Standard disclaimers apply. Well, here’s a new one! The last chapter, hopefully, will be a songfic. Enjoy!

Italics means thoughts!!

Love Me

Prologue

Duo sighed as he watched Lorenzo peck the petite woman on the cheek. He tore his eyes away from the scene. It was disgusting what Lorenzo did. He felt bile rise up in this throat, he felt like throwing up. The young woman had been on the island for about two weeks and Duo was already disgusted by the situation. He looked at Lorenzo Tofanelli through his narrowed, violet eyes. If it wasn’t for the fat paycheck this guy handed him every week he would have been gone a long time ago.

The girl was beautiful though. She had short hair with long bangs in the front that covered her cornflower blue eyes. She was very short, but had a body to die for. She was hot. Too bad she was Lorenzo’s new sex toy. He could really fall for a girl like that. Hell, maybe he already had. She was totally his type. He shrugged mentally. There was no use in him thinking about those things. She would be gone in about a month and he’d never see her again. That was always the case with the girls that Lorenzo brought to the island. They were temporary.

“Duo!” said Lorenzo sharply.

Duo shook his head and said, “Yes, Lorenzo?”

“I want you to take Hilde here to the mainland. She wants to go shopping,” he said and ran a hand down her cheek.

Duo wanted to puke. “Yes, of course Lorenzo. What time do you want us back here?” he asked in his professional-body-guard voice. ’Great! Just what I needed, to baby-sit the sex goddess of the moment!’ he said to himself.

“Oh, be back when she’s done shopping,” he said and kissed her on the cheek again. He smiled at her.

Hilde looked at the tall young man through her lowered, black lashes. He was so sexy. Sinfully so. Broad, tanned chest. Absurdly long hair tied back in a braid that touched his oh-so-sexy, rock-hard ass. Well, she was guessing about the rock-hard part but she was sure he did have a firm behind. She’d seem him in his swimming trunks when she first got here. He was still hot. She could really go for a guy like that. She looked at him again. Behind his sunglasses she knew he had the most incredible violet eyes she had ever seen. Overall, this guy was hot. She smiled prettily when he approached her to help her into Lorenzo’s yacht.

When Duo stepped off from the dock into the yacht he offered Hilde his hand. When their hands touched it was like both had been struck by lightening. The contact had been brief, maybe for five seconds tops, but the reaction in both of them lasted throughout the whole boat ride to the mainland

Duo walked a few steps behind the scantly-clad Hilde. He took a moment to asses the situation, meaning the he took a moment to check her out. He started from her hair, which she had swept back a little with gel. He had never like short hair on a girl. He’d always thought it was too masculine, which was dumb because he had ridiculously long hair for a man. He looked at her dress. His eyes appreciated the way the stretchy fabric hugged her curves like a second skin. The dress was one of spandex-like material that stretched across her body in a brown, tan and beige print. It was cut at an angle at the bottom so it was longer on one side than the other. The same thing had been done to the top; the dress only had one shoulder.

Before he could notice, Hilde stopped and he was forced to run into her back. “Duo?” Hilde said.

Duo cleared his throat and answered, “Yes?”

“Why do you work for Lorenzo?” she asked and walked into a boutique. Duo didn’t say anything. “I mean, someone who looks like you shouldn’t be a bodyguard to some Mafia boss. You should be in front of a camera making teenage girls’ hormones go crazy.” She smiled at that but then continued. “Either that or be a porn star. You sure do look like one.”

Duo just stared at her, unsure of what to say. He wasn’t exactly baffled what she said, he’d heard it too many times before. It was just that he wasn’t sure he was supposed to be associating with this woman. He sighed and said without really realizing, “Why do you?” He regretted that immediately.

Hilde didn’t flinch or stop her browsing of clothes. She just sighed. “Well, Duo, there are a lot of reasons why someone like me does what she does. I have many reasons to be with Lorenzo for as long as he will have me,” she said sadly.

“Like money?” Duo asked and then scowled. He hadn’t meant to say anything of what he’d already said, but since they were on the subject.

Hilde chuckled. “Money, Duo, is the least of my reasons for being with Lorenzo. It’s not the money,” she said looking in his eyes.

Duo stared back at her and scoffed. “Don’t tell me you’re actually in love with the guy?” he asked incredously.

Hilde started to walk out of the boutique. Duo fell in step beside her and she smiled. “In love with Lorenzo? Now there’s a thought. No, I’m not in love with him,” she confessed while heading for the exit of the shopping center.

“Then why? If you’re not in love with the guy and you don’t care about his money then why are you with him?”

She smiled brightly at him. “Would you like to have lunch with me? We can continue our conversation over a salad or maybe you’d like a steak?” she said and winked at him.

Duo fought hard not to smile at her but he failed miserably. She was just one of those persons that made you smile just by looking at you. “I don’t think it’s proper. Lorenzo--”

Hilde smiled and waved her hand dismissing his comment. “Screw what Lorenzo says! Contrary to what you and him might believe, he doesn’t own me. I am here of my own free will. I can do what I want.”

Duo sighed. “Fine, but if he says something you’ll tell him that you forced me into it. Okay?” he asked giving her a bright smile.

“Of course Duo because we all know I’m big and tough with lots of muscles to make everybody bend to my will,” she said with good-humored sarcasm.

‘You don’t need muscles to make men bend to your will,’ he thought. ‘All you need to do is wiggle your butt or wink and men will turn into a puddle for you.’

Tbc…

Author’s Note: Ooh, tropical island love! Stay tuned for chapter one!