Married in Italy: An Italian Rivals Anthology: powerful men and the women who bring them to their knees... by Clare Connelly

Author:Clare Connelly [Connelly, Clare]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-01-13T00:00:00+00:00

Three

“IF THIS IS GOING to work, you’ll need to act as though you can at least tolerate being in the same room as me.”

She fixed him with a condescending look. “Oh really? Is that right? Thank you for clueing me in on that all-important tip.”

“And stop sniping at me,” he responded, lifting his arm along the back of the car seat, fascinated by the way she flinched when he hadn’t even touched her. Did she understand that some physical intimacy—or the imitation of it, anyway—would be necessary to fool anyone?

“I can do whatever I want when we’re alone.”

“But we are almost at your father’s office,” he pointed out. “And I know shockingly little about you.”

She bit into her lip and fixed her gaze belligerently out of the window. An unusual frustration champed at his gut.

Max was used to getting whatever he wanted, and Andie was certainly going out of her way not to oblige that expectation.

“Tell me what I need to know about you,” he encouraged, allowing his hand to slip slightly, brushing her shoulder. She startled again, her gaze jolting back to his face.

“Don’t touch me.”

He removed his hand, but the seed of curiosity that had formed exploded into a full-blown question mark hanging over an Andie-sized picture in his mind.

“You went to school here?”

She ground her teeth together but nodded briskly, naming an exclusive private school on the Upper East Side.

“You grew up in the city?”

Another crisp nod.

“Did you always want to work in the family business?”

Her eyes showed hesitation and then she nodded. He made a mental note to query that later. He was almost certain she was obfuscating.

“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.

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