Page 26 of Fiancée for the Cameras

Her long, wavy hair hung in a thick, loose braid down her back. Andrea had the most insane fantasy of wrapping that thick braid around his hand while he... As if aware of his filthy thoughts, she turned around.

“What the hell are you doing on the floor?” he asked, barely restraining his temper.

“Andrea...what are you doing here?” Her eyes were wide in her face and a little red-rimmed.

The passing thought that she might have been crying only made his answer sharper. “Seeing as this ismy penthouse, my private space, that is my question,si?”

“Fair enough,” she said, and shied her gaze away. When she tugged a thread and bit it off, he realized she’d been sewing the hem. Then, with infinite care, she folded the dress into a garment bag and pushed to her feet.

He stared.

She was wearing a white dress shirt,his shirt, the cuffs folded to her elbows but still falling down to cover her fingers. Since she was almost as tall as he was, the edges fell to her thighs andDios mio, her legs went on and on. With a few buttons undone, he could see the silky swath of her neck and chest and all he wanted was to touch and kiss and lick her.

Picking up the bag, she walked toward him. “I never meant to invade your privacy. I thought Romeo was sending me to his friend’s place. If you can call a cab, I’ll get out of your way.”

“Not before you tell me why it was so important that you leave the gala. Are you already regretting making all those promises to me?”

He sounded so irate that he could see her mouth tremble, then stiffen to a taut line. “I wanted to leave before I embarrassed you even more.”

It was the last thing he’d expected her to say. And he could see the truth of it in her face. Why was it that suddenly they were on two different wavelengths? Why the hell was this so...hard? “I never said that you embarrassed me.”

“It was only a matter of time. Two minutes in, I knew it was the most ridiculous plan. We should have never...” She swallowed and met his gaze. “Will you call a cab for me, please?”

“And where will you go dressed in my shirt, looking like you do,bella? Crying into Romeo’s arms again? You reach for him even as you tell me you can take me on.”

Frustration and something more danced across her face. “Fine, he’s become a safety net. I’ll sleep on the sofa here and before you’re up, I’ll be gone. Then—”

“Why are you upset, Monica? Why leave without telling me?”

“I told you, I didn’t—”

“And I have told you that I wasn’t embarrassed by you and—”

“How the hell would I know that?”

“You know me well enough to know I would tell you if you were embarrassing me,bella.”

“Would you? Andrea, I trod on your feet during the dance and I slammed into you twice so hard it’s a miracle I didn’t take us both to the floor for everyone to laugh at. And then I dropped a glass of champagne on myself during the silent bidding and there was the fact that I looked like a tacky weed among yourguests and my God, why didn’t you tell me the gala was to honor your father and—”

He pressed his hand to her mouth and felt her warm exhale. “Tacky weed? What has that got to do with the fact that it was to honor my father and—”

She shoved his hand aside but he refused to let her go. “I dressed like I was the main act at a carnival. Didn’t you see how I stood out among the others? I never thought you a liar, of all things.”

“I did notice how you stood out,si,” he said, taking the garment bag from her and throwing it aside. “How does that make me a liar?”

“Because you’re pretending now as if nothing was wrong,” she said, pink cresting her cheeks. “You could barely look at me the entire time we were dancing and then the rest of the dinner, you were deep in conversation with your... Mrs. Rossi. You know, it’s not too late.”

“Not too late for what?”

“You could claim that this was all a misunderstanding and you realized that you and she have...reconnected. It was clear that you are...”

“We are what?”

“You will make me say it? Make me sound even more foolish?”

“Si.I do,” he said, unrelenting.

“You enjoyed her company so much that you ignored ‘your fiancée.’ You could barely look at me after you two struck up a conversation. What was I going to do? Sit there with a stained dress and let everyone see how miserable and jealous I felt?”

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