Chapter 5

• Talia followed, thinking she now owed Joe a coffee and a box of donuts for saving her twice. And that idiot holding the itinerary hostage as some sort of prank, he or she was going to get it once she found out who it was. After a three minute walk on the wood walkway—she had no idea what the right name was—they got to DeLuca’s boat—yacht. His was parked, or tied last on the third and last row coming out of the main column. The place was beautiful and so were the vessels, if she put the immediate danger of drowning away from her mind.
• Once he pointed it out to her, she thanked him and watched him walk away for a few seconds before she turned back to the boat—yacht. It was pretty and big. How one person piloted this thing without help was beyond her. But who knew, maybe he didn’t go anywhere, and who said he was alone? For all she knew, this yacht was how he got laid.
• But that was all none of her business. She moved closer to the back of the boat—yacht, super aware of where the walkway ended and the water began and called out, “Hallo, Signore DeLuca.”
• The sound of seagulls and water crushing against the yacht in tiny waves responded but no DeLuca. She looked at the stepping area to board and wondered if she would really have to get onboard the thing.
• Just do it. Remember he has the golden ticket for your project.
• And anyway, the thing was tied to the walkway, it wasn’t going anywhere. Sucking up and psyching herself up, Talia carefully boarded the yacht, using her feet to keep her steady since both her hands were occupied carrying coffee and breakfast. She got on, took the three steps up and placed the coffee and the breakfast on the table, relieved it hadn’t rocked once since she had been on it.
• “Signore DeLuca,” she called out again, placing her bag on the table too. Was she meant to go look for him? Did she have to? Did she want to? What choice did she have? If the food got cold as she stood here, he would definitely complain. And if she just left, she would most definitely get a call from Enzo complaining about her lack of manners. Nope, better find the man and introduce herself while she was at it, since she’d missed the opportunity to do so the previous night.
• Next to her, there was another set of stairs, five steps to be exact, but when she looked at the area it led to while she had still been standing on the walkway, it looked way too open to be a bedroom. And he would have heard her call too if he was up there. She looked through the window in front of her and wowed at the lavished sitting area. She could definitely see the appeal over a hotel room. But where else could he be?
• On the left of the staircase was a narrow pathway leading probably to the front of the yacht but maybe to a room too? But the right side had a pathway too, where was that leading?
• Frustrated, she threw her hands up and tried calling out again, but a little louder “Signore DeLuca!”
• “What?” came a replying loud bark.
• With a short scream Talia jumped, her hands going over her poor startled heart. She turned to the course voice, and there standing on the right sided pathway was the most gorgeous man she’d ever laid eyes on. Wow, she thought as she felt her mouth drop open.
• His thick, dark raised eyebrow and irritated look in his brown eyes matched the stern bark of his voice. But the rest of him made up for his prickly attitude. Standing in nothing but a long towel wrapped around his waist, hanging low and held by one big hand tapering off a thick hairy arm at his hip, Talia wished she’d brought Carrie along for this show. She would sell her kidney just to watch those water droplets run down the dust of hair on his taut pectorals to his eight pack abs and the exposed one side of the V of his hips to soak into the white towel under the hint of hair. He was tall, with long legs and arms, thick and tight everywhere she looked. Even his exposed hairy calves and toes looked toned.
• By Elvis, was it normal to be this thirsty looking at a man fresh from a shower?
• “Who are you?” he demanded, pulling her eyes to his face.
• Yup, he was irritated, but that wet, loose, dark strand of hair over his forehead was not delivering his message fully as intended. Hell he was sexy. The pictures on the internet didn’t do him justice. She could make a fortune if she took a picture of him right now and sell it to the ladies in the office. Hell, she’d sell it online and take a world tour on the profit.
• “How long are you going to stand and stare?”
• “What?” she said, coming awake from her lust stupor. “Ahm, sorry. I’m Talia McKenna.” She went to offer her hand but thought better of it. No need to melt in front of Adonis. Concentrate! “I’ll be your assistant during your visit.” She rushed back to the table and pointed to the content on it. “Here. Your brea—ah brunch. Here’s your brunch.”
• That raised brow went a notch higher. “You mean what was meant to be breakfast?”
• Talia bit the inside of her lower lip. That thick voice with that heavy Italian accent turned her insides to mush. She should record his voice too, that would make her a millionaire overnight!
• “My apologies. There seemed to be some misinformation about your schedule.” More like the complete lack of, she thought to herself silently. He didn’t need to know that and think her incompetent. “Especially about,” she went on, looking pointed around her, “where you would be staying. Will you be staying here for the rest of your visit?”
• He nodded once, that eyebrow having already lowered to match its twin.
• “You don’t plan on switching back to the hotel at some point?” she asked to confirm.
• A single shake of his head was his response.
• The look in his eyes moved from annoyed to unreadable. He was going to have fun in Boston. There was no woman who didn’t like her man tall, broad and thick, with a heavy serving of mystery wrapped in a very handsome package.
• When the silence went on too long, she reached for her bag and pulled out her card holder. “Here is my card,” she said, taking one out and placing it under the coffee cup. “Please give me a call if you need anything, or you know, update me on your itinerary.” Since no one else was giving it to her. “My email address is on there too.”
• He didn’t respond. He didn’t move even an inch, just stared at her blankly.
• Okaay then… She picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder. “Buona colazione e benvenuto a Boston,” she said, then turned to leave.
• “You speak Italian?”
• She turned to him at the question, genuine curiosity laced his voice.
• The sudden thought that maybe she shouldn’t have revealed that little fact filled her mind. The bosses had chosen her because of this specific skill set and she was meant to be spying on him.
• Slowly she nodded. “Si.”
• For a moment he just stood and stared, and Talia began to feel over exposed. It felt like he was analyzing her, reading data about her life by just staring at her, breaking it down into parts and indexing the findings before he sorted the information out. She was just afraid he was deciding which box to check: ‘spy’ or ‘not a spy’. That made her more nervous than she was willing to admit.
• The right side of his lips rose in a slow half mocking smile and Talia immediately felt caught in a trap. He’d checked a box, but which one? Judging by that subtle uplift of his mouth, it was definitely ‘spy’. She curled her toes inside her tennis shoes in an attempt to keep the anxiety at bay. Barefooted, he walked forward, leaving wet footprints behind. Alarmed by the sudden movement, Talia took a step back but held herself from taking another as she watched his approach. She couldn’t help but admire how confident he was, in nothing but a towel in full view of everyone passing by or in possession of a substandard to powerful pair of binoculars. Then again, as good as he looked, he had no reason to not be confident. In Carrie’s words, he had it, so why not flaunt it?
• He stopped at the table, picked up the card she’d placed there and lifted it to his chin level. His eyes moved over the two by four inches card then shifted to her. The sudden jump from the card to her face made her stumble one step back.
• “Attento. Cadrai,” he said smoothly.
• ‘Careful, you’ll fall?’
• Talia turned to look behind her and found she was right at the edge of the first step down. Half a step more and she would be rolling down into the water. Just the thought of it made her cold. She took a step forward and away from danger.
• She turned to him with a grateful smile, “Grazie.”
• His brows pinched for a second. A shadow of a smile appeared on his lips, before they leveled off with his slight nod. “See you tomorrow,” he announced, turned around and walked back to where he came from.
• Talia’s eyes remained glued to his wide, wet back with a tiny stream flowing down to end in the thick white cotton towel as he walked away. She pulled at the front of her tank top wondering how it suddenly got so unbearably hot so fast.