The Italian Billionaire’s Nubian Queen

“I’m not entirely sure, Alyssa. It feels like there’s a lot here that I cannot get back home.”

“There is? I’m sure you can get everything you want there,” tried Alyssa a little desperately.

“I’m afraid not. But it doesn’t matter. My very responsible older brother takes care of business so well that nobody will miss me if I’m not in Italy. I will have plenty of time to get to know you better. And of course, Brianna too. The lovely Benjamin sisters.”

“Oh. I… I’m sure Bree is flattered.”

“I hope so. I called to ask you what Brianna’s favorite flowers are. I’m sure you know.”

“Her favorite flowers?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Well, she loves orchids. Especially purple ones.”

“How appropriate. Thank you, Alyssa. I hope we can have that dinner together soon. Ciao!”

He hung up and Alyssa looked at her phone, completely confused. What the hell was going on? She should call Brianna. She should call Brianna right at that moment and find out what the hell was happening.

Before she could, her phone rang again.

Alyssa seriously considered just throwing it across the room and pretending it had never existed. But she took the call, resigned to her fate. It was probably Gabriel calling to ask what Brianna’s favorite perfume was. What was she supposed to do about it?

“Hello,” said Alyssa, more than a little irritably.

“Alyssa.”

She froze again. Her heart skipped a beat and then beat faster as if to make up for it.

She recognized this voice, too.

“Matteo.”

“Yes. You left.”

“I… I had a work emergency,” she said, but the lie turned to ashes on her tongue. It sounded weak, because it was. She hadn’t had a work emergency. He’d know it.

“You didn’t.”

“Don’t you tell me what I didn’t have!”

“You didn’t tell me you were leaving. You ran away,” he accused.

“Don’t be ridiculous! We met two days ago. I had to leave, and I did. Sharing one picnic lunch doesn’t mean that I need to tell you when I’m leaving or where I’m going.”

“It was more than that.”

“It was not. That’s all it was. For heaven’s sake, what is wrong with the two of you?”

“The two of me?”

“Not the two of you, the two of you. Your brother and you.”

There was a pause. She felt things change in that pause.

“What did my brother do?”

“He apparently drove my sister back home. She was supposed to come back with friends, and your brother drove her back, and now he called me to tell me he wanted to get to know us better and is asking what her favorite flowers are. I don’t know what’s going on with both of you, but if either of you hurts her, I will hunt both of you down myself.”

Alyssa didn’t have a clue where all of this was coming from, but she was filled to the brim with frustration and confusion and she let it flow. If the Colombo brothers wanted to call her in the morning when she was sleep-deprived, they could both deal with the consequences.

“I’m not sure why you’re angry with me for that.”

That was a fair point.

“I… Why are you calling me, Matteo?”

“Because I looked for you and I couldn’t find you. I wanted to see you. I want to see you.”

“Look, don’t you have an empire to run or something? I’m… You’re Matteo Colombo, Jesus!”

“I am not Jesus.”

“I didn’t say you were Jesus, you’re trying to put me off balance and I don’t appreciate it. You have a whole empire in Sicily. And in every other wine-making area in Italy.”

“And in other places, including California. Yes, you knew that already.”

“Why are you calling me? Why were you looking for me?”

“Because I want to see you, Alyssa. I want to see you again.”

“Well, I’m sure you have important things to do with your life, and my schedule is a bit full, and I don’t need complications in my life, so…”

“The complications are already in your life. I heard that you’re looking for a bottle of Madeira. A specific Madeira.”

The change in subject nearly gave her whiplash.

“How did you know that?”

Because she’d spent hours trying to track down a bottle, and she’d almost done it, and then it had just vanished from under her nose, or it might as well have.

“I have my sources, Alyssa. You can have it.”

“What?”

“You can have it. I have it, and I will give it to you.”

Everything in her went on very high alert immediately. When a very rich man offered you something you very desperately wanted, it was a fairly good bet that he wasn’t doing it out of the goodness of his heart.

She would eat her own heart if he was, to be quite honest.

“Why do you have it?”

“Alyssa, it is my business. I know you want it. I can give it to you. Isn’t that good enough?”

“No. No, it’s not. What’s your asking price?”

“I don’t have a price.”

“Don’t you say that, Matteo. Nothing in life comes free. Of course there’s a price. Tell me what it is, and if I can afford it, then I’ll buy it from you.”

“All right, I’ll give you a price. Dinner with me, tonight.”

“What?”

“That’s my price.”

That was ridiculous. And she had a feeling, a premonition, if she cared to call it that. She knew that that wasn’t all. Of course it wasn’t all.

She would be risking far more than an evening, a few hours. She’d known that, hadn’t she? That’s why she’d run. She’d run away from him and the strange things he made her feel. She’d run away from a feeling that her choices were being taken away from her. But she hadn’t run far enough. She’d run home, and home hadn’t been far enough.

“Matteo, I don’t like being manipulated.”

“Nobody does. Nevertheless, that is my price. I want you to have dinner with me. You can have the bottle of wine you’ve been chasing for months if you have dinner with me. Is that really such a high price to pay, Alyssa?”

It was. It was far too high.

But that feeling of inevitability engulfed her, threatened to drown her.

So she shook her head.

“Yes. Yes, it’s too high a price, because that’s not all. It’s not just dinner. It’s never just that. I don’t want it, Matteo. Goodbye.”

She hung up on him, and knew that it was already too late.