Page 34 of Fiancée for the Cameras

“I know that. I didn’t mean to...”

“It’s okay,” Andrea said, covering her mouth with one finger. “You’re from such a different background than me. And so young and...” He shook his head as if he couldn’t bethathonest with her. “I would never laugh at anything you’ve done to survive in this world, ever. In fact, I think you are a marvel,bella, to retain that spirit of yours after such a start in life.”

Every word of his took down some unknown brick wall she’d built around herself, made her feel seen. And until now, she hadn’t known how much she needed someone to see it, someone to tell her that she had survived it all without losing parts of herself. And that it was this man who had her trust, filled her with a giddy kind of joy, with a rightness that she felt down to her marrow.

Monica leaned into his chest and wrapped her arms around him, tears beckoning at the backs of her eyes again. And then while she hid her face in his throat, she talked, because she’dalways wanted to talk to someone about it all and who better than this man who somehow made her brave enough and bold enough to reach for her deepest desires.

“When I was growing up, I... My body developed too soon,” she said, the past swirling through her mind like a movie. “By fourteen, I was as tall as I am now and I had this face and these breasts and these legs but no one to help me understand why I seemed to draw the worst kind of attention from boys and men. Maybe if I had continued to live with Father D’Souza, he would have explained it to me, but he wasn’t allowed to have children older than eleven.”

Andrea was stiff beneath her, his fingers cradling her scalp, his other hand stroking down her body as if he meant to make the telling easier. “Father D’Souza?”

“I was left as an infant on the steps of his church. He’s like a...father to me, the only family I’ve known. When I was old enough, I decided I would take his last name.”

“That is the man you visit every year in New York.”

She smiled, remembering how cranky Andrea had been last year when she’d been gone for three weeks. “Yes. He worries about me and I worry about him. He’s seventy-three now and I like to see him at least once a year. My aptitude for languages... He recognized it first, encouraged me to take courses at the community college. He was also the one who urged me to go on a vacation the first time I came here, helped me with the funds even. Now he keeps asking me if I’ll ever move back.”

“What do you say to that?”

Monica hid her grin. She didn’t miss the stiffness of Andrea’s tone when he asked that. “I tell him that I’m building a good life here, that I have friends and a grumpy boss who will probably hound me across the pond if I take off for too long. He was worried that first year, after the accident.” She instantly regretted going there as Andrea’s hand stilled, but pushed on.“But now he knows about all of you. Romeo and he have an ongoing online chess game, even.”

“Send a donation to the orphanage in Papa’s name,” he said, that ring of command back in his voice.

Monica hid her smile in his chest. As his personal assistant, and sometimes Flora’s companion at these events, she knew how many charities Valentini Luxury Goods supported. But this particular donation...meant a lot to her. Even bracing herself for him to laugh at her, she kissed his cheek and whispered her thanks.

“I’m sorry for interrupting you. Tell me more about...you.”

She refused to examine why it was so easy to pick up where she had left off, why it felt so good to tell him things she’d never admitted to anyone, even Romeo, who had become a true friend.

Was it the protectiveness that Andrea gave off? Or just simple, abiding trust in him? Or was it the fact that he was the man who had helped her push through the armor she’d built around her own sexuality? Or was it all of it?

“It didn’t take me long to realize that my looks, my own body, was a curse. I shied away from anything that remotely touched on my femininity or my sexuality. There was another guy when I was eighteen. He wasn’t unkind, but I couldn’t get out of my head. When push came to shove, I...backed out. I realized I wasn’t really into it. With Francesco, we...kissed and did other stuff. I tried so hard but I just couldn’t go all the way. He was frustrated and I was frustrated. I wanted him and me to work so much. I had this perfect life in my head and he suited it to a tee. He said we had all our lives and it was another reason why I fell for him. I thought he was so sweet to wait, ready to try again. When I reached him after he dumped me—” Andrea’s arms tightened around her waist “—he said I was a shiny package butthe contents were useless or something like that. That I was like a cold, hollow sculpture, useful only for showing off.”

“He needs to be taught a lesson,” Andrea bit out.

“He’s taught me one thing, though, and I’m grateful for that.”

“Forgive me if I don’t ask you what that is,bella. You’re far too forgiving and generous to attribute any good thing to him.”

Monica clasped his cheek, feeling the most insane urge to hug him, which was definitely not a sexual urge. A part of her marveled that she could touch him freely like this, could talk to him so openly, while the other part of her was wary to flex her newfound role.

She settled for a soft kiss on his lips, pouring out all these new sensations fluttering through her as if a thousand butterflies had been released. Gratitude and more fluttered on her lips but she didn’t dare try to put it into words. She wasn’t sure what would come out.

“What was that for?” he asked, raising his brows.

For a man who rarely showed emotion or liked it in others, he was very good at reading her and her kisses. She shrugged and before it could get awkward—or was it her own wariness at this kind of intimacy?—she stood up and checked her watch. “We do have a few matters to get through today.”

“What a strict assistant you are,bella. It is Saturday.”

“And you have worked every Saturday since I joined the company.”

“Today I feel like goofing off. I will spend the day in bed with my fake fiancée and explore her very real passion. There are a few things I didn’t get to try last night. So, if you can see yourself out for the weekend and call her in,por favor. I’m eager to get started.”

How had Monica not known that it was possible to blush and smile at the same time? Where had he hidden this flirty, roguish side of him?

He was already larger than life but to see this real side of him... What woman could stand a chance against him? She was beginning to feel like she was on a ride that only went up and around, making her dizzy. Biting her lower lip, she took a step away from the sitting lounge. “Your fake fiancée is busy today.”

“Busy with what?” he said, standing up, every inch the arrogant CEO who wanted the world arranged just so at his command.

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