Learning to Trust Read Online Free

agreement.
    “But I go back tomorrow. Early. I start at eight.”
    “Once you wouldn’t have known what eight looked like, unless you’d been up all night.”
    She laughed, she actually laughed. A small effort, but it was an improvement on fear, or anger. “True.”
    So he took her into his hotel. He’d arrived in Naples deliberately low-key, and chosen the George as his base, a respectable, if uninspiring four-star hotel. Since mostly businesspeople and tourists used it, he considered it unlikely that anyone would know him. And he’d registered under his mother’s maiden name, which happened to be his middle name. Not a very effective disguise, but then people wouldn’t be looking for him here. But if he found Byron, he wanted everything low-key, so he could get him home and into rehab without people knowing more details.
    They walked in through the ultramodern marble-floored lobby. Lime green and orange chairs were scattered around the area trying to look arty and classy. Glass and chrome predominated, but Jon had the strong feeling that someone had skimped on the designer’s aims because the quality wasn’t all it could have been. The same as the rooms. Or maybe too many five-star stays had spoiled him, places where the staff fell over their own feet to do his bidding.
    This time, it seemed, he was proven wrong about anyone looking for him. A black-suited man followed them to the elevators, his brass lapel badge proclaiming Giovanni Bellini, Manager . Oh perfect, just fucking perfect. Someone had recognized him. Please don’t let him have recognized Lina. But with her natural mousy hair and clean-scrubbed face, that was unlikely. And he could always deny it.
    “Excuse me, sir.”
    At least the manager spoke English. Jon raised a brow and lifted his chin, freezing his glare.
    The manager appeared not to notice, perhaps because his gaze was fixed on Lina. “I understood that you checked in alone, sir.”
    “Yes. If you wish extra for my guest, I’m sure my credit card will cover it.”
    For the first time, the man appeared slightly nervous. He licked his lips and transferred his attention to Jon. “Is this a local girl, sir? Is your acquaintance of long standing?”
    Before he could say anything else, Lina burst into a tirade of something that sounded like Italian but wasn’t, not completely. That patois he’d heard in the café, an incomprehensible mixture of Italian, Spanish and other elements he couldn’t place. It didn’t sound complimentary and he could do nothing except stand like an idiot and gape. Even more so when her tone quieted and softened. She clutched his arm, murmuring words he didn’t have to know to understand, rubbing her body against him.
    Revenge was sweet, apparently. As sweet as her smile.
    Oh shit. Thank God they didn’t know him here. She was landing him in it headfirst. Shaking her off would no doubt confirm the manager’s suspicions, so he did the only thing he could think of. “We’re leaving. You can wait if you like, but I’ll be down in ten minutes. Five.”
    He heard the ping of the elevator and dragged Lina inside.

Chapter Three
    Jonathan looked as if he wanted to shake her, but Lina only felt triumph. At last she’d done something to rock his fucking reserve. Served him right for that interrogation he subjected her to in the restaurant, and his refusal to let her go after he’d promised he would. Behaving like the prostitute the manager obviously took her for had worked nicely.
    He ran a hand through his hair, raising the dark mass into spikes. “What did you say?” He sounded almost resigned.
    She chortled at the remembrance of the expression on the man’s face. She’d changed that superior bastard fast. “I said didn’t he have a heart, everyone had to earn a crust and these days it was harder than ever. ‘What’s a working girl to do?’ I said.”
    He advanced on her, hands outstretched. “I should strangle you.” But instead, he cupped her