Page 14 of Seduced by Her Billionaire Fake Fiancé

“It happened quickly,” Max added, with more confidence and credibility. “We met and fell in love, pretty much instantly,” he said on a deep, husky laugh that pulled at Andie’s stomach. This was Massimo Valentino. He didn’t laugh. He didn’t do easy charm and affability, yet here he was, bending over backwards to put her father at ease.

Because he wanted this as much as she did, Andie reminded herself.

Max was motivated by different wants—his need for revenge against the Santoros—so he was going to give it his all to sell this thing.

“Well,” Conrad’s smile seemed forced to Andie. “Congratulations.” He reached for his phone, lifted it, and spoke to his assistant. “Please bring in some champagne.”

“I had no clue you even knew each other.”

“I didn’t want to mention it,” Andie said, thinking on the spot. “Until I knew where it was going.”

Conrad’s eyes softened. “You’re cautious. Like your mother.”

Andie’s heart twisted; her father was wrong. She wasn’t cautious, not really. She had tried to become more so, when she’d eventually learned that her tendency to run headfirst into any situation had a high likelihood of getting her in trouble. But she was like her mother in many other ways, including physically, something which had been both a burden and a privilege in recent years. Knowing that her father couldn’t look at her without remembering what he’d lost was, at times, a knife in her heart. Feeling that she could never be seen truly as her own person in control of her own ship, making her own decisions, also hurt. But she’d learned to live with it.

“Andie’s very special to me,” Max said, and he was just so credible, Andie found herself gaping at first, before remembering the part she was supposed to be playing. “My greatest wish in life is to secure her happiness.”

Conrad gripped the back of his chair until his knuckles turned white. “God knows she deserves that,” he muttered. Andie’s heart felt weighed down by grief.

Max pulled Andie closer to his chest, arm wrapped around her shoulders. It was a gesture of comfort, something perfectly natural for a lover to display, but for Andie, it made her insides tumble and twist in a whole different way. Plastered to his side, she was intimately aware of far too much about him. From his cologne, so masculine and alpine, to his hard, muscled edges, to his obvious strength, and the warmth of his body as she stood right against him.

“As an engagement gift to Andie, I’ve offered to buy into Acto. I know the figures aren’t good, that you’re looking to sell, but Andie desperately wants to keep the business in the family—for her and Carlisle now, and for our children, in the future.”

Andie’s heart thumped against her ribs. She almost choked and couldn’t have been more grateful for the interruption of Mrs. Paulson, carrying a bottle of expensive champagne and three flutes.

“Celebrating?” She asked, as she placed the bottle down.

“Andie’s engaged,” Conrad responded, though his face showed little emotion now, and Andie knew he was wading through Max’s statement.

“That’s wonderful, honey!” Mrs. Paulson’s joy was clearly authentic. She came around the desk and towards Andie, separating her from Max and wrapping her into a big bear hug. Andie knew she should have been glad of the reprieve, of the chance to be separated from Max, who was so overwhelming physically, but the truth was, she’d become used to his strength and warmth at her side. She’d liked it.

“Thank you.”

“When’s the big day?”

“We haven’t decided yet,” Andie replied.

“In the summer, at the latest,” Max corrected, so Andie’s breathing grew laboured. She hadn’t planned to give any firm details—it was easier to break a commitment when the arrangements were left in the air.

“At the summer house?” Mrs. Paulson suggested, referring to the Hamptons property that had meant so much to the family over the years.

“Or my estate in Italy,” Max added. “Or perhaps both. Can there ever be too many weddings when you are in love?”

Mrs. Paulson looked to Conrad. “Ah, to be young again,” she said with a mock grimace, as Conrad popped the top of the bottle and poured a small measure into each glass, then excused herself from the room with another, “Congratulations, Andie, honey. I’m so thrilled for you.”

“To your happiness,” Conrad toasted, and Andie knew she wasn’t imagining the hint of uncertainty in his tone.

“And the future,” Max added, lifting his glass, eyes meeting Andie’s and the now predictable reaction of the air humming between them set her pulse going rapidly.

Conrad took a sip of his drink then placed the flute down. “About that,” he said, clearly thinking, and for a moment, he was Conrad Scott, the man who’d set the world on fire with his business acumen and skill, the man who’d believed he could do anything, before fate had taken his wife from his side and the wind from his sails.

“I know what the business means to you, but we’re already in negotiations with the Santoros, to sell the entire company.”

“Yes, however, nothing’s been signed,” Andie pointed out.

He made a noise of doubt. He made a sound of contemplation, rubbing a hand over his jaw. “In good conscience, I don’t know if I can pull out at this point.”

“Of course you can,” she insisted.

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