On Monday afternoon, Andin had gotten back from lunch a little later than usual. She and Damon had a lunch date and they had gone to a place a bit far from her office. She had expected her boss to still be outside and was surprised when she entered her own office and saw a shadow on the glass between her room and that of Sebastian. She walked across and opened the door only to find him at the office and he was not alone. Standing closely next to him with her thin arms around his neck as if she had just pulled her back from the passionate kiss they were exchanging was none other than London Starr. It seemed somehow London had managed to drag Sebastian back to her bed or the other way around.
Andin swallowed the bitter anger she felt on her tongue and greeted them.
"Hi there, Ann Deen! I have just signed my contract. It seems that I could not get away from him," said London, turning back to Sebastian when she said the last sentence. "Your magnet is positively vigorous, Sebastian."
Andin smiled politely and swallowed any annoyance she had. "I'm glad to be keeping you with us, London," she said, ignoring Sebastian's sardonic glance. "I expected you to arrive later in the evening."
"I managed to talk Sebastian into buying me lunch," London said, pulling down her skimpy sweater. The jeans she was wearing were far too tight, but her slender body had an aggressively sensual sway as she sauntered to the door. "See you, Sebastian," she said, waving as she departed.
Sebastian leaned back against his desk, eyeing his secretary with curiosity. "It is a pity truly that all our talents are not as easy to handle as London."
"Yet you manage to handle most of them," answered Andin pointedly.
He made a wry face. "Is that sarcasm, I hear, Miss Williams?" Under his thick, dark lashes his eyes observed her thoughtfully. "Did you enjoy your lunch?"
"I did, Sir. Thank you. My apologies for coming back a bit late."
He waved his hand nonchalantly. "No worries."
"Is there anything you need me to handle urgently, Sir?" Nervously Andin passed her tongue over her lips. Looking up, she saw the narrow, shrewd eyes fixed on her.
His hand picked up a binder, and he dropped his gaze as he started to read the content. "What time is the flight tomorrow?" he asked about the impromptu trip to Europe that they had to make tomorrow. He had informed her this morning and Andin had spent the entire morning to afternoon making arrangements.
"Eight o'clock," she informed him.
"I will pick you up at six thirty then," he said. "How about the accommodations?"
"I have made all the arrangements," she answered politely.
The dark blue eyes mocked her. "Of course you have. You are as efficient as ever, Miss Williams."
"Is there anything else you would like to know, Sir?" She refrained her tongue from saying something sarcastic, infuriated by his expression and tone.
"No. You may leave," he answered without sparing her a glance.
* * * * * * *
After Washington D.C.'s intermittent sunshine and rain, Trapani, Sicily looked so unreal and beautiful — just like a colored postcard. The streets lined with palm trees whose leaves were green and lustrous, the hotels dazzling white and glinting in the sun, the layered rows of houses softly washed in pastel colors, over all of the town the brilliant azure sky making it look more like a film set than anything Andin could remember.
They drove from the airport in a hired car which she had booked from Rome. Sebastian knew the route well from previous visits, his long hands capable on the wheel, his hard profile abstracted in thought.
"Your older brother lives here, doesn't he?" asked Andin. Oddly enough, she felt slightly irritated by his apparent unawareness of her presence beside him in the car.
He turned his head, the dark hair brushing against the collar of the dark brown shirt he wore. "Yes. Piers, my second older brother," he answered with a slight nod. The piercing blue eyes skimmed over her, observing the plain violet dress she was wearing. A faint flush rose in her face, and his mouth curved suddenly in mockery. "He lives about two hours' drive from here in an idyllic cottage beside the river," he added. "Far from the crowd." She noticed the way his voice held a strange note of irony.
"Does he live alone?"
"Yes. He enjoys solitude."
"Doesn't he get lonely or miss his family?"
"He's an artist," he said as if that explained everything.
"What kind of artist?" asked Andin curiously.
Although she knew most of Sebastian's siblings and their businesses —after all, they owned everything that had 'Summers' name on it, she rarely heard of Piers Summers being mentioned. She found it rather odd how Edward and Helena Summers had eight grandchildren and had divided each business industry to each of them and yet still, there was one being left out. Thornton Summers owned the multibillionaire software company Summers Tech Inc., Declan Summers managed the hotels' line, Sebastian had Summers Entertainment, Clara had the Summers Publishing House, and there were three more siblings in the airline, medical or healthcare, and F&B industries. There should be one industry they could have given to Piers, or if there was not, then they could at least let him build one.
"A painter." He shrugged, turning back to his interest in the traffic around them. "He paints panorama, mountain or lake. Occasionally he does portraits too but has no real talent for them. His still-lifes sell well though."
Now Andin was even more intrigued. "Enough to live on?"
He surprised her by laughing. "I highly doubt it. He is not that good. He sends them to an art dealer in Rome who then sells them to rich tourists. It is a pleasant addition to his income but that is about it."
Andin wondered if he secretly supported his brother financially, and imagined he must he doing so. Certainly, he earned enough. The firm was largely in his possession, and although he lived well he must be very well off, she supposed. It had never occurred to her to be interested in his background. That his family had owned the firm had given him the sort of secure, moneyed background which explained his air of arrogant self-assurance.
"Do you see much of your brother?" she asked, as he spun the car into the curved drive leading to their hotel.
"Piers is not a sociable type," he said tersely.
His reply made her wonder what that meant. Unclipping her safety belt, she then opened the car door. Sebastian came round and assisted her to alight, his hand beneath her elbow. A group of tourists walked past them, laughing, their air of leisure underlining their reason for being here and Andin looked after them enviously. The two women wore brief sun-dresses and large straw hats, their bodies smoothly tanned.
Sebastian glanced after them, then looked down at her wryly. "Wish you were here on holiday, huh?" he asked.
"The weather is certainly wonderful," she sighed. "This place must be marvelous for a honeymoon."
Sebastian's hand tightened around her elbow and Andin made a silent face of protest. Her lips parted in a wince. Then as if he had not realized it, he dropped his hand and turned to greet the hotel doorman who came hurrying to welcome them.
Their rooms were side by side on the first floor, facing the sea, each with French windows leading out onto a shared balcony. A page boy escorted them, carrying their luggage. While he was showing Sebastian his room she opened the french windows on her own and went out onto the balcony to stare down the white promenade, through the smooth leaves of palm trees, to where the blue water curled onto the beach. Half-naked bodies lay under beach umbrellas in the cool shade which protected them from the direct rays of the sun. A few people were swimming. One or two were sailing in small dinghies, the white of the sails flapping in a faint breeze. She could just hear the jingle of the mast wires as they turned. A step brought her attention back to her more immediate surroundings. She turned and met Sebastian's piercing blue eyes. She was surprised to see that he had already changed into cream-colored shorts and a plain black T-shirt.
"You've changed," she said what was obvious and immediately chastised herself.
His brows lifted sardonically. "So I have," he mocked. His blue eyes slid down over her. "I suggest you do the same. You look too neat and businesslike in that dress. I gather you brought something more casual."
"I do bring jeans and a blouse," she admitted. "I did not expect Sicily to be so warm."
"Go and put them on," he commanded briefly as he walked towards the balcony.
Irritated by his tone, she turned and walked away. She came to a halt when she heard him speaking softly, "Do you realize that we are sharing a bathroom? I can see that you are losing your touch, Miss Williams. You usually managed to get us rooms on different floors. Yet here we are now, side by side."
Andin honestly did not think he would notice. "The booking was so late," she said crossly. "I had to take whatever they could offer me."
"I can tell how irritating this must be for you," he said in that tone that held a taunting amusement. Before she had a chance to retort, he added, "I just called Roberto Capaldi and he invited us to his residence for dinner. Since we will have the day free until seven, we might as well have lunch downstairs and then take a look around the city."
She hesitated, a bit alarmed at the prospect of spending so long alone with her boss in this warm, slumbrous atmosphere. He was watching her, his piercing baby blues were half-hidden by his lids. "Don't tell me you are afraid to be alone with me, Miss Williams," he said in that insidiously soft voice. "Whatever happened the other night should remain in the past."
Feeling annoyed by his remarks, Andin clenched her hands and kept them at her side to refrain herself from taking one step forward and slapping that smug off his face. "Do not be ridiculous. I am not afraid of you," she said stiffly.
"Oh really now?" His lips curled into a mischievous smile. "Action is louder than words. So how about you go and get changed," he said lightly.
Andin went back into her room, pausing to look at the open French windows with consideration, yet not daring, while Sebastian stood out there on the balcony to close and bolt them.
* * *
Andin found her luggage and laid it on the bed. She started to unpack her clothes and hung one dress she had brought inside the cupboard. Then she got her jeans and blouse out and placed them on the bed before transferring other items into the drawers. Once she was done, she picked up her clothes and went to the bathroom. She noticed that the bathroom had two doors, one leading into her boss's room and the other to her own. This was dangerous. She needed to make sure that it was truly locked. She strode forward and bolted the one leading to Sebastian's room then bolted her own. After checking it twice and making sure that the door was indeed locked, she began to take a shower. The hotel had complete bathroom necessities including a shaver which she utilized in shaving her legs clean.
Feeling refreshed, she put on her casual clothes and then eyed herself in the bathroom mirror. For a moment, she hesitated over the skimpy and revealing white cotton blouse that she had on. Andin realized in despair that this top was not the one she had put inside her luggage so obviously Damon must have switched it. She regretted not checking her luggage before leaving. There was nothing she could do now so she quickly put some sunscreen on her face and exposed skin. After a moment, she unbolted the doors and slowly went back to the balcony where she found Sebastian sitting on a white-painted wicker chair, reading a newspaper which, she saw with some surprise, was in Italian. "I didn't know you understand Italian," she muttered her thought without realizing it.
"There are a lot of things that you do not know about me," he drawled, still not looking at her. "One of them was that my grandfather was an Italian. Piers, Draven, and I could fluently speak Italian while the rest, especially Thornton, couldn't even if it was to save his life."
After a few seconds passed, he looked up and they stared at each other with wary appraisal of animals. His eyes moved over her with leisurely curiosity. The depths of his eyes held no expression and she shifted uneasily under his gaze. "I see," she commented quietly.
"You look a little different," he said slowly. His tone held a faint surprise. His eyes moved back to her sleeveless white top. It was cut in a plunging scoop that revealed the pale swell of her breasts, it was almost transparent in this strong sunshine, molding her body like a second skin, but leaving a narrow gap between where it ended and where her dark jeans began so that her smooth midriff could be glimpsed whenever she moved. Under his intent gaze, somehow she felt half-naked and moved restlessly.
"Um, shall we go down for lunch?" asked her nervously, wanting his gaze to move elsewhere.
Sebastian rose, glancing at his wristwatch. "It is a bit too early but sure. I guess that means that we will have more time on the beach."
"The beach?" Her question was abrupt and her surprise was apparent in her tone.
"Didn't you say that you are envious of those tourists that get to enjoy the beautiful view and the beach?" He tilted his head, his eyebrows lifted. "A few hours on the beach might be fun. Plus we have nothing to do until the dinner with Roberto anyway."
If she was being honest, she really did want to go to the beach and enjoy the panorama. However, she had barely spent time with her boss for things other than work. Even in their previous business trips, whenever they had free time Sebastian had always gone somewhere else while she was spending her time on her own in the hotel — mostly because she was not sure when he would come back and if he would need her assistance thus she wished to stay in the hotel just in case. She would either go to the swimming pool, the bar, or the spa lounge, and she would always bring her cell phone with her. This would be their first time. Furthermore, with her current attire and the palpable tension between them since last night, she was not sure that this was a good idea.
"I'm not sure if that's a good idea. Perhaps we could prepare ourselves for the dinner." She knew her argument was weak but her brain could not think of anything else.
"Five hours of preparing oneself? I think that's too much." Sebastian stood, then leaned back against the railing of the balcony. His arms folded in front of his muscular chest as he regarded Andin with a domineering look on his face. "Are you afraid of being alone with me?"
Again with the same question. It took everything in her that she was not afraid of him nor being alone with him and that she simply felt nervous having him around because all she had in her mind was what had happened last night. How good it felt to be held in his arms, to be kissed as if his life depended on it, and she could not help to compare whether she liked his kiss last night or the one at his birthday party a few weeks ago. Bottomline, she liked his kiss — whichever it was.
"Of course not."
"If you say so," said Sebastian, clearly he was not convinced at all.
They got out of their room and went along the thickly carpeted corridor in silence. Sebastian jabbed the lift button with his forefinger, and a few seconds later the lift arrived. They stepped inside. The doors closed silently, but when the lift started it gave a violent jerk, throwing Andin sideways. Sebastian stopped her from falling by receiving her against his chest. Off balance, she could only lay against him, automatically reaching towards his shoulders to support herself. Through the fine fabric of her blouse, she felt the strong muscles beneath his shirt, the animal warmth of his skin against her, and her heart began to race violently.