Strokes Read Free Page B

had shoved her out a window!
    “I have a question for you.”
    He winced but motioned with his open hand to go ahead.
    “I understand wanting to do your duty, but marrying a woman you don’t love and living a life you don’t want? Why not just say no and make your living painting?”
    “Ah. Home is a tiny but thriving village in Italy. We do this by growing crops, fishing and my family business.”
    Was he going to make her ask how his family made their living? Paolo was swarthy but he hadn’t the leathery skin of a man who spent daylight hours on the sea or in the fields. Could they be Mafia connected?
    Darcy steeled herself for whatever answer he might provide. “I don’t see you as being a fisherman or a farmer. What is your family business?”
    “You are thinking wine or cheese, no?”
    “Not exactly.”
    “We are a global plumbing supply company. We sell what you would call toilets but only to those willing to pay the price for the best.”
    Darcy tried. She really tried to hold back any jokes at his expense but she just couldn’t do it. “So you’re willing to take your seat on the family throne, drop a few kids in the family pool, even though you’ll be flushing what you want right down the drain?”
    “Are you finished?” He rolled his eyes.
    “In a second. I’m still wiping the jokes from my mind.”
    “I promise you I have heard them all before. As for staying, my visa was arranged by my family. It will run out by the end of the year and they will make sure it is not renewed. Besides, I like it here but my village is home—if I am still welcome there.”
    “What do you mean?”
    Paolo sighed and ran a hand through his thick black hair. “Sophia, she will do everything she can to make me pay for this insult. She followed me to America against my wishes. I do not…” His breath hitched as though the words stuck in his throat. “I have never said it aloud before but I do not even like her. She is a shrew, willful and spoiled, though I have to believe she is not stupid enough to jeopardize her future. Pardon.”
    Darcy realized his cell phone was ringing and she watched Paolo brace himself, slug back the rest of his wine then walk to the kitchen counter to pick it up. She could decipher enough from body language to instantly tell it wasn’t a pleasant conversation.
    What if Paolo were telling the truth about Sophia? It was strange to think of a grown man having no choice with his future but she didn’t know enough about his culture to judge him for it. Besides, the conversation occasionally grew heated on Paolo’s side, so he appeared to give as good as he got.
    She was beginning to wonder if she should leave when Paolo muttered agreement a few times then flipped the phone shut.
    “That was my father. He heard about our, how you say? Intimacy.”
    “Sophia didn’t waste any time, did she?” Darcy remarked. She rose and strolled to the counter then set her wine on it, prepared to leave. “She actually called your family in Italy?”
    Paolo nodded. “Papa reminded me of my duties and I reminded him that Sophia was the uninvited guest. She deserved what she got by coming here. He agreed but asked me to be more discreet.”
    “And me, Paolo? Do I deserve this?”
    “What Sophia said to my father about you, no. But when you climaxed before she arrived,” he reached out and tilted her chin up with his finger. “ Si , you deserve that and so much more. Let me make it up to you now. My future I cannot control, but right here, right now I have what I truly want.”
    Darcy gazed into those melted chocolate eyes and made up her mind.
    She was so going to fuck him.
    Only one little matter to clear up first. “Did you ever actually ask Sophia to marry you?”
    He startled, taken aback, as though he’d never even thought of doing so. “No.”
    “Have you slept with her?”
    Paolo started to laugh then coughed. “No. The Santori and Tortucci fathers guard their daughters’ virginity as part