The playboys fugitive br.., p.11
The Playboy's Fugitive Bride, page 11
part #3 of Billionaire Brides of Granite Falls Series
“You were seen leaving Bristol Mountain with a young woman, yesterday, Mr. Andretti. The buzz around town is that you bought her a new car and wardrobe today. Is that her?” Lester Cobbs, a reporter from the local television station tried to peek around Massimo for a better look at Nia.
He and his camera were pushed back by Bryce.
“Lester, you should know by now that I make announcements only when I’m ready.” Massimo blinked as cameras flashed in his face. At least Nia was safe for now. The last thing he wanted was for her to be photographed with that awful wine stain on her dress. Not the way he wanted to introduce his future wife to the public.
“What kind of important announcement are you about to make, Mr. Andretti?” A reporter from the daily newspaper asked.
“Yes, curious minds want to know.”
“Is it that you’ll be bored with her by tomorrow?”
“Or maybe tonight,” another chirped in.
In the midst of their laughter, Massimo heard Nia gasp behind him.
He clenched his jaws. He should have known better than to subject Nia to this circus. He swallowed his rage. His well-laid plans were being waylaid. He didn’t want Nia to know about his intentions until he had her where he wanted her. But he couldn’t have the media publishing ugly gossip about her, either. She was special and pure, and that’s the way he wanted to keep her—well, at least in the eyes of the public. No one but Nia and himself would ever know the truth about the way they’d met.
Since tongues were already wagging, it was best they wagged the truth. “Well, if you must know, Miss Sylk—”
“Silk? Is that her real name? Sounds provocative.”
Another round of laughter erupted from the crowd.
“Is she as soft and smooth as her name implies?”
Blood hammered against Massimo’s temples. He’d wondered the same thing when Nia first approached him with her audacious proposal. Hearing the thought verbalized from another’s lips made him sick to the stomach. He hadn’t realized until this very moment what a big pointless joke his life was. He wanted to punch some faces, break a few cameras, but that would demonstrate weakness. Andretti men weren’t weak.
“Miss Sylk and I will be married within a week,” he gritted out between clenched teeth.
A hush fell in the hallway as all jaws dropped, including those of his friends. Massimo used the moment to snatch Lester Cobb’s camera before jumping back into the room and slamming the door. His lips thinned in rage at the footsteps clambering down the hall like a stampede of wild beasts on the African plain.
He turned around to find an openmouthed Nia glaring at him, fury and contempt shooting from her eyes.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Pulling herself out of a daze, Nia shot to her feet, her chest rising and falling with the force of her breathing. Her stomach churned. Her legs were shaking so hard, she was afraid she would collapse on the floor.
How dare he make such a bombshell announcement about her future? How dare he broadcast her name to the world? At no time did they ever discuss marriage. It never even crossed her mind. Only a spoiled, insecure, gold-digging narcissist would marry a man like him.
As he walked steadily toward her, his squared shoulders, the firm line around his mouth, and the intense look of resolve in his eyes told her he had no regrets about what he’d just done.
“Massimo—”
“Nia—”
“Um... Mass...”
At the sound of Erik’s voice, Nia looked at the three men hovering close to the door. She’d completely forgotten they were still in the room. When Massimo dropped his bombshell, they’d seemed just as stunned as she was.
“We... we should leave you two alone.” Erik sent her an apologetic smile.
“I think that’s a great idea,” Bryce added.
“We’ll catch up later, cousin. It was really nice meeting you, Nia.”
The three men raced from the room like a swarm of bees was after them.
“Are you out of your mind, Massimo Andretti?” Nia shouted.
Ignoring her question, he calmly opened the camera he’d snatched from the reporter, yanked out the small chip and tossed it into the fire. “Am I out of my mind? Perhaps a little,” he said in a barely composed voice as he set the camera on the mantel.
Even in her anger, Nia was grateful for his quick reaction in shielding her from the media, and his thoughtfulness to confiscate the only picture they had of her. That still did not give him the right to...
“You have no right to tell anyone that I’m marrying you much less broadcast it to the world.” Anxiety spiked her voice at the realization that the news might very well reach Brooklyn and Eddie. He, along with her friends and acquaintances in New York, would know where she was, which would complicate her plans and her life even more—something she didn’t realize was possible.
Since she’d tossed her phone and didn’t dare try to Skype with Aaron from the mansion, he and everyone else she knew might try to contact her through Andretti Industries. Massimo would question them. And they would spill the truth not realizing that she was trying to conceal her identity from him.
God, this plan of hers had turned into such a mess!
Nia pressed her hands against the sides of her head and squeezed. She wanted to cry.
“I had to tell them something to stop the insulting questions about you. It worked. They’re gone.”
She folded her arms and jutted her chin at him. “Why does it matter what they say about your reputation? It’s not like you aren’t used to it.”
“I am used to it, but you aren’t.” He watched her through keenly observant eyes. “I’m sure you’re aware of the unfavorable manner in which my former lovers have been portrayed.”
“I would have gotten over it, Massimo.” By Saturday evening Nia Sylk will be old news, and by next Tuesday, she’ll be dead news. “Are you forgetting that once our... little contract is fulfilled, I’ll be leaving?”
His smile had a spark of eroticism. “You don’t think I’ll let you go immediately following the fulfillment of our... um… little contract, do you? You didn’t put a time limit on this arrangement. That makes it indefinite.”
Nia’s mind momentarily froze as he pointed out yet another flaw in her negotiation skills. No wonder the man was so successful in the business world. He covered every tiny detail of his deals.
“I plan to keep you around for a very long time, Nia Sylk,” he continued, seemingly satisfied that he’d rendered her speechless. “I look forward to taking my time pleasuring you and teaching you how to pleasure me. You’ll be slaking my passion and warming my bed for many a cold winter nights, my little pussycat. You can count on that.”
Nia willed her mind to throttle the dizzying excitement his passion-filled promises evoked in her. “Well, at some point, the affair will be over and you will let me go. You’re going to look like a fool when a wedding doesn’t take place. The second one in a few weeks.”
“I’m no fool, Nia Sylk. Don’t you ever forget that.”
The silken thread of warning in his voice sent a chill down her spine. Feeling the probing heat from his eyes, Nia walked to the window and stared at the snow-covered golf course and the lake beyond it. Just before the mob had descended upon them, Massimo had called her a horrible little liar. Somehow she knew he wasn’t just talking about the silly story she’d told his friends about their first encounter, but about every lie she’d spoken since they met.
It didn’t surprise her. Any intelligent man would have figured her out by now. Massimo just stated he was no fool. What he didn’t know was that Nia Sylk wasn’t simply running away from him. In a few days, she would cease to exist. He could spend all his money on every private investigator on the planet, and he still wouldn’t be able to find her.
Pleased with her adeptness at handling herself so far, Nia turned to face him. “I’m just saying, your reputation as the irresistible playboy of the century will be ruined, Massimo.”
He closed the distance she’d put between them. “So you care about my reputation, now? And here I was, thinking you only wanted sex and money from me.”
“Sex and money was all I asked for.”
“I’m offering you more sex and more money.”
“You don’t need to marry for sex, Massimo. You’re a rich playboy.”
“Even playboys get tired of the games at some point, Nia,” he said with a resigned twist to his lips. “You just witnessed the circus I’m constantly pulled into. Perhaps I want a little balance in my life.”
“And a wife will give you balance?”
“A wife and a child.” His voice was calm, his gaze steady. “I spend a great deal of time with both Erik and Bryce’s families. I see how happy and balanced they are. I’m man enough to admit that I envy them that kind of stability. It would be nice to have a woman waiting at home for me at the end of the day.”
Maybe he was telling the truth, Nia thought. He and Gabrielle Berkeley were supposed to be married by now, but he’d messed that up. “You couldn’t even be faithful to Gabrielle for six months,” she stated on a shrug.
“Gabrielle wasn’t right for me.”
Right or not, it didn’t give him the right to cheat on her. “Well, neither am I. I told you I wasn’t harboring any romantic notions about you. That hasn’t changed,” Nia said, almost choking on the big fat lie as it fell from her lips.
He placed his hand under her chin and raised her face. “I’m not talking romance, either. A marriage between us will be purely business. If you agree to become my wife and give me an heir, I promise to take care of you, Nia. I will respect you, protect you, and treat you well. You’ll live like a queen.”
He dropped his hand from her chin and pulled his ringing cell from his jacket pocket. “Excuse me for one moment.” He walked to the other side of the room.
A dull ache settled in the pit of Nia stomach as she gazed at the powerful man who’d just told the world they were getting married. She’d imagined this moment when the man of her dreams would ask her to be his bride, bear his children, and spend the rest of her life with him.
Although this was not the way she’d expected a proposal to take place, it was the most tempting offer she would ever have. Becoming Mrs. Massimo Andretti was no trifling accomplishment. Millions of women would be kissing his feet just for offering them the chance to bear his name. She was not one of them.
Besides, there were too many obstacles standing between her and Massimo walking off into marital bliss and happily ever after. They lived in separate worlds, traveled in different circles. There was no love between them and, foremost of all, she could not betray her father’s memory by marrying the man who was responsible for his death.
And even if she could love Massimo past that monumental fact, his track record with women was enough to give her pause. At some point, men like Massimo got tired of their women, be it mistress or wife, and went in search of new adventures. Marriage to him was purely a business contract that could be rendered null and void at any time. To her, it was a love commitment between a man and a woman. When she committed herself to her husband, it would be for love, and it would be forever.
Love and forever were two things Massimo Andretti could not offer her.
But he could offer Aaron security and a promising future.
Nia raised her hand and gazed at the diamond bracelet on her wrist. She ran her fingers along the necklace around her throat and the dangling earrings in her lobes. The set probably cost more than Aaron’s tuition at MIT. She thought of her new car and new wardrobe and of the Andretti mansion she would call home if she married Massimo.
Aaron would have access to opportunities and luxuries she could never provide in a million years, and definitely not with a million dollars that would be eaten up by the time she paid off her debts, her college loans, and helped Aaron get through college.
For many years following their father’s death, they’d gone hungry, had been cold in the winter and hot in the summer. They had slept on bare floors, and lived without electricity and running water while she tried to support them on various menial minimum wage jobs.
Marrying Massimo would be like winning the lottery.
He said she would live like a queen. He’d promised to respect her, protect her, and even now as her body tingled from the memory of his passionate kisses and the possessive way his skillful hands brought her body to life, the fact that he never promised to love her or be faithful to her caused a raw and primitive longing in her soul.
“The vultures are gone. It’s safe to leave.”
Nia turned at his voice. She watched him slip his cell into his pocket, pull her shawl from the back of the chair and her purse from the table where she’d tossed them less than an hour ago. He walked over to her, pressed her purse into her hand, and methodically slipped her shawl over her shoulders as if he’d performed the actions a thousand times before. Without uttering a word, he opened a door at the back of the room, led her along a corridor, down a short flight of stairs, and into the waiting limo parked under an enclosed porch.
“Where are we going?” Nia asked in a panic. Surely he wouldn’t force her to attend that function now, not after that public fiasco and surely not in a wine-stained dress.
“Home. Your dress is ruined, and quite frankly I’ve had enough chaos for one night. I’d like a warm quiet place to relax and enjoy the rest of the evening, and you.”
As they drove away, Nia’s mind fluttered away in anxiety. The night was young and the more time she spent with Massimo, the weaker her defenses became. And she was sure he had plans to seduce her tonight. Being cooped up alone in the mansion with him was not a good thing. “You can attend your event, you know,” she said. “I can take care of myself for the evening.”
He chuckled softly. “Not a chance, pussycat. We have unfinished business. If I can’t convince you to marry me for my money, I’ll have to convince you to marry me for sex. Since you’re not drunk tonight, you will be acutely aware of what my hands and mouth will be doing to you.
Nia pulled her shawl tighter around her and huddled against the door of the limo. If he thought they were sleeping in the same bed tonight, he could think again. She would sleep with Azi if that’s what she had to do to keep Massimo away from her. She did not trust herself to be near him. She wasn’t strong enough to fight this wanton need he’d spawned inside her.
He’d promised he wouldn’t take her before the week was up, except if she asked him to. Nia knew if he touched her tonight, she would beg him to go the distance.
“You must be famished.”
Why was it whenever she was thinking about making love with him, he brought up the subject of food? She was aware of the old saying that the two things that kept a man truly satisfied were good food and good sex. Massimo had had access to both all his life. And it seemed he was determined to continue nurturing his cravings for food and sex with Azi in his kitchen and Nia in his bed.
“I’m just tired,” she said, realizing that it was true. She’d had a full day.
“I’ll have Azi prepare us something.”
Nia’s stomach growled with hunger as he discussed dinner with Azi in what she suspected was Swahili. She was starving. She hadn’t eaten since noon, and she’d been looking forward to gorging herself on Andreas’ cuisine at the gala. But there was no way she was going to sit down at any table and have dinner with Massimo.
Massimo would be eating alone, tonight. He would be sleeping alone, too.
As soon as they entered the mansion, Nia made a dash down the hall, but Massimo caught up with her before she could make her escape.
“Something smells wonderful,” he said as he removed her shawl and dropped in on a lounge in the hallway.
“Everything Azi cooks smells wonderful,” she responded, distraught that she would probably go to bed hungry. The smell from the kitchen deepened her hunger pangs.
Massimo shrugged out of his jacket, ripped off his bow tie and dropped them next to the shawl. His eyes scanned her face. “How do you like the diamonds?”
Nia fingered the jewels at her throat. “They’re lovely. I’ve never worn anything this... extravagant.”
“Get used to it, cara. I plan to shower you with diamonds, sapphires, emeralds, rubies, and whatever else your little heart desires.”
The things he thought made a woman happy. The only things she desired from him were her two million dollars and her freedom.
“All you have to do is say yes to marrying me.” His mercurial eyes twinkled in the lights from the alabaster lamps on the walls.
He placed his hands on her shoulders and caressed her neck with the pads of his thumbs, sending a series of electrical shocks through her. “We make a beautiful couple, cara. We’ll make a beautiful son. Don’t you think?” His voice was barely a whisper.
He gazed into her eyes as he slowly loosened her hair from its bun. The black tresses fell like a heavy curtain down her back. He drew her closer, and held her fast with one hand at the small of her back, the other under her chin, his long fingers spanning the scope of her face. He bent his knees and crouched down. His warm breath fanned her cheeks. Her heart jack-knifed in her throat when she felt his heavy arousal pressing against her belly. He slowly lowered his head and brushed his lips over hers.
“Marry me, Nia,” he rasped in a husky voice. “Make love with me tonight. Let me show you how incredible it can be between us. Let me put out the fire I know is burning inside you, cara. It’s the same fire that’s eating me alive. Let’s ride the flame together.”
Nia’s breath came out in hard harsh gasps. She felt her breasts swelling and her nipples tingling. She wondered how her throat could be so dry when her panties were so wet. She fought the desire to stand on tiptoe and bring her hot sex in alignment with Massimo’s erection burning a hole in her belly.
In an attempt to moisturize her dry lips, her tongue grazed Massimo’s mouth that hovered just inches from hers. She felt him tremble on a groan at the unexpected caress. Their gazes tangled and lust sizzled between them as his other arm circled her, drawing her into his body. A moan escaped her lips as her mind and her body began a heated squabble.
