Page 36 of Seduced by Her Billionaire Fake Fiancé

“Ah, angry sex. So good.”

“Is that like a specific sub-genre of sex?”

“Yes, one of the best.”

“So, I have to fight with him again?”

“It shouldn’t always be angry sex, but I guess if that’s what works for you guys…”

But Andie shook her head. “It’s not going to happen. He’s too disciplined to make this mistake again.”

“How do you know he thinks it’s a mistake? Did he say that?”

“Not in quite so many words, but more or less.”

Sophie frowned. “Well, if you really can’t get through to him, then you just have to bide your time and wait for someone else. But Andie? You can’t go back into hiding. You’re out there now, living like a normal person. Enjoy it. Don’t hide yourself away again, honey. You have too much to offer to keep living the nun life.”

Andie nodded slowly. “I don’t want to live like that anymore.” And she didn’t. Max had stirred something to life inside of her and she didn’t want to switch it back off again. The problem was that she couldn’t really imagine being with some other guy either. There was literally no one in her life who she thought of with anywhere like the kind of longing Max stirred with a single look.

Nine

HE STAYED AWAY A week and with the exception of the night she’d gone out with Sophie, Andie threw herself into work, staying at the office long hours, concentrating on the corporate structure, trying to anticipate any other suggestions Max might make, to see the company objectively, less as her parents’ company, without the sentiment attached to know that things were running a certain way because ‘they always had been’.

He was right—it was a blind spot for her, making it hard to initiate the changes that were necessary, and so she tried to set aside emotion and perceive things as an outsider would.

She also went to visit Carlisle and was glad to find that he was much improved since her last visit. He was still overly slim, but his skin had more colour and he smiled. They went for a walk around the grounds of the treatment facility, and he showed a genuine interest in her life, the business, her fake fiancé, asking questions about the marriage which Andie deflected on the basis that they were just focusing on the company for the time being.

“His family’s in Italy, we’re probably going to have to do a huge Italian wedding with everyone he’s ever met in his whole life,” she said with faux affection. “It’s too hard to plan for that right now.”

“Because of me?”

The idea of her brother feeling any kind of guilt had Andie rushing to reassure him. “No, Carlisle, no.”

“Because I don’t want to mess this up for you, Andie. You deserve this, God knows you do.”

Her gut had twisted. She hated lying to the people she loved most. But this was for Carlisle too, so that when he came out of rehab and was back on his feet, there’d be a family business ready to step into. She hated the thought of his legacy being sold out from under him when he was too sick to fight to keep it.

“Mom would be proud of you,” he added.

“I’m not so sure of that.”

“Come on. You’re incredible. You’re so good at keeping everything together. Don’t you ever just feel…like you’re going to fall apart at the seams?”

Andie stared at him, confused. “All the time.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, of course I do. Are you kidding? The last few years have knocked me sideways too.”

“You wouldn’t know it by looking at you.”

“Maybe not, but I feel it.”

“You’ve kept going because you’ve had to,” Carlisle said thoughtfully. “Dad and I occupied all the space there was for people in our family to fall apart. You were the only one who kept going, one foot after the other, looking after all of us.”

“I fell apart sometimes.”

He rolled his eyes. “Just promise me you’re not bottling everything up. Do you have someone you talk to?”

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