Chapter Twelve

Isla knew how to do her makeup so that her best features were highlighted, instead of just being covered up.

Enough eyeliner for her eyes, without going all the way around, made them look bigger. Her lashes were naturally dark, so she used a clear mascara. Her favorite thing in the entire world, especially since there never had to be a worry about forgetting to take it off during the night and waking up in the morning with racoon eyes.

Which was definitely something that needed to be worried about tonight, if Arturo was serious about getting her in bed.

She was fairly sure that he was.

She never wore fake lashes. She'd tried them before, but it was hard to make her look good in them. For whatever reason, Isla and fake lashes never went together, so she didn't have to worry about that.

However, red was her signature color.

Or yellow, but yellow wasn't a color she used to seduce.

Red it was. Red anything with her black hair and dark eyes always seemed to pull in a lot of good attention. And there were all kinds of good attention.

She had a great dress that hugged her ass and thighs in just the right way. Not too short, but long enough to look a little on the sophisticated side.

She never put full on red lipstick, however. That never seemed to work too well either. No one had true red lips, but, she could darken her lips by a couple of shades and still look naturally beautiful.

Also, even with her primer, too much red lipstick would noticeably come off on her cutlery when she ate. Better to put on something that wouldn't be so noticeable if the color faded, which would allow her to reapply it without Arturo noticing at some point.

She also figured that Arturo wouldn't like being kissed and having a whole lot of red on his face.

Isla had put a lot more thought into this than she'd thought.

For her shoes, she pulled out her favorite heels. They black, not red, but black went with everything, also, there was a little red on them. A red bow at the front of each foot. The toe was also open. She didn't have any color on her toes, but Isla was a big believer in pedicures. Which means that her feet would also look pretty good.

If Arturo was the sort who would be looking at her feet.

Shit. Should she bring a handbag? This wasn't a restaurant she was going to, but it almost felt that way. Where else was she supposed to store her lipstick? She'd also brought condoms. Arturo had said he had no plans on having unprotected sex, but that didn't mean Isla allowed herself to trust someone else to bring the essentials.

There was nothing for it. The handbag had to come along. At least it was small.

Next was the jewellery. All of it was her own pieces. She'd made roses out of red wire, which had taken for every to put together, but the end pieces, a matching necklace with earrings and a ring, were some of her favorite pieces to wear to events. Especially when she was trying to sell her stuff.

People tended to like the loops and swirls in her wire jewellery, and the red went with her outfit nicely.

Isla checked herself out in the mirror as she fluffed her black hair. Perfume would be too obvious, and she wasn't a fan of the stuff, so she left it off. Hopefully Arturo wasn't the sort of guy who cared about that.

She stopped messing with her hair and stared at herself.

Wait a minute, Isla had decided that she didn't care what Arturo thought, she wasn't going to try too hard and perfume would make it obvious that she was trying too hard.

No. This wasn't about her trying too hard. She needed to go down there and impress, but she didn't need to impress him that badly.

This was already going to end in sex, so it wasn't like she had to dress like she was trying for that.

Isla wiped off her lipstick and went for a plain gloss instead. She also opted to not wear any eyeshadow or blush.

She smiled at herself in the mirror.

With her hair fluffed as it was, she had to say, she thought she looked pretty fucking spectacular. She looked approachable, not like a woman who was out for sex, or something else.

Isla looked almost normal, like she could be Arturo's friend, or business confidant, and not just someone he was using for...whatever this game was supposed to be.

She had a whole two minutes to spare when she left her room.

She hadn't expected there to be someone waiting for her.

Not Martina. It was that young female maid from before. She smiled shyly at Isla. "I'm to escort you to the dining hall."

"Oh, of course, lead the way," Isla said, as if she had maids and servants escorting her around all the time.

They walked at a brisk pace down the hall, to the stairs, down the stairs, and then through a series of doors, and holy God, this place was huge.

"So," Isla said. "What's it like working for Mr. Calendri?"

"Oh," said the girl, jumping a little as though she were a mouse being asked a sly question from a cat. "It's nice."

"Just nice?"

"Mr. Calendri is nice."

Isla wasn't going to get any information out of this girl. She could ask for her name and the girl might not even tell her. Was there a rule about the woman speaking to her? Or was it just the men?

They must've been getting close to the dining hall, because Isla could then hear Arturo's voice. He didn't sound too happy.

"Why don't you just mind your own damned business?"

Isla and the servant girl stopped, frozen just outside of the door to the dining room. Why would she want to take another step when Arturo sounded so angry?

A lot angry.

Who was he talking to?

Isla leaned in a little closer to the door. She didn't even think about it. Her curiosity just got the better of her and it happened.

The maid girl took hold of her wrist and tried to pull her back, but she didn't put a whole lot of strength into it.

"Orlando, seriously, you're being a nuisance. She's a grown damn woman and she made the choice to come here."

Isla's eyes widened. He was speaking to his brother. About her?

At least one of the Calendri brothers was proving to be something of a gentleman. Isla was just getting ready to brush the lot of them off as being rude and stand offish. Even the brother she hadn't met.

Well, okay, maybe she wouldn't have thought that completely about Orlando. In the two minutes she'd spent in his presence earlier today, he'd seemed like an all right guy.

Arturo's voice changed from completely pissed off, to just exasperated and tired. "Seriously, you're making a big deal out of nothing. I'm not keeping her here for fuck's sake."

Another silence while Orlando spoke. She couldn't hear him, and she wished Arturo would put the phone on speaker.

"Fair enough," Arturo said. "I'll talk to you later, all right? I love you."

Isla's breath caught, and she leaned back from the door so suddenly that the maid girl nearly fell back on her ass as she moved so fast in order to keep Isla's head from hitting her nose.

Isla had to catch the girl, who let out a sharp yelp.

"Shh!" Isla said, putting a finger to her mouth when she righted the girl.

She immediately looked back toward the door. Had Arturo heard that? The poor maid girl looked utterly terrified.

After a few seconds, there was a call from the other side of the door. "Isla, I know you're there. Stop spying and get in here."

Great.

Isla sucked back a deep breath, and she just barely managed to stop herself from looking at the young girl with annoyance for giving away Isla's position.

It wasn't totally her fault, so Isla just needed to walk in there and face the music.

Isla was just about to open the door and let herself in, but the maid girl quickly rushed past her, grabbed the door handle, and opened it for her, holding it open so Isla could enter like a proper rich lady should.

With a servant holding the door for her.

It made her so damned uncomfortable that she almost forgot to be embarrassed for spying.

Arturo stared at her hard as she entered. His elbows were up on the pristine tablecloth. He wore a casual suit, the sort of thing with an open black coat and white dress shirt, but no tie. His hair was tied loosely behind him, which gave off another causal feel to it. Somehow, he still rocked that look and managed to look official and a little on the scary side. His hands were locked together as he stared at her over his fingers with those dark eyes. Isla could have sworn there was a slight twitch going on beneath one of those eyes.

The servant girl wasn't the one to step forward and pull Isla's chair out this time. A male butler did that, someone older. Isla didn't recognize him from when she first came in.

"Thank you," Isla said to him, sitting down to Arturo's right.

The table was beyond long and enormous. If she were to sit across from him, it would put her at least fifteen feet away from him. Not exactly a romantic dinner.

"Did you enjoy what you heard?" Arturo asked, his eye still doing that twitching thing.

Kill him with kindness. She'd seen this man smile before. He was in a bad mood and she wasn't going to play into it.

Not too much, at least.

Isla smiled at him, going for sweet, but without being fake. The fake sugars made her stomach ache anyway. "Sorry, I guess it just happened. You were talking about me, after all."

"I suppose I was," Arturo conceded, still watching her, still suspicious. Of what, exactly?

"What did you hear?"

The butler returned with a red wine. He poured a glass for her elegantly and silently, before topping up Arturo's glass, and then silently getting out of the line of fire.

Weren't gentlemen supposed to save the ladies when they were in trouble?

Isla was all about equal treatment, but only so long as it benefited her in awkward situations. It made her a hypocrite, sure, but right now she was sweating under that dark, intense stare.

"Not much," Isla replied, keeping her tone straight, miraculously. She couldn't hide her curiosity, however. The thing that had gotten her in trouble to begin with. "I heard you mention me, your brother Orlando's name, so I guess he's worried about me and what you're planning on doing to my innocence."

Arturo smiled at her choice of words.

"Also, I heard you tell your brother that you love him before you ended the call. That's it."

Arturo's dark eyes looked away from her, it was just a split second, but it was incredibly telling.

He loved his brother, and he was willing to say it out loud. Arturo looked like a guy's guy, the sort of man who had trouble admitting to feelings like that, but he said it to his younger brother.

And it clearly made him uncomfortable to know that someone had heard that.

This was her opening. Isla already wasn't the sort who would use something so personal and, well, sweet, against a man, so all she had to do was keep this to herself. That was bound to get her some brownie points with this man.

"You don't have to worry. I'm not going to run to the press or anything and tell them you have a heart."

"That's hardly the thing I'm worried about," Arturo said.

"I won't even tell the brother you don't like if it will make you feel better."

Arturo lifted a brow at her. "Were you going to?"

Isla couldn't help but glare a little. "No, that's not what I meant. Dammit, you know what I mean. I'm not a bitch, I won't rub it in your face that you love your family, okay?"

Arturo blinked at her, then he burst out laughing. "Not a bitch?" he asked, but Isla detected no sarcasm there. Not until he stopped laughing and looked her square in the eyes, his gaze making her feel like a tiny animal in the sights of a cobra about to strike. "We'll see if any of that changes when you get out of here. You might hate me a little more when this is all over."

His gaze fell down to her breasts and lingered there. Isla shivered.

To Be Continued.........................

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