Chapter 3 - LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT

Hours later, Lorenzo came downstairs for breakfast. It was a Saturday morning, so he didn't have any early-morning meetings to rush off to and instead he tended to linger over his newspaper and coffee and largely ignore Sarah.

That morning was no different. It was as if their earlier argument hadn't happened at all. They ate their casual weekend meals in the kitchen and the homey setting lent a false sense of domesticity to the scene.

But while Sarah was uncomfortable and tense in the intimate setting, Lorenzo always remained as cool as the proverbial cucumber.

Then again, that was nothing new, as the alpha rarely showed emotion. In fact the "discussion" of that morning was the most heated Sarah had ever seen him.

Lorenzo kept his feelings under wraps but had always made his contempt for the omega more than clear.

It was in the way he refused to meet Sarah's eyes, the way he could make love to the omega without kissing her on the mouth, the way he could talk past Sarah when he had something to tell her, while eternally optimistic and stupid Sarah had never been good at hiding her feelings from Lorenzo. Not from the very moment she'd met Lorenzo, nearly two years ago.

How hopelessly infatuated she had been! How quickly the omega had fallen in love. Sarah vividly recalled their first meeting. Lorenzo had come to dinner at their house.

Her father hadn't told her much about their guest except that he was the son of an old acquaintance, and an alpha. Her father had then left her to meet Lorenzo by herself so that she could make an entrance.

It had been one of her father many "tricks" to keep his business adversaries constantly wrong-footed. He loved getting them on his own turf and had conducted many business deals in his home.

He would let Sarah soften them up with her natural warmth, and then he would swoop in while they were still charmed and go in for the kill.

Sarah hadn't known about her role in her father's wheeling and dealing until she was twenty two; before that she had merely been grateful for the opportunity to help her father entertain his important friends.

By the time she met Lorenzo, Sarah was the consummate hostess, charming, sweet, warm on the outside but completely disillusioned on the inside.

Her father's little business parties had always left her feeling used and disheartened. Lorenzo Matteo had swooped into their home looking grim and purposeful, like a man ready for battle.

Lorenzo had seemed surprised to see Sarah standing in the huge entrance. Sarah had been wearing a simple green sheath dress, her hair upswept into an elegant ponytail of her wavy waist length hair, and she had chosen a simple emerald pendant with matching earrings as her only embellishments. Lorenzo had faltered at the sight of the omega and frowned in confusion.

Sarah, for her part, had been completely riveted by the unexpectedly splendid man who stood in front of her, and for the first time ever Sarah poise had deserted her, she had been unable to utter a single word.

Lorenzo had been beautifully outfitted in a tailor-made business suit, but his windswept hair had contradicted that air of sartorial splendor, giving him a slightly wild appearance.

His dark stubble and loosened tie reinforced that ruggedness. He had been like no other man Sarah had ever seen before, and the omega wanted to know everything there was to know about him.

Lorenzo had recovered first. He had taken a step toward the omega, followed by another and then another, until he stood directly in front of her, so close that his every inhalation of breath caused his chest to lightly brush against Sarah's, Sarah had tilted her head back to stare at the alpha in wonder, tracing every angle and curve on his face in fascination.

"Hello, cara." His voice, like dark velvet over gravel, had sent a shudder of awareness up his spine. "What's your name?"

"Sarah."

Sarah had been helpless to do anything but respond.

He smelled wonderful like whiskey and sin, and Sarah couldn't help and had found herself leaning towards the alpha to breathe in his scent. Sarah remembered every word, every emotion, every sensation of the exchange that had followed.

"Sarah?" he repeated, his appealing voice going slightly husky. "Bellissima. I'm Lorenzo."

"Yes," she said, not making much sense at that moment, and the alpha grinned. It was a beautiful, warm, boyish smile that made him even more handsome.

"Can you say it?" he asked quietly.

"Say what?"

"My name. I want to hear my name on those amazing lips." Lorenzo traced a finger over her lips and she stopped breathing completely and moaned. "Say it, cara. Two little syllables Lo-renzo Please?"

"Lo-renzo," the omega whispered, and he groaned a little.

"Perfect. You're perfect, Sarah." No one had ever looked at her and seen perfection before. No one had ever smiled at her with so much appreciation and warmth in their eyes before.

Sarah had found herself staring back at this appealing stranger, and for the first time in her life, she had felt wanted. Between one heartbeat and the next, Sarah had fallen head over heels in love.