Bodyguard Beast: An Enemies To Lovers Romance Page 3

  “Don’t you have to learn that trade first?”

  “I’ve done that already.”

  Her eyebrows flew upwards. “I thought you were studying economics and business administration.”

  “Yes, I was, but I took a course at the London College of Fashion. I paid for it myself and went to class every Saturday for a year. They taught us everything, the different leather, how to design, the machines we need. I’ve got a certificate, and my teacher said I have real talent for it. She said she would be happy to recommend me to any of the big fashion houses, but I told her I had to come back. I knew Papa would never allow it.”

  Before she could respond, a knock sounded on the door.

  My father suddenly appeared. “Mama, it’s time for dinner,” he said, in that quiet voice of his.

  My father was tall and commanding. Awe-inspiring, in fact. He had very dark, intense eyes, and thin lips often set in a hard, uncompromising line. Tonight, he wore a dark tuxedo, his gaze sharp as he assessed my appearance. He looked utterly aloof and unapproachable. “I heard you’ve been avoiding everyone,” he said.

  “Well, I did say hello to everyone,” I replied.

  “Hmm ... Bring your grandmother out.” With a nod at Nonna, he turned around elegantly and exited the room.

  Although Nonna was just sixty-nine and definitely did not need my help or assistance in walking, I did cling to her as a form of support. Amused, she allowed it. With her hand tapping a rhythm against mine, we walked out together and headed over to the grand dining room.

  It was already filled with the guests.

  Chapter 6

  Sienna

  Such a grand room, the ceilings painted with ancient images from Rome, marble statues, and three massive hanging chandeliers, giving off a warm golden light. To the right were extensive floor to ceiling doors and windows that allowed the scenic view of the estate’s fountains, rolling lawns, and the gigantic old trees beyond.

  The table, covered in pristine white linen, seemed much longer than I had remembered. It looked amazing with four tall candelabras adding a warm glow to the flower arrangements, crystal glasses, and gleaming silverware.

  All around it sat guests, who regarded us curiously.

  Nonna’s seat was to the right of the head of the table, next to my father. I settled her in, then glanced at my mother who was seated to my father’s left.

  Her lips curled upwards in an approving smile.

  I’d hoped the seat by her side or Nonna’s would be left empty for me, but they were occupied by my uncle Piero, who was second in command to my father, and another person I didn’t know.

  “Take your seat by Fabio, Sienna,” my mother said. “We’re beginning now.”

  Fabio? Who the hell is that? Painfully conscious of the at least thirty pairs of eyes on me, I ran my gaze down the table, found the empty seat halfway down the table, and hurried over to it. I settled down and my napkin folded into a formal bishop’s hat shape, was whisked open and spread neatly across my lap by a waiter who appeared behind me.

  I murmured my thanks, then turned to the vaguely familiar woman on my right and smiled at her politely. “Hello.”

  “Sienna,” she acknowledged with a nod.

  I knew the person my mother actually wanted me to sit next to was on my right. Reluctantly, I turned to that person and stopped. His sharp, dark gaze, wide nose and thin lips, all instantly recognizable features of the Siciliana clan, made him seem familiar.

  “Hello,” I greeted.

  He was actually good looking, that was, until his lips curved into a smug smile.

  I immediately suspected he and I would not get on. When almost a whole minute passed and he still had not taken his gaze away from me, my prediction was confirmed.

  The waiters began moving around, serving the first course, lobster bisque. I waited till mine had been placed in front of me, and when he still hadn’t looked away, I squashed my irritation, and said in a light tone, “If you carry on like this, you’re going to bore holes into me …”

  “You don’t know who I am, do you?”

  I turned to face him. “I apologize. I’ve been away for so long that everyone seems so changed. I’m still trying to familiarize myself with everything.”

  “You really don’t remember me?” he asked incredulously. His voice rose louder than necessary and piqued the interest of the other guests.

  I took a deep breath, my gaze on the finely chopped chives in the midst of my creamy soup. Then I turned to him again with a smile plastered across my face. “I do—”

  “Then who am I?” he demanded aggressively.

  I exhaled my growing anger through a breathy laugh. “If you had allowed me to finish you would have heard me say, I don’t remember you, but you look very familiar.”

  Suddenly, he swung his gaze away from me and towards my mother. “Aunt Marzia,” he bellowed.

  The entire room’s attention was arrested. Even my mother looked startled by his outburst.

  I wanted to bury myself in the ground—actually, he was the one I wanted to bury. Arrogant, little prick. I wished I had the freedom to tell him to piss off. That I didn’t give a damn who he was, but all I could do was maintain a serene smile. I didn’t want to embarrass my parents like the idiot was doing.

  “Aunt Marzia, Sienna doesn’t know who I am?” he fired off in Italian.

  I didn't miss the glance she gave my father before she let out a tinkling laugh and said, “That’s your cousin Fabio, Sienna. Don't you remember? He used to come with us to Rosedale vineyard for the summer vacation. You used to ride bicycles together and play in the pool.”

  “Sienna,” one of my other cousins who I actually remembered, spoke up from across the table. “Fabio used to chase you around with frogs from the fish pond.”

  “Ah,” I exclaimed, as the reminder jacked an old forgotten memory to life. Fabio was an arrogant, entitled, idiot even then. I turned towards him with a smile. “I remember now. It’s very nice to see you again.”

  He kept frowning. Apparently, this hadn’t been the memory he wanted everyone to remember. “No worries. Henceforth, it’ll be impossible to forget me,” he boasted.

  For a moment I almost asked what he meant by that but I caught myself. Don’t feed the troll, Sienna. Praying he wouldn’t speak to me again that night or preferably ever, I returned to my soup and took a spoonful. It tasted wonderfully fiery and smooth in my mouth.

  “Fabio just graduated from a university in Edinburgh,” my mother said. “Since both of you have similar educational experiences from the United Kingdom, I’m sure you’ll have lots to talk about.”

  “Sure, Aunt Marzia,” he replied, “but the rigors of a postgraduate degree are not to be spoken lightly of, or even compared to the minimal effort needed for an undergraduate degree. Even if we were in the same country, I doubt Sienna would be able to fathom the level of stress and demands that I had to endure.”

  Someone somewhere on the table snickered.

  Oh my, what a colossal prick. I clenched my fork tightly. “You’re right.” I smiled. “We have absolutely nothing to talk about.”

  “What did you study, anyhow?” he asked.

  “Economic and Business,” I replied.

  “Why did you waste your time and money on that?” he scoffed. “Those degrees are totally useless. Either you are business minded or not. You can’t teach anyone to be an entrepreneur.”

  I hated to admit it, but he was right. My degree was useless. Those Saturday classes were by far more useful to me.

  “It’s a great thing then,” he continued, thankfully his voice had dialed down to normal, “you won’t be searching for a job with that dead-duck degree. A comfortable position should be waiting for you at one of our family’s companies.”

  I gritted my teeth and tried to steer him away from the topic of me. “What did you study?”

  “I got an MBA,” he responded proudly. “It takes much more than common sense to manage the spread
of businesses that our families run, so I couldn’t just choose blindly.”

  The waiters came once again to retrieve our bowls and cutlery in preparation for the next course.

  The moment the waiters walked away, he continued, “All is not lost though. The most important thing anyway is that you have an education. With that, you should be able to handle yourself in the years to come.”

  Thanks for that, Fabio. Very magnanimous of you. Seared duck breast with creamy potato dauphinoise and caramelized chicory was placed in front of me. I used the distraction as a valid reason for ignoring him, however he wasn’t finished.

  As he droned on, I stabbed my fork into the duck breast. I would never know how I sat through the rest of the meal, but by the time dessert arrived, I didn't even want to look at it. Which was a tragedy because the golden opulence sundae with its bean ice cream, gold dragnets, Drambuie soaked cherries, and truffles was absolutely gorgeous. I took a few mouthfuls while he enthused about something else he had accomplished.

  As soon as my grandmother rose, I too got to my feet, and escaped from Fabio’s braying voice.

  Chapter 7

  Sienna

  I couldn’t however completely disappear, since the party was in my honor, so I made my way to the balcony overlooking the gardens. Thankfully, I was the only one there as the rest of our party had moved out of the house and spread out around the pool.

  From where I stood, I could take it all in; the gentle breeze of the evening, the fire-eater, and the live Italian music which some of the guests were dancing to.

  This was the perfect spot for me. I wasn’t in the midst of the action, but at the same time, I wasn’t too far away from it either, and this, I had come to realize, was my preference for the most part. I enjoyed solitude in big doses, and I suspected it was because I was an only child. My mother suffered a great deal during her pregnancy. She spent nearly five months in bed. So after I was born, the doctors told her having another child would not be a good idea. My mother wanted to try again because she was afraid my father might stray, but my father wouldn’t hear of it. To prove he didn’t want another child, he went and got himself a vasectomy.

  Perhaps if I had been surrounded by siblings, I would have been a different kind of person.

  It made me think of the handful of people I had come to call family back in England. Charlotte, Danny, and Christine. Christine’s family also lived in Los Angeles, and she had returned home just as I had. We had both been busy settling in in the last few days, but we had agreed to call each other and plan some sort of meet up.

  I’d considered inviting her to this homecoming dinner, but I’d changed my mind at the last minute, preferring to keep this extravagant part of my life a secret a little longer. She knew me as a conservative young lady from an ordinary family. She thought I was like her, my parents had saved up for years to send me for an overseas education.

  My peace was interrupted when I sensed someone’s approach.

  I didn’t turn around, hoping whoever it might be was only passing by, but of course, no such luck.

  “Princess.”

  I gritted my teeth. It was once again, the grating, hoarse voice I’d had to listen to for the last hour. We didn’t have an audience anymore, so there was no need for me to extend basic human courtesy anymore. I gave him a dry look. “My name is Sienna.”

  “I know what your name is,” he said, a nauseating smile on his face.

  “So why are you calling me princess, then?”

  He came over to stand in front of me with a tumbler of what I presumed was whisky in his hand. He took a sip, before he fixed his gaze on me. “You’re going to be feisty, aren’t you? I should warn you I am not turned off at all by that.”

  I cringed at his words and took a step back from him, certain now something was very wrong with his brain. Never, had I met someone who was so inept at reading another human being. Could he really not tell I felt repulsed by him?

  “I do admit though that when I heard you were returning, I didn’t know what to expect. You certainly weren’t a head turner back then. I didn’t expect much to have changed. In fact, I was prepared for the worst but seeing you now … you have indeed come a very long way from the girl with the ugly haircut and buck teeth.”

  The reminder of my less than glamorous past would have made me smile, if not for the offensiveness of his gaze as it ran down my body. I cocked my head and gave him the same condescending once over. I’d met him seated and then been so upset with him I hadn’t noticed his physical build, but now I realized he was solidly built, but he was shorter than me.

  Perhaps if I took my heels off, we would be somewhat the same height, but that wasn’t exactly good news for him since I was 5 feet and 5 inches tall. I told myself he was deserving of my sympathy. Perhaps his brutish and overbearing nature was him trying to make up for what he lacked in height.

  “You’re exactly the kind of woman I won’t mind having in my bed. Curvy hips, full breasts, that fire in your eyes. You are quite the surprise dearest cousin. I definitely won’t have any problems accepting the marriage proposal.”

  I’d been about to cut him down to size for his comments when his words stopped me. “Marriage proposal? What are you talking about?”

  He studied me, surprised at my reaction. ‘You’re not aware?”

  “Aware of what?”

  “That we have been betrothed? This banquet was thrown as an unofficial introduction for us. You didn’t actually believe that it was just to welcome you, did you?”

  My blood stopped flowing through my veins. “You’re joking?” I gasped in shock.

  He chuckled as he drained his glass. “My darling Sienna,” he said. "Our fathers have settled on a marriage between us, and I for one, very much look forward to our union.”

  His hand lifted and before my frozen body could react, it was already on my shoulder and caressing its way down the bare skin of my arm.

  “Don’t fucking touch me,” I hissed, as I shoved his hand away.

  He lost his grip on the glass and it fell to the stone floor, shattering with a loud sound.

  It drew some attention from down below.

  “Sienna?” I heard my mom call, but I was too furious and confused to respond.

  “Sienna!”

  “It’s okay, Aunt Marzia, we’re fine. I dropped my glass,” Fabio explained.

  “Sienna,” my mom called once again.

  Finally, I came back to my senses.

  “Tell her you’re fine,” Fabio whispered through gritted teeth.

  I could see the annoyance gathering like dark clouds on his face, but I couldn’t have cared less. “I’m fine!” I called out angrily, and stormed off the balcony.

  Chapter 8

  Sienna

  “He did what?” Charlotte exclaimed.

  “Stood right in front of me. Completely naked,” I repeated.

  "You’re joking!”

  “I wish I was,” I replied, grateful I was finally able to speak with my closest friend in London. “A lot of crazy things have been happening over here. And I haven’t been able to reach you and rant.”

  “I’m sorry,” she apologized. “The time difference is impossible. Plus, I’ve been trying to find a room to rent in South Ealing.”

  “You’re moving out of your parents’ house?”

  “Of course, I am. I’m not going back to sharing a room with my bratty sister. Anyway, back to the guard. How could he do that? Is he shameless or just cocky? Pun intended.”

  I chewed my bottom lip. “I think he’s both.”

  “So …” She paused dramatically.

  “So … what?”

  “How big is he?”

  Closing my eyes, I rolled onto my side. There was a flutter in my tummy. “Uh … big.”

  “Oh, your poor virgin pussy,” she cried gleefully.

  “Stop being crude, you,” I scolded.

  Ignoring me she went on, “You know, this could make a nice little enem
ies-to-lovers romance for you.”

  “Are you kidding me? It would make a nice little tragedy. My father will kill me if I cozy up to one of his guards.” Even though those words came out of my mouth, and I knew he was strictly off-limits, I hadn’t been able to get him out of my mind. Whenever I had a quiet moment, my mind immediately went to him, at least until the nonsense I’d heard from Fabio earlier. I wasn’t even going to share that part of my report. As far as I was concerned, it had all been one big joke. And I had been stupid enough to believe it for a little while. As if my parents would arrange a marriage for me. If that had been their intention why send me overseas for an education?

  Charlotte and I chatted a bit more about how different everything was from our life in England, before the call came to an end.

  I stared at the ceiling and before I could stop myself, I began to think about what Fabio had said. What if it were true? He didn’t look like he was lying. A tight ball of anxiety formed in my belly. Of all people, not Fabio. I took deep breaths.

  It was just a joke, Sienna. Just a stupid joke.

  You were being rude and he decided to punish you. He had always been a jerk. Not only did he chase me around with frogs, he once put a green snake in my bed. He thought he would scare me, but I knew green snakes were not poisonous, so I just gently picked the poor thing up and let it out of my window. It was not poisonous. All I had to do was gently let it out of the window.

  The arranged marriage was the adult Fabio’s green snake.

  The best stress reliever was some gentle coaxing of the bud between my legs, and despite my irritation at the guard’s arrogance, he was undeniably the best stimulant for my arousal. I shut my eyes and brought the cocky Angelo Barone to mind. It was not difficult.