Page 58 of Seduced by Her Billionaire Fake Fiancé

Max wouldn’t be in New York forever. He might not even choose to stay much longer, once their ruse was at an end. She’d seen for herself his setup at home and in Rome—she knew he could easily command his side of things from there, with the occasional visit to the offices in Manhattan for face-to-face meetings.

It was highly likely that within a short time of agreeing to end their fake engagement, they would rarely see one another.

Andie’s heart twisted at the thought and her eyes flew to his face of their own accord, studying his features, locking them to her memory bank, though she knew they already were.

“You’re quiet,” he said, not looking up at first then lifting his gaze and pinning her to the spot. “Everything okay?”

Her smile was brittle. “Yes.”

She looked out of the window. Manhattan was in sight, with all its familiar, beautiful landmarks. She loved it here too. How could she not? But it was different. Strangely, given that she’d grown up here, when she flew in over Italy, she felt as though she were coming home.

How odd that was!

“You’re sure?” He folded away the newspaper he’d been reading and gave her his full attention.

And once she had it, Andie realized there was no sense putting off this conversation a moment longer.

“Actually,” she said, reaching for her engagement ring and spinning it around her finger. “I’ve been thinking.”

He nodded encouragingly, and she suspected he anticipated this would be a conversation about the business. Andie sucked in a breath, forcing herself to do this even when her body was begging her not to.Take a few more days, and nights. Enjoy everything about Max before relinquishing the right to touch and look and stare and kiss…

“When I came to you with this idea, I don’t think I’d really thought it through,” she said, not meeting his eyes, so she didn’t see the emotions that flashed in their depths. “The business stuff, sure. And that’s been great. But all the rest of it,” she waved a hand in the air. “Specifically, how our families would react to our ‘engagement’. I never thought about that, Max. Not like I should have.”

“This was conceived for your father’s benefit, primarily,” Max reminded her, his voice business-like and firm.

“Yes,” her eyes slid to his and her heart jolted. “So that he’d agree to sell half the business to you, not because he desperately wants me to get married. I’m only twenty-two; he’s never mentioned anything like that.”

Max’s eyes narrowed; he said nothing.

“But your family,” she said unevenly, and Max leaned forward a little. “They’re just so lovely. So welcoming. I can’t bear to keep lying to them, Max.”

Max remained silent.

“They’ve been so kind to me. Your mother had me try on her wedding dress, for God’s sake.”

Max’s eyes closed: his jaw clenched. “And?”

She had to get this out. She had to say what she was thinking. “We have to end it. Before anyone gets hurt.”

He pinpointed her with his rapier gaze then, and she trembled in the pit of her stomach. “To end the fake engagement, or this?” He asked, pointing from her to him.

“Isn’t it the same thing?”

“I don’t remember us negotiating sex into the terms of what we would be doing,” he said quietly. “This,” he leaned closer, “is just about us.”

She swallowed, the lump in her throat hurting now. The plane bumped a little as it came lower over the city.

“Are you saying you want to keep seeing me?” She asked, frowning, and then it was Max whose lips tugged downwards.

“I’m asking you to be clear about your wishes,” he deflected, and Andie twisted the ring faster.

“I don’t want to hurt anyone,” she said simply, honestly.

“We don’t have to go back to Italy now for a while. Next time, I’ll go alone. There is no need for you to lie to them again.”

Andie swallowed. “But I’ll know. I’ll know that while I’m in New York, working and planning only for the future of the company, that your mother is imagining our wedding and then our marriage, and our children coming to her villa, that she’s building a whole fantasy life around the lie we’ve told her, and I can’t do that. We have to tell them it’s over.”

Max almost seemed to look through Andie.

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