“If we start this charade, I will know everything about you, Pia.”
Why did that sound like a declaration of possession? “What does it matter when you can keep me away from the till?”
Just silence. And those intense black eyes. Pia squirmed like a fish on a line.
“I... I’ve been thinking about staying beyond summer. Last night, seeing Gio’s reaction... I realized I was just fooling myself about returning. There’s nothing there for me. Not anymore.
“At the risk of confirming your worst suspicions, I want to stay here and take care of him. The thought of leaving him alone, with all his relatives who really don’t care about him, leaving him with hired help, it twists my stomach.”
A tightness emerged around his mouth. “Taking care of Gio, or any old man, is a full-time job, Pia.”
“I know that. When Nonni was ill, it was just me and her. I took a long leave of absence and I looked after her for two years. I can—”
“How old were you?”
“Twenty. I had been working only for a few months.”
“Didn’t you miss having a life? The excitement of your job and friends?” His disbelief was apparent in his voice. As if he had personal experience to negate her claim.
“All we had was each other. I know Gio has you but you’re always so busy.”
“I see the logic in your plan. It serves both our purposes, si? But whether it will work, whether Gio and the world will believe that I would be violently attracted to such a—” he let his gaze roam over her with a thoroughness that both excited and embarrassed her “—what did you say? Shy, plain, boring elementary science teacher, that I’m not sure about.”
In the process of tugging her bag over her shoulder, Pia stilled. Smoke should’ve been coming out of her ears. The gall of the man! She turned to face him, and his warm, wicked smile carving deep grooves in his cheeks, stole her indignation.
It changed him, that smile. The way he had held her when she’d cried—that was a Raphael she could like. “Just as it’ll be hard for me to act as if you’re God’s gift to women,” she said with a put-upon sigh. “But I’ll do anything for Gio.”
He took her hands in his and tugged, a devilish twist to his smile. “Simply liking will not be enough, cara mia. First, you have to stop being so nervous and jumpy around me. Then you have to act as if you adore me.”
He dipped his head while locking Pia against the door with his arms on either side of her, “And then—” his breath stroked her neck while the scent of him enveloped her “—as if you can’t keep your hands off me.”
“No,” she whispered, her entire body languorous as if someone had replaced the blood in her veins with warm honey.
A feral smile curved his mouth. “Si. Didn’t the gossip mill tell you the last bit about me?”
Pia couldn’t move her gaze from his mouth. The defined upper lip and the lush lower lip. No man should have lips like that. The need to taste that sensual mouth, the need to press her body against those hard muscles was like a physical ache. How could she feel an attraction this strongly when it was one-sided?
“That you never have a girlfriend, only lovers,” she forced herself to say, remembering the tidbit. And yet, apparently, it didn’t put off most of the women.
“If we have to make the entirety of Milan believe that we’re together, I can’t be seeing other women on the side, si? So it’ll be up to you to keep me in—”
Pia slapped her palm over his mouth, a thrill running through her.
If she wanted to live in Italy, if she wanted to be a part of Gio’s life, it meant Raphael would forever be a part of it too, in some way.
Was she forever going to spend it shying away from him? Twisting inside out because of her attraction to him? Letting him mock her like this?
Something within her rebelled, made her say, “Maybe it won’t be so bad pretending to be your girlfriend.”
His eyes widened. “I realized something about Frank and me in the last few days. He singled me out for his attentions for a reason. I... I wouldn’t have been taken in by his sweet words if I’d had more experience with men, si? Both emotionally and...sexually.” It was one thing to want to take down his arrogance a notch, and completely another to do it with his mouth against her palm, his stubble scraping her fingers.
He wrapped his fingers around her wrist and tugged it back, his face so close to hers now that she could see the slight widening of his pupils, the flare of his nostrils. He wasn’t just playing with her, something whispered at the back of her mind.
“Even I didn’t realize how perfect we are for this pretense. It’s clear that I’m not the type of woman who could interest you in a million years.” The sound of his choking laugh made her glare at him “And... I could never have a relationship with a man like you.”
“Non?”
“No. You’re arrogant, cynical and...far too gorgeous for me. I’d have to beat off women for the rest of my life. I’d be reminded every day how fortunate I was to have you. Things would always be unequal between us. Love or not, I’m determined not to be with a man who looks down on me, who thinks he’s doing me a favor by being with me.”
A faint flush appeared under his cheekbones. “Pia, whatever that lowlife said—”
“Let’s not forget the whole you despising marriage thing,” Pia cut in, refusing to let him finish. The last thing she needed was Raphael’s pity.
“You still want to marry?”
“Of course I do. I refuse to let Frank break my beliefs that’ve been a part of me much longer.” Though he had come pretty close. “My parents, from what I remember of them, were devoted to each other. I want a man who’ll respect our relationship, a man who’ll trust me, a man who wants to spend his life with me. And in the meantime, I can hone myself on you, can’t I?”
“What would this...honing yourself on me entail exactly?” He made the words sound so utterly debauched, so wickedly filthy that Pia could feel heat burning up her neck.
Turning the handle behind her, she slipped out without answering. But his laughter, a deep, sexy sound, a sound that rendered his assistants awestruck, a sound that sent tingles up her spine, stayed with her all the way through the ride home.
Making her wonder what she’d signed up for.
Dress for me tonight.
RAPHAEL’S TEXT THAT very evening, just as she had been getting ready to leave with Gio, mere hours after they’d made their deal, stopped Pia in her tracks.
Dinner at his sister’s house. It was the perfect occasion to advertise their new relationship. She could just imagine the
