but she could still think straight enough to say, “Maybe we need to go public with our relationship. I don’t like seeing pictures like that, Marcello. They hurt.”
He kissed the corner of her mouth, the bridge of her nose, her forehead and then her lips with aching tenderness. “You are too sweet, cara. The press would pulverize you and I could not bear to watch, but I will do all that I can to make sure you are not hurt this way again.”
That was something, she supposed, but she wanted to argue that she could handle the press. She was strong. She’d had to be her whole life. But her mouth was too busy kissing his to utter the words that needed saying.
The next morning, Marcello was gone when she woke up and so was the scandal rag, she noticed.
However, there was a red rose on his pillow and a note beside it. It read:
Cara,
Thank you for last night. I treasure our times together and the generosity of your affection for me.
M
He’d never left her a note before. His paranoia about privacy extended to not leaving any evidence of their relationship for others to find. This was a huge departure for him. It had to be significant. Maybe he was thinking about her desire to go public…maybe he was beginning to see that she was right.
The one thing she knew for certain was that his desire for her was not feigned. If he’d found relief with a convenient body while he was away from her, she was a monkey’s uncle.
He’d been way too hungry. They’d made love into the early hours of morning and he had told her repeatedly how much he missed her, how beautiful she was to him, how special. All the words her vulnerable heart longed for.
Except the three that really mattered, but then she’d never said them to him, either.
She’d always worried they would spell the end to their relationship. She’d assumed he would reject that sort of emotional tie. He’d been so clear at the beginning of their affair that it could only ever be just that. An affair with a beginning and an end and no happily ever after. She’d wanted him so much and had been so impressed with his honesty after Ray’s lies that she’d said yes.
And until she’d seen that picture in the tabloid, she’d never once regretted her choice. Marcello was an incredible lover and the time they spent together out of bed was equally fulfilling. He’d made their first time together very special and every time after.
His desire to keep their relationship underwraps had suited her down to the ground at first. She was too private a person to want to share their intimacy with the world at large. In that, too, she and Marcello were really alike. She’d seen what the gutter press could do with her friend Tara. At first, Danette had been only too happy to avoid the possibility of experiencing anything ugly and intrusive like that herself.
But beyond that, she had feared that if word of her relationship with Marcello got out, she would have to deal with interference from her well-meaning but overprotective parents. She’d also been concerned that her job might be affected, no matter how much Marcello did not want that to happen. She wanted to earn her advancement and did not want others speculating what her time between the sheets with the president of the company meant for her career.
She’d spent her whole life up to now under the watchful and overly intrusive eye of her family. It was important to her to prove that the strength it had taken to beat the scoliosis that had threatened her ability to walk, and even her life, spilled over into the rest of her existence as well.
Which was one of the reasons she hadn’t wanted love or a long-term commitment in the beginning, either. She’d spent years in a sort of self-imposed isolation because of the brace she’d worn until she was nineteen to correct the deforming curve in her spine. And she’d wanted to feel what it was to be a woman. She’d wanted to date, to kiss, to heavy pet and ultimately to make love.
She’d wanted Marcello beyond reason and independently of finer feelings…or at least that was what she’d thought.
When she’d arrived in Italy, the farthest thing from her mind had been a desire to get into another relationship. She’d been bent on proving she wasn’t as stupid as Ray’s betrayal had made her feel. The first time they met, Marcello had unwittingly given her the means to do so.
She’d been feeling frustrated with herself because Angelo had arranged for her job, wondering if she could ever make it entirely on her own. She didn’t know if everyone was so nice because they liked her, or because they wanted to do Angelo a favor…or at least please their boss who had extended the favor to his good friend.
She’d been in the middle of a royal bout of insecurity when Marcello made his first appearance at her desk. “You are the friend of Angelo Gordon’s wife, are you not?” he’d asked without bothering to introduce himself.
She’d known who he was of course and even how he preferred to be addressed within Scorsolini Shipping. “Yes, Signor Scorsolini. I’m Danette Michaels.”
“Angelo speaks highly of you.”
“I’m glad. I loved my job with his company.”
“But you wanted a change of venue, to see some of the world?” he asked with a blue gaze that could probe into the very depths of her soul.
“Yes.”
He nodded. “You realize that my good friend’s reputation in my eyes depends a great deal on your performance here.” He didn’t say it unkindly, or as if in warning, more like he was confirming something she already knew.
But it was news to her…welcome news. It gave her a target to aim for and said that, far from awarding her special treatment, he would expect more from her than his other employees. The words were like honey to her ears and she lapped them up. “I won’t let either of you down.”
“I do not doubt this. I am sure that because you came to work for me on his recommendation, you will work twice as hard to prove that he was smart to recommend you.”
“You’re right, I will.” And it was a vow.
He smiled then, giving her her first taste of mind-numbing physical awareness. “Don’t work too hard. But I do not believe you will let either of us down.”
And in proving him right, she made the job her personal triumph. Every success she achieved was a gift she consciously gave to both men who had chosen to believe in her and subconsciously gave to herself. When she had been promoted and given her own office after only four months because of her diligence, Marcello had called to personally congratulate her and Angelo had sent her an e-mail thanking her for making him look so good to his friend.
It had all been very feel good and laid a strong foundation for her growing confidence as an independent woman. Marcello asking her out had added to that confidence though she’d definitely been leery of him to begin with.
Danette worked on her sales projection report, determined to make her boss glad he’d promoted her and given her a private office. If there was a part of her that wanted to impress the president of the company, too, well, that was to be expected.
After all, he’d arranged for her to get her current job on the recommendation of his friend and she didn’t want him to regret that choice, either. It had
