Page 9 of Seduced by Her Fake Husband (The Martinelli Wedding #2)

Chapter Five

I t was with much relief that Luisa found herself seated beside her sister again for the evening meal.

Less of a relief that Gennaro was seated on her other side.

Joining them at their table were her parents and a tech tycoon and his wife.

Gennaro’s parents and grandparents were seated at the other side of the restaurant, which was also a relief – she felt tense enough as it was without having to deal with Gennaro’s parents too.

Any hope the meal would give her a chance to relax, she soon realised, had been a pipe dream. Whatever ability she’d developed to block out Gennaro’s physicality when they dined together had been blown to smithereens.

Crowded around the table as they all were meant they sat closer than they usually would, and she had to press her thighs tightly together and cross her ankles under her chair to stop any part of her leg rubbing against his.

She could do nothing to stop their arms from brushing as they ate though, and she wished she’d worn a long-sleeved top rather than a white halter-neck.

Wished, too, that he’d put his blazer back on because it was his warm, bare arm hers kept brushing against, and when he rested his hand on the table between courses, the temptation to cover it with her own hand was almost more than she could endure.

Why, she wondered miserably, were her feelings for him refusing to stay buried now they were only days away from parting? And how could they be so strong when she hated him so much?

She tried to console herself that it was only physical feelings, but it was no consolation.

While Gennaro was discussing business with the tycoon, Luisa was picking at her food and trying to stop herself spontaneously combusting each time their arms made contact.

Which was approximately every other second.

If Gennaro was feeling anything like she was, he was hiding it well.

But then, the man was an expert at masking his feelings.

He thought she was beautiful. He desired her.

He knew she desired him. There had been no ambiguity about any of that.

He desired her but he didn’t want to desire her and he wouldn’t do anything about it…

or would he? Because there had been ambiguity at how their conversation had ended, the way he’d spoken in the past tense. It’s how it had to be between us.

Had .

God, this was intolerable. She should not be sitting there fighting her own body and practically quivering with the wish for him to move his hand from the table and put it on her lap.

She didn’t want to want him any more than he wanted to want her, but now their attraction was out in the open the thing she didn’t want to want was all she could think about.

His arm brushed against hers for the hundredth time.

Heat pulse through her for the hundredth time.

Feeling like she could scream, Luisa downed her wine and poured herself another.

She longed to confide her feelings with Marisa and get her perspective, but her sister was unusually subdued and picking at her food too.

“Is everything alright?” she whispered.

Marisa nodded and drank some water.

“You missed the boat trip.”

Another nod. “I got the time confused and thought it was leaving later than it was.” A flash of mischief appeared on her wan face. “Was Lorenzo’s yacht the best yacht ever?”

“The best,” Luisa answered, deadpan. “The best of the best.”

Their eyes met, and mild amusement turned to smothered giggles. Luisa impulsively planted a kiss on her sister’s cheek and whispered, “If you need to talk, you know where I am.”

Marisa squeezed her hand. Luisa hated that it was Gennaro’s hand she longed to do the squeezing.

The rest of the torturous meal passed at a snail’s pace, but pass it did.

Luisa was on her third glass of wine when their final course was cleared away, but respite was nowhere in sight, not yet.

The ballroom had been transformed into a casino for the evening courtesy of the Espositos youngest son Rico, who ran the family’s chain of gambling dens.

There was no question of Luisa being able to retire to bed like her parents or disappear pleading a headache like her sister.

“We’ll give it an hour and then make our excuses,” Gennaro murmured as they left the restaurant and stepped onto one of the hotel’s many terraces.

A little lightheaded from too much wine and not enough food, and increasingly furious that she’d developed such strong sexual feelings for the man who’d treated her like she was invisible for the whole of their marriage and who’d then had the audacity to tell her she was beautiful, she sweetly said, “Worried that mixing with humans for too long will cause your hard-drive to malfunction?”

He abruptly stopped walking and stared at her with one of his many expressions she’d never been able to read. “What did you just say?”

She smiled with the same sweetness as her tone. “You heard me perfectly well, but don’t worry, Gennaro, your secret’s safe with me.”

“My secret?”

“You know; that you’re actually an android and that your creators forgot to input human emotions into your programming? That secret.”

For the second time in one day, Gennaro’s jaw wanted to hit the floor. “You are comparing me to a robot?”

“Well, an android is a form of robot designed to resemble a human, so I suppose I am. Your creators did a great job on your external appearance, so full credit to them for that, but when you go to the laboratory for your annual check-up, tell them they need to install the Being Sociable With Other Humans programme. I’d also recommend they upgrade your Recognising the two of them locked in a battle of wills with their selves.

Whether he would have taken the step needed to close the distance between them and haul her into his arms to kiss her senseless if voices and footsteps hadn’t suddenly rung out in the still air was something he would never know.

Dropping his finger from her cheek, he took a step back and rolled his neck, swallowing control back into himself.

No one entering the casino would guess it was actually a ballroom. Luisa walked into it on legs that were still trembling. It felt like the entirety of her body, inside and out, was trembling.

That shock of sexual attraction she’d suffered on the yacht had nothing on what was happening to her now. She could feel the mark Gennaro’s finger had made on her skin like a scald.

All around them, betting chips were being placed, card sharks trying their luck against the house, but it was to the roulette table that Gennaro steered her.

“Want to play?” he asked.

She shook her head. She didn’t like roulette. All gambling was a game of chance but the outcome of a spin of the roulette wheel was out of everyone’s hands.

He shrugged, unconcerned, and handed the croupier a thick wedge of cash to exchange for a pile of playing chips. By Luisa’s estimation, he’d just handed over ten thousand euros.

“I’m going to play blackjack,” she said impulsively, sliding away before he could respond.

She didn’t care that she was technically breaking their agreement that she cling to his side like a limpet unless otherwise instructed. She needed to breathe air that wasn’t polluted with Gennaro.