An Invitation to Sin

The sight of him so shaken up unsettled her more than she wanted to admit. He’d seemed to understand her so well. Better than anyone ever had before. Why wasn’t it obvious to him that Rafaele had taken advantage of her? He knew about her controlling mother and the way her father had used her. He knew she’d been vulnerable at the time. He knew all that and instead of defending her or even encouraging her to tell, he was shocked.

But of course he was.

Because he was thinking about himself, not her, the way people always did.

He’d agreed to the engagement as a means of gaining respectability and these revelations had just blown that out of the water. The board had probably just fired him, which would explain why he was reacting so strongly.

Taylor lifted her chin. ‘I’m sorry you feel this way.’

‘You are?’ His voice was raw. ‘You’re sorry?’

‘Of course! It wasn’t what either of us wanted. It wasn’t part of our arrangement.’ I wanted your support. Suddenly she was desperate to leave before she made a fool of herself.

‘It’s over, Luca. Done. Finished. The terms of our agreement have changed so that’s the end of it. There’s nothing more to be said.’ She walked towards the door and then, because she just couldn’t help herself, she made the mistake of looking back. And wished she hadn’t because Luca was staring blindly into the distance, looking like a man who had lost everything.

CHAPTER NINE

TAYLOR LAY IN a sodden heap on her bed in her trailer where she’d spent the night, too drained to get up and face the press. She hadn’t slept at all, just lain there, hoping desperately to hear from Luca. Hoping desperately that once he’d had time to think about it, he’d revert to his usual indifferent self and come and laugh with her.

But she heard nothing from him.

It seemed everyone in the world had called her except him. Everyone wanted her comment on the impending publication of the photographs, everyone wanted to know her side of the story and how she felt about the world seeing her naked. And she didn’t even care. Each time her phone pinged with another message she grabbed it hopefully but it was never him. He didn’t communicate. Not even a single text saying how sorry he was that she was in this mess.

She’d had no idea the pretence of respectability had mattered so much to him and the image of his shocked expression was jammed in her brain.

It wasn’t just the thought of the whole world seeing her naked that upset her, it was the fact that Luca didn’t care about how she felt. All he’d thought about was himself and how it was going to affect him. When she’d walked into his office yesterday she’d wanted him to defend her. Instead he’d looked shocked.

Luca Corretti, shocked.

He’d done shocking things in his life but clearly he was like so many men. He had double standards when it came to his own behaviour.

The weird thing was she didn’t even care about the photographs any more. Even though it was what she’d dreaded for so long, she didn’t care about the embarrassment and the humiliation. All she cared about was that her ‘engagement’ to Luca was over. No more dinners. No more skinny-dipping in the sea. No more Tomas and Teresa. No more…

Fat, scalding tears slid down her cheeks.

Reaching for another tissue, she blew her nose hard, acknowledging the truth with a sick lurch of her stomach.

She loved him.

Really loved him. All of him, from the fun outrageous side of him to the hurt, lonely boy who didn’t trust anyone.

Somehow, somewhere, her feelings had shifted from fake to real whereas he—he didn’t have any feelings at all.

There was a hammering on the door of her trailer but she covered her ears and screwed her eyes shut, ignoring it.

She’d faced the press alone so many times in her life, why did it feel harder this time?

But she knew the answer to that.

She’d allowed herself to trust Luca. For the first time since her teens, she’d lowered her guard. She’d believed he was a friend. But when trouble had landed he’d cut her loose and tried to distance himself.

She yanked another tissue out of the box. What had she expected? That he’d stand up and fight for her?

The hammering grew louder. It sounded as if they were actually going to kick the door down and anger flashed through her misery.

Why couldn’t they leave her alone?

‘Taylor! Cristo, open this door!’ Luca’s voice thundered through the door and Taylor jumped in shock.

‘Go away! You are a hypocritical bastard and I never want to see you again.’

‘Open the door or I’ll break it down.’

‘Fine! Whatever. If that’s what you want.’ Springing from the bed, she wrenched open the door and Luca immediately barged his way past her and slammed it shut, blocking out the cameras.