Page 12 of Let Me Say It Again

Beaming, Maria’s gaze couldn’t be peeled from a retreating Dom. “Thank you for dropping it off.”

With Dom gone and Maria still in her Dom-haze, I dropped down onto the couch along the wall in her office and resignedmyself to waiting for her to lose the stars in her eyes. In the meantime, I looked around and tried to envision myself sitting in her chair, working in her office. Well, maybe not hers—hers was about ten times bigger than the average office here with two walls of windows, the couch, a small table with two chairs, and a mini fridge, among other things. The point was, I just wasn’t sure I could see myself working in a big, glass building in Manhattan. Not unless it was as someone’s assistant. Then that picture made sense.

“I’m glad you stopped by,” Maria finally noted as she sat down at the small table and opened the paper bag that no doubt contained the lunch Dom had just brought her.

My brows came to a deep V. “Why’s that?”

She shrugged. “No reason. Can’t I just be glad?”

“No.” I shook my head, wondering if she was euphoric from her little make-out session with Dom or if it was pregnancy-related, but either way something was up. Maybe this was my chance, though, to get right down to it and ask for the job I so desperately needed thanks to a certain CEO.

I cleared my throat as Maria pulled back the foil from what looked like a hot sandwich.

“I’m starving. I’d offer you some, but—”

Once the whiff of it hit my nose, I shot my hand up. “Nope, it’s all good. You enjoy.” I walked over and sat down in the chair opposite of her at the table. Although, I seriously questioned why I did that because it put me in much closer proximity to the smell of whatever she was eating. “I need a favor,” I started and waited, searching her face for a reaction. When none came, I wondered if she’d heard me. “Maria, I need a favor.” Maybe the second time she’d hear me.

She only nodded and wiped her lips. “I heard you. I’m just waiting for you to go on.”

Where was the cringe that I was sure I’d see color her expression? Where was the eye roll? The annoyance? Didn’t it bother her to know I needed something from her? I knew Maria was entirely different from me, but no one liked to be asked for a favor. It couldn’t just be me. Right?

Shaking my head, I decided to chalk it up to Maria being a much better person than I was and swallowed my pride. “I need a job, and remember when you needed someone to fill your old role of fashion editor? I was kind of hoping it’d still be available, and I could—”

“It’s still available.”

“Would I maybe—”

“If you want it, it’s yours.”

Could it seriously be that easy? I looked down at my ripped jeans and white cotton shirt, pulling on the hem of it. “I’m not the most—”

“It’s okay. There’s more to the job than just dressing nice. Plus, I can teach fashion.”

Could that be taught, I wondered but bit my tongue. No use in challenging the woman who just gave me a job no questions asked. “So that’s it?”

Laughing, Maria took another bite of her sandwich and shook her head. Waiting for her to chew and swallow was killing me, but it had to be done, so I sat there and studied my sister. She was something special. They all were—the Morellis—but I had a special place in my heart for Maria. Maybe it was because of everything we’d gone through, what with my trying to break down the thirty-foot wall she’d had around her when it came to me. Not that I blamed her. I was just thinking here.

Finally, Maria spoke. “You’ll have to do paperwork with HR and we need to take you shopping, but otherwise, yes. That’s it. Welcome toBellissima.”

I sat back and relaxed, the steel bar that was holding my spine straight all day from my nerves finally seeming to slip away. “You have no idea how great this is. Thank you.”

“Sure.” Maria wiped her lips again and took a sip of her water. “So, what happened to your job with the hunky Red Lyons?” I’d forgotten Maria’s affinity for the man. They’d met for about ten seconds outside his place when she’d come to pick me up one day a few weeks ago andbamshe liked him. Meanwhile, I worked with him and was now stuck being his fake fiancée, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about the sexy, pompous ass.

I sighed and tilted my head back, looking up at the ceiling. Where to begin. “We’re engaged. I can’t be his assistant any longer.”

Shaking her head, Maria put her sandwich down and wiped her hands. “I’m sorry. I’m not sure I heard you right. Engaged?”

Rolling my eyes, I repeated the word even though it was starting to make my skin crawl. “Engaged.” I couldn’t believe I was saying it, either.

“Is this for real or like when Perla got together with Frankie? Which wasn’t real, by the way. Not sure if you heard that story. They got married for some legal thing Frankie was dealing with.”

I’d heard the story. I supposed in some ways it was just like that. Only, we weren’t getting married. At least not that I knew of. Never mind, scratch that. We definitely weren’t getting married. I wouldn’t let it get that far. I didn’t believe in love and marriage, so even if it was all for show, I wasn’t going to go along with it. Finally, I spoke. “I guess you could say it’s like that. This is for some business thing for him. He needs to appear to be a man in a committed relationship. Apparently, I was the only available woman around when he came up with the farce.”

Maria sucked air between her teeth and sat back. “Oof. That’s wild. I’m excited for you, though. If nothing else, it’ll befun, and you need a job which means you’ll be working here with us. So, I’m going to call it a win.”

Elbows on the table, I clasped my hands together. “Glad someone sees it that way.” I was about to push her on the job topic again because I needed to know more about what I just got myself involved in, but my phone vibrated in my bag. I turned around and eyed it still on the couch.

“You can get that.”

---