Now he sat there in the driver’s seat, smelling delicious from his shower and looking impossibly gorgeous. The idea of him inside her apartment seemed . . . just odd. Unlikely. Surely he’d rather wait in the car.

“I’ll just hop in the shower and change for dinner. It won’t take me more than ten minutes,” she said awkwardly when the car came to a stop in her apartment parking lot.

He didn’t reply. She studied his profile in the soft summer evening light.

“Um . . . do you want to come in?”

Much to her surprise, he nodded once and twisted the keys out of the ignition. Her heart jumped when he reached for his car door.

Oh my God, how is Amanda going to react? I haven’t even told her I was seeing anyone, let alone someone like Vanni Montand.

“I’m on the third floor. It’s a walk-up,” she mumbled apologetically a few seconds later as they approached her building. Again, she experienced that dazed, dreamlike sensation watching Vanni rise up the starkly mundane wooden staircase that led to her third-floor apartment. They passed an overlook to the parking lot below on the second floor. Emma’s feet halted when she saw Colin’s car in the parking lot. She’d been so preoccupied sitting in the car with Vanni and inhaling his subtle, addictive scent that she’d hadn’t noticed it before.

“Emma?” She blinked and looked at Vanni where he stood on the first step to the third floor, an expectant look on his face. Her brain whirred and then stalled. What excuse could she make? She couldn’t think of anything else to do but continue.

“Sorry,” she breathed, following him up the steps.

She led him to her door and fumbled the key in the lock. Suddenly, his hand was on hers. She looked up in surprise. His blue-green eyes seemed to glow in the shadows as he regarded her calmly. Soberly.

“I don’t care if your house is a mess, if that’s what you’re worried about,” he said.

Her house a mess? She almost laughed. It was a mess, but not in the way he meant it.

His hand turned the key in the lock. The door swung open.

Emma led him through the small foyer and into her modest but comfortable living room, a lump swelling in her throat. She paused abruptly on the threshold.

In some ways, the situation echoed the other night when she’d caught Amanda and Colin together. The pair sat close together on the couch and looked startled by her appearance. At least they weren’t kissing, though, Emma thought numbly.

In actuality, it was drastically different. Vanni came to a halt beside her, and Colin and Amanda might have been a mile away. His presence altered the dynamics of the situation almost beyond recognition. How could she worry too much over Colin and Amanda’s new relationship with him standing right next to her?

“Hi,” Emma said in a high-pitched voice.

“Hi,” Amanda replied. She gaped at Vanni. So did Colin. For a few seconds, no one spoke.

“Hi. I’m Vanni Montand.”

Emma blinked in rising horror when she saw Vanni crossing the room. He held out his hand to Amanda. He’d had to introduce himself, because he was the only one in the room not tongue-tied. Emma forced herself to move.

“I’m sorry. Vanni, this is my sister, Amanda.” Amanda stood to shake hands, still staring at Vanni dazedly. Vanni nodded cordially at her and turned to Colin.

“And this is Colin Atwater,” Emma introduced through a dry throat.

The small, warm smile Vanni had given Amanda flickered and faded. His dark brows slanted dangerously. He glanced at Emma and she read the sharp questions in his eyes. The Colin? Your old boyfriend Colin?

She gave him a wild look. Colin had stood in the meantime. He looked younger than usual, studying Vanni uncertainly. Colin started to put out his hand, but Vanni gave him a burning scowl and he let it drop. Vanni grabbed Emma’s hand instead.

“Excuse us,” he said coolly, drawing her away. “We have a dinner reservation to make. Emma needs to dress.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he demanded immediately after she’d pointed to her room and he’d followed her in, closing the door behind him. His voice was quiet, but his gaze shouted all kinds of things.

Emma glanced around nervously. If it’d been strange to think of Vanni in her apartment, it was downright bizarre to see him in her bedroom. He shrunk the size of it just by standing in it. His abundant good looks and the careless way he wore the expensive suit seemed to make her carefully chosen bedroom set and accessories appear shabby by comparison.

“I don’t know. I didn’t think it was important,” she hedged.

He took a step closer, his gaze boring down into her. She had to force herself not to step back. “You walked in on your boyfriend fooling around with your sister? And you didn’t think that was an important detail?”

“All right,” she said, anger rising in her. Why was he acting like she had done something wrong? She turned and dropped her purse on her bed, then immediately wished she hadn’t. Now she had nothing to do with her hands. “I didn’t want to tell you because I knew you’d . . .”

“What?” he prodded when she faded off.

“Feel sorry for me,” she shot defiantly over her shoulder.

He put his hands on her shoulders and spun her around. She glared up at him. “Don’t you think compassion would have been appropriate in that situation?” he breathed out ominously through a stiff jaw.

“No, because even though no one believes me, I’m honestly not all that upset about what happened. Colin and I weren’t meant to be together.”

“You and your sister are.”

She inhaled sharply. Hurt tightened her face.

Regret flickered across his stark features.

“Dammit, Emma, you should have said something. And what the hell are they doing out there together? This is your home, for Christ’s sake. Don’t they have any decency, parading around in front of you?” he seethed.

“I told Amanda she could bring him here. This is her home, too. I’m not upset by it. Why should it matter to you?” she mumbled, looking down at the floor. Tears had prickled in her eyes when he’d said that thing about her and Amanda being meant to be together, and she didn’t want him to notice them. She was distantly gratified by his anger on her behalf, but she was mostly embarrassed. No matter how you looked at it, it wasn’t an admirable position to be in, to have a man pass over you for your gorgeous sister, no matter that you didn’t want the man.

Or to have your only family member sacrifice you for a man.

She slumped as pain swept through her at the thought. His hands slid down her shoulders to her upper arms. He palmed the muscles.

“So you’re not upset,” he said dryly.

“No,” she replied furiously, stubbornly meeting his stare despite her tears.

He just studied her soberly for a few seconds. “It was bad enough that I pounced on you in the garage after you’d told me you broke up with your boyfriend. I knew you were upset, I just didn’t guess the full extent of why.”

“So you’re saying you wouldn’t have made out with me or proposed a strictly sexual affair if you’d known it was Amanda I caught Colin with?” she asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm. His eyes went frigid.

“No. You’re right. I would have gotten there eventually, no matter what.”

“Well then what are you worried about? You can’t be both selfish and outraged on behalf of my feelings at once, Vanni.”

He dropped his hands abruptly. Even though she was irritated at him—at the world, at that moment—she missed his touch.

“You do realize that makes me even more of a jerk than Colin, don’t you? I just told you I would have seduced you even if I’d known why you’re so vulnerable.”

Anger swelled up in her, nearly choking her for a moment. “For the last time, I am not vulnerable. And I’ll decide who I think is a jerk or not.”