We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.

-Maya Angelou

Rafe Moretti's POV

I stared at the outrageous woman who casually wore my shirt like she has every right in doing so. Why destiny is so cruel to me? I asked myself silently. The last thing I want was another scandal attached to my name. I haven't yet recovered from the humiliation with the fact that my bride runaway the day before our wedding to meet her ex-lover.

Now this tabloid thing, I was caught entering my hotel building with a drunk woman in my arms. This was all her fault why I was in this kind of situation again. She's now spouting nonsense about marrying her now that her family name was a disgrace. What about mine?

"Are you still drunk?" I asked casually. Because that's the only reason I knew why she's telling me this rubbish.

She shook her blond head and smiled mischievously in my direction. "No, I'm not drunk anymore though I'm just suffering from a slight headache." She walked where the telephone. "Have you had your breakfast? No?" She dialed the reception area and ordered breakfast. I just watched her in disbelief.

"We need to sort this mess as soon as possible." I picked up the tabloid I bought a while ago after my morning run and showed it to her.

"The only thing we can do with that unfortunate tabloid incident is to wed. Like I said there should not be a scandal attached to our precious family name." She suddenly moved where I'd been standing barefoot. "You're really handsome. Last night you were slightly blurred in my eyes like a bad connection while watching YouTube."

I took a step backward when we're already standing few feet away from each other. "Has anyone told you that you are too bold for your own good, Signorina?"

"Many times," She replied with a smile, stalking after me slowly. "I believe that being bold is part of my charm. I hope you are not immune to my charm now that you are now my groom-to-be. Oh, that reminds me I still don't know your name, honey." She held out her hand. "Corrine Cordelia Spencer. Coco for short and you are..?"

"Rafe." I shook her delicate hand briefly. "Rafe Moretti. And let me clear this to you, Signorina. I'm sorry but I will not marry you. If you want to get your inheritance please look for another person who will gladly help you with your quest. I am not that person."

"Rafe? As in Rafaelle?" She asked cheerfully. When I nodded, she pouts at me. "But I like you. I think we will suit each other. You are the perfect husband for me. Why are you against marrying me? I'm beautiful, kind, independent, and intelligent don't forget a super-rich woman."

I smiled sadly in her direction. "I'm sorry. I don't have anything personal against you. It's just I don't wish to marry anymore in this lifetime, at least."

She advanced in my direction again. She gave me this dazzling smile. "I can change your mind, you know? Will you let me change your mind in your view of marriage? I'm pretty good with that. Want to try?"

I took several stepped backward. I shook my head resolutely. "Oh no, you don't. I think you already proved that point last night." I haven't forgotten the spew that covered my shirt through the night. "Please don't make a habit of kissing strangers you just met. Value yourself high, Signorina."

"Oh, I did kiss you last night, then?" Her blue-green eyes filled with confusion as if trying to remember the night before. "I thought it's just a dream. Anyways, it doesn't matter I'm a modern British woman, and kissing handsome stranger is just fine."

"I'm a traditional Sicilian man," I replied firmly. "I don't like women with such bold attitudes. Please don't take it personally this is just a general observation."

She smiled at me, her eyes gleamed with deviltry. "Why don't you try to reform me then? If you marry me I will try to be a good Sicilian wife for you since you help me access the money grandfather left for me."

I frowned at her openly. "Why are you treating marriage so lightly? I think you should enjoy your life you're still young."

She sighed deeply and stared at me helplessly. "I told you, according to my grandfather's will I cannot access my inheritance if I don't present a husband to his solicitor before the end of the year. If I failed to submit my marriage license before the time he gave me. My family and I will be homeless."

"I'm truly sorry about your dilemma about your grandfather's last will but I cannot help you," I informed her gently. "I have more pressing problems as of this moment to get tangled with your own predicament."

"If you help me with my dilemma I might help you with yours." She said sweetly. I stared at her in disbelief. She's like not listening to whatever I've been saying. "Mind if I ask what kind of problem you have, Rafe?"

"I need to save my family from bankruptcy. I need an investor so I can save our family business." I have no idea why I bother to tell her the problem that I have as of this moment but I don't have time to care. All I want was for her to stop plaguing me.

She rolled her eyes. "Oh my goodness! See. I'm the woman you are waiting for. It's a win-win situation for both of us. If we wed we can access my money and we can save your family's business. Problem solved."

"Do you hear yourself, woman?" I asked in disbelief. I couldn't believe how stubborn she was. She was impossible, just talking to her I feel like I am starting to have a headache.

But before she could answer, the door sounded. She smiled brightly in my direction and said. "Excuse me, will you? I think that's the breakfast I ordered." I just stared at her as she answered the door and let the bellhop entered my hotel room with the tray of food. "Would you mind if you pay this one first? I don't have cash with me, honey."

I eyed her exasperatingly. I pulled out some cash in my pocket and paid the bellhop once he finished placing the food on the table.

Once the man left my hotel room, my unwanted guest settled on the table comfortably. She crossed her legs together. I avoided my gaze when I saw something that I should not have seen. "Why are you not wearing any underwear beneath that shirt? Remember you are in a bachelor's place don't you think that rather inappropriate?"

"Oops, sorry. I forgot." She murmured demurely, before flashing a winsome smile in my direction. "Here, let's eat this food together. It's delicious I guarantee you."

I shook my head. "No, thank you. I already had my coffee awhile ago."

The Spencer heiress shrugged, as she started to eat her breakfast heartily. "Suit yourself, honey. This food is divine, I tell you. Are you sure you don't want to eat? Last chance."

I shook my head again. I pinched the bridge of my nose. "After you had your breakfast I think you should talk seriously about this tabloid incident. We can't let this stay like this. I have to remove myself from another scandal."

"Another scandal?" She echoed, looking straight in my face. "What do you mean another scandal?"

I avoided her inquiring gaze. I silently cursed myself from the careless slip. I shouldn't have brought that up. The tabloids back in Sicily had somehow starting to lose their interest in the news of why my bride left the day before our wedding. Leila did the right thing and married her baby's father. Days before her runaway act, I was already started having second thoughts about our marriage... I realized that she couldn't substitute the woman I loved and lost. "Let's not talk about that."

"Are you okay?" She asked affectionately, looking at me with concern in her blue-grey eyes. "I can see in your eyes that something is bothering you. Want to share? My mother always says that you will feel fine once you share your problem with others."

I tried to smile for her benefit. "I'm sorry but I don't want to talk about it. Don't mind me. Just concentrate on your breakfast, Signorina."

"You know what?" She asked heedlessly while digging her food. "You're such a gentleman. You are very hard to seduce but that's what I like about you. You are very different from the other men I met before. Just show your dainty legs and they will drool at your feet. But you are different you already see my private parts and you still act like a gentleman. Did you know that I deliberately show it to you to seduce you?"

I shook my head in disbelief. This woman...if not for the supreme effect I pulled not to throw her on the table and ravished her when I saw her feminine parts. I'm not a gentleman as she claimed. I'm like any red-blooded male.

I walked where she'd been eating and wiped the smudge of sauce in the side of her mouth. "Didn't I tell you to you to value yourself high, Signorina?"

"Tell me," She said carelessly. "Have you ever been in love before, Rafaelle?"

I was caught off guard by her question. I smiled kindly at her beautiful face. "I believe that's a personal question, Signorina."

"What's she like?" She asked with interest in her eyes, completely ignoring my reply. "Is she a dark-haired woman with a pair of light green eyes with fine elegance of a princess?"

I looked at her questioningly. How did she know that information? I was pretty sure that we didn't meet until last night. "Where did you get that?"

Her eyes clouded for a moment before she smiled brightly. "Nothing, just a wild guess. So I am right with her description?"

"We're not going to talk about personal matters, Signorina." I looked away from her knowing gaze. She caught me off guard with that question. Did she meet Laila before? I asked myself silently.

"Now I'm more curious about her. Did she break your heart?" She muttered quietly, digging her food energetically. "Oh! What time is it? I promise my parents to have breakfast with them this morning."

She flew to her room like a whirlwind. When she emerged again she's holding her heeled shoes in her hand while her pouch was in the other hand. "I need to go, my chauffeur, is outside. I'll keep in touch, honey." Before I could react she tiptoed and kissed briefly in the lips and went out of the door barefoot.

I was left staring at her dumbfounded. After I recovered from my shock, I shook my head in resignation. I went to the bathroom to splash some cold water on my face to clear my head. Once I was inside the bathroom while staring at my reflection I realized two things: First, we haven't yet resolved the issue about the tabloid incident. Second, that maddening woman's underwear was at my bathroom countertop. She went home without any undergarments!

I closed my eyes. This was the second time I let that woman kissed me. I sincerely hope that I would never see her again. She only added to my already long list of problems. I don't want to saddle with such a woman in my life. She's too bold for my taste.

"You can survive this, Rafe," I told my reflection in the mirror. "I know you do. Just build your family business from scratch. You can do it."