The Italian's Ruthless Seduction

Without waiting for her to reply Sergio kissed her. Hard. His mouth devouring hers for a delicious length of time, Bella quite breathless by the time his head lifted.

‘You are like one of Roberto’s pizzas,’ he growled. ‘One slice is never enough. But you are also like fine wine, my darling Bella. Even better if left uncorked for a while.’

She laughed, loving the way he kept calling her darling. ‘Thank you very much. I think...’

‘Speaking of fine wine, I recall Jeremy sent me a case of truly wonderful reds last Christmas. I’ll just pop down to the cellar and get us a couple of bottles to have with that incredible food you’ve made us.’

‘I still have to cook the spaghetti. Or would you prefer another form of pasta?’

‘Spaghetti will do fine. And there’s no rush. It will be nice to sit here with you and talk till it’s ready. I have so much to tell you. And show you.’

‘Yes, so I see,’ she said, nodding towards his mountain of parcels.

He shrugged. ‘Wasn’t sure which ones to bring. After all, I know next to nothing about female fashion accessories. Like I said, I like my women naked,’ he added with a devilish grin. ‘Back in a sec.’

She shook her head at him as he left. He really was a bit naughty. But extremely lovable. And very sexy. She was going to find it hard to keep her hands off him till he’d talked himself out. Still, Bella could not deny that she was curious over what his new plans were for the business. She was keen too to have a look at the various samples he’d brought home.

By the time Sergio returned with the two bottles of red, the spaghetti was on and Bella was looking at the shoes and handbags on the table.

‘Well, what do you think?’ he asked her as he opened both bottles.

‘I’m no expert,’ Bella said thoughtfully, ‘but they all look very good quality to me. Not cheap at all. The leather is lovely and soft on the shoes. And the handbags have timeless classical lines. They’re also not too big or too small. Same with the handles. Possibly you could improve the quality of the linings. The material is a bit thin. And the colour is not the best. Black linings are really annoying. I can never find anything in handbags with black linings.’

Sergio nodded. ‘I would never have thought of that.’

‘Why would you? You’re not a woman. Thank heavens,’ she added with a saucy look.

He laughed, then poured them both a glass of wine. ‘Now tell me what you think of this wine.’ And he handed her a glass.

‘Once again, I’m no expert,’ she said as she swirled the glass, sniffed the bouquet, then took a small swallow.

‘Yes, I can see that,’ he said with a dry laugh.

‘Come now, Sergio, a modern western woman is not going to reach the age of thirty without absorbing a little wine know-how. I can’t say red wine is my favourite tipple but this is exceptional. Goes down like silk.’

‘Jeremy only drinks the very best.’

‘Sounds like a bit of a snob.’

‘Oh, he is. But a nice one. You’ll know what I mean when you meet him.’

‘I can’t see that happening any time soon.’

They ate out on the terrace where Bella had already set the table complete with candles. By the time the food was gone and they started on the second bottle of wine, Bella had the full picture of what Sergio’s new plans were for Morelli’s shoes and handbags.

After hearing Bella’s ideas over the phone, he’d immediately called a meeting of all the managerial staff in those departments, right down to the factory floor, explaining to them that they weren’t going to try to compete with the cheap shoes and handbags being made in Asia any more. They were going up-market, lifting their quality and prices. He also wanted to introduce a very exclusive and more colourful designer range of shoes and bags—including luggage—which would have limited production but super-high prices.

The reaction he’d received was generally very positive, with only a few older members of staff clearly unhappy about the changes. Apparently, Sergio took these aside after the meeting and offered them all redundancy packages that were too generous to refuse. One of them was a distant cousin who his father had put in charge of the company after he fell ill.

‘I gave him a little extra,’ Sergio admitted. ‘He’d done the best he could but was too set in his ways to embrace new ideas.’

‘You did the right thing, Sergio,’ she reassured him, picking up the bottle of wine and refilling Sergio’s glass.