Page 1 of Luca
PROLOGUE
Luca
My eyes found her immediately.
There was a breathless moment when my heart stopped beating. Itconfusedme. She was the only woman that had ever stirred this reaction. Thisachein my heart.
Margaret Callahan was a force to be reckoned with. Those wild jet black curls that cascaded down her back like a thick curtain. The stubborn curls that framed her face, her ivory skin begging to be kissed.
Fuck, I had to get myself together around this woman.
She had to be my lesson in life.
My humility. My temptress. My torture.
She’d end up being the death of me. From the moment I first saw her, I hadn’t been able to forget her. Then again, that night in Temptation. It'd been years since the first time I'd seen her, but that night in Cassio’s club in New York City, I kicked off my own temptation and my own demise.
Ironically, she wore a costume that night too. ABlack Widowcostume that hugged her curves and made men drool. Cassio’s event manager should have been killed when he thought of that idea - a Halloween party in August.
I was pretty sure that costume had done me in.
God, why her?
I wondered the same goddamned thing each time I laid eyes on her. Women threw themselves at my feet. Begged me to give relationships a try. Promised they wouldn’t lay any demands on me because they knew it would be futile to try.
Not Margaret Callahan.
She just flat out rejected me before I even had time to formulate a fucking sentence. Not once but twice. Like a puppy chasing a bone, I came back for a third. Maybe she was my payback for never sleeping with a woman twice.
My eyes traveled over her petite figure. I wasn’t the only one gawking. Quite a few men were studying her with hunger in their eyes.
She wore a wine-red elaborate gown with a sweetheart neckline that dipped low. Too low for my sanity. The satin bodice was black and clung to her waist in a corset style. But from the waist down, it flared in an elaborate design with multiple layers of tulle.
The mask she wore hid her face well. A custom-made lace mask. One side of her face was completely covered with the exception of her mouth. The other half of her face revealed her beautiful jaw. Nobody would have recognized her. But I wasn’t just anyone. I’d recognize her anywhere. Her scent. Her smile. Her eyes.
She was too far away to see their color, but I knew they were the deepest crystal blue of the Caribbean Sea. The kind that could break your heart by just watching her.
Whispers filled the air. Men descended on her like vultures. She barely spared them a glance. Margaret was a flirt, but she liked a certain type. I was nothing like that type. She seemed to go for corporate type men. Clean cut.
But that wouldn’t deter me from winning her over.
She was the one woman that would cause me to break my rule about sleeping with the same woman twice.
Drifting through the ballroom, her eyes kept darting left and right. Up and down. The chandelier had her choker necklace glimmering and catching everyone’s eyes. She roamed the room slowly; the waiter passing with a tray paused to offer her a flute of champagne.
She offered him an absentminded smile, took a drink, and continued. Until her eyes landed on me.
Her steps faltered and she stood still.
She couldn’t have recognized me. I had aPhantom of the Operagold and black mask and half of my face was completely covered, leaving my lips and the left side of my face and jaw open.
A half-smile pulled on my lips. It was as if we coordinated.
She resumed walking, slowly, but in my direction. I didn’t move. As my eyes locked on her, I waited.
If there was one thing I learned about Margaret Callahan, it was that she loved the chase. So maybe I’d let her chase me for a change.
It would be beneficial if my dick cooperated.
