“Does this mean you’re accepting my proposal?” he asked.
I looked away. “No, it doesn’t.”
I expected him to get angry, or at least defensive, but he only smiled. “I understand.”
“That’s three men who have proposed to me. I owe it to myself to consider them all.”
“I told you I understand. You don’t have to explain.”
I barely heard him. “I need to think about this. I can see benefits to all three. I don’t want to make the wrong decision.”
He clasped both hands around my cheeks and steered my face upward. Now I had no choice but to look deep into those steel-gray eyes of his. “I understand, Princess. I don’t expect you to give me any special treatment because I’m… well… Okay, yes, I do. I want you to choose me, but I understand you need to think about it. You don’t have to keep explaining it to me.”
I blinked. His presence and attention swept me away into another delirious dream. Could any man ever treat me as well as he did? What did I really have to think about? Any sane woman would thank their lucky stars to marry Leo Evangelista.
“Really? You don’t hate me?”
“Of course not.” He kissed me. “I love you more than anything.”
I looked away, and he let me go. He went over to his chair and came back with my robe. “Don’t get cold.”
I shivered anyway. I needed to get away from him. I didn’t deserve him. Did I just make a big mistake by doing it with him?
I didn’t regret it. I loved every minute of it. That was the problem. Was it all just sex with Leo? Did I just use him to satisfy my crazy desires when I didn’t have any intention of considering his proposal? Could I really be that shallow?
He started to retie his tie and then changed his mind. He stripped it off and bunched it into his fist. “It’s getting late. I guess we should all go back to bed.”
I opened my mouth, but I couldn’t think of anything to say except to apologize for what I just did. Didheregret it? If he did, why did he keep saying he loved me?
He waited for me to put my robe on and then took my hand. He took me back upstairs, but he didn’t take me back to my room. The doorjamb was ruined, and both the balcony doors hung off their hinges with broken glass scattered across the floor.
A human-shaped blood stain marked the carpet where Nicky had passed out. A scuffle was still going on in his room with the medical team going in and out.
Leo halted by another guest room. “You better stay here until we can get your room straightened up.” He raised his eyebrows across the hall. “Romeo really made a mess of things, didn’t he?”
“It wasn’t Romeo. Nicky did all that.”
Leo gasped. “Holy shit!”
“The guy is a force of nature. You do NOT want to get in that guy’s way. Trust me.”
Leo gave a nervous laugh. “I knew he was good. I didn’t know he was that good.” He kissed me one more time. “Go to sleep, Princess. We’ll deal with this tomorrow.”
He walked back to the stairs and went downstairs, probably to his office. He wouldn’t be going to sleep, and I already knew the reason why. Romeo got into my room exactly the way Nicky said. Security was nowhere near good enough.
Leo would probably be up for the rest of the night trying to boost it. He and Nicky had been working on that for weeks already.
I went into the guest room and sat down on the bed, but when I looked through the balcony windows toward the other side of the estate, I spotted Cesare.
He stood out on the terrace staring into the dark grounds, and I cringed. How could I ever face him after losing my virginity to Leo just now?
Today turned out so much different than it started. First, I made out with Leo and came dangerously close to doing it with him. Then I made out with Cesare in the grounds and then with Romeo in my room.
Now I’d just done it with Leo for real. Did that make me a slut or a tramp—or a slutanda tramp? Did I really turn into this?
Cesare proposed to me thinking I was a virgin. He lost his cool when he found out about Romeo’s proposal. Cesare would really flip if he knew I wasn’t a virgin anymore.
I had to go talk to him. I didn’t know what I would say to him. I didn’t know what to even think of myself under the circumstances.