The Italian's Passionate Return by Elizabeth Lennox Page A

luring customers to the multiple bartenders where drinks were being served up with astonishing speed.
    Her eyes took it all in, her mind whirling at how insane the whole atmosphere seemed to be. She took several steps forward, wishing desperately that her best friends Nikki and Rachel were here with her now. It was always terrifying to be alone at a bar, but this was beyond frightening. This was….mind numbing. Nikki would look at all of this insanity and make some joke, Rachel would grab her hand and squeeze it gently to give Bri some encouragement and then the three of them would find a corner, grab some drinks and make up silly stories about the other patrons. When the three of them were together, Brianna always felt invincible and had since the first time they’d met back in elementary school. They were alike and yet so completely different from one another. Their personalities complimented each other while their fears, hopes and dreams connected them almost closer than sisters.
    But Nikki and Rachel weren’t here, she told herself firmly and squared her shoulders, digging deep inside of her to find some strength. In fact, her friends didn’t even know she was doing this. She’d kept her mission to herself, afraid Nikki would try and talk her out of it or Rachel would demand to come along.
    This wasn’t a girls’ night out. Tonight was all about work, about breaking out of her comfort zone. She had a job to do and she had a limited amount of time in which to accomplish her mission. She had to do this on her own. As a reporter, she had been floating along, content with covering weddings and garden parties or any other fluff piece her editor handed out. If she had any chance of breaking out of the wedding circuit and being considered a real reporter, she had to take risks. She had to get out of her comfort zone and find some breaking news, something that would stun the newspaper readership and her editor with the incredible impact of her report.
    She was tired of the snarky little comments about her work from the other reporters in the newsroom, teasing her about how she wasn’t a real reporter. Her editor wouldn’t give her anything but fluff pieces no matter how much she begged for something more substantial. He repeatedly told her that she was good at the fluff and should stick to what she did well.
    So if she could just get one story, one fabulous report that would show her editor, as well as everyone else, what she could do, she would never have to report on the billowing folds of a wedding gown or the tantalizing curve of a tulip again!
    This was her chance. And she was here tonight to hunt down her prey - none other than the elusive, illustrious and disgustingly wealthy Rocco Antoniv who was currently in town. Brianna was determined to reveal the real man behind the charming, suave billionaire. She’d been at his press conference earlier this afternoon, gritting her teeth as she watched him answer questions, charm the more hard core reporters with his wit and jokes. Sure, he might be an astonishingly handsome man with black hair and that scary, dangerous Russian allure as well as that sexy accent that probably sent shivers down other women’s senses. Not hers though! She’d been immune to that charm and sex appeal and his accent didn’t do a thing for her!
    Okay, she might be lying just a tad. That accent had caused some flutters in her stomach every time he’d answered a question but she’d just told herself it was indigestion.
    She’d watched him carefully during the press conference earlier today, trying to understand his personality, to give herself a better advantage at discovering his true nature. He was taller than the average man, but not scary tall like so many other people asserted. Of course, she was in the back of the conference room and hadn’t been able to compare the man to another person since he stood on the make-shift stage but he hadn’t seemed abnormally tall. As for the