Page 7 of Irreplaceable

It wasn’t enough. “I need to go back to my hotel. My boss is waiting for me,” I lied. I was officially on vacation. My boss didn’t care where I was. My friends knew I was in Bali, but that was it.

“Why don’t you call him, then?” the Italian asked, sliding into the back seat. “Tell him I am taking care of you.”

“Yeah, but who are you?” I asked, not bothering to correct him that my boss was a woman.

He glanced away then back at me, his brown eyes beguiling. The way he spoke in his rich, heavily accented voice captivating. “Enzo. And you, uccellina?”

I frowned. What did it mean? I racked my brain for another similar word in Italian but came up short. “Harper.”

“Harper.” He rolled the word around his mouth, and the way he said it was so sensual I thought I might combust. Especially with the heated way he was looking at me.

Get it together, Harper!

“Thank you for the offer—” I moved to leave “—but I’m sure it’s just a sprain.”

“Even so,” he said, placing his hand on my arm. “I would feel better if you would allow me to have a doctor examine it. It’s the least I can do.”

I sensed that this man—Enzo—was used to getting his way. And at the moment, his insistence was to my benefit. So, I fumbled in my bag for my phone.

I huffed. “Okay. I’ll send my boss a text.” I leaned away so I could share my location with Juliana.

Juliana: Hey. You okay?

Me: Going home with a man.

I didn’t wantto worry her. It wasn’t like there was much she could do at the moment. But I wanted some kind of insurance policy. For now, this was as good as it was going to get.

Juliana: Be safe. Have some fun!

“All good?”Enzo asked as he slid closer to me and closed the door. He asked Kadek to continue on.

I nodded, returning my phone to my bag.

He leaned in, enveloping me with his scent. He smelled like bergamot, like all my fantasies rolled into one, and if I closed my eyes, I’d swear I was lazing in a Sicilian orchard at noon. My chest rose and fell, but I didn’t hear warning bells blaring in my head. If anything, my body was giving me the green light.

Though, really…could I trust my body when it came to men? This one seemed no different from any of the others. A bad boy who was controlling. Hot.

Not hot. I shook my head. I needed to break this cycle if I wanted to find love, a family.

Too late for that.

“Where are you taking me?” I glanced around, trying to pinpoint any landmarks. We were headed in the opposite direction of town. The opposite direction of the hospital.

“Back to my house. I have a doctor on call.”

Wait. What?

“I, uh—” It was getting darker as we headed toward the coast. My ankle throbbed, my chest tightening the farther we drove. Why did he have a doctor on call?

He finished typing something on his phone and placed his hand over mine. “You’re safe, uccellina.”

“What does uccell—” I paused, trying to remember the pronunciation.

“Uccellina,” he repeated the word he’d used earlier.

“Yeah. That.” I furrowed my brows, trying to commit it to memory. But then a bump jostled me in the back seat, and the movement made my ankle hurt even worse. Shit. I sucked in a breath and attempted to ignore the pain. “What does it mean?”

“I thought you were fluent in Italian,” he taunted, a smile playing at his gorgeous lips.