She was lying. The evidence was present in her confused look, in her racing pulse, very easily and unobtrusively detected when he took her wrist. And he intended to find out why, because despite his thoughts he would remain unaffected by whatever he discovered when he went to the airport, the sight of the old man, so brittle and somehow diminished, he seemed to be struck by a hammer in his heart. They only spent a little time together, for a long time nothing else was done but to argue and nothing was agreed upon. But Rocco was still his father, and Chris would be damned before he’d let someone take him to the cleaners.
Oh, she was full of reasonable anger for saying that she was not a selfless angel of mercy as she portrays as she is. After all, he didn't expect it. But he also saw how she was able to bring herself closer to Rocco; how successful she was in taking its affection. His father was not the demonstrative type of man, and at least not as far as Chris remembers. So, what he did holding Lara's hand at the airport was proof.
If his assessment of her was correct, snatching her attention would be just as easy. After all, a millionaire who is stronger and more handsome will definitely be able to choose her compared to a jerk. And if he’s wrong... well, a harmless flirtation won’t hurt anyone. Of course, when his dad finds out what he wants, he won’t like it, but when was the last time he approved of anything Chris did?
"You're so quiet all of a sudden," she said, interrupting the flow of his thoughts.
He looked deeply into her dark brown eyes. "Because I have realized that I judged you too much," he replied, doing his best to make the remorse convincing. "But I'm not entirely without conscience. Therefore, if one of us has to leave, let me just go."
He ignored her growl in protest and released her. He opened the door to leave the room and found himself face-to-face with Aida. He could not have orchestrated a better exit. Timing, as he knows in the nature of his work, is what matters. "Let's eat, Lara," he said, standing back to allow Aida to bring several different dishes of food. "Enjoy your meal."
He was over the threshold before she burst out, "Oh, don't be too ridiculous!"
Holding back a smile, he turned around. "There is a problem?"
"If having enough food to feed an army is a problem, then yes."
He shrugged. "What can I say? I love to eat."
"Well, I'm sorry but I can't afford to eat it all, I don't want to refuse the food your father's housekeeper served me and I know she worked hard to cook it all..."
"It's okay, Lara."
She grinned, as if the words that followed gave her indigestion. "You might as well stay and just eat whatever you can."
He stroked his jaw and made a display weighing his options. "It's pathetic to let it go to waste," he eventually says, "especially as this is but the first of several courses."
For a moment, he thought to overplay his hand. Giving him a glance that could stop a flying vehicle at Edsa, she waited until Aida poured her spilled drink, then sat down at the table and said, "Try not to boast, Chris. It's so unattractive."
He was not accustomed to the woman's criticism. The women who were with him were so careful in whatever was said, they had already swallowed their own tongues before uttering such harsh words on his shortcomings. That she suffered no such hesitation appealed to him in ways she couldn’t begin to imagine. He devoted his entire life to challenging unfavorable odds. And took great pleasure in beating them.
Taking the bottle of wine as he passed, he joined her and filled their goblet. There is nothing like dim lights and good champagne to start a flirtation. Raising his glass, he said, "We're here to get to know each other all over again."
She responded with a weak tilt of a shoulder, took a dainty sip, then helped herself to a little carbonara and toast bread.
"Get more," he urged, pushing the tray of bread closer to him.
She selected a grave but ignored his champagne.
"You don't care about Korean food?"
"I'm not very familiar with it."
“There is no Korean restaurant that runs to Vancouver?"
"Hundreds, and I was told they were so delicious. Just don't eat too often."
"Why is that? And please don't tell me you're missing out. Surely your suitors are lined up at your door to invite you to eat out for a date."
"I'm afraid not. Shift work tends to put a crimp in a nurse's social life."
That's right. And you’re so dedicated to your work that you’re never able to have a night off!
He shook his head in feigned mystification. "What's going on with Canadian men, to be easily discouraged? Are they all eunuchs?"
She almost choked on her grape. "Not to my knowledge," she spluttered. "But then, I didn't bother to ask."
"How are your colleagues? As I understand it, hospitals are a hotbed of romance between doctors and nurses."
"The idea that all nurses end up marrying doctors is just a saying," she informed him sternly. "First of all, half of the number of doctors today are women, and even if they aren't, finding a mate doesn't top my list."
"Why not? Don't most women want to settle down and have children? Or do you want to tell me that you are not one of them?”
"No." She nibbled a sliver of bread. “I want to get married and have children someday, but only when the right man comes. I don't want to marry just anyone else.”
“Define ‘the right man’,” he said—a shade too abruptly, if her response was anything to go by.
She put down the bread she was holding and stared at him. "I beg your pardon?"“By what standards do you judge a prospective husband?”She reached for her glass and drank as she pondered what to answer to his question. "He must be a decent and respectable man," she finally declared."Tall, dark and handsome, too?""Not necessarily." She shrugged again, causing her clothes to lift slightly and expose the beautiful curve of her breasts.He wished he hadn’t seen that fascinating. "Rich and successful, is that so?"“At least, he must earn enough to support us. When we have children, I want to be at home to take care of them.”"If you had to choose just one quality of your ideal man, what would it be?""The one who knows how to love," she said dreamily, her brown eyes widened, and a sharp smile flashed on her lips. While outside, a strong wind was blowing on the pine trees. "I want love more than anythi
She probably weighed no more than fifty-four kilograms in his eighty-five, but what was lacking in size, was more than recoverable in spirit. He had no doubt that she was given knowledge of the anatomy of the man, beyond the ability to cause serious bodily injury. Which should hinder him. Instead the thought of repelling her left him so suddenly and painfully aroused that, for the first time, he questioned the wisdom of his plan of attack. She should have been at his mercy, not in any other way, but for now, she remained utterly indifferent to his charms. On the other hand, he is not with her.Aida just came back to serve chicken breast and ziti stuffed with spinach, a welcome diversion, allowing him to fight his bad submission hormones and redirect his energy to more productive channels. "Why did you allow my father to force you into allowing him to travel, when he clearly didn't fit on it?" he asked casually, once they were alone again.&l
Except for setting aside an hour a day to polish your halo! Struggling to hide his skepticism, Chris said, "All the work and no play seems unfair. We'll see what we can do to change that."A sudden influx of wind moved through the French doors, making her jump. "The thing being here is enough change. If the weather had cleared up, I'm sure Rocco wouldn't have upset me with the extraordinary day off to see the sights."“Count on both,” he said, acknowledging the opportunity when it showed up. "And I’m dedicating myself to act as tour guide.""That’s nice of you, Chris."No, no, he might have told her. Because whatever her motives, his were anything but pure. And because he meant it when he said he wasn’t a good person.They passed the leftover food in idle conversation, only interrupted by repeated bursts of rain on the windows, but before serving the coffee, she was about to run out of thing
Lara had been kissed before, many times, but always. with some part of her brain able to rate the experience objectively: too slobbery, too bland, too aggressive, too many teeth, too much heavy breathing, not enough tenderness. More often than not, kissing, she'd concluded, was a vastly overrated prelude to romance. Until Christian Imperial came on the scene, that was, and filled her with a single blow.Except "blow" was no more the right word to define his effect on her than "kiss" adequately described his action. What he did with his mouth transcended the ordinary and surpassed the divine. Cool and firm, it yet seared her with its heat. Though undemanding, it somehow stripped her of everything-her independence, her focus, her moral compass, even her sense of survival.Apart from one rash, distinctly forgettable experience, she'd chosen to remain celibate because sex for its own sake held no appeal, and she'd never come close to being in lo
She looked out at the flowers in brilliant bloom, at the peacocks strutting across the lawns, the blue arc of the sky and the stunning turquoise sea. Soon the rainy season would come to Vancouver, it's chilly southeasterly gales stripping the trees of leaves. People would be scurrying about under a forest of umbrellas where, just few weeks before, they'd been lying on the beaches taking in the last of summer's sunshine. "No," she said. "I'm happy to be here.""Good. Then you have no excuse for wanting to leave early."She thought not, either, until the beginning of her second week there, when Chris reappeared as suddenly as he'd left."So, this is where you're hiding," he said, coming upon her as she sat reading in a wicker love seat on the patio. "I've been looking everywhere for you."Though startled, she managed to hang on to her composure enough to meet his glance coolly and reply with commendabl
Aware her emotions swam dangerously close to the surface, she gave herself a mental shake, sat a little straighter in her seat and firmly changed the subject. "Thank you, but it all happened a long time ago, and we're here to talk about you, not me. So, tell me, Chris, exactly what frightened you off after that impulsive kiss last week? And please don't say you were too busy checking the main fuse box to find the cause of the power failure, because Ruben already told me you left after receiving a phone call. Had you forgotten you had a previous date, or was I so inept compared to the other women you know that you couldn't wait to escape me?""Neither," he said. "I had to go to work.""You work?""Well, yes, Lara," he said, laughing. "Don't most men my age?""Yes, but you don't seem the corporate type.""I'm not.""And it was the middle of the night."&
It felt good to hold a woman whose curves hadn't been ravaged by malnutrition. Whose bones, though delicate and fine, were not so brittle that he was afraid they'd break at his touch. Whose breasts hadn't withered from bearing too many children she hadn't been able to nourish properly. Who didn't shrink in fear when a man touched her. Who smelled of flowers, not poverty. "Stop it," he said, inhaling the sweet fragrance of her hair. "Stop what?" "Thinking. I can hear your brain working overtime." "Well, I can't help wondering—" He pulled her closer, enough for her warmth to melt the block of ice he carried inside and make him whole again. Whenever he returned from a particularly harrowing assignment, a woman's soothing voice and generous, vital body always helped erase the hopeless misery he never got used to witnessing; the wasted lives, the terror, the shocking evidenc
"Out on the town till all hours of the night with that no-good son of mine, were you?" Rocco inquired, glaring at her across the breakfast table when she joined him the next morning. "What if I'd needed you?""If you had, Ruben knew how to reach me.""That's beside the point.""And exactly what point are you making, Rocco? That I'm under house arrest and not allowed to leave the premises without your permission?"Ignoring her sarcasm, he said baldly, "You're asking for trouble, getting involved with Chris. Women are nothing but toys to him, created solely for his entertainment and pleasure. He'll play with you for as long as you amuse him, then drop you for the next one who catches his fancy. He'll break your heart without a second thought and leave you to pick up the pieces, just like all the others who came before you."Not about to admit she's pretty much reached the same conclusion herself