In a Heartbeat (Heartbeat #1) (7 page)

But man, she looked hot …

On second thoughts, he wasn’t so sorry they came here. Lisa was a very attractive girl as well, and yet he’d managed to be friends with her for years, never even entertaining the idea of taking things further. Maybe he could do it this time too.

Max realised he was staring when Lisa waved at him. He’d better go and say ‘hi’.

“
Ciao, bellissimi ragazze
,” he said, as he kissed them on both cheeks. Giving Lisa a peck was fine; he’d done it a thousand times. But the moment he touched his lips to Stella’s cheek, he silently cursed the Italian tradition. He was supposed to kiss her every time he saw her and not feel anything? His body felt as if live current was buzzing through it. The moment he touched the small of Stella’s back, she melted instinctively into him, putting a hand on his abs. It was as if her body acted of its own accord.

Yeah, I know how that feels.

“How’s it going?” he asked, as the greeting kiss torture was over.

“Nothing much., We decided to work on Stella’s tan today.”

“Yeah, you need that. You do look pale,” he teased – and met her eyes for the first time.

Pale and flawless.

“Hey!” Stella protested and mockingly hit him on the upper arm. He’d do
anything
to have those hands everywhere on his body. “I live in London, remember?”

A group of guys passed by and, of course, almost broke their necks to look at his girls.

This was going to be much harder than he had anticipated. They’d be coming here all the time, wearing next to nothing. He was a strong person, but he wasn’t made of stone. Sooner or later he was going to crack.

He needed a distraction. Of the female kind. And fast.

*

Max was just standing there, throwing daggers at every guy that passed by and effectively chasing them away. How was Stella supposed to get a date?

Don’t pretend you don’t enjoy that.

With him being so close, his body towering over her and his hazel eyes burning, Stella couldn’t think straight. And on top of that, when he spoke in Italian with that sexy voice of his, she felt fireworks explode in her chest.

“Do you have plans for tonight? I’m going out with Beppe and Gia to grab some food and maybe go to a club later. You wanna come?”

Lisa glanced at Stella in an unspoken question – she wanted to go, but had obviously seen her cousin’s reaction to Max and now wasn’t so sure it was such a good idea. Stella hated that she made her feel this way. She didn’t want to separate Lisa from her friends – it was bad enough that she had two jobs for the summer and couldn’t spend enough time with them as it was.

“Sure. We don’t have plans. We’d love to come.” Stella tried to pull off her most friendly smile, even though she felt anything but friendly towards Max. Did he need to stand so close to her?

“Are you sure you’re OK with this?” Lisa asked, as Max walked back to his station.

“Yeah, absolutely; I’d love to go out and have some fun. Maybe I can meet a cute guy and get myself a date.” She winked at her cousin and saw her smile in relief.

The rest of the afternoon flew by. When they got home, Stella noticed her skin was flushed from the sun. Her cheeks were pleasantly rosy and if she looked really closely, she might just see tan lines on her hips and back.

Stella took a shower, taking extra care to wash all the salty water from her hair. When she got out of the bathroom, she still had about an hour before they had to go out. Make-up had never been her forte – less was more as far as she was concerned. But having in mind that she was going out, Stella decided to make a little extra effort. She moisturised her whole body and used tinted moisturiser on her face to complement her tan. Then she experimented with eyeliner and two coats of mascara, until she was satisfied with the result. With smoky eyes like that, her lips had to stay bare, so she put a bit of clear lip gloss and smiled at her reflection.

Now for problem number two – what to wear? Over the top was out of the question. Stella needed something sexy but casual, elegant but not too formal. After emptying half the contents of the wardrobe onto the bed, she chose a black, sequinned halter-neck top which fell loose around the body and black chino shorts which hugged her hips and reached just above her knees. Her honey-coloured hair stood out on all that black and Stella didn’t do much in terms of styling it. She just blow-dried it and let it fall over her shoulders in unruly waves. It looked as if she had styled it but had had amazing sex afterwards and messed it up.

I wish.

Taking her high-heeled sandals in her hand, she opened her bedroom door just as Lisa was about to knock. Her cousin looked amazing – in a simple yet perfectly cut empire-waist dress in blue and red. She had straightened her blonde locks and put them up in a ponytail, accentuating her slim shoulders.

“You look amazing!” they both said at the same time and laughed.

“No, seriously, Stella, I’ve never seen you like this. You don’t usually wear a lot of make-up and I didn’t even know you knew how to use eyeliner.”

“It’s not rocket science, is it? You look hot, Lis! I can’t believe you haven’t bagged yourself a sexy Italian man yet.”

She meant it as a joke, but something flickered in Lisa’s expression. Something like sadness and maybe regret. It was just for a second and then it was gone, a smile replacing it and erasing all evidence.

“Let’s go out and correct that mistake then,” she said and tugged on Stella’s hand.

“You’ve got it.”

*

They had arranged to meet at Piazza de Ferrari, next to the fountain. Since it was the biggest and most popular square in the city, it was bubbling with people by the time Stella and Lisa arrived.

The moment Max saw her, he knew this was going to be the hardest night of his life. In many respects.

Stella looked hot. No, that wasn’t a word good enough to describe her allure. She looked hotter than the deepest fire pit in hell.

Her legs went on forever in those shorts and high heels. The top she had on sparkled and mimicked her every move. Her wolfish eyes were on fire and perfectly accented by the dark make-up.

Max couldn’t take his eyes off her. He wanted to weave his fingers through her wild hair, bring her lips to his and not stop until he’d explored every inch of her body. With his tongue. Twice.

Beppe was the first to greet them, with a hug and a kiss. He was practically glowing with delight. He mumbled something when he kissed each of them and they giggled. Next was Gia, who was out on one of her rare nights off and was genuinely pleased to see the girls. And then it was Max’s turn. He gave Lisa a hug and a kiss and complimented her on how she looked. Thankfully, by the time Stella got to him, Beppe, Gia and Lisa were involved in an animated conversation and were heading towards the restaurant along the crowded street.

Stella stood in front of him, watching him with as much appreciation as he had for her. True, he had made a special effort tonight and ditched his faded jeans and T-shirt for a classier set of Diesel jeans and a short-sleeved, fitted Calvin Klein shirt.

“
Ciao
, Max,” she said and, putting a hand on his shoulder, leaned in to kiss him on the cheek. She smelled so good – sweet and clean and fresh, like a spring morning.

“You look gorgeous,
tesoro
,” he whispered in her ear, just before she pulled away. Her lips parted as if she wanted to say something, but nothing came out. Stella looked at him, right
at
him, and he’d never felt more vulnerable, as if she could read his every thought.

“You don’t look so bad yourself,” she said finally, with a lopsided grin. She nodded towards their friends in a silent ‘Shall we?’ and, pressing his hand on the small of her back, Max led her along
via XX Settembre
and towards the restaurant.

This evening was going to be even harder than he had initially thought.

*

The music in the club was so loud that Stella could barely hear her own thoughts. They were seated at a private table with a huge, plush sofa shaped in a semi-circle. The hostess was a friend of Beppe’s and they didn’t have to wait to get in. It was a nice bonus that they also got a VIP table, after Beppe purred something in her ear that made her blush.

Everyone was in a great mood. Dinner had been fun – the food had been amazing and the conversation had flowed. Stella had found out that Beppe was studying Law at the University of Genoa and her mouth had been hanging open in surprise for a few long moments.

“You’re going to be a lawyer?” she’d asked, eyeing him incredulously.

“Yeah. Why? I don’t look like a lawyer to you?” he’d said and winked at her.

“No, not really. Not with all the tattoos, piercings and five-day stubble.”

“I hide the tattoos under the suit,” he’d said and laughed as if it had been obvious. “And I remove all my piercings, including this one.” He’d clicked his tongue piercing at the back of his teeth and gave Stella one of his most seductive looks. She’d blushed and looked away – Beppe could be so shamelessly flirtatious when he wanted to. No wonder most women fell for his charm in two seconds flat.

She had also found out that Gia loved her job working at the restaurant. Her boss was a famous chef and entrepreneur, and even though he put a lot of pressure on his staff, she was honoured to work for him. At that point Beppe had mumbled something that sounded like ‘a prick with a giant ego’, but nobody paid any attention to him, because Gia continued to chat excitedly about how great her boss and her job were.

The wine had been flowing and by the end of dinner they had all had a couple of glasses. Stella had stuck to
San Pellegrino aranciata
and nobody had given her a hard time about it – they must have been getting used to her non-alcoholic existence.

Max had sat as far away from her as possible. He’d talked, smiled and eaten his food, but he’d never engaged in conversation with her or even looked at her. It had bugged her. Not only because she craved his attention like oxygen, but also because he had turned a one-eighty in a matter of minutes. First he had greeted her as though he wanted to jump her bones right there on the street, and then he had completely ignored her.

Thank God for the loud music in here!

Stella was so sick of over-thinking everything. She just wanted to stop thinking altogether and let loose. There was something about loud music and dim light that made people forget their problems and inhibitions – and that was exactly what she intended to do.

Lisa tugged on her hand and mouthed ‘Come on’ as she led her to the crowded dance floor, where Gia was already swaying rhythmically to the music. It was some kind of house mix, which was not what Stella would usually listen to, but for the night it was perfect. A few minutes later she had completely lost herself in dancing – the loud, monotonous music echoing through her body.

She felt Lisa’s hand on her upper arm and turned to face her cousin. There was no chance to hear what she wanted to say, so they resorted to gestures and lots of lip reading. She pointed towards their table and made a drinking motion with her hand and mouth. Stella nodded and they headed back to the table.

As they approached, they noticed that it wasn’t just Max and Beppe sitting there anymore. There was a pack of five more people – three girls and two guys – who were seated comfortably at their table and trying to talk to each other. It involved a lot of leaning and ear shouting, as well as animated gestures. It was quite funny to watch. Until Stella’s eyes fixed on a girl who was sitting so close to Max she was practically in his lap. They took turns to shout in each other’s ears, followed by smiling and nodding.

There was nothing funny about that.

Jealousy overcame Stella and drowned all other feelings and sounds. She wanted to go there, pull the bitch by the hair and drag her away. But she wasn’t going to do that. If she had learned anything in this life it was that careful calculation and smart action always won over blind anger.

She followed Lisa to the table and saw an unopened bottle of
San Pellegrino aranciata
. It must be for her, as everyone else was drinking cocktails and besides, it had been her drink of choice in the restaurant. It was too noisy to even try and ask someone if it was for her so she took it, unscrewed the cap and gulped half the bottle in one go. The cold liquid spread inside her body and it felt incredibly good against the heat in the club.

As she lowered her head and removed the bottle from her lips, she noticed Max watching her. His lady friend was saying something in his ear and he looked pleased. Way too pleased. Stella raised her bottle at him in a silent ‘Cheers’ and he mimicked her with his glass. The girl who had been so enthusiastic about her conversation with him a few seconds ago had pulled away from his ear, and now was watching him as if expecting a reply. He didn’t even realise she had stopped talking. Max had fixed Stella with his intense stare and she couldn’t make herself look away, even though she desperately wanted to. The girl frowned and pouted and looked between him and Stella, her frown deepening.

Just then, Beppe appeared at Stella’s side and, tugging on her hand, led her a few feet away. He placed her in front of a guy and left. This was probably the only method of introduction she was going to get in such a noisy environment. The guy leaned into her and said,