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“Legend says if you toss a coin into the fountain, you’ll return to Rome one day.”
Her body tensed. Time had deepened his voice into a richer timbre that resonated through every nerve ending in her body and rooted her to the stones beneath her feet. The chaos of earlier had dimmed the effect. But now she felt it, every intonation seeping deep into her bones with an intoxicating, delicious warmth.
A hand appeared in front of her, palm up, a coin resting on long fingers.
How many times had she held that hand as a child, clasping those fingers as he’d led the way up a mountain path or under the winding vines of the vineyard, offering her a respite from the suffocating confines of her adopted home?
Or the last time she’d seen him, when he’d pulled his hand back and walked away from her?
“Rome is beautiful,” she replied, inwardly wincing at the breathiness in her voice. “But why go back to what you’ve already seen when the world has so much more to offer?”
For a moment, he said nothing. Then, with a casual flip of his fingers, the coin arced up into the night air before dropping into the water.
You can do this.
Steeling herself, she faced Antonio Cabrera for the second time that evening.
The butterflies returned with a vengeance, madly fluttering in her chest as her heartbeat raced. When he’d walked away from her, he’d been just shy of twenty, with a smile so sweet it had made her ache. But now...
Sexy. That was the best word to describe the tall, brooding man standing just a couple of feet away. A black suit, Armani label, judging by the cut and the glimpse she got of the unadorned silk lining. The material clung to his broad shoulders, customized for his muscular body. Even though he’d been shorter than his brothers, he still loomed over her. She should have kept her heels on. Then she wouldn’t have to tilt her head back to meet his gaze.
His mahogany-brown gaze that ignited a spark deep inside her. One that burned brighter as her eyes slid over him, taking in both the familiar and the new. The familiar square jaw and sharp cheekbones, now dusted with dark stubble that should have looked scruffy but on him radiated roguish masculinity. The familiar chestnut hair, now trimmed on the sides and thick and wavy on top.
And his mouth. Familiar, but no longer gentle as it curved up into a smile. A sensual, brooding smile that fanned the flames burning inside her.
“Hello, Anna.”
CHAPTER THREE
¡DIOSMÍO!
Desire reared in his head, unbidden, unwanted, and dark with intensity as Antonio Cabrera watched Anna.Anna Vega, he reminded himself, anAand aVintertwined on the labels of her designs. He’d honed his skills over the past few years as head of Cabrera Properties, specifically their three luxury hotels. Negotiations, sales, the occasional ferreting out of an unsavory business partner. His reputation as tough but fair, an overall good man, had been hard fought.
What would his associates say if they could read his mind now? He’d thought his nineteen-year-old dream of Anna and him in bed had been bad; a dream that had been seceded days later by the fracturing of their friendship. But his adolescent fantasy was nothing compared to the want that had bolted through him when Anna had first stepped onto that runway in a gold gown with a skirt that shimmered like stars as she’d walked. Although the skirt had only held his attention for a second before his gaze had been drawn to the plunging neckline that almost reached her trim waist. Two panels of gauze had covered her breasts but left an enticing expanse of bare skin. The hint of a shy smile on her lips, painted a dusky pink, paired with a strength he’d never seen in the thrust of her shoulders and the tip of her chin, had upped the heat simmering in his veins.
The heat that had nearly spiraled out of control into a white-hot inferno when she’d landed in his lap.
He breathed in through his nose.
Off-limits. Old friend. Broke her heart. Virgin.
The reminders fell flat as he subtly flicked his eyes down her incredibly long legs. Anna Vega had grown into a stunning woman. Still slender but no longer the willow-thin wisp she’d been as a girl. No, he’d most definitely felt the curve of her hips, the nip of her waist when he’d briefly clasped her in his arms. Brown-black hair had grown down to her waist. The wide, rosy lips and those hypnotic eyes, one the rich color of amber, the other a pale blue.
Stunning. A sexiness he could have written off as mere attraction to a woman based on physical interest had she not gotten back up on the catwalk and finished her walk. He couldn’t picture the old Anna facing the world after an embarrassing incident, let alone get up there in the first place. But this new Anna, the one who wore eye-popping gowns and modeled, was an entirely different and very enticing woman.
Diego had said nothing of modeling, he thought testily. Only that Anna’s friend had talked her into showcasing her designs at a fashion show in Rome.
“I’m worried about her,” Diego had said two days ago when he’d come into Antonio’s office and asked for a favor. The wrinkles carved into his weathered face had deepened with his frown. “First, she lost her job. Then she ran off to Paris. And that magazinearticle that shared all her personal details...” His voice had trailed off, he’d inhaled deeply then pinned Antonio in place with a desperate gaze. “You said you’d be in Italy for a while. Would you check in on her? Make sure she’s okay?”
Not his first choice of activities given how he and Anna had parted. He also didn’t like that the butler apparently still treated Anna like a child. Diego’s protective measures for Anna had rivaled that of Javier Cabrera and the restrictions he’d placed on his middle son, Alejandro.
But Diego had made a compelling argument. And it was the first thing the old butler had asked for in his thirty-plus years of service to the Cabrera family.
So he’d found out where Anna’s friend’s show was being held and secured a ticket. The company, Hampton Events, had checked out. So had Anna’s friend, Kess. Still, he’d decided to watch the show, attend the after-party, confirm with his own eyes that Anna was okay before slipping away. She didn’t even have to know he was there.
But then Anna had walked out on stage in that dress and he’d barely kept his mouth from dropping open. Each creation she’d worn, ones he’d read in the program had been designed by Anna herself, had shown just how much she’d grown into her woman’s body. The first few had looked good on her, although they’d seemed fairly mundane.
But the gold gown...he hadn’t been able to look away.
