The Italian Billionaire’s Nubian Queen (BWWM Romance Book 1) Read online

  “No, Bree. If he did, then he’s not worth it, anyway, is he?”

  “I think I was… I don’t know. Was I falling for him? I wish I knew. I don’t know how I feel anymore. I wouldn’t sleep with him because…”

  “You’re still married to Adam.”

  “I wanted to betray Adam. Like he betrayed me. But I couldn’t do it, Aly. I couldn’t do it. Why is it that men can let us down but we can’t betray them? Why?”

  “I don’t know. I wish I did.”

  Liam had let her down in every way it was possible for a man to let a woman down. He had ignored her, cheated on her, blamed her for everything that went wrong, called her when convenient, chipped away at her self-worth like it was his long-term project.

  Matteo had…

  Maybe it was worse, what Matteo had done. He'd just ignored her. He'd just ignored who she was and what she wanted, and acted as if she was a doll placed in the world to fit into his life.

  That had hurt her more. At least she'd understood that Liam was a selfish man who loved himself so much that there was very little room left for him to love anybody else. Matteo had loved her, in his own way. But it had been the kind of way you love an ideal you could take with you. Not the way you loved a person with dreams and flaws of their own. The way Matteo loved her had been scary. And she'd had run.

  So Alyssa let Brianna cry on her shoulder, until she cried herself out.

  “Why don’t you come home with me tonight? Stay with me tonight. I could use the company, to be honest. It’s been a pretty hard few days for me, too.”

  “What’s wrong, Aly? You don’t seem like yourself. You look… like you’re missing part of you.”

  Alyssa chuckled ruefully.

  “Let’s not get carried away here. I’m not missing any part of me. All of me is right here. It’s just been a difficult few weeks. You know, it’s funny. That weekend? It was supposed to be awesome. I’d been looking forward to it for so long. But everything went wrong there, didn’t it? I mean, things kind of got messed up for you before that, but the weekend was supposed to make things better. Do you think Lane cursed us or something? We should ask Naomi. Maybe we dismissed the whole witch thing too easily. Maybe she can do something to get rid of whatever hex this is that’s been ruining our lives.”

  Brianna chuckled.

  “What’s wrong with your life? I thought you were happy. I haven’t been there for you, have I? I’m sorry, Aly.”

  “No, you have to live your own life, Bree. I guess… Well, I kind of went and fell in love with Matteo, so there’s that.”

  “What!”

  “Yeah.”

  “But you said… And I sent… Oh God.”

  The two sisters sat there and thought things over. Now that they were together, some of the fog cleared from their brains and some things became clear.

  “He played us.”

  “Gabriel. He played me, you mean,” said Brianna, slowly.

  “And Matteo got in the middle and got rid of him somehow. I don’t know the details but there are a whole bunch of really stupid—what are they called, codicils? Or whatever, attached to their father’s will. Something about Gabriel’s inheritance, and Matteo’s inheritance being tied to him having a legal heir, or something of the sort. Except I thought Matteo made most of his money himself so it must have been one hell of a will. I don’t have a clue. And before I forget, he thinks that his dead great-grandmother predicted that he and I would meet and has been in our dreams or something of the sort.”

  Brianna looked at her as if she wondered if Alyssa was crazy.

  “Hey, don’t look at me like that. He’s the one who said it, not me. I told him it was crazy, too. But, well, crazy as it is, we did have the same dreams. From that first night at the vineyard, we had the same dreams. Maybe there were hallucinogens in the wine, did you have dreams of storms and people looking for you and the wrong people finding you?”

  Brianna shook her head slowly.

  “Are you sure you’re all right?”

  “Oh, sure. Sure, it’s all insane but maybe I should talk to Naomi. For, I don’t know, a placebo spell or something.”

  Brianna chuckled.

  “I don’t think that’s how it works. I don’t think… Aly, do you really love him?”

  “Oh, yes. Yes, I do. Isn’t that wonderful? I absolutely, insanely, love that man. It’s going nowhere and he doesn’t understand me even a little bit so of course it’s going nowhere, but I love him. Can you imagine?”

  Brianna nodded wistfully.

  “I can. I fell in love with Adam the moment I saw him. I made him chase me, of course. He needed that, he needed to win me. But I loved him from the moment I saw him. I didn’t need to know anything more. It was as if my soul recognized him. If he'd asked me to elope with him right then and there, I would’ve done it without a second thought.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Batshit crazy. Love makes people batshit crazy.”

  “I talked to mom about it back then. She said she fell for dad like that, too. That’s why she’s never dated anybody seriously after that. She says that if she doesn’t feel it again, it’s not worth risking the heartbreak. She’s felt the real thing, so she will never settle for anything less.”

  Alyssa frowned.

  “You talked to mom about all of that?”

  “We weren’t excluding you, Aly. You wouldn’t have understood without feeling it. It does sound absolutely batshit crazy from the outside. But now you understand, don’t you?”

  Alyssa sighed.

  Something occurred to her.

  “Did you feel that way about Gabriel?”

  Brianna smiled a little.

  “No,” she admitted, shaking her head. “No, I didn’t. If I had, I wouldn’t have been able to say no when he asked me to go to bed with him. I wouldn’t have been able to say no to a lot of things. I was flattered.”

  “I should’ve been there for you. I knew you were having a difficult time and I just left you there with that manipulative bastard and ran away.”

  “You needed to take care of yourself. You can’t spend your life taking care of me, Aly. You should go and get your man.”

  “What?”

  “You love him. You should go and get him.”

  “What? Now that’s even crazier. He's gone back home to Italy. He’s in his vineyard in Sicily.”

  “I know. You should go.”

  “But he’s in Sicily,” repeated Alyssa slowly, as if saying the words slower and enunciating would get them through Brianna’s head.

  “There are,” said Brianna, matching Alyssa’s tone, “things called airplanes. They fly very fast. They can take you all the way to Italy.”

  “Are you serious? I can’t just drop everything and go to Sicily!”

  “I’ll take care of the shop. Diane will be here, too. I’ll handle it.”

  “You will?”

  “Yes, of course. I’ve been thinking of going back to work. I think I need to do it. I don’t have Adam in my life anymore.”

  Alyssa looked at her sister, saw the heartbreak in her delicate face, and she came to a decision. The decision was powered by the batshit craziness that love apparently drove the Benjamin women to, but it didn’t matter why. All that mattered was that it would make at least something right.

  “All right,” said Alyssa, slowly, “I'll do it. If you call Adam and talk to him. And hear him out completely, and sign up for counseling. Both of you, together.”

  Brianna frowned.

  “I can’t…”

  “You can,” interrupted Alyssa. “You’re asking me to chase my heart even if it will probably end in a great deal of unhappiness and intense humiliation. I’ll do it. But you have to do this. Bree, I honestly don’t think Adam is cheating on you. I mean, I’ve known the guy for so long. All the things you’ve done to fit in with his life—I don’t think he cares even a little bit about that. If you decided to be a tie-d
ye hippy who does energy readings, he would still be just as much in love and just as proud of you as he has always been. I know you want to fit in and I absolutely respect that. He always has, too. But I think you resent him for things he honestly doesn’t care about. If all his family turned around and talked smack about you, he would cut them off without a second thought. I don’t think he would cheat on you, Bree. The man adores you. He's as batshit crazy about you as a Benjamin woman has ever been about any man. You should talk to him.”

  Brianna was silent for a long moment.

  “But his secretary…”

  “I know he didn’t defend himself. I think he didn’t because he was pissed off that you didn’t trust him. You didn’t even ask him, you just accused him and then jumped to the worst conclusion when he didn’t defend himself. I mean, come on, Bree, even you have to admit that that’s a bit of an unfair thing to do.”

  Brianna frowned.

  “I don’t buy your theory. Not completely. If he's so batshit crazy about me, he should have defended himself.”

  “Maybe. But talk to him. You'll have to, eventually, at any rate. You can’t be married to somebody without ever talking to them.”

  “That’s what you think,” muttered Brianna, making Alyssa chuckle a little.

  “So, do we have a deal?” asked Alyssa.

  Brianna nodded.

  “Deal. But you get on a flight tomorrow.”

  Alyssa hesitated, but there really was no time like the present. If she had a night to think about it, if she slept on it, she would remember all the reasons why this whole thing was insane. Then she would never do it.

  So she shook her head.

  “No. I’m booking the first flight out before I can change my mind.”

  ***

  Alyssa landed disoriented and full of nerves. She’d managed to get the address she needed, but she had no idea if Matteo would be home. She had no idea about anything. All she had was the number of somebody who could arrange everything, according to Brianna—Claudia. Apparently, Claudia had handled whatever had happened to get him back to Italy.

  Alyssa swallowed her nerves and dialed.

  “Claudia Giovanni speaking.”

  Alyssa swallowed again. That was possibly the most efficiently cool voice she'd ever heard.

  “Hello. I’m sorry to call like this, but I need to get in touch with Matteo. I need to see him as soon as possible.”

  “I’m sorry but that will be impossible.”

  “Please. Please, I came all the way here because I need to see him.”

  “Who is this?”

  “I’m Alyssa. Alyssa Benjamin. I met Matteo at the Napa Valley weekend.”

  “Ms. Benjamin, I need you to hold for a minute.”

  Alyssa did that, sweating profusely, wondering where she should get a room, because she desperately needed a shower.

  “Ms. Benjamin, I realize this is quite personal but I need you to tell me, right now, why you need to see Mr. Colombo. And what you intend to do if you manage to see him.”

  Alyssa took a deep breath. She did not want to tell a stranger this, but she had no other way. She had to swallow her pride. She would have to do it a lot if she was to get what she wanted. Or even have a chance of getting what she wanted.

  “I need to tell him that I love him.”

  There was a pause.

  “Where are you?”

  “I just landed.”

  “Wait, please. I will have a car sent immediately to pick you up. It will be there within 25 minutes, at current traffic conditions, but I’m afraid that inconvenience is inevitable. Ms. Benjamin, if you’re not telling me the truth, I might as well tell you right now that both of our careers will be over.”

  “I’m telling the truth.”

  “I hope so, because I’m taking a risk. A much bigger risk than you could appreciate, possibly. Please wait.”

  So Alyssa waited, wondering what she could expect. She soon saw a man holding up her name and she rushed over. She only had a bag. She hadn’t stopped to pack much. She hopped in the car and sat there, fidgeting, as she was driven through roads and past sights that she was sure she would’ve found intriguing and charming under different circumstances.

  She was driven to a mansion where the most efficient and possibly the most sophisticated woman she’d ever seen was waiting for her. Alyssa put her at about forty, and she immediately wanted to be Claudia when she grew up. It had to be Claudia.

  “Ms. Benjamin, I have a hot bath and change of clothes waiting for you. And, unfortunately, possibly something of an ordeal. In thirty minutes, I will have the car here to take you to where Matteo is. You will need to get there and change his mind about his plans for tonight.”

  “What plans for tonight?”

  “He plans to announce his wedding date. It will be difficult if he makes that announcement, to walk it back. The publicity will be bad, and there might be cause for a legal challenge from Gabriel Colombo. If you can’t change his mind…”

  “To Martina Totti?”

  “Yes.”

  “Does he… Is he…”

  “Ms. Benjamin, I cannot tell you how he feels. You must decide that for yourself. But you must know that I do not back losers. I do not waste time on lost causes.”

  If that was all the encouragement she would get, then she would take it. At least she had no time to worry. She had no time to take in Matteo’s home, either. She was sure it was beautiful, but other than that…

  “You will have to hurry. I will get Sofia to come and assist you with your hair. She is quick and very good.”

  Alyssa nodded. She focused on each task as she bathed, dried herself, put on the dress—a long, burnished gold dress that left her shoulders bare and was slit up her thigh—and let Sofia do her magic on her hair, piling the curls up high to tumble intriguingly down her neck, framing her face with soft tendrils.

  Alyssa did her own makeup, glad that Brianna had taught her well. By the time Claudia came in to get her, she was ready, and too keyed up to wonder too much about what would come next.

  “Shoes. You look good, Ms. Benjamin.”

  “Please, call me Alyssa. I don’t feel like Ms. Benjamin right now.”

  Claudia nodded.

  “You look terrified. Don’t look so terrified. I don’t back losers, remember? Now, you will be taken to a party where you will find Matteo and Martina together. I will call Matteo on his private line as soon as you get there. This will give you a chance to get him alone. Follow him. Convince him. And make him happy.”

  Alyssa nodded.

  She was so nervous by the time she got there that she nearly stumbled, her legs trembled so much. She half expected to be stopped at the door, but she was allowed in, probably thanks to Claudia, and sent into the garden, lit by fairy lights, where the party was in full swing.

  There were beautiful people everywhere, laughing, talking. But she had eyes only for Matteo. She searched, and she found him quickly enough.

  He stood with the petite blonde beauty who still wore that ring on her finger. Alyssa had been right. It did wink and sparkle. Alyssa had to fight the urge to throw up from nerves.

  Right on cue, she saw Matteo reaching for his phone. He excused himself and headed away from the crowd and the music, into what looked like a small maze.

  Well, that was her cue.

  Alyssa followed, reminding her heart to keep on beating, reminding herself to keep on breathing. She stumbled, gave up on her shoes and pulled them off, carrying them and hurrying into the maze. She didn’t know what guided her feet. Maybe it was fate. But she found herself taking the right turns, and she saw him, in front of her.

  “Claudia, this was not urgent.”

  He was about to hang up and leave.

  Alyssa took a deep breath, gathered her courage, and stepped forward.

  “Matteo,” she said, softly, and he froze.

  He looked up at her, disbelief etched on his face.

  “Alyssa?”


  “Yes.”

  “What are you doing here?”

  Alyssa took another deep breath. Well, this was it.

  “I’m here because I… Because I love you.”

  She stood there, waiting, trembling. She needed him to tell her that he loved her, too. She needed him to tell her that she wasn’t too late.

  She couldn’t be too late.

  “I’m announcing my wedding tonight.”

  “I know. I heard. I… Matteo, please, don’t. Please don’t. I love you. I came here because I love you. I don’t know what else I can say. I kept trying to figure out what I should say on my way here, in the plane, in the car, everywhere. But I have nothing else to say. I love you. It doesn’t mean I agree with what you did. It doesn’t mean I will do everything you want me to do. So maybe I’m all wrong for you, maybe Martina will be easier. But I love you. Nobody will ever love you as much as I love you.”

  She’d laid her heart bare. She’d poured everything she had out there. She waited, and she nearly wept in relief when he walked to her, pulled her into his arms and kissed her, long and passionate, as if he would never let her go.

  “Matteo,” she whispered, as he kissed her again, and again, as if they were alone in the world.

  “You came. You came to me.”

  She held on to him and kissed him again, feeling alive again until the tears turned into sobs.

  “Matteo.”

  “It’s all right. Everything will be fine,” he promised, and she had to believe him.

  Chapter 11

  Alyssa clung to him and raised her face to him again.

  “Kiss me. Kiss me again. I missed you so much.”

  “Tell me again.”

  “I love you.”

  He kissed her again, the kind of kiss that leads to the shedding of all inhibitions, the kind of kiss that starts passion that cannot be stopped. She sighed when he touched her, cupped her and pulled her close enough for her to know that he needed her as much as she needed him. She clung to him and kissed him again, and again, uncaring that he messed up her hair and her makeup. He cupped her breasts and teased her nipples as he kissed her again, biting her lip and making her moan. She would have let him take her right there, but he pulled away.