The Dare

"You're smiling at your phone again." Luca glanced up from the breakfast table inside the yacht's lounge to find his best friend Matteo watching him.

"I always smile," Luca replied smoothly.

"Not like that."

Matteo dropped into the chair across from him. "Who is she?"

Luca set his cup down slowly. "You assume there's a woman involved."

"You're a billionaire with emotional issues. There's always a woman involved."

Luca kept drifting back to the messages from Sienna. Particularly the last one from her and he smirked at the memory of her sarcasm.

"What's the smile for?" Matteo demanded.

Luca leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms above his head. "I met someone interesting last night."

That immediately got attention. His cousin Alessia looked up from her coffee. "Interesting?"

Emilia came through the door wearing sunglasses and judgement "She insulted him," Emilia answered. "Repeatedly."

Matteo blinked. "You let someone just insult you?"

Emilia grinned. "He's obsessed."

Luca scoffed. "Obsessed is aggressive."

"You crossed the yacht and brushed of at least four people just to talk to her."

Matteo immediately looked delighted. "Oh, so this is serious."

"It's not serious."

"What's her name?" Alessia asked.

Luca hesitated half a second too long.

Emilia pointed immediately. "There. That hesitation. He likes her."

"I met her once."

"And yet you remember her name."

Luca sighed dramatically. "You're all exhausting."

"Name," Matteo repeated.

"Sienna."

Matteo had been scrolling his phone and then turned it towards Luca. "Is this her? She's everywhere online this morning. Congratulations. The tabloids think you're in love."

A blurry paparazzi photo filled the display—Luca and Sienna standing together on the yacht balcony.

Luca stared at the photo longer than necessary.

He remembered that exact moment. Sienna laughing after calling him fountain scandal guy again.

"You look in love," Alessia noted casually.

Luca tossed the phone back toward Matteo. "I look interested."

"That's worse."

"It was one conversation," Luca said.

"Yes," Emilia agreed. "And somehow you already texted her."

Luca narrowed his eyes. "Who told you that?"

"You're smiling at your phone like a teenage boy. How did you get her number?"

"She mentioned the magazine she works for. Her contact details weren't exactly difficult to find...." Luca was cut off by Matteo.

"Is this the first woman in years who hasn't immediately fallen at your feet?"

Luca looked insulted. "Shut up."

"Answer the question."

Luca sighed. "She's not impressed by wealth."

Matteo burst into laughter. "Oh my God," he wheezed. "That's why you like her."

Luca flipped him off calmly.

Emilia looked delighted. "This is incredible."

"You're all being very annoying about this."

"No," Alessia corrected. "You're being strange. You are awake and at breakfast."

Matteo grinned slowly. "I need to meet this woman."

"You're not meeting her."

"You're protective already?" Emilia asked.

"I'm not protective."

"You absolutely are."

Luca opened his mouth to argue before stopping. Annoyingly enough, she wasn't wrong. Something about Sienna triggered instincts he normally ignored, which was ridiculous. He barely knew her. But he liked the way she challenged him. The way she was unimpressed by wealth or reputation. The way she flirted while thinking she wasn't flirting.

Matteo leaned back in his chair, grinning. "So what's the plan?"

"There's no plan."

"You always have a plan."

Luca shrugged. "I invited her to lunch."

"And?"

"She said no."

Matteo laughed even harder.

"She rejected you?"

"She said no to lunch, not a marriage proposal."

"She rejected you," Emilia repeated gleefully.

Luca hated how entertaining everyone found this.

Alessia sipped her coffee calmly. "Honestly, I already like her."

"Same," Emilia agreed.

Matteo shook his head. "I don't think I've ever seen this happen before."

"What exactly is happening?"

"You're chasing someone."

Luca scoffed. "I don't chase."

"That sounded defensive."

"It was meant to."

Matteo studied him for a second before a dangerous smile spread across his face.

"This is going to be fun."

Luca narrowed his eyes. "That sentence never ends well."

"I bet you can't do it."

"Do what?"

"Charm her."

Luca blinked once.

Then laughed.

"You can't be serious."

"I'm completely serious," Matteo replied. "If she's genuinely immune to the Luca Moretti experience, I want proof."

"You're betting against me?"

"I'm betting you've finally met a woman who sees through your nonsense."

Luca leaned back slowly. "I'm not betting on Sienna. I'm not chasing her. She just interests me."

But despite his assertion, Sienna had captured his attention with her sarcasm and eye rolls.

"She already likes me," Luca said.

Emilia nearly spit out her coffee. "Oh, he's delusional."

"She absolutely does not," Matteo argued.

"She laughed at my jokes."

"She mocked your entire existence."

"Flirtatiously."

"That is deeply optimistic."

Luca went quiet for a moment. Beneath all the teasing and resistance last night, he'd noticed the way her pulse jumped when he leaned closer and the way she smiled shyly before trying to hide it. Sienna Vale was attracted to him. She just didn't trust herself about it yet. His attention drifted back toward his phone again. Toward Sienna. Toward the challenge in her eyes every time she looked at him. Most women in Monaco bored him within minutes but Sienna fascinated him after one conversation.

And that was the dangerous part.