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One sardonic eyebrow rose. ‘Did you not hear what I just said?’
Because she needed space from his proximity to think and to formulate an escape—because getting cooped up in this chalet with him wasnotgoing to happen—she hurried to the island and braced herself against it. With her roiling insides, thoughts of caffeine no longer appealed, so she set her cup down.
Then resolutely faced him. ‘But you...you’re Alessio Montaldi, world-class fixer. Surely, we’re not just going to sit here for...however long it takes for this to clear, are we?’
She realised she was wringing her hands when his gaze fell on them. But even as she froze the motion, he was leaning back against the very same window, toned arms folding contemplatively as he watched her. ‘Why, Gigi, you seem overly agitated. Wasn’t this what you were angling for all along, a chance to have me all to yourself? I thought you’d be more excited that Santa has delivered your Christmas wish much quicker than you expected or, I dare say, even deserved?’
The reminder that Christmas was fast approaching, and that she would be stuck impersonating her sister, sent bolts of panic through her.
More, her mother would belividif Giada ruined whatever plans she had up her sleeves. ‘Believe it or not, this isn’t what I want at all.’ This was supposed to have been abriefstalling tactic to buy Gigi time she needed to relocate Alessio’s property.
His gaze hardened. ‘Do you not have the courage to grab the opportunity this presents to you? Or is the distress because there’s not enough of an audience here to keep you entertained? Your penchant for dancing on tables and pouring liquor down your throat does not offer the same satisfaction when you have only me for company?’ he mocked.
The impulse to deny it all was swift and hot. But she forced herself to lift her chin, to stare him down with a taunting, bored gaze of her own. ‘Maybe. What’s wrong with wanting the company of friends? Especially around the holidays? I want this job, yes. But I also have a life beyond this. So yes, I have plans that don’t include being cooped up here with you.’ Her very being shook with uttering that last sentence. Because the reality grew more unnerving with each passing second.
‘Except it isn’t just the holidays with people like you, is it?’ He tightened the screw with cynical judgement dripping from his dark gold eyes. ‘Life is a year-round party, isn’t it?’
She rolled her eyes. ‘And you have a problem with it, I’m guessing? You’d rather everyone in the world walks around like a brute with a vendetta or some other carnage brewing in their eyes the way you do?’
Thick, charged silence rushed into the kitchen, the heartbeat drumming in her ears amplifying her foolishness. She knew it from the embers sparking to life in his eyes. From the way her fingers and toes tingled from the force of his incandescent stare. Before she could thinkWhat would Gigi do?Giada was rushing into speech. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—’
He swatted her apology away with a wave of his hand. ‘I don’t care what you think about me. I would happily toss you out into the storm so you can be reunited with your cheerleading squad, if your risking death didn’t mean loss of my property.’ He straightened and his arms fell to his sides as he strolled towards her with the false indolence and grace of a panther. ‘Tell me where it is, and as soon as my team recover it, you can brave the elements back to the bright lights. Far be it for me to keep you from cheap booze and mediocre conversation.’
Oh, he was good. Breathtakingly so.
Giada’s head spun with the way he’d turned the tables on her.
Her fingers knitted again—a habit she couldn’t stop—and her brain scrambled feverishly. ‘Who were you on the phone with earlier?’ she demanded, sidetracking to buy herself time to frame an answer. ‘I heard what you said about needing to get out of here. If it wasn’t your brother, then who were you talking to? Was it someone who could get us out of here?’ She knew her questions were too eager but she didn’t care. Not if his answer wasyes.
His pitying look said her prayers were about to be denied.
He came even closer, arms extending to rest on the countertop on either side of her hips, effectively caging her in. The scent of sweat mingled with pure man should’ve put her off. Instead, she had the wild desire to place her nose in his throat,breathe him in.
‘If you heard that part, then you also heard my response. As much as you wish it, the answer is no,duci. The lines are down, which means no phone calls. No internet. There’s no getting off this mountain. Not until the series of storms have passed. As much as we both loathe it, we’re stuck with one another.’
She was absorbing the fact that Alessio Montaldi didn’t find her a mere nuisance but actuallyloathedher presence when he lifted a hand.
Giada shouldn’t have noticed how elegant his fingers were, with the neatly trimmed nails and the wisps of hair that dusted the back of them. But as with the tattoo that rippled and writhed with each movement, she was completely absorbed.
So much so, she didn’t...couldn’tutter a word as he slowly traced her bottom lip with his forefinger. As his piercing gaze absorbed every flicker of expression as if it were his due. As her body trembled and roused with eagerness at his electric touch and she had to scramble madly to prevent the moan that eagerly rose to her throat from escaping.
‘So tell me, are you going to play a good little houseguest or are you still intent on taking a chance with the elements?’
Since she wasn’t stupid and since she of all people knew first-hand how dangerous the ice could be, no matter how entrancing it was to look at, she had little choice but to give him her answer. ‘I’ll stay,’ she said, but the next words were unplanned, falling from her lips without her permission. ‘But nothing has changed since yesterday. If you’re expecting meek and mild, you’re going to be very disappointed.’
She’d held her breath, anticipating his displeasure or temper.
Alessio had just stared down the blade of his nose at her, that disdain surging to full force. The next instant he straightened and exited the kitchen without a word.
Leaving her to stagger back to the window, disbelief still deadening her limbs at the situation she’d found herself in.
How the hell would she survive days in this chalet with Alessio Montaldi?
And why did it send a flurry ofexcitedbutterflies through her belly?
CHAPTER SIX
THATHADBEENthree hours ago.
