Page 1 of Her Impossible Boss's Baby

CHAPTER ONE

HER BOSS REALLY was the worst boss in the entire world. Polly knew she couldn’t prove that scientifically. But she felt like her two a.m. summons to the lair of His Beastliness was empirical evidence that Luca Salvatore was indeed the worst.

Worst, worst, worst.

She let the word serve as the lyrics for her ragey walk through the lobby of Luca’s building. The night doorman didn’t even ask.

“Buongiorno, Miss Prescott.”

“Hello, Antonio,” she said as she carried on through the glossy building, because there was no call to be rude to Antonio just because she hated Luca.

She was granted instant access, probably because Luca would be a bear if he was kept waiting for over two seconds. It made her want to walk slower. But then he would just make up the minutes later in the most annoying way possible. She knew it. Because she knew him.

Four years, eight months, three weeks, five days and three hours. That was how long she’d had this job. That was how long she’d been dealing with Luca Salvatore. Dr. Luca Salvatore. Who was in fact a doctor in more than one way, because he was so obsessive and meticulous that in order to work in the innovative field of medical technology he’d gotten an MD as well as a PhD.

He was brilliant. No one could contest that.

He was also a first-class pain in the ass.

But this job had come to her in a stroke of luck so random and fortuitous the idea of walking away from it had—until this week—been completely out of the question.

For her part, she had run away from home as soon as she was able. She had gotten accepted to a university in Italy that allowed American students to study for free, and she had left Indiana faster than you could say Hoosier. She had never intended to go back home.

Not to her father’s uncontrolled cruelty, or her mother’s manipulations. Between the two of them, her entire life had been a guessing game. Not knowing who they would be at any given time.

They had been a nice enough suburban family by all accounts. Except for the accounts that were coming from inside the house.

She knew just how much a person could hide about who they really were.

She’d never wanted to be vulnerable, because vulnerabilities could be manipulated. She’d built an impenetrable fortress around herself using the knowledge she’d gotten watching her parents play games with each other and with her.

She’d vowed never to hurt anyone with her behavior, but she’d also made sure to take the lessons of her childhood on board and make them work for her instead of against her.

She had made sure when she arrived in Italy that she didn’t look lost or confused. She had done her very best to look as if she had been to all the beautiful places thousands of times before. She knew it didn’t benefit her to look open and vulnerable.

But that was how she had met people at school. Made friends. It was how she had maneuvered her way into an internship at Salvatore Medical Technologies. She wasn’t specifically interested in technology, but in the inner workings of a company that size. She was studying marketing because she was so interested in how façades work. And what was marketing if not a carefully crafted and directed façade?

She was an expert with those.

She was also an expert at sizing people up instantly. In her household growing up it had been a matter of emotional survival. She could read a change in a person’s mood in a moment. She didn’t want to give her parents credit for her success, but she definitely felt like her ability to read a person and a moment had gotten her far.

She’d taken the lump of coal she’d been born into and made it a diamond.

She could still remember the first day at Salvatore. But only vaguely. The day she could remember with absolute clarity, was the first time she had seen Luca Salvatore.

When he had walked into the stunning, modern building, he’d had the look of a shark cutting ruthlessly through the water. His black suit was tailored exquisitely. Showing off broad shoulders and his lean waist. He was tall, well over six feet. But it was not only his physique and height that differentiated him from every other human being in his vicinity. His face was that of a fallen angel. His black hair was pushed off his forehead, not one strand daring to defy him.

His jaw was square, chiseled as if from stone. His cheekbones hollow, his nose angular and proud, befitting of a Roman emperor.

His eyes were nearly black, and even though he didn’t look at her, she’d had the sense that if he did, it would slice her neatly in two.

And then there was his mouth.

She had never given much thought to the shape of a man’s mouth. But his was mesmerizing. Firm and uncompromising, and her first, immediate thought was what it might take to get him to smile.

She was, after all, expert at managing the moods of others.

She’d always had to be.

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