Champagne Deception by Anisa Claire West Read Free Book Online Page B

avoided meeting his gaze directly.  The janitor stared her down, seeming to will her with his persistence to make eye contact.  But she patently refused and kept him on the edge of her vision.  Why wasn’t he answering her?  She had spoken to him in his native tongue.  Her Italian was a little rusty, but she could certainly make herself understood.
    Repeating herself more slowly but just as shakily, she quivered, “Lorenzo told you to come on Monday!”
    She dared to look him square in the eyes after she spoke…and didn’t like what she saw.  His eyes were as small and black as espresso beans, and the expression in them was angry.  He met her gaze aggressively but still would not speak.  Coretta squirmed on the bench, thinking she would go mad if the creepy old man didn’t at least say something.  Anything.
    Turning on his heel and shooting her one more fierce look over his shoulder, the janitor walked out into the waning afternoon sun.  Coretta exhaled for the first time since the door had swung open.  Gathering strength, she stood up and tested her wobbly legs before racing over to the door and locking it.  Fortunately, there was a deadbolt lock on the door that felt sturdy enough to keep out even the heftiest intruder, let alone a scrawny old man.
    “But he must have a key!” Coretta cried in alarm.
    What good would it do to lock a custodian out of a building that he cleaned every week?  She still wouldn’t be safe.  Dragging two wooden chairs, she created a barricade at the door.  She pushed two of Lorenzo’s heaviest sculptures up against the chairs for added protection.  Hustling over to the side door, she slammed a writing desk into the entry way, constructing a solid wall.  Now no one would be able to invade the building as she slept there alone tonight.  Not even a janitor with a key to every door and window.
    Fighting back tea rs, Coretta trudged up the squeaking stairs.  In her daze, she forgot about the loose plank and tripped up the stairs, landing face first on the top step.  Her jaw crashed into the splintery surface, creating an instant abrasion dotted with blood.  Unable to hold the tears in any longer, Coretta released a sob, thinking how her tumultuous first day in Italy must be an omen of awful things to come.
     
     
    *****
    Lorenzo knelt on the side of the road, spewing swear words that would make his Catholic mother faint.  After just twenty miles of traveling, the van had burst a tire, and now Lorenzo was standing in the chilly dusk, trying to fix the problem.  He didn’t have to rush to get to Umbria.  The sculptures would be delivered to his clients in the morning.  But he wanted to get off the highway before dark so he could check into a hotel at a reasonable hour and get some rest.  He doubted he would be able to sleep very well that night, though.  Coretta had aroused feelings in him that had been dormant since his college sweetheart, Barbara, had cheated on him with an older man.
    Throughout four years of college, Lorenzo and Barbara had been a steady couple, and he had assumed that they would eventually marry.  But after he found out that she had been having an affair with their literature professor, the relationship had ended hideously.  Betrayed and broken-hearted for the first time in his 22 years, Lorenzo had spent the next decade avoiding such entanglements.  The artist’s carefree mentality lent itself to casual encounters, and Lorenzo had never thought twice about his lifestyle…until today.
    He had met Coretta at the wrong time but had always harbored affection for her.  Days after she returned to the United States from her study abroad term, he had learned of Barbara’s deception.  If only he had known sooner, he would have pursued Coretta and convinced her to stay in Italy with him.  Now, it was incredible that she was staying in his studio, and they were both single at this point in their lives.
    Lorenzo exhaled heavily, returning to the