"I think that will be all, Jeffery," Arturo said, pushing his chair back and standing. "Isla and I will be retiring for the night. You can do the same when you finish here."

It looked as though Jeffery actually bowed at little at the waist. Not so much that it was weird, but Isla definitely noticed it. "Of course, sir," he said, and he collected Isla's and Arturo's plates and glasses, setting them on his trolly and cleaning up.

Isla didn't move. Part of her thought she should offer her assistance. At least hand him the plates or help stack them. Jeffery always seemed to know where her hands were about to go, however, and he always beat her to the punch, reaching for the plates and taking them before she could touch them.

Arturo was behind her in that moment, and Isla's chair was pulled back from the table while she was still standing in it.

She looked up. Arturo was smiling down at her, offering his hand. He could almost be another polite gentleman who was interested in winning her approval, instead of the billionaire who wanted to play a game with her.

"Come with me, Isla, we have business to take care of."

It was the glint in his eyes when he spoke of business, that reminded her he was anything but a gentleman.

Isla shivered. Goose bumps formed along her arms and her legs. Even on her thighs.

This was perfectly all right, because tonight, she didn't want a gentleman. Gentlemen were usually not so notable when it came time to go to bed with them. Arturo looked like he would be very notable indeed. His grip was strong and warm when she put her hand into his larger palm, allowing herself to be pulled from her seat to stand.

So close. She was so damned close that she could smell his cologne. She could feel the hard firmness of his muscles beneath the expensive, casual suit he wore.

Any lingering trace of nerves she might have had, fled her in that moment. All she wanted was to be taken to bed, and to find out exactly what sort of skills this man had that gave him such a playboy reputation.

"Are you ready?" Arturo asked softly, his thumb brushing across her cheek.

*******

END CH 13

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CH 14

There were no more staff members or servants down the wing that Arturo took her. It was completely in the opposite direction as her own room on the West end of this huge mansion. She didn't know if there was any significance to that, other than the fact that Arturo might not want her hanging around after the deed was done. He'd probably send her scampering back to her room when he had his way with her.

Even if Arturo turned out to be not the cuddling type, Isla was going to have to make it clear that she wasn't the sort of girl who got shooed away so easily.

She'd thought she could at least walk on her own, but Arturo didn't seem overly interested in letting go of her wrist.

He wasn't holding her hand, just her wrist. His strong fingers were clasped tightly around the bones of her wrist. She seriously thought she might be losing some blood flow there, but there was no way in hell she was about to complain about it to him.

For one thing, he might not let her go anyway. For another, he might let her go. He might let go of her wrist, and then he wouldn't be touching her anymore. She didn't want that.

Her heart beat raced in her chest, sending blood and heat rushing through her, especially when they stopped in front of a thick wooden door.

This couldn't be nerves. She wasn't entirely nervous. She'd already made peace with this. So what was this? Why was she so...breathless?

Arturo opened the door to his room, stepped inside, and then held it open for her. He seemed to be waiting for something.

Isla blinked, understanding dawning on her in that moment.

Oh, right. Idiot. She stepped into his bedroom, and the door closed softly behind her.

Isla took two more steps inside, looking around, and she blew out a long breath. "This is your room?"

"Yeah, I sleep here," Arturo said, as though it wasn't a big deal at all.

Holy shit, the house she'd grown up in could fit in this place.

Well, probably not entire, but Isla was willing to bet that it wasn't much of a stretch.

The ceiling was high. Higher than it probably should have been. It probably took up a whole other floor of this massive house. The windows were just as high, floor to ceiling, with what looked like a glass door built into the larger, arched glass that led out to a lit patio. The area she was in now looked more like a private sitting room. There was a leather couch, a love seat, and a matching reading chair off to her right. The reading chair was next to the fireplace, which was burning brightly, while the couch and love seat were placed around a large, and wide, square glass coffee table, that also sat in front of a flat screen television.

The thing she found the most strange about that was how utterly normal it looked. No projector popping down from the ceiling, and the TV wasn't so huge that it took up the entire wall, though it probably still cost a couple grand.

Isla walked over to the high backed leather chair. Bookcases lined the walls over here. They were the sort that were made of dark, heavy wood, and not something put together from IKEA.

Jane would drool at the sight of book cases like these. The woman was constantly complaining that she needed more wall space for her books. Well, these would definitely do the trick. Isla would need a step ladder just to see what was on the top shelves.

Then she looked down at the fire, frowned, and realized what it was.

"Is this a real fire?"

"Of course, what else would it be?" Arturo asked, moving toward the other side of the sitting room, through an open doorway that had no door, where she just noticed a king sized bed, neatly made with blue sheets, waited for her.

She and Arturo were totally going to do it on that bed. Holy shit. Even coming to this house hadn't made this seem as real as looking at that bed.

Arturo was stripping out of his suit jacket, and when he turned, he was undoing the buttons of his shirt, slowly, casually, as though this was as normal as could be, as though they were already long time lovers and had nothing to hide from each other.

Isla's mouth went desert sun dry. Did that make any sense? She totally didn't care. Especially when that amazingly beautiful chest was revealed to her as Arturo tossed his white button down onto a chair to his left.

He stood before her bare chested, and holy abs, the only thing missing from this picture to make him look like a contestant for Mr Universe was a spedo and some oil to really give those muscles some shine.

Okay, maybe he wasn't that big, but it was still a sight to behold, nonetheless.

Once again, Isla got to see the excellent definition of his chest and abs, once again, she got to compare the color of his budded nipples to the rest of his subtly tanned skin, and once again, she noted how the scar that ran down along the side of his left pectoral and scraggled down and over in an unnatural line, all the way to his hip, did nothing to deter from that beauty.

Maybe one day he would let her ask him how he got it. Though, the rumors were so terrible, that she might just back out from that one indefinitely.

Arturo Calendri didn't seem like the type who dealt with another person's curiosity very well. Isla figured she should at least get to the friend making part of this arrangement before she pried into what had to be something incredibly personal.

She followed Arturo to his bedroom. Weird for that to be going through her mind since this entire place was his bedroom, but well, the part of his room that had the bed, that's where she went, and Isla was determined to go there before Arturo had to call her forward.

She kicked off her shoes as she walked, losing a couple of inches when the heels came off, but she never took her gaze off of Arturo's dark eyes.

They were molten lava hot as he stared at her. There was something animalistic and predatory in his gaze. A look as smouldering as that could only come from a man who knew how to get what he wanted, and then frequently did.

Isla felt his gaze all over her skin, as though was physically touching her, and a pleasurable shiver rippled through her body. Goosebumps and everything followed close behind.

When she stepped up to him, she never felt so small in her entire life. He was tall, she knew that, but now that she was right in front of him, almost toe to toe, she really the proper impression of his size. She wouldn't exactly have to get up on the tips of her toes to kiss him...exactly, but it was going to be pretty close.

Arturo lifted one of those thick, dark brows. Not a lot of guys looked good with thicker brows like that, but they were amazing on him.

He said something she didn't catch, and she blinked and shook her head. "Sorry, what was that?"

Arturo's eyes widened for a brief second before he stood straight and looked incredibly put off. He crossed his arms. "I'm sorry, is this not holding your attention? Maybe we should try again later."

"No, no I'm fine. I was just thinking about your eyebrows," Isla said. Might as well tell the truth.

And those intensely expressive brows shot halfway up his forehead. "My eyebrows."

One of his hands twitched, as though he was just about to lift a couple of fingers to touch them, maybe find out what was so special that they held onto her attention, but he held back and kept his hands at his sides.

"Sorry," Isla said, trying not to smile at how...casually funny this had become. "I just like them. They're nice and I got distracted."

Arturo still stared at her like she was a tiny bit insane, and that he might have made a huge mistake by making this arrangement with her.

"Of all the compliments I've ever gotten in my entire life, I don't think anyone has ever told me that I have nice eyebrows."

Isla continued to smile. "Well, I always thought that eyebrows were half of the expressiveness people saw in another man's eyes. I bet you scare the hell out of a lot of junior executives when you glare at them."

He half smiled, half smirked at her, and she couldn't really tell which one was more dominant. "Yes, that has definitely happened before, but if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to butter me up with this weird eyebrow crush you supposedly have to keep from getting undressed."

He said it with such a sweet smile on his face that it took Isla three whole seconds before her brain processed what he'd just said, and another two seconds after that for her entire body to flush with humiliation.

Five seconds was a lifetime when she was embarrassed about something.

Oh God. She'd basically just flirted with him by complimenting his eyebrows, of all things. No one did that. She just made herself look like a complete and utter idiot.

"Forget it, I don't think I can do this tonight," Isla said, spinning around to make a mad dash for the door.

Screw the arrangement and being all sexy and friendly and whatever else her plan had been. She'd come back and implement all that stuff after she'd recovered sufficiently for being a moron.

Her hand just grabbed onto the door handle, turned and opened it maybe one inch before Arturo's palm slammed on the wood, shutting the door back on her.

Isla jumped and glared at him. "What are you doing?"

That amused smile she wasn't sure she liked was back on his face. Arturo leaned in closer to her. Down, down he came, until she could smell the spicy scent of his cologne, until she was nearly kissing him.

And from her new vantage point, his mouth looked...pretty kissable.

"I didn't say you could leave."

That got her imaginary hackles raised up high. "What do you mean I can't leave? I can come and go whenever I want! This isn't some kidnapping thing you're pulling off here."

"Don't be an idiot."

The soft way he said those words stung a lot more than they should have, and Isla found herself shutting up very quickly.

Arturo wasn't pinning her against the wall or anything, but with his arm outstretched like that, his large body, so close...she kind of did feel like she couldn't move at all.

"Of course you can come and go whenever you want, but we did have an agreement." That smile again. The one that she liked but was also starting to hate because it made her heart flutter.

"I know about the agreement, you made me sign a contract for it."

"And?"

"And," Isla said. "I don't feel like being insulted and embarrassed before hopping into bed with someone. It kills the mood."

"Trust me, I know how to get your mood in a better place really quickly."

Fuck. Even the way he smiled, so confidant in himself was doing wonders to get her mood in a much happier position. Bonus points for being bare chested, smelling nice, and having that velvety voice tell her how everything was going to be okay."

Well, she had told herself she was going to do this. Isla wanted to have some fun of her own, and a good portion of the thrill from this came from the fact that they were both going into it knowing full on and flat out that there were going to be no strings attached. This was just fun sex.

She couldn't have her fun sex locked away in a billionaire's home if she ran away from him, could she?

"All right, Mr Calendri. Wow me," Isla said, smiling back at him as she crossed her arms.

She shrieked in surprise when he crouched down and curled his arms around her knees. He hoisted her in the air and over his shoulder, like a caveman, so damned fast she she hadn't known what was happening until he was walking with her back to his enormous bed. Carrying his spoils like any proper caveman should.

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A.N: Thank you so much for reading :D I'm uploading this one a few days early because of what happened with the last chapter. I really hope you liked it :)

If you haven't already, please consider subscribing to this story. It really does help me out on Tapas and I upload every Friday. Thank you so much if you already did! I really appreciate that! :D

See you with the next chapter on Friday!

Hugs and happy reading!

Mandy Rosko