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“What does your boyfriend say about you being so opinionated on your fellow women?”
Her cheeks flush slightly as her chin drops. “I don’t have one and wouldn’t care what he thought if I did.” She pushes her shoulders back and sits up that little bit straighter as she finishes the sentence. “And it’s just the way I want it.”
Those words are like the challenge I didn’t want to hear. I’m already fighting an unwanted attraction to a woman too young for me and a business associate. But my ridiculous manhood loves to think I could break her. Have her begging to be mine before she has time to breathe a word of complaint.
Trying to snap myself out of the image of her on her knees, I fire my answer back without even thinking. “Good to know. Nothing wrong with living a single life. I’ve done it all my adult life, and I can’t see it changing anytime soon.” And for the first time in my life, that truth tasted like vinegar rolling off my tongue. Why is that?
“Doesn’t surprise me, but okay, I’ll ask the question. Why are you still single?” Her voice is softer now, and she looks like she is genuinely curious.
I debate in my head what to say, but in the end the truth is the easiest.
“I don’t believe in love.” For the first time, hesitation creeps into my thoughts at that statement, because lately, I’m not entirely sure it’s true. But what I do know is what I decided early on in my life—love is not for me, and that hasn’t changed.
“Then your life must be a very sad and lonely place to be.”
Looking into her eyes that are full of pity for me, and the worst thing is, I think she might be right.
Not that I will ever admit that to her or to anyone else.
Luckily, we are pulling up in front of the hotel which saves me from a reply. The conversation is over, and I’m ever so thankful for that.
Am I any different to my mother who lived her whole life on her own?
But I already know the answer to that. She loved and lost.
I’ve just never loved, yet feel lost anyway.
ChapterNine
VICTORIA
Who doesn’t believe in love?
I might not be looking for it right now, but I know it’s out there for when I’m ready. Otherwise, what’s the point of life?
I suppose it explains Nic to some degree. His hardness that he tries to portray, and what Flynn told me yesterday about him never letting anyone in. What happened to this man to make him so cynical? Someone obviously broke his heart, and she must have done a damn good job of it. He claims he has never had a relationship, but something happened to make him so distant. It shouldn’t interest me, but the truth is, I desperately want to know now. Like, I’m making it my mission this week, with a sort of desperation for knowing him and to get behind that wall. I want to find out who the real Nicholas Darby is.
Just as the driver opens my door and I get out of the car, Nic’s phone rings again. He wasn’t kidding when he said it never stops.
“Flynn, is it important?” His demanding voice is back after the one tender moment we had in the car.
Standing next to the car waiting, I watch his expression get harder. Whatever Flynn is saying, Nic is not happy about it. By the way he’s running his hand through his hair, I would say he’s frustrated and trying to think hard.
“Are you kidding me!? She is so close to being shown the door no matter what my grandfather said.” When he turns away from me to continue talking, I get to check out the view. And not just of his firm shoulders and tight ass that his trousers frame nicely. But the street around the hotel.
I didn’t tell Nic that I have never left the UK and that my first flight was on his fancy private jet. Nothing like starting at the top. No flight will ever measure up to this one, that’s for sure. Luckily, I had already applied for a passport a few years ago, for my future travels. So, with this being my virgin trip, to be standing in Rome right now is surreal. It’s the first tick on my bucket list of destinations that I want to travel to. Pity I won’t really get to see much of it, by the way he was talking, but hey, I can say I have walked on Italian soil.
Everything is just like I imagined—old. The street in front of the hotel is cobbled stone, and everything around us was probably built hundreds of years ago. The history here is something that I need to know more about. The thought pops into my head that I need to get a journal and start documenting everywhere I visit and what I see. So, one day, when I’m old and gray, I can look back and read through the memories of what I saw on my travels. Or to be able to read it to my children or grandchildren would be a treasure. Especially when all that family time is going to be so far in the future that I will have enough to write a whole book or two on my adventures.
If I can get some time on my own, I want to see the Trevi Fountain. I already know what I will be wishing for — that the fountain is the first of many tourist attractions I’ll visit all around the world. When I was growing up, I watched aLizzie Maguiremovie over and over again, where she traveled to Rome. I used to dream that someday I would stand where she did in front of the fountain, flip the coin over my shoulder, and find my man, you know, the love-of-your-life kind. But now that just makes me laugh because I’m not that young dreaming girl anymore. Instead, my dreams are far bigger now and don’t involve a man to make them happen.
“I’m going to need more than luck. You might want to say a few Hail Marys that I’m still in one piece when I tell her. Later.” Nic’s voice brings me back out of my memory, only to see him turning toward me, and his body language tells me he’s pissed. Seems to be a regular occurrence for him.
Walking toward me, he grasps my hand and whispers in my ear in a deep voice that sends shivers up and down my body. “Don’t make a scene, I’ll explain everything when we get to the room. I need you to pretend to be my girlfriend. Please, just trust me.” He pulls back, looking down at me with piercing eyes.
My stupid brain is trying to make sense of what he just said. I try to pull my hand from his, but his grasp just gets tighter.
“What the hell are…” My voice increases in volume as I start to lose my shit.
