by Tara Pammi
“As you wish,” he said with a devilish smile, and reached for his white shirt.
Neha watched, shameless and bold and greedy, as he raised his arms and let the shirtsleeves slide down his corded arms. A mole on the underside of his right bicep, a small scar under his left pectoral—details she didn’t need to know about him and would never forget.
She followed him into the seating area, too agitated to sit.
He took mercy on her and said, “We need to set expectations.”
She nodded. “I’ll sign any document you put in front of me that I’ll never seek financial assistance. I’ll never hint, twist or manipulate you for marriage. Or demand that you be involved in the child’s life. I—”
He leaned forward in the sofa, all the humor gone from his face. “That’s not what I meant.”
“I just want to make it clear that I won’t be a headache for you, Leo.”
He pressed a finger to his forehead, as if he was exercising patience he didn’t have. “In doing so, you’re insulting me.”
“What? How?”
“You want me to father a child, face off Mario, all the while offering no emotional or financial or even moral support?” His taut expression highlighted the rugged beauty of his features. “That makes me such a shining example of what a man should be, sì?”
“I’m not sure I follow.”
He sighed. “It’s a little...disturbing to be thought a man who thinks nothing of fathering a child as a favor and moves on.”
Shock rendered Neha silent for long minutes. That was the last objection she’d expected. “You told me once that you innately don’t trust women, and when I said that that was horribly sexist, you said you didn’t have the slightest inclination to examine it, much less fix it.
“You said...love was for fools who willingly bought into a bunch of compromises and then glorified it. You told that reporter you were ecstatic to let Massimo propagate the great Brunetti line further.
“I assumed from our long association that being tied down isn’t in your future plans.”
He ran a hand over his jaw. “Being tied down to a woman is one thing, a child, completely another.”
“What does that mean?”
“If I father a child, I will damn well be involved in that child’s life. Our long association should have told you that.”
His softly spoken words packed a punch. Neha swallowed the defense that rose to her lips, slowly realizing that this wasn’t about her.
It was about him, his...feelings. And he was right—in all the myriad scenarios she’d foreseen she hadn’t considered his feelings at all. “It wasn’t meant as a statement on what kind of a man you are.
“I chose you because you’re the one man I know who’d do anything to protect an innocent in your sphere.”
His gaze held hers, as if to see through to the truth of that.
After a long time, he nodded and she let a breath out. “What does this mean, then?”
“The child and its well-being is the most important thing in all of this, sì?”
“I’ll love my child more than anything in the world. I’d do anything for her or him.”
The hardness edged away from his eyes. “That’s the only reason I’ve come this far, bella. But you need to accept that I will never be an absent parent or a stranger.
“I know what goes through a child’s mind when a parent abandons him or her. I can imagine what this child will hear from friends, well-wishers, every cruel, hard word and taunt. I will not willingly put any child of mine through that.”
He had every scenario their child would face covered so thoroughly that Neha stared.
How could she have forgotten that Leonardo’s mother had left in the middle of one night, leaving her five-year-old son to his father? How could she have forgotten the fact that she knew better than anyone what a wound that had left in Leo’s life?
If Leonardo was a father in the true sense of the word...
Mario’s shadow wouldn’t touch her child. He or she would have Leo’s guidance and support, Natalie and Massimo’s affection, be a part of a family. Everything she’d always wanted would be her child’s.
The prospect of his involvement was such a tempting offer that Neha had to force herself to think of other implications. “Our relationship—”
“Will be defined by the fact that we want what’s best for our child.”
She nodded, the confidence in his tone building her own. They were rational adults, they knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses—they could handle this rationally.
“You said conditions. What else?”
“I want you to postpone the announcement about your retirement. And, if required, your retirement itself. By a few months.”
“No, absolutely not.”
* * *
Her refusal rang around the room. It knocked Leo off axis to see the sudden fear and distrust in her eyes. Addressed toward him when he’d only ever seen respect.
“Neha,” he started softly, reminding himself that, for whatever reason, she was fragile right now, “hear me out.”
She stayed at the window, the waning sunlight from the skylight gilding her body in a golden outline.
Even in the tense situation, he felt the tug of awareness on his senses that she so easily provoked.
The loose white sheer tunic had a low neckline that presented him tantalizing glimpses of the upper curves of her lush breasts. The sheer fabric showed silky brown skin, and the shadow of her orange bikini, skimming the tops of her long, toned thighs. Pink nails peeked through the sandals she wore, completing a picture of such sheer sensuality that she took his breath away.
From the moment he’d found her standing inside his bedroom—staring at his bed—he’d had the most overwhelming urge to pull that tunic up and away from her body until he could feast on the sexy curves underneath. With his eyes, hands and mouth.
Damp hair stuck to her scalp, highlighting the classical bone structure of her face. He wanted to run his hands all over her, learn if she was as soft and silky as he imagined.
She stood up from the sofa, walked to the door and back, to the windows and then back again, every step conveying restless energy. Without that elegant facade she put on like a second skin, he could see now what Massimo had seen. Shadows hung like dark bruises under her eyes and there was a pinched look to her mouth.
When he went to her, she turned, her entire body trembling. He wrapped his hands over her palms, keeping the distance between them. She smelled like vanilla and sunlight and an intoxicating mixture of both. Against his abrasive fingers, she was silky soft. “Neha, look at me. I would not ask something of you unless it was important.”
Her expression cleared. “You’re right.” She sat down on the coffee table, her knees tucked between his own. “Tell me.”
“You already know a little about the cyber-attacks on BCS, right?” He waited for her to follow along. “But the cyber-attacks on Massimo’s firm were just the tip of the iceberg.
“We had three deals in our pocket that fell through. Sylvio’s colorful, abusive past keeps being recycled by the media and the press, dragging news of his embezzlement, and how he evaded incarceration because I bribed the pertinent officials.
“Alessandra’s personal life, her past, her family—they keep getting exposure in trashy tabloids,” he said, mentioning his grandmother’s stepdaughter. Neha had met the beautiful top supermodel Alessandra Giovanni a couple of times during her long acquaintance with Leo. And for all her harshness and rough edges, Greta was a different woman with her second husband’s daughter. Carlo had been gone for a long time, but Alex had become a part of the family.
“But Alex isn’t even a Brunetti,” Neha said, frowning.
“Massimo and I think she’s been attacked because Greta is close to her. All of us have been fe
atured in the news cycles over the past few months—always some sort of scandal or sensationalism attached to our names. Reputations have crumbled, businesses been ruined, for less in the finance industry.”
“So everything is connected?”
He nodded. “Natalie was hired to bring down Massimo’s security design. The clients’ information was left vulnerable to attack, but she didn’t steal it.”
“That’s how Massimo met her?”
“Sì. And thanks to the fact that she’s crazy about Massimo, she’s given us a name. Vincenzo Cavalli. He’s bent upon a revenge scheme, determined to cause as much harm as possible to the Brunettis.
“When Massimo’s design was hit, only four of us knew. Massimo, me, Natalie—who’d attacked the system—and the man who’d orchestrated it.
“Yet somehow Mario leaked the news of the attack to the BFI board. He’s been riling them up, calling for my resignation. That I’m not unlike my father, that in the end, I will bring ruin to BFI like Silvio had done once. Most of the board members remember the destruction Silvio caused.”
A shadow of fear crossed Neha’s eyes. “So Mario is involved with this man?”
“We found a financial trail between him and Vincenzo. Mario’s as power hungry as it gets. He saw a chance to push me out of the CEO position and he’s taken it.”
“But what does my retirement have to do with it?”
“You are Mario’s golden goose. Your retirement is my currency against him.”
Her fingers were tangled so tight in her lap that they showed white. “Currency in what way?”
“Will you promise to not freak out first?”
“I’m still here, aren’t I?” she said, some of the fight back in her eyes.
“We will pretend to be a real couple, make all those predictions that have been flying about us real. If I know how Mario’s mind works, he will hate us taking our relationship to the next level. He won’t like it that there could be another man—especially a man like me, arrogant and powerful as you said—who could control you.
“Everything you’ve told me about how he has tried to manipulate you all these years tells me that he will do anything I ask to make sure he doesn’t lose you.”
“So you’ll use me like a puppet between you two?”
“To create an illusion that I have control over you, yes. To put pressure on him. If that doesn’t work, then yes, I’ll hint that I’m pushing you toward retirement.”
She shook her head, shadows in her gaze. “I can’t postpone it. It’s not something I decided easily.”
“I know that.”
“I don’t think you do. I don’t trust you with this, Leo.”
He sat back slowly, trying to digest the shock those words caused. Disturbing him on more levels than he liked to admit to himself. “Then none of this will work.”
“You don’t take this retirement thing seriously. You think this is some sort of temporary insanity phase. How can I believe that you’ll put my well-being before your need to crush Mario or your need to stop this... Cavalli guy?”
True, he had mostly discounted her claims about wanting to walk away from an empire that had been built over two decades. He’d thought it was her need-to-be-in-control nature that was making plans for the future that weren’t quite necessary. But Leo had always been willing to admit to his faults. “Yes, I did think that. But I would never do anything to harm you. Especially now, when our future will be tied together forever, when I’m agreeing to have a child with you.
“All I want to do is put the pressure back on Mario, get him to spill about Vincenzo before he does irreparable damage to my family.
“The fact that you and I will have a child together is going to make Mario nuts.”
“Do you want to risk infuriating him with the decision to retire on top of that right now?”
“He’s not going to like it,” she said softly, running her hands over her neck. “Mario’s going to be apoplectic at our...new relationship.”
Leo took her hand in his and squeezed, willing her to trust him. All he wanted to do was kiss that tension off her mouth, to hold her until he could feel those lush curves against his, until he could calm her down like she had done him so long ago. But...if he did that, it wouldn’t stop there.
He would seduce her, and he knew without being arrogant that she would reciprocate.
And then what? What would happen when he lost interest and moved on? When hers was the face he’d have to disappoint?
Neha pulled her hand back slowly. He didn’t miss that she rubbed that palm against her hip. Or that she remained wary of the distance between them. “Okay. I agree to your plan.”
“Good,” he said. He could always count on her to be logical and rational. “What’s next for your plan, then?”
“You have to have blood work done. Mine’s done. I’ll have a couple of appointments with the IVF specialist first and then we can decide the logistics of when and where...”
Embarrassment dusted her brown cheeks a slight pink, but Leo refused to break eye contact. There was something incredibly satisfying to his male pride to see her blush like that. To see that composure of hers falter at such an intimate subject at least.
“When and where I make my contribution. Does that work?”
He smiled when she nodded.
“I don’t know much about it, but you have to take hormone injections, sì?”
“Yes. It’s a...little bit invasive and painful but I want to do this.”
“I’ve never doubted your resolve, cara. You will call me if it gets too much or if you need a supporting presence there.”
“Will I?” she said, a naughty smile dawning in her eyes, unfurling a beauty that made his body hum with desire, ache for contact. “Don’t get all arrogant and commanding on me, Brunetti.”
“Don’t forget this is a partnership, Fernandez,” he replied in the way they used to tease each other a long time ago. Dio, the woman had always been so strong. And it was the strength that attracted him, that will to keep going on in the face of adversity. “Everything will be all right, Neha. I’m glad you came to me.”
“I hope so. I...”
Eyes wide, breath hitching loud enough for him to hear, she came at him. And hugged him. Hard. The press of her body against his was a pleasure of mere seconds, gone before he could revel in it. The scent and warmth of her fleeting heaven. Her hands on his shoulders, she kissed his cheek, and a shiver of anticipation built inside him. Anticipation that would never deepen into more. “I don’t know how to thank you,” she said, pulling back. “I promise you, Leo. You’ll never regret it.”
Leo pulled her arms from around his neck and took a step back. Putting distance between her and him. Giving his discipline a fighting chance.
Every muscle in his body flooded with the awareness that here was a woman who was his match in every way. A woman who’d never ask him for more than he could give, a woman who would be the absolute best mother to any child they had, a woman that would always make him laugh and want.
Awkwardness flashed in her eyes before she fiddled with her clutch again.
As he watched her walk out of his bedroom, Leo stayed leaning against the bed. He turned his neck around, tension clinging to his frame.
Cristo, now even his bedroom smelled of her.
The rest of the day, he wondered if he would come to regret his decision. Because he had tied himself irrevocably to the woman he desperately wanted and could not have.
CHAPTER FOUR
NEHA WALKED ONTO the picture-perfect balcony attached to her suite and took in the astonishingly beautiful view of the grounds surrounding the villa and the glittering lights of Lake Como. After a relaxing day at a luxurious spa and lunch at a café overlooking the beautiful canal district of Navigli with Natalie’s irreverent companionship, Neha was equipped to
face the evening.
Greta’s eightieth birthday celebrations—the perfect event for Neha and Leonardo’s first public appearance as an official couple. Today, they’d confirm the rumors that had already been whipped into a frenzy by Leo’s carefully orchestrated trips to her offices, even at the opening of a new, trendy café in London.
They’d seen more of each other in the last two weeks than they had in the last fifteen years. He was doing it for the press coverage, but she struggled mightily to not fall into the fantasy right out of her head.
Like sending her favorite exotic orchids the day after she’d returned from Milan.
Like showing up at work last night and packing her off to Lake Como so that she could attend Greta’s party and get a weekend away in the process. Neha had protested at first—it was a whole extra day she didn’t need to bunk.
“You expect me to accept the fact that you want to retire seriously, and yet you won’t cut yourself a break after an eighty-hour week,” he’d said, his powerful frame shrinking the size of her vast office. The broad sweep of his shoulders had electrified her senses after a long day, the reality of seeing him in her space making everything she’d set into motion achingly real.
The attraction she felt for him all the more painful to deny for he was just as out of reach now as ever. But he’d been right about her needing a break.
The two weeks since she’d returned had been packed with back-to-back meetings, a visit to a newly launched bakery in east London where she hadn’t been allowed inside the huge, state-of-the-art industrial kitchen but posed for pictures with delicious treats she hadn’t created, and reading hundreds and hundreds of pages of contracts with the legal personnel for a book deal she was going to sign soon.
A cookbook with her brand name but the actual recipes had been created by a team of world-class chefs.
She’d been thrust right into her soul-sucking life and desperate for escape, but Neha had given in. Even as the cautious part of her whispered that running away with Leo and to Leo was a dangerous habit.
