“Tell me, Piero. Do you have late night meetings in your office that turns into something else? Does she offer to rub your shoulders, take off your jacket and get the strain of all that hard work out of you? Offer to give you a blow job so that you can relax sufficiently before you screw her?”
His eyes flattened, and his face went hard. “I will try and ignore that you just insulted me like that. Sophia and I share a working relationship and that is something you have to believe. I do not appreciate you questioning my motives.”
“Why is she still working there after she cheated on you with another man? Does she mean so much to you that you have to keep her near you? What? You cannot bear her not being near you? What does her husband have to say about it, or does his opinion matter? The big bad De Luca family can get away with anything, right?”
“I have a meeting to which I am running late for. I will give you some time to calm down and realize that you are being unreasonable, Lauren. Sophia is one of the best designers in the business and it would have been counterproductive to let her go. We are professionals and have put aside our personal issues to get the job done.”
“She told me that she is not going to stop until she gets you back!” she cried. “Doesn’t that mean anything to you? I get it – I am just your wife and what I think does not matter.”
“I spoke to her about that and she apologized and assured me that it will not happen again. We are both married, and my vows mean a lot to me. You mean a lot to me and I have no intention of hurting you that way.” He stared at her for a moment, his eyes wandering over her face, with the tendrils of hairs clinging to the moisture on her skin. She was devoid of makeup and still managed to be the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. “I have to go; I will certainly call you back later.”
Lauren sat there and stared at the blank screen before putting the phone down and heading into the bathroom, telling herself that she was not going to cry.
Chapter 6
Piero could not concentrate on the meeting. The summer line had been a resounding success and the billboards all over the country – including America, Milan, France, and the UK. The fashion industry had no time to sleep. They did not have the luxury to take a break because as soon as one season was in full swing, then it was time to plan for the season after that. They also had stiff competitions and corporate spies who try to infiltrate the company so that they could steal their ideas before they could come out with it. They were preparing for the fall and winter lines, which meant a lot of late night meetings and designs to be discarded before the right look was arrived at. But the meeting was going on and he had not made one fruitful contribution. He was furious with her. She was the only woman who could bring out so much emotions in him and it perplexed him. She had accused him of cheating on her, insulted him to his face, spoken crudely to him, something she was going to have to stop doing. She was passionate and fearless, and he admired that about her, but there was a time and place for everything. He needed her. His body ached for hers, not for the woman seated across from him at the conference table. He had mixed feelings for Sophia, feelings that he could not identify – maybe it was fury at her betrayal or pique that she had turned to another man when they had their fight. But for Lauren, his feelings ran the gamut of dark blinding fury at the words she uttered and desire that had the ability to cripple him! He spends nights aching for her so much so that his penis would stretch forward into aching proportions and he would have to picture her face in order to relieve himself. He was not used to that, not used to not burying himself inside a woman’s body when the need arises. But no other woman would do except her. It was frustrante and he had no idea what to do about it.
The meeting convened and the men and women filed out of the room, except Sophia who got up from her chair and went over to the table laden with delicacies.
“Would you like a cannoli?”
He nodded his thanks. “And coffee, please.”
“We have some other things to discuss before we leave. I told Mattia that I would be working late again.” She brought the coffee and pastry over to him and went back to fetch her biscotti and orange juice, bringing it over to sit next to him.
“What does he think of that?”
She shrugged slender shoulders.
“He is somewhat discomfited, but now that you are married, he does not feel as threatened as before.” She ran a finger over the moisture of the glass and looked up at him under her lashes. “He wants us to try and have another baby.”
Piero went still at that, his eyes meeting hers. “What do you want?”
“You know what I want, Piero,” she whispered.
“I would never cheat on my wife.”
“A wife who prefers to stay in her country instead of coming here with you?”
“You don’t know anything about why she is staying, Sophia, and I do not want to discuss her with you.”
“I am sorry.” She drew in her bottom lip as she stared at him. “I don’t know how to stop loving you, Tesoro.”
Piero stared at her for a moment and smiled slightly. “A few years ago, I would have been thrilled to hear you say that, but not now.”
“Because of her?”
He nodded, a slow smile lifting his lips. “She is incorrigible – hard to deal with, and says the rudest things, but her fire is endearing and attractive.” His eyes met hers. “I will not have you coming between us. Is that clear?”
She looked away; her expression disconsolate. “How can you just forget what we were to each other?”
“You killed all that when you went with another man, Sophia,” he told her coldly. “Even if Lauren was not in the picture, I could never be with you. When you slept with Mattia and got pregnant with his child, it killed something inside me. You chose your path and I have chosen mine. We are just two people working together and that is as far as it goes. I want you to remember that.”
*****
Matthew Jamieson eyed as daughter from across the table, a frown of concern on his weathered face. He was a tall, solidly built man with a gentle demeanor and an abiding love for his extraordinarily beautiful daughter and very attractive wife. Lauren had inherited her mother’s looks and added to it tenfold. Her unique beauty was said to be a throwback to some ancestor, maybe a great grandmother or so and her father had always marveled that the vivacious young woman was his daughter. He was very proud of the way she had taken the initiative to use her love for fashion to turn it into something that was netting her a lot of money, but her marriage to a fashion industry billionaire was another matter. He was not keen on his daughter living halfway around the world and was not sure that the man she had married was going to make her happy. The fact that she had not gone home with him was giving him cause for concern.
“My dear, have you heard from your husband?” He asked the very question that his wife had entreated him not to ask. He could not help it! He had a good mind to call this Piero De Luca and give him a piece of his mind.
“I spoke to him this morning.”
Lauren had debated whether or not to come to dinner because she was too raw and was still bleeding from her argument with her husband. But staying inside her empty apartment and visualizing all kinds of scenarios with both Sophia and Piero taking off all their clothes had been driving her crazy and she decided to get out of the house or she would go insane. He had not called her by the time she left and she wondered if she would be hearing from him at all.