Taming Ricardo, The Italian Billionaire

Chapter 10

Her mouth felt like it was stuffed with cotton and her head felt like it was on the verge of exploding. She had to put extra effort into sitting upright. When she finally got herself up, she groaned. Big mistake. The room began to spin and she gripped the edge of the bed, a bed that felt different, yet familiar.

Waiting for the dizziness to subside, Kyra’s eyes danced around slowly. Her brows furrowed. What was she doing in Ricardo’s bedroom? Was she dreaming? She had dreamt a bunch of strange things, after all. She dreamt of a crowded room where bodies slammed into her and where she felt trapped, groping hands that held her hostage, an enraged Ricardo. Kyra forced her mind to settle. Nothing made sense at the moment.

She swung her legs off the bed only to discover that she was clad only in her underwear. Confusion set in again. She shut her eyes, trying to remember exactly what had taken place last night. She shouldn’t be in Ricardo’s bed, half naked. He was all the way in Miami, dealing with business.

“Okay. I went out last night. I remember that much. Allegra. Drinking. Apparently way too much. “What else? What else?” She lifted a hand to her pounding head. She remembered feeling very ill, and it had been the worse she’d ever felt since she began experimenting with alcohol in collage. Something didn’t add up. She had been keeping track of how much she drank. At the most, she should have been a bit more than tipsy, but still coherent.

Memories started to flood her aching brain. She had started to feel extremely bad after returning from the bathroom and having the drink Allegra had ordered before hitting the dance floor. Allegra had kept returning to the bar to get her drinks, insisting that she wanted Kyra to loosen up and have fun.

Kyra was a home body but she was no idiot. She had some street smarts. All of her symptoms didn’t add up with just consuming alcohol. A chill ran down her spine. Had she been drugged?

Drugged by her best friend? But why? “No, no. I couldn’t have been.”

She hadn’t been drinking with anyone else. There had to be some other explanation. Maybe some pervert had set his eyes on her and had slipped something in her drink. She gasped. Was Allegra alright? The same thing might have happened to her. She swung around trying to find her purse with her cell. The movement causes a jolt of pain in her head and she moaned.

“This will help.”

Kyra yelp. “Ricardo.” He stood in the doorway, holding up a bottle of ibuprofen and a glass of water. “What are you doing here?”

He cocked a brow. “This is my apartment.”

Her cheeks heated. “I mean, you’re supposed to be in Miami.”

He stepped into the room, his face a cold mask. He shoved the pill bottle into her hand and put the glass of water on the night stand. She got the impression that something was wrong. The warmth in his eyes when he looked at her was absent. “I came back earlier than planned. Didn’t you get my message?”

She swallowed the pill took greedy gulps of water. “No…I don’t remember.” She must have because why would she have come to his place after the club? How had she even gotten there? “I don’t remember much from last night.” She glanced at her dress draped over a chair and at Ricardo’s bare chest. Oh, God. Had she slept with Ricardo and didn’t remember. Even if she was drunk out of her mind, she was sure she would remember that. S*x with Ricard wasn’t something she would forget, no matter what. So, she was definitely more than drunk last night. “Did we…?”

A humorless laugh bounced off the walls. “I didn’t touch you, Kyra. I don’t take advantage of incapacitated, drunk women,” he spat, making her wince.

She lifted the sheet to cover herself, suddenly feeling uneasy. “Clearly, you’re angry with me. Can you tell me what for?”

Ricardo folded his arms and returned to his position by the door. The fact that he put distance between them left her with a pang of hurt.

“Let’s go down the list, shall we? One, you didn’t tell me you were going out last night. Two, I’m disappointed to discover that you’re very irresponsible. You went clubbing and got blindingly drunk. Anything could have happened to you. Three, I found you dry humping some stranger, who had his hands all over you. Four, I do not want my woman falling out of a club like a drunken hussy.”

Kyra gawked at him. Her? Irresponsible? A drunken hussy? She was with another man? He saw her with another man? She was very near to hyperventilating. Why couldn’t she remember all of that? She swallowed. She did remember. She just thought all the images in her head were simply one confusing dream. How could she make a fool of herself like that? Well, in her defense, she strongly suspected she had been drugged. Her heart stopped momentarily. Had she been taken advantage of by the man Ricardo supposedly caught her with?

Her lower lips quivered as she fought back tears. “I’m not irresponsible,” she said lowly. “I was paying attention and then something happened. I think something was slipped into one or more than one of my drinks.” She scooted off the bed and had to hold on to keep herself from falling on her face. “Where’s Allegra? Is she alright?”

“Allegra seemed quite fine and sober when we left her last night.” He let out a breath. “I hope you’re not alleging that you were drugged to make me less angry.”

She couldn’t hold the tears back no longer. She was confused, frustrated, in pain and she was terrified. Terrified that she was going to lose Ricardo over one mistake and terrified that she may have been taken advantage of last night. “Do you really think I would do something like that? You obviously don’t know me very well. I need to go.” She had to find Allegra and find out what the hell went down last night. “I’m sorry you saw me with someone else. I wouldn’t intentionally hurt you like that, Ricardo. I swear. Not after the way your wife-“

Maybe mentioning his wife wasn’t the best thing to do, considering he was upset. “I’m sorry.” She stumbled to the bathroom. Thankfully, the toothbrush she used the last time she spent the night at his place was still there. She looked around. Everything she had left was still there. That comforted her a bit, but only for a moment. Dread, pushed its way back to the front of her mind.

She glanced in the mirror and gasped. “Holy shit.” She looked like she had been through the ringer. Her eyeliner and mascara were smeared, giving her unattractive raccoon eyes, her lips were dry and chipped and her hair was disheveled. She looked like something out of a horror movie. With a sigh, she brushed her teeth, relieved to get the taste of vomit out of her mouth. After scrubbing her face clean, she stepped into the shower to wash last night away.

As she stood under the warm spray of water, she let out a sob. Her mind raced with flashes of returning memories and the possibility that her best friend had betrayed her.

Don’t jump to any conclusions just yet.

Still, she cried harder. Turning the water off, she dried herself and perched on the edge of the Jacuzzi tub. Her shoulders drooped at the thought of going out to face Ricardo. She couldn’t face his anger and the disappointment in his eyes.

“How are you feeling?”

She jumped, her eyes swinging to the door to land on Ricardo. “A bit better and you have got to stop sneaking up on me like that.”

He stepped into the bathroom. “I apologize. I don’t like seeing you in tears.”

She grunted. “Even after last night? Even though you hate me right now?”

“I don’t hate you, Kyra. I don’t think that’s possible.”

“You could have fooled me.” She rose with a sigh. “I’ll get dressed and get out of your hair.”

“You’re not going anywhere.”

Her brows rose. “So we didn’t just break up?”