Page 10 of Seduced by Her Billionaire Fake Fiancé

“Andie?” He prompted, leaning closer, studying the smattering of freckles that danced across the bridge of her nose.

She stiffened, even when he hadn’t touched her.

His eyes dropped of their own volition to her lips, full and naturally pink, then back to her eyes, past cheeks that were growing darker by the second.

Her responses to him were fascinating. There was no getting away from the fact she clearly desired him. Was that adding to her anger? Did she resent feeling any kind of chemistry with him?

Well, in Max’s experience, chemistry was neither here nor there. It was a simple biological response that could be ignored or indulged on a whim. He had no intention of indulging it with Andie, so he presumed she’d be happy to ignore whatever was humming between them.

She was extremely beautiful; he had no doubt she had plenty of experience managing men.

“We need to know enough to fool those closest to us. Please remember, the engagement ruse was your suggestion. I would have preferred a straight-up business arrangement.”

“When I thought you’d take forty nine percent,” she muttered.

He leaned closer, so close that he could feel her warm breath on his face. “You can either keep bitching about it or quit this deal and go back to the Santoros, who will make you very wealthy but leave you with none of the company. It is your decision. But if you agree to persevere with our arrangement, I don’t want to hear another word about the ownership split. This arrangement is final, okay?”

Her eyes widened at both his words and tone, but it didn’t occur to Max to apologise for speaking so abruptly. He valued plain speech, and honesty. It was a vital part of his personal moral code. Andie would learn to live with it.

“Fine,” she snapped, looking out the window again. “I’m twenty-two. I went to school here, but college in California for a year before my mom got sick and I moved home. I didn’t finish my degree. She died two years ago. I have a brother, Carlisle—,”

“Older or younger?”

“Younger.” She hesitated, glancing at him quickly then looking out the window again, but her hands in her lap fidgeted like crazy. “He’s in rehab. Has been for six weeks.”

“Drugs or alcohol?”

“Both.”

There it was again—sympathy.

“He got in with a bad crowd,” she explained defensively. “And then with mom, he just didn’t cope. He was always close to her, even when most of his friends basically refused to acknowledge they even had a mother, Carlisle would come home and sit with mom in the kitchen, telling her about his day.”

He watched as she dashed away a tear, marveling at her emotions and how freely she expressed them, even when trying to conceal them from Max.

“He took her death hard. I mean, we all did, but he’d already been using to try to cope with her sickness.” Her voice wobbled as she turned to face Max, again that defiance shining in her eyes, and she toyed with the engagement ring on her finger. “I know most people think of rehab as being bad, but I’m just so glad we got him there. That he actually realized he needed to go.”

Max nodded. “It sounds like the best place for him.”

She didn’t respond to that comment.

“I took over the running of the company around the time mom died. I’d been studying business at college, I guess I kind of have a head for it. And the fact it’s my parents’ company means it’s just in my blood. But dad had…”

“He’d been distracted, while your mother was sick,” Max said, surprised by how kindly he phrased his observation, which was that the older man had been negligent as all hell and let things slide almost beyond the point of repair.

“Yes,” she nodded slowly, massaging her lip with her teeth. “He was distracted, and little things got past him that shouldn’t have.” Her brow furrowed. “By the time I took over, and with the pandemic already making the market volatile, there was just so much to do. I tried, I really tried,” she continued.

“I’m sure you did.”

She swallowed. “Your turn.”

“That’s not quite enough,” he rejected. “You’ve told me a little, but what about you? Friends, hobbies, past lovers?”

She flinched. “None of that will come up.”

“You don’t think?”

“I’m sure of it. This will be a quick meeting.”

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