Page 16 of The Christmas Con
Gabby’s giggle echoes the tall room. “Are you jealous? That’s the only logical explanation for you beingthismad. I expected you to be upset because I got the better of you this time, but this?” she sneers, waving her fingers at him. “Yeah, this is a little much. Does the Fuck Prince not want anyone else touching his toy? Hypocrite.” I’d speak out for myself in any other situation. It’s as if the world cobbled together the perfect amount of what the fuck and fear to force me to keep my trap shut in this moment.
The gloves are off and I can tell Gabby is punching where she knows it will hurt, but truly he can’t be jealous, can he? I mean, she’s right. He has sex with women for work and wouldn’t seriously be upset if something happened between Tiger King Toby and I, would he? “She’s not a toy or my plaything, Gabby.” Luca’s face flushes. “It’s not like that. You know it, too.”
“What’s it like?” Gabby prods, stalking forward passing another tiger leashed to a white marble column. It tugs against its chains and I wince. “Tell me what she is to you.”
I rush forward to diffuse the tense energy. “Luca, let’s go to the beach.” I smile, wide and fake, grabbing his waist.
There’s a vein popping on his temple. “This was dumb, Gabby. We have a lot of enemies. Ones that would do far worse to her than expose her to weird fetishes, she knows better than this.” He shakes his head. “This wasn’t a game or a joke. Not to me. Don’t do it again.”
Gabby asks the same question again, but I pull him out the door. “The beach,” I command. He follows, but the muscles in the arm I’m clutching are hard and tensed. I do my best at a hasty, polite goodbye to his sister, but it comes out curt and it’s weird I feel regret for that when this crazy bitch tied me up and whisked me here via bodyguards.
When we’re safely ensconced in his car I exhale rapidly. “I’m glad you came for me. Holy cow.”
“Yeah?” he asks. “Could have fooled me. You looked pretty comfortable in her… den.”
“She ordered that guy to lick my neck, Luca. Lick me. I didn’t want it. When you came in I was trying to figure out an exit plan. You made light work of it. That was the single weirdest situation I’ve ever been in and I’m glad I escaped it.” The mental scars may last a lifetime.
“Sure you’re not lying again?” he fires back.
“What is that supposed to mean? Don’t take your anger out on me. I was the one tied up and duct-taped tonight, alright?”
“I could kill her for doing that to you.” He parks the car and continues breathing heavily. “It means that the love is bigger than the lie, Elizabeth. I want to complicate things.”
I lose my breath. “Oh.”
“Yeah. We need to figure out what that means for our lives.” I swallow and readjust my bathing suit top. “But first I need to fuck you before my head explodes.”
I lick my lips.
He closes his eyes. “I take it back. I need to kiss you before my world explodes.” He takes my head in his hands, and he kisses me fiercely.
I lose my breath. To think, I assumed being kidnapped was the most dangerous thing that was going to happen today. This man steals my oxygen, and I’m okay with it.
Chapter Nine
The real world
“THAT’S THE LASTbox,” Shay says, dropping a box of books on the coffee table in my brand new house. “I locked your car.” She brought over the few boxes I had stashed at her house. My home is a town over from where my parents live, and close enough to the city that I can still frequent my favorite places. The official job offer from Luca came with an enormous lump sum of money. I accused him of money laundering or something underhanded, only half joking. Kieran told me it was standard when I questioned it further. I want to be treated exactly the same as any of his employees. I’ll report to some guy named Mario instead of Kieran or Luca, so it will stay on the up and up. Not many people can pay cash for a house in this neighborhood, or any neighborhood, so I’m still kind of floating on cloud nine. It was a speedy sale and closing because cash is king, and it came fully furnished with beautiful things. It’s textbook, dream house status. I never want to leave. One thing would make it better. Luca Bianchi here. It’s been three weeks since I’ve seen him. Even though we video chat twice every day, it’s still hard. More than hard. I’m desperate for him.
Antonio sent me a case of wine from a vineyard they own as a housewarming gift. Gam Gam, of course, sent me champagne. Gabby sent me aGuccisuitcase with an apology note inside, and his mother showed up to my house the day I closed to apologize in person on her daughter’s behalf. She said she was in town on business, but I’m starting to realize Luca is the only royal that does any sort of real business. The rest live off billions and sort of do whatever the fuck they want whenever they feel like it. What I admired at first, I realize is sort of a drag. All the money in the world and no real friends or relationships outside of each other. Luca explained further about why he didn’t date and it circled back to this same idea. That, and most women can’t deal with him screwing other women. Something I’m doing my best not to think about at the moment.
I grab a bottle of the wine off the table and extend it to my best friend. “I thank you for your time. I thank you for keeping my broke ass off the streets when I needed you. I thank you for telling me to make a really irresponsible decision. Like, the craziest, stupidest decision I’ll ever make that turned out awesome, and well, thanks for being my best friend. This wouldn’t be possible if not for you getting fed up with having me in your house.”
“I still can’t believe this is your life now. Gosh, the odds of you finding someone legit on that website were basically zilch. You took that and multiplied it by infinity and you now landed a prince. A fucking prince, Lizzy!”
I think about it. “More a prince of darkness than a real prince. No riding white horses.” After I tried to explain to her how the titles work and how it’s mostly vanity and tradition, she spent days and days researching, until now I’m sure she knows more about his Italian lineage than I do. “I think he’s flying in a little early. Before Christmas. We can spend some time together before we do the whole… family thing.”
“Did you tell them you’re bringing a boyfriend? I feel like Luca Bianchi is someone you need you to prep your family for. Lay the groundwork for when you bring the Italian Stallion into your grandma’s kitchen and ask her to talk about the weather with him.” Shay’s eyes are wide as she lets the scene play out in her mind. “Yeah, no one is going to believe he’s your boyfriend. You spent too many years being single without any prospects to show up with a man like that now.”
She cradles the bottle of wine in her arms like a baby and sits down at the dining room table.
“I appreciate all the confidence you have in me. I really do, but because it’s not a sham I don’t have to convince them of anything. I told them I met a man who offered me an awesome job and we hit it off.” Simplicity was my goal, but maybe I didn’t give them enough information and Shay is right.
“Yeah, and it happened in less than a month. Admit, that’s a stretch.”
I hold my hands out to the sides. “But it’s true, Shay! As crazy as it sounds, it’s true. You don’t have to remind me that he’s way better looking than me either. It’s blatant. I’m sure you watched plenty of videos of him in your internet sleuthing.” I watch her face, but she doesn’t give away whether she’s watched Luca fuck. I have to get used to the fact that millions of people have seen it. Luca and his giant cock belong to the world.
“I never said that once. Shut your face, you know you’re beautiful. Men like Luca wouldn’t look twice if you weren’t. Stop with the low confidence. I heard that’s what ruins relationships more often than anything else. Trust you are good enough. Equals.”
