Urgent hands grabbed her. ‘Do you regret what we did last night?’
She opened her mouth to deny his words. To tell him that last night had been the most extraordinary night of her life. But he was giving her the perfect out, a way to retreat with her new, terrifying feelings intact.
‘Yes, it was a mistake. I wish it hadn’t happened.’ Because now it had, she knew, bone-deep, that no other man, no other relationship would compare. And he wasn’t in it for the long run.
Javier paled. ‘What?’
She tried to move, but he held on. ‘Javier, let me go.’
‘Explain yourself first, Carla. Did I hurt you?’ he whispered raggedly.
‘No, you didn’t.’
‘Then why?’
At her stubborn silence, he cupped her chin and drew her face up. She watched myriad emotions transition over his face until a cold gleam slowly lit his eyes. ‘You used me to divest yourself of your virginity, is that it?’
‘I—what?’ she returned, stunned.
‘What’s the matter? Angelis doesn’t like virgins, so you thought you’d use me to take care of your little problem and now you’re running back to him?’
Her mouth dropped open, shock rendering her speechless. Then, realising once again that he was handing her the perfect excuse, she raised her chin higher. ‘Yes. I want to go back to Draco, if you don’t mind.’
She was still reeling from the wrong turn of events when he dragged her down the stairs, flinging her shoes and handbag at her on the way. ‘Get the hell out of my sight.’ He wrenched the front door open. ‘And, Carla?’
He waited until she turned, her insides shaking at the fury in his face.
‘S-sì?’
‘Pray that we never meet again. Because every single nightmare you’ve ever had will pale in comparison to what I’ll do to you.’
* * *
‘Was it worth it?’ a hard, cold voice demanded.
Carla was yanked from the depths of vivid memories. She blinked hard and tightened her muscles when she realised her whole body was shaking with the force of her residual feelings.
‘Was what worth it?’ she asked obliquely, struggling to bring her mind back to the present.
‘Sacrificing yourself in my bed to get Angelis’s attention and make him jealous.’
She clenched her jaw. ‘I don’t know how many times I need to say it before you believe me. Draco had nothing to do with what happened between us. You made assumptions...and I just took advantage of the excuse.’
‘And yet you were dating your excuse a month later,’ he snarled.
‘My mother died. He came to the funeral in England. He took me out a few times to try and distract me, that’s all. Afterwards, when his sister was hurt, I spent some time with both of them, helping her get through it. That was all that happened.’
His lips curled. ‘I may have been an outsider with a vivid imagination conjuring scenarios out of thin air. But didn’t your own father try to forge a more permanent deal between you and Angelis only a few weeks ago?’
She couldn’t hide from the truth. ‘That doesn’t mean it was what I wanted. And why does it upset you so much, anyway?’ she threw at him.
Dark brown eyes turned to icy chips. ‘No one likes to be used and tossed away like rubbish.’
She bit
her lip, knowing whatever she said would come out wrong. But she couldn’t stand the tension. ‘We need to get past this.’
His eyes turned colder. ‘Do we? What about the sound bite you gave the reporter who interviewed you after your championship win three years ago? Correct me if I’m wrong but wasn’t it along the lines of, “Javier is a playboy. I don’t date playboys”? Oh, and I believe someone from your camp followed that a few weeks later with another quote, calling me “an individual with low morals and a questionable pedigree”? Do we need to get past those too?’