An Innocent to Tame the Italian

by Tara Pammi

  My father is a bully. Suddenly, his words, the tension in him before coming in, made all the sense.

  “Ah... I’ve rendered you mute with my sad story, sì?”

  She shook her head, something she’d long buried searching for voice now. Longing to be shared with a man who was from a different world and yet, somehow, she knew would understand. “The loneliness was the hardest for me. For all their rationality, computers don’t offer warmth. Or a kind word, when needed.”

  His jaw tight, his eyes searched hers. “Now you pity me.”

  She grabbed his hand and pulled him to her. The stubble on his jaw pricked her palm, his sharp breaths stroked her skin, and still she couldn’t pull away. Couldn’t get her heart to disengage. “I’m just having difficulty imagining this...hot, sexy, gorgeous man in front of me as an awkward, pimply, pasty geek.”

  “I never said pimply or pasty,” he said, before he took her mouth in a savage kiss that knocked the breath out of her very lungs. The searing press of their lips lasted maybe a few seconds and yet it was hot, all-consuming, a synergy of more than just their mouths.

  Hands on her shoulders, he pushed her back too soon. His eyes mesmerized with the heat in them. “If I apologize for that, I will not mean it.”

  She licked her lip, wanting to savor the lingering taste of him. “I...just...”

  He grinned and she grinned back like a fool.

  If nothing else, the fast and hard kiss made Natalie numb to every other dynamic and drama that played out over the next few hours. Numbed her toward the glittering butterflies sipping champagne ever so delicately and the men fawning over them.

  Only her bitchery felt more than justified as she met an awful number of perfectly horrid people who stared at her as if she were an exhibit.

  “Ooh, look at the low-class, unrefined American in her thrift-store clothes and shoes, pretending to belong on one of Milan’s most wanted bachelors’ arm,” she whispered, sick of that feeling in her belly.

  “You didn’t tell me you speak Italian so well,” he said, confirming her understanding of the looks cast her way. A pinprick of hurt flashed and she shrugged it away.

  “I don’t have to speak Italian. Elitist snobbery, apparently, transcends the boundaries of language.”

  His laughter was raucous, booming, shaking his body, translating the motion to her own as she was neatly wedged against his side. He looked breathtakingly gorgeous. Conversations around them came to a stunning halt, the silence left behind so loud that Natalie gazed around with wide eyes.

  “You know what I like about you the most, cara mia?”

  The stupid organ that was her heart went pitter-patter. “That I’m far cleverer than you are?”

  His teeth flashed at her and she had the overwhelming urge to taste that smile again. To take the warmth of it into her. “That tart mouth and what comes out of it...” His voice dipped, turned huskier, his gaze riveted to her mouth. “How is it possible that it also tastes so incredibly sweet?”

  Her cheeks heated. “Massimo, please don’t—”

  “How much longer must I wait before you introduce your latest toy to us, Massimo?”

  This had to be Greta. Natalie cringed at having been caught staring at Massimo like a lovesick fool.

  The older woman, clad in a white-and-black cocktail dress that went superbly well with her gray hair, speared her with a frosty look that made her disapproval apparent without words.

  Massimo dutifully bent his cheek for his grandmother’s kiss.

  “Nonni, this is my fiancée, Natalie Crosetto—” the lie flowed smoothly from his lips “—the most interesting woman I’ve met in...forever—” turned into a truth that knocked the breath out of her lungs in the next second. He lifted their laced fingers to his mouth and pressed a kiss to the back of her hand. “She let me...persuade her to marry me.”

  He winked at her as she shook Greta’s hand, answering her invasive questions about her life. About her family. About her past. For a wicked moment, she played with telling the woman all the details of her colorful past. But she had no wish to embarrass Massimo or herself. She nodded like a dutiful child while Greta, with a voice that sounded like a boom box and with heavily accented English, told her what a privilege it was to land the scion of the Brunetti clan.

  Natalie had had enough when Greta started rattling on and on about pedigree. “Is your grandson a fish to be caught, Mrs. Giovanni?” she said, tongue-in-cheek.

  “You would offend your relationship with Giuseppe Fiore for this nobody, Massimo?” Greta said, loudly enough for everyone to hear her. “Reject an heiress like Gisela, who would make you the perfect bride?”

  “I offer insult to no one, Nonni,” Massimo replied in an equally steely tone, before he tucked Natalie into his side protectively. The smile bestowed on Natalie was warm, his embrace too honest and too possessive. So dangerous that even she wanted to buy in to their pretense.

  He placed another kiss on the underside of her wrist.

  Natalie shivered, struggling against falling into his spell again. Neither did she miss the presence of the petite woman, her voluptuous curves dressed in a green silk that was the height of sophistication, her pretty face artfully made up to accentuate the dark black eyes and the scarlet painted mouth, hanging a few steps back, listening to their conversation as if her life depended on it.

  “I fell in love with a woman with whom I have a world of things in common,” Massimo said in a husky voice, his eyes holding hers. “She’s nothing like anyone I’ve ever met. Even I didn’t expect it. Giuseppe or you or any other person has nothing to do with this.”

  With that he pivoted them away in another direction without waiting for Greta’s reply.

  Nat swallowed the thanks that rose to her lips. She was damned if she was going to thank him for rescuing her from a situation he’d put her in in the first place. She managed to flit through the guests at his side for the next two hours without running away screaming.

  All through it, Nat was aware of the tall, dark, striking man who watched her every move like a hawk.

  Leonardo Brunetti, the only other person there who knew what she was. The cold hauteur in his eyes, the distaste in his expression as he noted Massimo’s arm around her waist, said more than enough.

  Massimo seemed to be saving the best for last, yippee.

  “Silence and the four walls of a jail cell don’t sound like such a bad prospect right now,” she said as he pulled her in yet another direction. “What do you think is the market rate for enduring emotional trauma these days?”

  Massimo smiled down at her. She tried to ignore that it lit up his whole face. The reassurance in the way he squeezed her fingers. Devil or angel, she didn’t know what to make of this man. “Ahh...but I would miss you, cara mia.” She stiffened when he tugged her tight against him, his mouth buried at her temple. “Don’t let Leonardo scare you, sì? My brother’s bark is much worse than his bite.”

  Natalie nodded, not at all surprised that he’d noted her reaction to his older brother. He was far too perceptive. Barely two days since they’d met and he’d already tripped her up far too many times.

  The only person who would actually meet her eyes, despite the confusion in her own when Massimo introduced her, was his grandmother’s stepdaughter, Alessandra Giovanni. Who turned out to be the famous supermodel Alessandra Giovanni, naturally. Almost six feet tall, the woman had a stunning face that photographers over the world loved, with a bombshell body that would fire any red-blooded man’s fantasy. And she’d grown up with Massimo and Leonardo after coming to live with Greta and her father when she’d been twelve.

  Any twinge of jealousy Natalie was foolish enough to feel that this gorgeous creature knew Massimo intimately died at the genuine affection in her smile. “Love and you, Massimo? Has the world turned upside down?” she said in an American accent that war
med Nat.

  “She’s a hacker who can take down the best security systems in the world,” Massimo whispered in outraged mockery that made Nat roll her eyes. “She took me down, Alex. Me!”

  “Ah...” Alessandra said, her twinkling gaze studying them both. “Now that makes perfect sense.” Then the woman colored. “Not that you’re not lovely enough for Massimo to want beyond that. You’re just...so not his type.” She grimaced and covered her face with a groan. Natalie liked her a lot for that imperfection. “I’m making an utter ass of myself, aren’t I? What I mean is you have to be extraordinarily special for Massimo to have not only fallen in love with you so quickly but to have even considered forever... Nothing, and I mean nothing, comes before his tech empire for Massimo.”

  “Let’s just say Massimo couldn’t bear it that I might be better than him,” Nat replied. “And in a strategy of if you can’t beat them join them, he locked me down in a contract I couldn’t resist.”

  Alessandra laughed at that. A lovely, genuine smile that was like a beacon of light amid the artificial glitter around them. “Oh, I like you, Natalie. Please feel free to come to me if you need ammunition against him.”

  Her smile dimming, Natalie nodded. She would’ve loved to have a friend like Alessandra for real. But this wasn’t her life. This incredibly sophisticated woman wouldn’t say hello to Natalie if she knew all the things she’d done to survive.

  None of these people would, even Massimo.

  This was a virtual reality program she was projecting herself into.

  By the time they reached the two gentlemen—she used that word for lack of a better term, for they both studied her from top to toe with an invasive and at the same time dismissive curiosity that raised all her hackles—Massimo had saved for the last, Nat couldn’t give a damn.

  Leonardo Brunetti, like Massimo, dominated the space he occupied. Like his brother, he was lean but broad-shouldered, his face more rugged and brutish than sharp like Massimo’s, cynicism and disdain all but set into the planes. An aura of power clung to him like a second skin. Unlike Massimo, who she’d realized possessed a devilish sense of humor, there was nothing gentle or merciful about the curve of his mouth or the icy blue gaze he leveled at her.

  Here was a man who was determined to be pleased by nothing and no one. At least, not just her.

  The second man, Silvio, was as tall as his sons and a mixture of both. Hair gray at the temples, his face only retained a vestige of the handsome youth he must have been. His features seemed as if they’d been smudged and distorted by years of alcohol. Puffy bags sagged under his eyes while his mouth seemed to be curled into a permanent sneer.

  Next to his powerful, dominating sons, he was a pale imitation, in both stature and presence. And yet, having been a recipient of it far too many times, Natalie could see the casual cruelty he was capable of in his rough features, in the sneer he directed at her, could imagine him as a rough brute bullying a young, innocent boy.

  Massimo’s arm around her waist tightened. Nat leaned into his weight, seeking and giving comfort automatically. As if they were together against the whole world. Not that he noticed. He was too caught up in whatever mind game ensued between his father and him.

  “Massimo?” She nudged him, needing for the long day to be over.

  “Natalie, this is my father, Silvio Brunetti, and my brother, Leonardo. This is Natalie Crosetto, my fiancée.”

  “What do you do, Ms. Crosetto?” Silvio shot at her without a preamble, his gaze utterly dismissive of her attire.

  “I’m a clerk at a loan office, Mr. Brunetti,” Natalie answered, refusing to let another snotty man make her feel ashamed.

  “Your family—”

  “My family is no one, since my father walked out one night and left me to fend for myself. If not for a conscientious social worker, I wouldn’t have known he had fathered a son with a different woman who he also abandoned.”

  She felt Massimo’s surprise at her side, his frown.

  It wasn’t as if he wasn’t going to find out soon, anyway. And really, having met his snotty family, she felt as if she had nothing to be ashamed of. Even her deadbeat dad.

  “Ah...at least you’ve saved us the bother of a background check,” Silvio finished simply.

  Natalie couldn’t even muster outrage. Massimo could be called Prince Charming if this was the role model he’d grown up with.

  His gaze swung to Massimo’s. “You should be careful, Massimo, or you’ll lose more than Giuseppe’s contract. Empires are not built on weaknesses.” Something oily smirked from his eyes. “You do not need to marry the girl to enjoy her.”

  “I don’t need your advice,” Massimo ground out through gritted teeth. Fury cast a dark shadow on his features. “On empires or weaknesses. Or how to treat women for that matter, sì?”

  “You were always the weak link in our family,” Silvio said, a cruel sneer to his mouth that disturbed her on so many levels.

  Was this what Massimo had had to put up with, growing up?

  Silvio bent toward Massimo. “Leo tells me the security system you’ve built has been breached. I knew you shouldn’t be trusted, not in the long term. I warned your brother to not tie Brunetti Finances with you. Don’t let the little success you’ve enjoyed thanks to your older brother’s benevolence go to—”

  “Basta!” With one arm casually extended, Leonardo stopped Massimo from launching at their father, while with his softly delivered command, he shut his father up. Thankfully, most of the guests had already ventured into the next room when dinner had been announced.

  “It is not your company anymore, Silvio. Do not forget that you come out of the clinic for one week per year at my discretion. Mine.” Leonardo’s warning packed no punches. “One word from Massimo and you’ll not even see that little freedom.”

  Silvio left without another word, a little sliver of fear in his puffed-up eyes.

  Natalie wondered at how the older man cowered in front of his eldest. Leonardo reminded her of a predator—one who would cock his head and look at you in one breath and then pounce in the next.

  But it was the fury on Massimo’s face as he turned toward Leonardo that had her chest tight with pressure.

  “You told him about a small breach after everything I’ve done for that blasted company and this family?” he said, his jaw so tight that it seemed to be cast in stone. Pain and anger swirled like shadows in his eyes. “You enabled him for years, you let him abuse...” Massimo turned away, his lean frame vibrating with contained tension.

  A whiteness emerged around Leonardo’s mouth. Neither had Nat missed his flinch when Massimo had turned on him. “I had to tell him, Massimo. He’s the biggest shareholder after you and me. I need...we need his help to manage the old cronies on the board if I have to tell them about the breach. You’re supposed to be fixing it. Instead...” Leonardo’s gaze swung to Natalie.

  There was no overt hostility in his dark eyes but she felt like scum on the underside of a rock.

  A challenge dawned in Massimo’s eyes as he pushed himself into Leonardo’s personal space, shuffling Natalie behind his broad shoulders. She fought against the warmth that curled in her chest. If she wasn’t careful, Massimo was going to tie her up in knots, swinging from one emotion to the other.

  “Would you like to finish that sentence, Leonardo?”

  Her heart pumped so hard that Natalie felt it like an ache in her chest.

  “Do you know what you’re doing, Massimo?”

  Massimo didn’t back down. “Do you not trust me now?”

  The space of a heartbeat, filled with so much tension, before Leonardo said, “Of course I do. I have never trusted anyone more than I do you.”

  Massimo walked away. Without another word.

  If Massimo could be influenced by Leonardo, if things didn’t get fixed soon... She shivered at the conseque
nces. Would Massimo ever let it happen?

  She turned to Leonardo, her throat strangely achy. “Aren’t you going after him?”

  Leonardo’s head jerked toward her. He’d forgotten about her. And suddenly, she wished she’d just quietly disappeared. “Excuse me?”

  She tried to spot Massimo through the crowd. “He’s clearly...distressed. Shouldn’t you see that he’s okay?”

  “Massimo is not a child.”

  “No, but it’s clear that he still resents you for what you failed to do when he was a child, isn’t it?”

  The barb pricked the hard face. The all-powerful Leonardo Brunetti flinched again. “Stay out of our family’s matters, Ms. Crosetto. If your fate were up to me—”

  “But, notwithstanding your father’s assumptions, it’s not up to you, Leonardo.” He raised a brow at her familiarity with his name. She found she didn’t care. “It’s up to Massimo.

  “Save your threats for someone who hasn’t seen the skeletons in your family’s prestigious closet.”

  He studied her with such an intensity that her cheeks burned. “Ah... I see it now.”

  Nat folded her hands, feeling as small as a bug under a microscope. Her cheap clothes, her untamed hair, even her shoes—nothing was missed by his gaze. “See what?”

  “The draw you hold for him. You’re obviously talented since you bypassed his design. You’re bold, even when cornered, and from that conveniently sad backstory, you’re quite the damsel in distress, sì?

  “My brother—” again that flash of concern sat oddly on that ruthless face “—has a weakness for the unfortunate. You’re a novelty, Ms. Crosetto. Once that wears off, once he realizes what a liability you are against his ambition, he’ll send you where you belong.

  “Massimo has an unending thirst, a relentless ambition, to be the master of the world.”

  “You get your kicks by scaring people who can’t defend themselves?”

  “I saw that kiss. I saw the way you look at him already, the flash of concern in your eyes when my father spewed his usual poison. This will not end well for you, even if not in jail.