Page 27 of Better Left Unsaid

What did Paolo have that I didn’t?

Okay, besides his own brand.

He had an empire, a legacy.

Then there was his wealth. Not that I was bad off. I had money. I depended on my savings in between gigs, but still, I was financially independent and could support a family if I had to.

He lived in Italy, like I said, so he could give Maria a life there she never even dreamed of having, but let’s be real, Italy had her heart, and she would probably love to live there. Shit, she could even open aBellissimaoffice there, giving the magazine an international address. In the very city that was known for its fashion—Milan.

He already knew—and had worked with—her family, so they’d welcome him with open arms. Isabella would probably adore him.

Great, just great.

All right, so apparently, I was going to torture myself by thinking of the things he had.

Maybe Marco was right. Stupid, smug ass. He was never right, by the way, so I’d have to keep that one to myself. Couldn’t have him thinking he was some sort of genius. It was for his own good. Marco didn’t need any more self-confidence. He had that shit tenfold.

But it didn’t change the fact that he had put it in my head—not that the thought hadn’t crossed my mind once or twice before—that Maria wouldn’t be available forever.

I knew we had promised emotions wouldn’t get involved, but they did. For me, at least. Somewhere in the middle of our arrangement, I fell for her. It wasn’t changing, either. My feelings weren’t going away. If anything, the more I saw her, the more we slept together, they were increasing. I tried not to be obvious about them, and I thought I’d done a pretty great job so far, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t killing me.

I had to make a bold move and fast because if Paolo was who I was up against, he could whisk her away and then that’d be that. My chance would have flown right out the damn window.

Every single time she dated someone, I thoughtif this is what makes her happy, if he makes her happy, then I’ll let her go. At the end of the day, that was all I wanted. I was deluding myself, though, because I wanted more than that—I wanted her to be with me.

Forget lunch, I wanted to throw up.

I peered at Maria across the picnic table from me. She was fishing out an onion ring and had never looked happier. It was that look that gutted me, that look of pure bliss. Sure, it was beautiful and seeing her happy shouldn’t have gutted me, but I wanted her to have that look when it came to me. And she did, but it wasn’t the same. There was always an undertone of friendship lurking there for her.

It wasn’t like she really wasn’t my friend, too, because she was, but it was impossibly difficult to forget about my feelings for her. The way I wanted her. And not just as friends with benefits, but all of her. Her heart. Not just her body.

Meeting my eyes, Maria laughed. “Sorry, I didn’t realize how hungry I was.”

Trying desperately to get out of my head, I smiled. “It’s no problem.” I took a bite of my burger. “Hey, have you ever considered modeling?” This might’ve been the wrong time to bring this up, but suddenly it felt like if I didn’t act fast, I’d lose any chance I could remotely have. And my bold move was pretty much handed to me on a silver platter, and I was done being a fool, so I was taking it.

Maria tossed her head back in laughter as she put her drink down on the table and swallowed a sip. “Are you kidding me? No! Can you imagine how horrible I’d be at modeling? I’d be so uncomfortable.”

Yeah, I thought you’d say that.

“So what’s going on with you? I know we’re having lunch, but what else brings you to the city?” she asked, not entertaining my question for another second.

Man, how I wanted to tell her that I didn’t need an excuse to come into the city to see her. How I’d go to the ends of the earth just to see her. No questions asked. Too intense? Yeah, well, try being in my head because apparently, I was the love intensely type of guy. Who the hell knew? “Not much. Jeff had an interesting offer on the table for me.” I took another bite of my burger, needing a distraction before the inevitable where I stupidly told her exactly what the offer entailed in hopes that maybe, just maybe, she would say she was interested.

Don’t say it because I already knew I was a delusional fucker.

Maria finished off a mozzarella stick and licked her fingers.Hot damn, what I wish she was licking off her fingers instead right now.“I love greasy food. I’m sorry, but I do. Eating healthy is great, but this right here from Mo’s is the best.” I nodded. “Anyway, tell me about the offer.”

I swallowed hard and put all my energy into acting casual about the whole thing. “There’s this fragrance campaign. I’d be the male model for the cologne—”

“That’s great!” Maria burst out enthusiastically.

“But they want a woman opposite of me for the perfume.”

“Okay, nothing new there,” she said, nodding and taking another bite of her food. “So the job is yours?”

I shook my head. She might want to let me finish before she got all excited.

“What’s the problem? Did you not accept?”

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