Page 87 of Chasing Caine

I pushed against the chair arms to help get vertical, biting back the discomfort from not moving my bad ankle for the last hour. “I’m not having this conversation with you. Our relationship is none of your business.”

“Scusami.” He put his hands up in surrender. “Per favore, I apologize. We will speak like adults.”

This was Antonio’s favorite cousin. Confidante. And they looked so similar it was difficult to stay angry with him. He had Antonio’s best interests at heart.

I folded my arms. “Okay, talk.”

“Sofia called before he arrived to warn me about how he was feeling. I’d helped him through it before, so I planned to do it again.”

“Through what?”

“Heartbreak.”

I glowered at the lounge chair. Heartbreak. Hardly. Our relationship wasn’t that serious. We barely knew each other at the time. But then again, the emotions were strong enough I’d flown all this way. And he claimed he loved me.

“So I did the same thing I did after his breakup with Faith.” His gaze drilled into the side of my head, but I didn’t look up. He had the same brown eyes with little golden flecks Antonio did.

If I looked at him, I’d have to let go of my irritation. “And what was that?”

“Took him to the club and introduced him to several beautiful and willing women.”

All the breath in my lungs rushed out. No. He didn’t. He didn’t sleep with another woman between the Monday I said goodbye and the Saturday I asked for his forgiveness. Or several women? Oh my god, he did, didn’t he?

“Samantha?” Mario stood, easing me down.

I bristled at the touch, but stretched the bad leg out and rested my weight on the chair. This wasn’t possible. Antonio wasn’t Vincenzo with his pretty promises. Or Matt, with his perpetual concern. Antonio said his heart was mine. He said he wanted a future with me.

“We were broken up.” My voice trembled as the words poured out. “I don’t need to hear this.”

“No, no, you don’t understand. Nothing happened.” He spoke quickly, an arm hovering between us like he was about to hug me. “He bored every one of them to tears. Five of them.”

I caught my breath and looked at him. I wouldn’t have thought Antonio was capable of boring anyone.

Mario was too close again, but the hairs on my neck didn’t react. This was the real him. The friend. The man Antonio had entrusted me to at the club.

“All he talked about was you. How beautiful you were. How brilliant you were. Your passion. Your skill.” He sighed and moved back to his own chair when I sat up straighter.

“He what?”

“I saw him through his toughest times, his whole life. Moving to Roma after he graduated, his days with Cristian—”

“His cousin from Rome?”

He held up the hand again, shaking his head. There was still so much I didn’t know about Antonio, but Mario knew it all. “How things changed after he lost the weight. After Faith. But I never saw him like after you.”

“Do I want to know?”

“He’s a man of intense emotions—”

I snorted and quickly covered my mouth to keep it at bay. “Sorry.”

Mario chuckled. “He hides much of it behind the charming and joking exterior. After Faith, he was full of anger and sadness. He lashed out. But after you, he was still full of hope and love. All he wanted was to return to the States to win you back. I had to take his phone from him several times after he arrived so he wouldn’t call you and beg for your forgiveness.”

If I’d heard all this before Antonio and I had spent this visit together, I would’ve laughed it off. A man like him didn’t really want a woman like me. He was just trying to get me into bed, and moving to Naples gave him ample opportunity to seduce other women. Like the ones Mario introduced him to.

But he still wanted me.

Mario continued. “It will take hard work between the two of you to silence the voices in his head. The ones warning him you’ll leave him for someone else. Someone you like more, who’s more attractive, more interesting.”