with me. He seemed to be the perfect man—funny, kind, a wonderful father to his girls, and he believed in love. He wanted to settle down, get married and have more kids. Tailor-made for me because Mario had designed him like that.
“He’d been coaching him, pulling his strings, playing with my dreams and fears all along. John proposed within a month and I was more than happy to say no to the American’s offer, to put everything I wanted on the line for the life we’d build. Mario got what he wanted.
“But the deceit turned too much for John. He came up to my suite the night before our wedding and came clean. Apparently, he’d been in dire need of funds since his wife had passed away and the medical bills had piled up. Mario offered him the position of chief of division if he played the part of my husband.”
Leo cursed again. “Why the hell didn’t you confront Mario? Why continue to work with him?”
“Mario and I had a nasty argument after everyone left. I told him I was walking away from So Sweet Inc. after his manipulations.”
She looked away, the pain of the blow that had come after still echoing within.
Her mum had refused to walk away from Mario. She hadn’t seen what was wrong with what Mario had done with John to keep Neha home. “It’s not easy to break those ties,” she added softly.
“I’m the last man a woman with your...dreams should proposition.”
Neha moved to stand in front of him, letting him see her conviction. “I’m not that naive to think a man and love are needed for happiness. I don’t think I can even trust a man to have my best interests at heart anymore.
“Success is a double-edged weapon, yeah? I’ve enjoyed all the perks it’s given me. But I’m ready for the next stage. I want to share my life with a child. I want to give him or her my love, nurture it, build a relationship like the one I used to have with my papa. I want more than I have now and I’m going after it the best way I know.”
The space around them reverberated with pain and hope and sincerity.
He sat down on the opposite sofa, his right ankle propped on his left knee, his face thoughtful. “Why not an anonymous donor?”
Even having been prepared for that question, the quality of his tone sidetracked her. Distrust? Suspicion?
“Why me? What do you want from me?”
Neha forgot all her resolution to present a rational, cohesive argument. “For goodness’ sake, Leo, you can’t think I’m out to trap you.
“I might not be the heir of some centuries-long aristocratic Italian family, but I’ve got a fortune of my own. You know I’ve invested wisely. I can stop working tomorrow to have the baby and live comfortably for the rest of our lives.
“Granted, I won’t be able to fly to Milan on a private jet or afford a chauffeur-driven car or live in a mansion in the middle of London, but I never needed those things.”
“So you’re not after my wealth. What do you think is the one thing that most women that I have had a relationship with hope for?”
Sheer outrage filled her. “You think I want to marry you?”
He shrugged. The man’s arrogance apparently knew no bounds.
“Your romantic relationships are designed to last no more than three months at the most. Massimo cares more for those hounds of his than you do women. You think I want a piece of that?
“And not every woman’s dying to marry you, Leo. I definitely remember the scientist, and who’s the other one...? The CEO who publicly quoted her outrage when the trashy article implied that you’d dumped her,” she finished with savage satisfaction.
His blue gaze danced with amusement. “A good thing you keep such good track of my love life, bella.”
So he knew she was obsessed with his love life. So what?
Rugged masculinity, charming smile, unlimited wealth and power and a smoldering sex appeal meant half the women on the planet were obsessed with Leonardo Brunetti.
“So we’ve crossed off my wealth and my suitability as a husband. Maybe all this is a ruse to gauge my interest in you. To lure me into bed with you.”
Lure me into bed with you...
A veritable cornucopia of images downloaded into her brain. Bare limbs all tangled up on pristine white sheets, of him bending that arrogant head to taste her lips, of him driving that rip-cord-lean body into her over and over again, of touching him intimately, of kissing that hard chest and lower, driving him crazy... Her skin prickled, her breasts swelling with an unspoken ache.
She couldn’t look away from him, from the dawning desire in his eyes, from the acknowledgment curving his sinful, arrogant mouth, from the heat radiating from his powerful body. Her chest rose and fell as she forced herself to breathe in a long gulp. “If a red-hot affair’s what I really wanted, I would’ve proposed that.”
His eyes gleamed with a fire she’d never seen before. “Would you, truly?”
“No,” Neha said, swallowing the yes that rose to her lips.
A flicker of disappointment in his eyes.
How had they arrived here, of all places? How did such a small thing that Leonardo was attracted to her send her sensible nature off running into the clouds?
For years she’d kept a lid on all her fantasies starring him, locked away all the feelings he’d evoked in her again and again, and now, when it came to the most important thing in her life, she wasn’t going to let them create an obstacle for her.
“Don’t mock this. Please.”
“Why ask me and put yourself in this vulnerable position?”
When she’d ever been anything but...with him especially.
The ugly truth of her burnout, her inability to walk away from So Sweet Inc. all these years, the shame of her complex relationship with her mum... All these were vulnerabilities she loathed baring in front of him.
But Leo would not settle for half-truths. That he was a man who’d do anything to protect the people he cared about also meant that he’d strip her bare and leave her defenseless if she wasn’t careful.
“You’re the one man that Mario’s always been wary of,” she said. “My mum...she’s the tether that keeps me tied to Mario and So Sweet Inc.
“In all these years, I haven’t been able to figure out how to save my relationship with her, and walk away from his toxic presence. Mario rules my life—my day, my social life, my vision, my work, even how I dress and what I say outside the walls of the office...”
She rubbed her fingers over her temple, even talking about it bringing on a pounding behind her eyes. That powerlessness gave birth to anxiety that could choke her breath.
Hand on her tummy, she forced herself to breathe deeply, to anchor herself on one point in the room to focus on. To fight the wave that could overwhelm her so easily.
His hands as they poured a glass of water for her...she focused on them. Large, square tipped, and yet she knew, if he touched her, they’d be gentle.
And just like that, the encroaching darkness got pushed back. Knowing that she could control it, knowing what triggered it, made it less scary than that terrifying first time.
Knowing that she was taking the right steps to wrest her life back under her control, knowing that she was building a future she wanted helped.
“This last year...it’s become imperative that I have to prioritize what’s important to me.
“The pace that Mario sets for me, I can’t continue and be sane. The entire board is in his pocket, even though I’m the CEO. Even though I own the IP to that first line of products that launched So Sweet.