenghetti brood as well as the occasional visiting relatives.
Cole’s jaw tightened. If Jordan had been contacted by Marisa, then his brother needed to be warned off. His brother had to understand that Marisa couldn’t be trusted. She may have changed since high school, but Cole wasn’t taking any chances. On the other hand, if Marisa had been bluffing about asking Jordan to be her second choice, so much the better. Either way, Cole was going to make damn sure there wasn’t anything going on.
Memories had snuck up on him ever since Marisa had traipsed back into his life. Yeah, he’d taken a lot for granted when he’d been at Pershing—his status as top jock, his popularity with girls and the financial security that allowed him a ride at a private school. Still, there’d been pressure. Pressure to perform. Pressure to outperform himself—on and off the ice. He’d set himself up for a fall by trying to outdo his biggest game, his latest prank, his most recent sexual experience...
Back in high school, Marisa had been outside his inner circle but had seemingly been able to look in without judging. At least that was what he’d thought. And then she’d betrayed him.
Sure, he hadn’t liked it one bit when Jordan had turned his charm on Marisa at the boxing gym. But it was because he hated to see his brother make the same mistake he’d made. It had nothing to do with being territorial about a teenage fling. He didn’t do jealousy. Marisa was an attractive woman, but he was old enough to know the pitfalls of acting on pure lust.
As a professional hockey player, he’d always had easy access to women. But after a while it had started to lose meaning. When Jordan had joined the NHL, he’d given his younger brother the talk about the temptations facing professional athletes from money and fame. Of course, Jordan was a seasoned pro these days—but Marisa presented a brand of secret and stealthy allure.
He should know.
Cole tensed as he recalled how ready Jordan had been to succumb to temptation last week. Because his brother had been on the road for away games since then, with any luck he’d been too busy for Marisa to reach him.
Cole opened the unlocked front door and let himself in. The sounds of “We Open in Venice” hit him, and he wondered if his mother was again playing all the songs from Cole Porter’s Kiss Me, Kate. She loved the musical so much, she had named her firstborn after its legendary composer.
Cole thought his life didn’t need a soundtrack—least of all, that of the musical based on Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew. Still, was it a coincidence—or the universe sending him a message? He had about as much chance of taming Marisa as of returning to his professional hockey career right now. Not that he was going to try. He was only going to make sure that he and any other Serenghetti were outside Marisa’s ambit.
He made his way to the back of the house, where he found his mother in the oversize kitchen. As usual, the house smelled of flowers, mouthwatering food aromas...and familial obligation.
“Cole,” Camilla said, pronouncing the e at the end of his name like a short vowel. “A lovely surprise, caro.”
Although his mother had learned English at a young age, she still had an accent and sprinkled her English with Italian. She’d met and married Serg when he’d been vacationing in Tuscany, and she’d been a twenty-one-year-old hotel front-desk employee. Before Serg had checked out in order to visit extended family in the hockey-mad region north of Venice, the two had struck up a romance.
