Spice and Ice - A Billionaire's Amour

Chapter 5 - Who are you?

The smell of delicious croissants and coffee wafted across the room.

"Mmm..." moned Vera. She couldn't fathom the number of times she wanted to wake up to the delicious smell of breakfast and coffee. Aadiv had spoilt her bad, back in the days they lived together. Whatever time she woke up a hot cup of coffee and different forms for breakfast would be waiting. Thinking of those carefree days at the university brought a smile on her face. Stretching herself languidly, she rose to push the duvet from her, only to stop short as she felt cool-air brushing her body. Frowning she looked down to find a very naked self, displayed brazenly.

'What the hell?' she screamed, she never slept naked. Grabbing the duvet like a protective shield, tripping and dashing towards her floor-length mirror, gasped at the image presented, Her hair in total disarray, well kissed, swollen lips, cheeks full of color a bit puffed - Overall a pampered, rested, contented cat. She was practically glowing. 'Wait! what are those...?' frowning she pushed the duvet down further to see a trail of hickeys starting from her neck going down her torso, "Holy Hell!" She cursed, looking at herself disbelievingly.

"I can show you a matching set," came an amused reply behind her. Vera whirled back alarmingly, not believing what her eyes were seeing. "You?"

her eyes narrowed accusingly, "How..? Why?" She sputtered, unable to comprehend his presence. Her breath hitched when she saw his deep black eyes, swirling with heat - something she did not dare to question. Freshly showered, the tips of his hair were still wet, with droplets of water dribbled now and then. Standing a few feet from her with a cup of coffee, looking amazing, when his reply came back to her mind, "What do you mean by a matching set?"

Chuckling Dante opened his bathrobe to show a relatively marked chest and abs. Her jaw dropped, eyes going wide at the scratch marks and hickeys that adorned him, "Did I do that?"

One of his eyebrows rose sarcastically, "Is there anyone else in the room?" Vera didn't understand his comment, she shook her head about to deny him when the images of last night came crashing back to her. She did a double-take, gasping for air, covering her mouth in denial, "No, No, No, No... that did not happen, You did not happen."

Dante narrowed his eyes, his lips compressed in irritation, "You know I am starting to lose patience with your denial of everything, every time we meet." He stepped forward, she moved automatically back colliding with the mirror. Not giving her any other chance to escape, he caged her in with his arm curving around her waist and the other hand cupping her chin, making her look at him, "As much as I like the idea of your present state of dress, and I very much wish to toss you back in the bed to continue what we started last night..." He pressed her hard against him, explicating his desire, "You and me we both have a job, we can't afford to halt - momentarily. So how about we meet in your kitchen for breakfast in fifteen minutes?"

Vera's lower lip trembled, showing her fear. He was formidable, he may have spoken in a low-tone, but she heard the warning. She gulped not wanting to deal with him in her present state, giving a slight nod.

"Good," smiled Dante. Without warning, he swooped down and captured her mouth in a hungry kiss. Vera stood shocked, tasting the bittersweet taste of coffee from his mouth, she groaned unable to resist his tongue plundering her mouth. He released her sooner than she expected he would, his thumb tracing a path along her lower lip, "You are my obsession, I could never get tired of this," he muttered to himself, his eyes boring into hers. Releasing her abruptly, he turned back to the hall, "Remember, you have only twelve minutes now."

Her jaw dropped again, "What? But... tat's your fault... s**t!" she swore, rushing about picking her stuff, trying to get into the fastest shower she ever had in her life.

Dante chuckled, as he heard her muttering curses, throwing everything around and scolding herself for-ever meeting him till now. He had woken up at his usual time, looking at her peaceful sleeping form beside him brought a sense of satisfaction. At last, he could finally have a choice for himself. His family had always pursued him to settle down, badgering him and practically throwing many would-be fiancees at any opportunity they get. His lips thinned in displeasure as he remembered them. Borrowing her bathroom along with her bathrobe, he showered, called his secretary, Mellisa to get breakfast for two, which she promptly served him exactly in half an hour he had given her. Once done he ordered her back to his condo with a few other assignments. He had sat down sipping the delicious coffee-latte, waiting for her to wake up.

He relaxed back at the table placed near her balcony, overviewing the street below, resuming his morning paper which he otherwise discarded when he heard her waking up - cursing. The words appeared to jumble around each other, not making any sense. Dante was reliving a few frustrating conversations he had had with his mother, his frustration of not able to make her understand his problems. He was still staring at the paper, not reading a single word when, Vera stomped before him, ten minutes past his given time. Challenging him with her eyes, daring him to comment on her late arrival. Dante put down the paper and sat staring at her. She sure rushed through her shower, the blouse half crumpled, with a skirt that mismatched. Made him rethink his choice. His mind raced back to his family disputes and marriage contracts, making them estranged the past four years. Unable to envision any of the women as one whom he would spend the rest of his life with, had him worried. But now looking at her standing in front of him about to spit fire, he believed he had a chance. A chance he did not want to let go, without at least trying.

"You are late. You need to understand one thing Miss ** I do not tolerate anyone unable to keep time. Since this is your first event, I am letting it go, the nex..."

"Bullshit!" She cut in, slamming her hands on the table making it shudder, the paper went flying, the waiting coffee almost toppled over. She leaned forward, her lime-green eyes spitting fire, her hair rippling around her, slipping out of the clutch they were held in. "Now you look here Mr. Who ever the hell you are. I am not your damned employee to dance according to your tune. This is my f*****g house, and you are the f*****g intruder here, wearing my bathrobe, meddling in my personal space. Don't you dare warn me about keeping time."

A lazy smile spread across his mouth, "Good, you are finally awake, Would you like some coffee?" He politely pointed to her share waiting on the table. Vera frowned, at the change of subject, looking at the takeaway

breakfast and coffee waiting for her, "When the hell did you even have time to get it?"

As of on cue, there was a soft knock on the door, along with a courteous voice, "Sir?"

"Come in," he allowed, not bothering to see who it was? Vera, on the other hand, stood transfixed. 'God! How many times in a day should she be shocked? In walked a beautiful blonde, wearing a purple low-V draped top with puffed sleeves and gray pencil skirt, perfectly displaying her ample assets. Her pointed heels clicked on the tiled floor as she walked in gracefully.

She didn't bear a glance at Vera, totally ignoring and marching past her towards her employer, "Sir, Your suit and other accessories," waving the carry-on bag with one hand, placing them near him. "There are a few documents that need your signature," taking them out, she leaned closer to him, placing them before him to sign. Vera watched the show at first shocked, then amused looking at the secretary trying very hard to get his attention. Every time she bent to turn a page, she practically thurst her chest in front of his face. And all the master did was just grunt some answer now and then, hardly acknowledging her.

Once done she stood dutifully collecting all the paperwork. "Ask my 7 o'clock to be there by 5. I will be leaving early today. Also, cancel my lunch appointment." The secretary jerked her head from the notepad at the last order. "Cancel? But sir I have already booked a table for 3 at Seta," She practically whined.

"Tat's Y I said cancel it." Dante looked up at her with irritation plain in his voice. "Is there a problem, Melissa?"

She gulped. "No, No Sir."

"Good. You may leave now. Ask Gerardo to pick me up in an hour." He promptly dismissed her, glancing back at his files removing her presence in an instant. Melissa, looked dejected, whatever hopes she had when she came in seemed to have dissipated, leaving with slumped shoulders. It made Vera, a bit annoyed.

"Are you always this rude to your employees?" She questioned, seating herself on the opposite side of the table, starting to uncover her breakfast - Since it was already there, why waste it?

One of Dante's eyebrow minutely arched in question. She bit into a piece of the croissant, her eyelids closed in delight, "Hmm..." murmuring appreciatively, Her lips raised in joy, forming cute dimples in her cheeks. His penetrating grey eyes zeroed in on her lips. His hands tightened on the coffee mug, 'Damn! She was so cute.'

"So, tell me are you such a hypocrite. She was probably looking forward to the luncheon."

Dante leaned back on his chair taking a rather generous sip of his coffee, his eyes never leaving hers. Minutes before she was flying off the handle, trying to kick him out, now she sat there, savoring the breakfast he ordered, and scrutinizing him on his behavior. "She is my secretary. She knows where her priorities lie, if she is over-zealous, that's not my problem."

"Aww... harsh-much," she teased, taking a sip of the hot coffee, her eyes glazing over dreamily, "I have to tell you, the Danze's provides the best coffee ever," raising her coffee mug in mock salute, "Thank you for getting me this, Mr..." She frowned as if searching, "Ah! What's your name signor, I never really came around getting to know it."

Dante chocked, again. He coughed a bit, grabbing for the tissues, trying to wipe the spilled coffee on his bathrobe, which only made Vera frown more. "Do you always choke, whenever I ask you something?" His face twisted in anger at her inquiry, "What did you say?" his voice was low, threatening.

Vera just rolled her eyes, "I asked do you always tend to cho... "

"Not that one," he cut her off angrily. "The question before - "

Vera's eyebrows lowered, eyelids scrunched in doubt, trying to understand his question. When she recalled, her lips widened in a smile, "Oh! that one. I only wanted to know who you are? I mean I should at least know your name. You can't keep me hanging there all the time, right."

The casual way she said it, without care, enjoying her breakfast baffled Dante. He leaned forward, elbows on the table, his chin resting on his knotted fingers, "You are telling me that, till now you do not have a clue as to who I am? Even on the night, we spent at the hotel together."

She stopped chewing for a moment, "Other than the name you were called by the staff - a Machoist - No, I don't know who you are." He stood up forcefully, pushed back the chair, and started pacing the hall. Contrary to his calm expression, he was seething inside, ready to explode. How dare she play him? She didn't know him? If that was true... then was he the only one manifesting feelings of wanting her?

Vera sat perplexed. What's wrong with this guy. One minute he was all a gentleman, the next feels like a timebomb, waiting to explode. What did she say that made him prowl like a cat ready to jump at her any moment?

He turned to her suddenly, "Why lie?"

She paused a moment, "Lie about what?"

"Come on, I know all women like to play gullible. Even if you were drugged the first night, you should have known who I was? If not at first then afterward, you would want to know the guy who forced you or should I say even ** you.." A look of disgust crossed his face as he said the last word.

Vera sat stunned. Her breath stopped short by the revulsion she saw in his face, forced her? When the hell? As she tried to recall the incident five months ago, slowly piecing the images together, she realized what he was trying to prove. Sure she wanted to know who the man was, but was stopped short due to other reasons.

"Are you insulting me, Signore...?" She stopped, urging him to fill in the gap in a malignant voice.

"Its Dante," he snarled, "And yes! I am provoking you. You can't play dumb now, and perform passionately in the darkness of the night."

Vera had enough. It was one thing of him to access her situation, provided they were strangers, but it was not fair to call her a liar. He could assume anything he wanted, but liar was not one of them. "f**k You, Signore Dante. I did not know who you were then, and I do not know who you are now. I was forced into the situation at the hotel suite five months ago, but that doesn't mean you ** me. There is no way you used me."

"What do you mean?"

"About time we made things clear around here," She ventured, cleaning up the breakfast table. "I don't know your situation, but mine was a classic set-up. I shouldn't have believed a devious person, even if they were family. All she wanted, was to humiliate me." She placed the plates in the dishwasher closed it, and stood up taking a breather, When she looked back at him, "Her eyes were shining with unshed tears. "I didn't know who you were. Actually, in the morning, I thought you were just an innocent bystander, dragged along with me to be defamed by the waiting paparazzi. That's why I left early."

Her face grew taut with anger, "But listen to me very carefully, U may have forced me last night, but neither of the two nights was I, not a willing a participant. I am very much to blame, in what happened."

She reached him pointing her finger at his chest, "You did not force me, or f*****g ** me. If anything else, it was I who took advantage of you the first time." she returned to cleaning the counter, "Just consider last night as a payback for what happened to you five months ago."

Dante simply blinked, unable to process her way of thinking. "You used me?" his voice strained. "But you lost something important that night. Wasn't that important, if you had been saving it till now for someone?"

Vera's eyes scrunched, she jerked her shoulders nonchalantly, "What's gone is gone. No use fretting over spilled milk. Besides," She looked at him with an amused expression, "I didn't save it for someone special, I just didn't have time or interest in indulging in such activities, that's all."

The new information perplexed him. Whatever he knew about her was total bull-s**t. Any other woman in her situation would have acted as if he had disrespected her. She would have cried vengeance and asked him to compensate her. But she... Dante shook his head, smiling in disbelief. Hold on, he paused as he remembered something she said - That Morning?

"You said, you thought I was innocent?" he questioned.

"Yeah, I believed I used you."

Dante rolled his eyes, at the way she was trying to keep him out of the guilt. "Does it mean later, you didn't."

She was in the process of loading the washing machine when his question stopped her short. She turned with a smile on her face, but the look in her eyes was seething contempt. Dante was taken aback by her, "Till then I felt really bad for placing you in a dubious situation, just coz someone wanted to make me feel inadequate. But not a month later what do I find? you are such a pervert."

"What the hell are you talking about?" asked Dante, hands-on-hips, forehead furrowed with confusion. Vera turned to look at him with disgust, "Hotel paradise, Suite 3340. Ring any bells? Dante blinked to realize she was speaking about their second encounter. It was not exactly an encounter, but she saved him again. Only he didn't understand why if she never knew him.

"I was there with Aadiv, we were catering to a reception. It was a success, We decided to celebrate at the bar, but the party lasted late into the night. We decided to take a room, unfortunately, I got a room just two suites away from yours."

"Hold on!" catching hold of her wrist, he dragged her towards him, "Don't tell me you and he shared a room," he seethed. Vera's eyes narrowed at his reaction. She realized, 'This guy needs to fix his priorities.' Pulling her hand away from him with equal force, she stood toe-to-toe with him. Unfortunately, she was a lot shorter than him, almost a feet less, which ended up in her craning her neck and looking up at him. But that didn't deter her from what she wanted to say, "Yes we did, and before you say anything otherwise, It's none of your business." She cut him off before he could reply.

He was about to refuse her when she beat him to it again. "As I was saying, we share a suite, not two rooms away from you. Aadiv had retired early, He was dead-beat that day, but I decided to stay at the bar for some more time, and guess What I hear?"

"What?" He barked.

She waited for him to come clean, he didn't move a muscle, except for a nerve ticking below his cheek daring her to do the worst. She smirked, "A waiter came with a tip to the bartender, he said - I shall quote - Our privileged customer - pointing to you - would like two sensual beauties to entertain him back at his suite - He then gave your suite number along with a set of keys. It intrigued me to find who was so was interested in finding who was not interested in one but two escorts. and Viola! There you sit with all the other c***k-heads that you call partners."

"Naturally I was very disgusted with myself. So, you were never a victim, but you make this as a profession, getting the girls delivered to your suite," Her face twisted with loathing. "So, I decided to teach you a lesson, waited till the movement the girls were left at your doorstep. I stepped in myself, with your key card - I stole from the bartender - and shoved the girls away, stating they got the wrong room. Once they left, I locked your door and threw the keys away."

She leaned forward her face inches from him, "Hope, you had a wonderful night."

Her whisper was melody to his ears. All this while he was wondering just what her motivation was? Now that he heard the real reason, he couldn't contain his laughter anymore. At first, it just started as a smile, it grew on to a burst of full-blown laughter.

That was the third time in a day when her jaw dropped. 'Was he mad?' She had accused him of being a womanizer, and his reaction? laughing too hard, bending over, holding on to his stomach. When he did stop, he reached for her, grabbing her close, delivering a hungry, joyous kiss, to her surprised mouth, "You sure are my Tutore personale."