Wrinkling her nose, Annelise said, “Do you think they’ll want to part with them? You know how collectors are.”
“My mother gave up so much for me, and she shouldn’t have had to.” Gigi squared her shoulders with determination. “I need to at least try.”
“What does this mean for our company?”
“Do you remember how we said we’d hire an assistant if we could afford one? Let’s do it. Let’s get out of this office and even out of Europe. Are you game?”
“I’m in. Does you mother know about your inheritance?”
“I went to see her before I came here. I didn’t tell her how much I got, but she doesn’t care. She gave me the same lecture you did. She worries I’ll run through it.”
Annelise stood and walked to the door with Gigi. “Want to go for breakfast? I want to hear all about New York. Names. Descriptions. Everything. Especially about the part you tried to gloss over earlier. Did you really see your Mr. Zing again? How was that?”
Gigi’s smile wavered. “Breakfast sounds perfect, but I don’t want to talk about Kane.”
They stepped out of the building together. “That doesn’t sound good.”
“It’s not good or bad, it’s nothing. Which is why I don’t want to talk about it. Okay?”
Annelise linked arms with her as they walked. “Gotcha, but we do need to discuss something that’s bothering me. Who comes back from a vacation thinner? Don’t rich people eat? I looked at a scone yesterday, and my pants are tight today.”
Gigi laughed with relief and felt the tension that had filled her at the mention of Kane’s name melting away. This was Annelise; there was no reason to hide anything from her. They hadn’t made it more than a block from the office when Gigi said, “I kissed Kane again, and it was better than I remembered, and I remembered it being really, really good.”
Annelise gave a skip of joy beside her. “I’m so glad we’re not talking about him. Wait. Kiss? That’s it? You didn’t sleep with him?”
“Not even close.”
Annelise let out a whistle. “Look at you, all flushed and giddy over a kiss like we’re in high school. You do have it bad for this guy. So, you had enough time to get to know him while you were there. Did you date? Are you a thing now?”
“It’s complicated . . .” Once Gigi started talking she couldn’t stop until the whole story poured out. And because Annelise was someone who knew her better than anyone else in the world, she told her everything from how Kane had brought a date to her dinner to what she’d almost done in the coat closet that night. They both laughed until their sides hurt as Gigi described how mortified she’d been when Julia had found her.
It wasn’t fun recounting how Kane had disappeared after the dinner. How she’d waited for him to contact her and had run to her phone each time it’d rung, only to be disappointed. He not only hadn’t called, but he’d made himself so scarce she’d grown tired of hearing people ask where he was. Especially as her stay in the States had come to a close. Most of those who had come to welcome her had gathered again at Gio’s for her goodbye dinner. Not Kane, though. Although Gigi had no proof he was deliberately avoiding her, a part of her hoped he was. She preferred to imagine him confused and holding himself back by avoiding her rather than face the much worse possibility—that he had forgotten she was even there.
By the time they found a table at a local coffee shop, Gigi forced herself to move on to happier subjects. She described how her brothers had taken time away from their work to spend time with her. How proudly they’d introduced her to more people than she could ever remember the names of. It was impossible not to smile while describing the warm welcome the entire Andrade clan had given her. Or how much they’d tried to feed her.
“So why don’t you look like you ate your weight in pasta?”
“Nerves? Funny, everything was exactly what I used to dream it would be . . . in some ways even better. But I was so afraid I’d do something to mess it up or wake up and discover none of it was real.”
“Good things are possible, Gigi. Statistically, they have to happen to someone eventually.”
“I like the way you look at this. Not as a nearly impossible occurrence, but as somehow destined if enough bad shit happens to everyone else.”
Annelise smiled. “That’s not exactly what I mean, but close. So, aren’t you glad you finally broke down and met your brothers?”
Gigi swirled her coffee around her cup. “I am. We’re still figuring each other out, but I’m not angry anymore. At least, not with them.”
“Do you wish you’d gone earlier?”
“No. I wasn’t ready. I don’t think they were either. I get the feeling things with them weren’t always the way they are now. They want me to be one of them, but they don’t want me to ask questions. I know them, but I don’t. Does that make sense?”
“That sounds about right. At least, in my experience. People have secrets, Gigi, and the older I get the more I’m beginning to think it’s better not to know them.” Annelise gave Gigi a long look. “There’s more, though, isn’t there? Something is bothering you.”
Gigi looked down at the paper napkin she’d been absently folding and creasing in her hands. “When I told you about Kane the first time, you said connections like that aren’t real. That’s not the way it felt, Annelise. I can’t stop thinking about him, no matter how much I tell myself I should stop. Why would he kiss me the way he did and then walk away? I don’t understand.”
“Have you considered calling him?”
“And saying what? Hello, is there any chance you like me and haven’t gotten around to acting on it yet? If he had any interest in me, he’d call me, right?”
“How good was that kiss?”
“Un-fucking-believable.”
“He’ll call.”
“Three weeks ago, I would have agreed with you. Now, I don’t think so.”
“I’d say you have a ninety-seven-point-three percent chance of hearing from him again.”
Gigi laughed. It felt good to make light of something that had weighed heavily upon her thoughts for weeks. “Not one hundred?”
Annelise smirked. “When it comes to men, you always have to leave a small margin for the possibility of utter stupidity.”
* * *
“Well, at least you’re still alive,” Nick Andrade said from the doorway of Kane’s office a few weeks later.
Kane turned with a groan. “What do need, Nick?”
Nick plopped down in one of his office chairs and propped his feet up on the table in front of it. “Rena sent me. She’s worried about you. No one has seen you in a while.”
Kane walked over and knocked Nick’s feet from the table. “I’ve been working a lot. It looks like we’re adding a new satellite office in Europe.”
Nick put his feet back up on the table and grinned in challenge. “I know, your father told me at dinner on Sunday. The dinner you said you’d go to but didn’t.”
Kane took a deep breath. “I don’t have time for this. Tell my sister I’m fine. I’ll come to dinner this weekend.”
Nick folded his arms across his chest. “Rena thinks you’re sulking over Gigi. Is that true?”
Kane glared at him, but said nothing.
With a widening grin, Nick stood. “You are. And I love the poetic justice of it. You gave me a lot of shit for falling for your little sister. I hope Gio is more understanding than you were.” When Kane still said nothing, Nick snapped his fingers and pointed. “He doesn’t know, though, does he? Please let me be there when you tell him.”
Kane turned away and put the distance of half the room between them. He felt the urge to hit something coming on and didn’t want to have to explain to Rena how her husband’s face met his fist. He looked out the window and said, “Never going to happen, because there is nothing to tell.”
Nick joined him by the window. “Yet. Women have a funny way of making men do things they normally never would do. Even take a morning out of work
to check in on their condescending brother-in-law who doesn’t have the balls to admit he might be human like the rest of us.”
Kane slammed his fist sideways against the wall beside him. He’d avoided his family for this very reason. His ache for Gigi was strengthening instead of lessening. As he caught a glimpse of his own reflection in the window, he saw a man he didn’t like. First he’d told himself he was staying away from Gigi because she was Gio’s little sister. Then he’d maintained that Gigi’s relationship with her brothers was more important than his desire to have her. However, a battle was raging within him, and it was one he was losing.
He woke each morning with an image of her in his mind. The pain in her eyes when she’d seen him with Lynn. I am such an ass. The soft moan she’d made when he’d kissed her on the porch, and the ache of what could have been reality. Gigi in my bed. In my arms.
The man he saw in his reflection was a hypocrite. He wasn’t staying away from Gigi because he cared about her relationship with her brothers. His decision no longer had anything to do with how Gio would feel.
Gigi had become an obsession.
He knew if he went to her, there would be no turning back. No halfway. She would be his, regardless of what it cost either of them.
After a short pause, Nick added, “Gigi’s back in Scotland.”
Kane kept his eyes on the New York skyline. “I know.” Unable to stop himself, Kane asked, “How is she handling everything?”
“Better. The shock has passed. It’s a big life change, but she seems to be working through it.”
“Good.”
“She said she’d be back for another visit soon. I’m going to miss her. It was nice having a little sister around.”
Kane nodded.
“Rena told me how you went through a bottle of Scotch and gushed about Gigi to your father. How you thought her name was Luisella, the woman you’d been looking for since our wedding.”
Kane took a deep breath. “Rena talks too much.”
Without missing a beat, Nick added, “Only when she cares. We both think you should go to Scotland.”
Kane walked to his desk and picked up a report he’d printed to show his team. “I don’t get you, Nick. I can’t tell if you’re here because you actually care or because you like starting trouble.”
Nick shook his head slowly in disgust. “Stop trying to figure me out, and ask yourself why you’ve moved into your office and have quit talking to your family and friends. If it’s Gigi, you’re a fool if you pass up something with her because you think Gio won’t approve. You don’t have to worry about him. Treat her well, and he’ll get over it. Fuck with her, and I’ll kill you first. See? Problem solved, either way. Go to Scotland.”
As Nick began to saunter away, Kane called out, “Nick.”
Nick stopped at the door and looked over his shoulder.
“Thanks for coming by.”
Nick smiled and walked out of the office.
Kane stood beside his desk. He absently rolled the folder in his hand and tapped it against the open palm of his other.
Gigi.
What would she do if he flew to Scotland?
He knew what he hoped she’d do, and the idea had his cock stirring even as he walked out of his office. They would share so much more than a kiss. He wanted to claim her, slowly, all night long . . . wake the next day and start all over again.
He stopped in the hallway just before the conference room and took several calming breaths. His cock was at full attention, which was no way to run a meeting.
He pictured her sweet lips closing over his cock while he ran his hands through her hair and that was enough to destroy the last of his resistance. He called his secretary and told her to clear his schedule for the rest of the day, including the meeting he’d called. “Tell them something unavoidable came up.” Kane inwardly groaned at his choice of words. “Arrange a car to pick me up at my apartment in an hour, and call my pilot. Have him meet me at the airport.”
“Where should I tell him you’re going?” Marge asked.
“Scotland. Edinburgh to be exact.”
“Thank God,” Marge said under her breath, confirming that Rena did, indeed, talk too much about his personal business.
It was impossible to be irritated with either, though. Nick was right. Rena only got involved when she cared, and Marge had been with the company longer than Kane. She was practically family. She’d originally worked for his father and was not only reliable, but was so integral to the running of the office he often took her for granted. That said, he knew the first call she’d make. Kane decided to use it to his advantage rather than balk at it. “Update my father on the Whittle files. I’ll be meeting with our European teams while I’m over there. He’ll love covering for me while I’m gone.”
Marge added cheerfully, “Tell Gigi I said hi.”
Kane almost denied that he would see her, but there was no reason to try to keep secret what was apparently already a well-discussed topic. “I will,” Kane said, his footsteps becoming lighter as he went. Maybe he’d been a fool to fight his feelings for as long as he had. No one seemed to have a problem with it except him.
A few hours later, Kane was flying over the Atlantic in his private jet. Even though he’d been sporting a grin since he’d made his decision, he knew there was one last thing he had to do.
He took out his cell phone and called Gio. It went directly to voice mail. Kane left a brief message stating he was headed to London for business and intended to stop in to see Gigi while in the area.
It was a more appropriate announcement than he would have left had he decided to be completely honest. Gio, I’m heading off for what I hope is a deliciously, decadent romp with your sister. Talk to you soon.
Chapter Thirteen
‡
“What an asshole,” Gigi stormed as she entered her apartment with Annelise. She threw her purse down on the table and kicked off her high heels before padding to her cupboard. “I need wine. How about you? Red or white?”
“Whatever you have,” Annelise called back from the living room.
Gigi returned with two glasses and a bottle of merlot. She poured wine for both of them, placed the bottle on the table between them, and sank into the comfort of her couch. “I hate people.”
Annelise kicked off her own shoes and curled up on the chair across from her, sipping her wine as she did. “Don’t let one man represent an entire species.”
“He didn’t even consider our offer. What does he mean, ‘it’s priceless’? He bought it. Which means it had a price. What’s the use of having money if I can’t use it for what’s important?”
“You said Gio and Julia are flying in tomorrow morning, right? Maybe they’ll have a suggestion. Who knows, they might even know him.”
“I can’t ask Gio to help me with this.”
“Why not?”
“It goes into that sticky, emotionally charged area we avoid. I’d have to explain why my mother sold the items off, Gio would feel guilty about not knowing I existed, and somehow we’d end up right back in the place where no one was right and everyone feels badly about things we can’t do anything about now.”
“Except, make amends, which Gio could do by helping you with this.”
“It’s not worth the conversation.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she rethought them. “Not unless it’s the only way. Then, you’re right, making the palazzo whole again for my mother is . . . as Mr. Wentforth said, priceless.”
Gigi’s cell phone buzzed with a message. “It’s Rocco. Oh, my God.” Gigi jumped up from her spot on the couch and knocked her glass of wine over on the table. “Shit.”
Annelise was beside her, mopping up the mess with napkins. “What happened? What did he say?”
Gigi read over the message from her bodyguard again. “He said Kane is here. In my apartment building. Right downstairs. Why would he come here?”
Annelise walked over to pick up her purse. “Because
he wants to see you?”
“Where are you going?” Gigi asked in a panic and read another message on her phone. “Rocco said Kane is on his way up.”
“You don’t want me here.”
Gigi grabbed her friend’s arm. “Yes, I do. You don’t know how I get with Kane. I can’t be alone with him.”
Thoroughly amused, Annelise asked, “Are you afraid he’ll jump you or that you’ll jump him?”
Gigi’s grip tightened on Annelise’s arm. “Neither. Both. I don’t know. I need your objective opinion. Stay and watch how he is with me. I don’t even care if this sounds immature. I’m telling you, my brain shuts off around him. Help me not make a complete fool of myself by imagining what’s maybe not there.”
Laughing, Annelise pried Gigi’s hand off her arm. “Okay. Okay. I’ll hang out for a little bit. I’ve never seen you like this with a man.”
“I’ve never felt like this. I’m already a wreck. Imagine how I’d be if I slept with him and then didn’t hear from him. I’d go insane.”
“Whoa, where did that come from? Slow down. You barely know him, and the last time you saw him he was with another woman.”
“I know. Which is why you have to swear to stay. I can’t trust my judgment when it comes to Kane. Whatever happens, don’t leave.” There was a knock on the door. “Promise?”
Concern had replaced Annelise’s amusement. “I promise. I don’t want you to get hurt, Gigi.”
Gigi gave Annelise a quick hug, then checked her image in a mirror on the wall before rushing to the door. “I don’t want that either. Especially since he’s so close to Gio. I don’t want to do anything that threatens what I found, but, oh, wait until you see him.”
With her heart thudding crazily in her chest and her hands shaking with excitement, Gigi tried to keep her facial expression calm when she opened the door. “Kane, this is a surprise.” Her eyes flew to his, and the chemistry she’d asked herself a thousand times if she’d imagined was back, even stronger than before. Her lips parted involuntarily, and she swallowed nervously. He leaned in as if drawn by the same irresistible force. His lips hovered above hers, the warmth of his breath a caress she knew she’d enjoy on many parts of her. Flushed, Gigi licked her bottom lip and loved how he watched the move hungrily.