Page 3 of The Baby His Secretary Carries

“As Mr. Casella said, I report to his executive assistant, Valentina. I help her with emails and correspondence, assist with reporting and presentations. I also run personal errands to free her time, so she can be more accessible to Mr. Casella. She suffered an injury so I came along at the last minute to be her legs. That’s probably why you didn’t see my name on the passenger list.”

“I didn’t see ‘Legs,’ either,” Sasha said, prompting a few dry chuckles. She turned a pout upward to her husband. “Much as it pains me to admit it, I think you may be right, darling. I need my own assistant. Either that or you should hire an assistant for Tino, so little things like sending me an updated passenger list doesn’t fall through the cracks.”

“Happy wife, happy life. I’ll have Tino call an agency today.”

“I’ll reach out to him myself once I know exactly what I want. Tell me a little more...Molly, is it?” Sasha didn’t give her a chance to reply. “Never mind.” She flicked her hand. “We don’t need to discuss that here. Come by my stateroom tomorrow. Have breakfast with me,” she offered with a pleasant smile. “You can tell me about your duties so I can hire exactly the right person. Would you mind, Gio?”

“If you’re planning to poach her, then yes. I mind very much.” He threw off his towel and levered himself back into the pool. “I’m sure Valentina would, too.” He took little notice of the woman who drifted closer, bare breasts practically grazing his rib cage as he stretched out his arms again. “Molly may make her own choice, of course.”

Was that a threat? She shot a look of alarm toward the water, but he didn’t sound worried.

“Come by at ten,” Sasha said. “The men will be in their meetings. Everyone else will still be sleeping. Won’t you, dolls?”

“Oh, I expect to be up all night and needing my beauty sleep, yes,” the woman in the pool purred as she slithered even closer to Gio.

Ugh. Molly did her best not to think about that and smiled weakly at Sasha. She didn’t know if she should be relieved that she would be able to speak privately with her, or filled with dread. Should she call her mother? Pack her bag and prepare to find her way back to New York?

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said and quickly made her escape.

CHAPTER ONE

Eight months later...

“MOLLY.MYOFFICE.”

Molly jolted as she came back from the powder room to find Gio standing in the doorway between her office and Valentina’s.

How did the man get more compelling each time she saw him? He wore one of his tailored suits. This one was a dark gray pinstripe, but he’d removed the jacket.

She was a sucker for any man wearing a vest and tie over a crisp white shirt, but when he wore it, she was dazzled. Maybe it was the way his icy blue eyes glittered and the way his jaw gleamed from a fresh shave. Maybe it was the fact he wore his hair in a more rakish style these days, still short at the sides, but a little longer on top, giving him a lean, hawkish look that was intolerably sexy.

Not that she wanted to notice, but she was a woman with a pulse, wasn’t she?

“Let me get my tablet.” She rubbed her clammy palms against her hips, nervous because today was the day she was asking Valentina for a medical leave. They had a meeting with Gio in the diary. Afterward, she planned on talking to Valentina privately.

“You don’t need it.” He waved for her to move through Valentina’s sumptuous office ahead of him. Valentina’s office was empty, the lights not turned on yet.

Strange.

Gio’s office was a massive, airy space in relaxing earth tones. There was a comfortable lounge area where an oxblood sofa and matching chairs faced a view of London’s skyline. A discreet nook held a bar and a kitchenette to service the small table for dining or hosting a one-on-one meeting. Nothing so crass as a whiteboard existed in here. That was saved for the boardroom down the hall, beyond the carved, double doors.

She reflexively moved to stand in front of the chair she used when she and Valentina met with him in here.

“I understood you were coming in at ten for our meeting. Is Valentina on her way?”

“Valentina isn’t coming.” After shutting the door to Valentina’s office, he moved to close the double doors as well. The click seemed overly loud and ominous.

“No?” Molly’s stomach gave a dip and roll that warned her she might not be fully past the morning sickness after all. Her lungs compressed as she waited for him to circle his marble-topped mahogany desk and take his seat.

This was already a very nerve-racking day. Now she was also hyperaware that she was alone with him.

Despite a crush on her boss that she was certain she had not hidden well, Gio had never once acknowledged it or acted with any hint of impropriety. Nevertheless, his masculine energy radiated toward her like a heat wave. She couldn’t seem to ignore it. She needed Valentina’s buffering presence—especially when she caught his gaze flickering over her light gray pants and pale pink blouse when he nodded at her to sit.

She had made great strides with her wardrobe and hair, given her generous salary and Valentina’s sophisticated example, but she still felt like a bumpkin from New Jersey, always obvious in her awe. She didn’t feel she had anything close to equal footing with this man, which was glaringly obvious to her so it must have been to him.

“I hope Valentina’s all right?” The last time her boss had failed to come into the office had been while she was still recovering from her knee injury.

“She’s perfectly fine.” He leaned back in his chair. “She wanted to be here for this, but I sent her to New York last night. She’s taking over as executive director of R and D.”

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