Her Gentle Capture (12 page)

One corner of his mouth went up with those words. “Since I drove all the way over here, aren’t you going to offer me a glass of wine? And something to eat?” He glanced at her coffee table. “There’s no way you can eat that whole pizza by yourself.”

She squared her shoulders.
“I’m definitely going to try!” she told him firmly.

He looked down at her, unable to see her slender figure because of the sweatshirt but he knew what was underneath that bulky material. “Why bother? I’m happy to help you.” And with that, he walked over to the sofa and plopped down, extending his long legs out in front of him while he took a slice of pizza. Adding to her frustration, he
picked up her glass of wine and took a sip. “Good stuff,” he said before digging into the pizza. “Needs olives.”

She rolled her eyes and walked over to the sofa, standing in front of the television. “Get out, Mitch. You insulted me this morning and now you’re invading my space. I’m not going to allow it.”

In response, he winked at her and grabbed her hand, trying to pull her down onto his
lap. “Why don’t you tell me how I insulted you this morning? I promise I’ll apologize once I understand the whole scenario.”

She stood firmly in front of him, her body blocking the movie playing behind her. “And why should I even bother to discuss this with you? You made up your mind this morning, judged me and found me guilty of…” her voice cracked and she looked away from him. “It doesn’t
matter. You need to leave.”

He realized that she was genuinely hurt. Not hurt as in he’d gotten it right and she’d been caught. But his instincts were telling him that he’d hurt her deeply and in ways he didn’t quite understand. “Adriana, talk to me,” he said to her softly. Putting the pizza down, he stood up and took her hands. “What’s going on?”

She shivered as his heat reached her. “You’re
an arrogant ass who thinks he knows everything. Story over.”

He laughed but kissed her neck softly. “Story not done. I still have no idea what’s behind those beautiful brown eyes.” He paused slightly, kissing her shoulder through the heavy fabric. “And I really want to know.”

She took a deep breath, contemplating her options. She could tell him what he wanted to know, but would that change
the way he viewed her? The way he treated her at work? Probably. But she wanted him to trust her without an explanation. She wanted him to walk into a room, see a man standing next to her and trust her completely. “I can’t,” she told him softly, trying to pull out of his arms. She was being a coward, she supposed, but she couldn’t avoid it.

He thought about that for a moment, trying to
think with his head instead of his temper this time. He’d gotten through tougher negotiations than this and come out on top. He could figure out this enticing woman and get exactly what he wanted. Her in his bed. Forever!

“Can you explain why you can’t explain?” he asked, coming at the problem from a different angle.

She sighed and leaned forward, picking up her glass of wine. Moving over
to the opposite end of the sofa, she curled her legs underneath her. “It will change the way you see me,” she finally said, turning off the movie so she could focus on him. “Look, this was a mistake. I know we got caught up in the moment and it was…” she wasn’t sure what she could say, “nice,” she finally answered.

“It was a hell of a lot better than nice,” he argued, his blue eyes intense
as they bore into her brown ones, trying to read between the lines.

“My family isn’t…” she sighed and took a sip of wine. “They aren’t normal.” Not by a long shot, she thought, thinking of her very dictatorial but loving father, her sensitive, horse riding mother and all of her brothers who made most overachievers look like slackers. In fact, they all reminded her of this man and she suddenly
wondered if Dylan or even Davis, younger than her by four years, treated women this way. He was only twenty years old, but he was already almost finished with college, two years ahead of schedule. Marcus could argue his way out of anything and had all of his teachers completely confused during debates0020while her youngest brother, Antonio who had just turned sixteen, had been suspended from
school for hacking into the school’s computer and changing his grades. Not increasing them, but decreasing them because he wanted to challenge himself to making valedictorian but still accomplish that from behind.

“How are they not-normal?” he asked, his hand moving to her glass of wine and taking a sip before handing it back to her. “Excellent wine, by the way.”

She smiled slightly but her
stomach tightened at such an intimate act. Sharing a glass of wine hadn’t ever been on her list of things to share before, but it felt very sweet. Very familiar.

“It doesn’t matter. We’re through.”

His hand slipped from the back of the sofa to tangle in her hair, teasing her ear. “It doesn’t feel over to me.” He looked down at her. “And I’m betting you feel the same way. So why are you
fighting this again? I thought that part of the relationship was over.”

She pulled her head back, untangling her hair from his fingers. “That was before you called me a whore,” she said softly, the pain of his assumptions still fresh.

Mitch cringed inwardly. If she’d shouted the word, it wouldn’t have had more of an impact. “I don’t think you’re a whore, Adriana.”

She grabbed her glass of
wine and stood up, putting more space between them. “That’s what you accused me of being this morning.”

“So explain it to me.”

She shook her head. “Why can’t you just accept that we aren’t compatible?” she asked.

Her cell phone rang again and she sighed with irritation. But then she saw the phone number on the screen and panicked. “Mom? What’s wrong?” she asked urgently. She’d just spoken
to her parents earlier today so why was her mother calling again?

“Hello, love,” her mother’s soft voice came through the phone line. “And we have no idea what’s wrong. That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” she went on. “We’re five minutes away from your place. Meet us downstairs and we’ll take you out to dinner.”

Adriana looked up at Mitch who was watching her closely, his eyes narrowed
as he tried to figure out what was going on. “Dad is here with you too?” she asked, swallowing painfully.

“Yes dear. And I know something is wrong. So we’ll discuss it over dinner. You don’t need to dress up. We’ll just go somewhere casual.”

Adriana heard her father’s voice in the background and knew he was arguing with her about that. Her mother was very down to earth and could happily
grab a burger at the corner diner. Her father, on the other hand, was much more reserved. He liked the finer things in life and would prefer to go to one of the nicer restaurants in the city . “How did you…”

She’d been about to ask how they’d gotten here so quickly, but she already knew the answer. The two of them jumped in her father’s private plane right after she’d gotten off of the phone
with them. “Okay, I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

She hung up the phone and looked at Mitch, panic in her eyes. “You have to go,” she told him urgently.

He’d been watching her during the phone conversation, noticing the way her eyes softened when she was talking to her mother. Obviously, she had a very good relationship with her parents. He envied that. Not so much the relationship but
he wanted her to have that soft look in her eyes when she spoke to him or when she knew he was coming to see her.

His stubbornness kicked in when she tried to kick him out. “Why? I think I’d like to meet your parents,” he told her, crossing his arms over his chest.

“No!” she gasped, horrified at the idea of this man meeting her very dictatorial father. They would probably kill each other!
“Not going to happen! You and my father really won’t get along. Just leave, please!”

He looked down at her carefully. “Agree to come by my place after dinner and I’ll leave.”

She couldn’t believe he was blackmailing her like this. “No!” She tried to push him out her door but he was too big and too muscular. The man didn’t move unless he wanted to move.

“Agree or I’m not budging. I’ve
been told I can be quite charming when I put my mind to it.”

She rolled her eyes then pushed her hair out of her face. “Fine!” she finally agreed. “I’ll meet you after dinner! You just have to go! Quickly!”

He pulled his keys out of his pocket and started to head for the door. But at the last moment, he turned around, bent lower and kissed her. And not just a sweet peck on the cheek. This
was a thorough, mind-boggling, soul bending, I’m-going-to-make-love-to-you kiss.

A moment later, she was standing alone in her apartment but she could hear him whistling down the hallway. Blast him!

Thankfully, she didn’t have time to worry about Mitch because a moment later, her doorbell rang again. She knew this was her parents and swung the door open, a bright smile plastered on her face.
“Mom! Dad!” she exclaimed, throwing the door wide along with her arms as she dove into their familiar warmth. “It’s really good to see you!” she sighed, fighting back the tears that threatened once again.

Her mother, a beautiful brunette who looked like she should be modeling for some high fashion magazine, looked into Adriana’s eyes. “What’s wrong, honey?” she whispered softly, her hands
cradling her daughter’s cheeks gently.

Adriana tried to smile, but it came across as more of a wobbly sob instead. “Oh mother,” she sighed as the tears that had been threatening for the past several hours finally flowed over her lashes. “I’ve made such a mess of things.”

Jemma Alfieri looked behind her at her husband. “Shut the door,” she said to him. “I told you.”

Damien Alfieri would
have rolled his eyes, but he was looking at his daughter with concern and rising anger. Someone had hurt his daughter and he would find out who and ruin the man. He was fairly certain that this was a romantic problem due to the pizza, wine and movies stacked up on his daughter’s coffee table.

“Just give me his name,” he said with menace in his voice. “I’ll take care of the rest.”

He stood
there with his hands on his hips, just like Mitch had done only minutes ago and Adriana almost laughed at how alike the two men were. “Dad, it’s okay. I promise. I’m a big girl and I can handle my own problems.” But she slumped down onto the sofa.

“I have complete faith in your abilities, Adriana,” he replied. “But you are my daughter. I will not allow someone to hurt my family.”

Adriana
smiled weakly up at him. “I love you too, Dad.”

“What happened?” her mother asked, sitting back on the sofa. Turning to her husband, she said, “Dear, go get more wine glasses and plates. We’ll eat here.”

Damien looked around as if he were trying to find evidence to the culprit’s identity. “Perhaps it was the man who was walking out of the building a few minutes ago while we were walking
in?”

Adriana looked up at him, worried about Mitch’s future. “I’m fine, Dad. Just tired. I’ve been working a lot of hours lately.”

Both of her parents looked down on her, obviously not believing a word Adriana was saying. “Want some pizza?” she offered lamely?

Her father looked down at the luke-warm pizza with disdain. “No olives,” he muttered. He walked into his daughter’s kitchen to
retrieve more wine glasses, then sat down across from the two women in his life. “What is he like?” Damien asked casually, pouring wine into the two additional glasses before handing one to his wife.

Thankfully, Adriana had been with her father for too long to fall for that trick. Her dad thought he could wheedle the name out of her one way or another, just like her brothers had done a few
days ago. He’d tried it, successfully, in high school, and less successfully in college. “We’re going to need another bottle of wine,” she told him with a lame smile and went into the kitchen to grab another bottle. Her mother frequently sent Adriana expensive “career” clothes and she’d insisted that they buy her this condo unit, not allowing her only daughter to live in any apartment that Adriana
could afford with her entry level salary.

But her father was no less of a spoiler. Adriana went grocery shopping on her own, had learned to cook and clean but every few months, Adriana received several crates of wine from her father. He might allow her to get her own groceries, but he refused to let her eat those frozen meals or salads with mediocre wine. And Adriana wasn’t one to suffer
with a bad bottle. She’d rather do without than to drink less than stellar wine so she accepted their gifts with heartfelt gratitude.

She was starting to convince her parents that she really was all right, just tired and overworked, a problem she promised to discuss with her boss. They were just beginning to relax when she got the first text message. “What time are you coming over?” Mitch
demanded.

The words seemed simple enough, but for some reason, she sensed there was a renewed sense of anger in the message. She ignored the message and put her phone back down on the table.

“Anything important?” her father asked, his eyes looking directly into hers as if he could read her mind. Adriana had grown up believing he could and, even now, she knew that it was impossible, but it
still freaked her out when he looked at her that way.

“Just work,” she told him, looking down at her hands. “I promised both of you that I would start relaxing and not work so hard. So this is me ignoring a message from my boss,” she said with a falsely bright smile.

Her mother saw the anxiety come back into her eyes. “Honey, if it is going to cause you more stress to ignore the message,
then go ahead and read it.”

Adriana shook her head, but her phone buzzed again. She tensed and looked down, but then clasped her hands in front of her, refusing to look at the next message.

“Adriana, read the message,” her father commanded.

Adriana thought about that for a moment, but then she shook her head. “It isn’t business, Dad.”

He nodded his head. “I suspected as much. But perhaps
it is another message from the man you’re trying to convince us that you’re not seeing.”