Did the woman still not realize how close he had been to kissing her again? Was she really that naive? Did she not realize her appeal, as unconventional as it was? Had the lowlife she’d mentioned shattered her confidence completely?
It was still nowhere near what Enzo with his kindness and Stefano with his schemes would do to her.
The thought shattered his desire. He couldn’t let Stefano get his dirty hands on the company he had made into a global leader. But he was also running out of options.
Options that didn’t involve Pia. And getting involved with Pia, his gut told him, was not a path from which he could turn back. Even if he wanted to.
He felt as if there was an invisible noose tightening around his neck.
It made his voice harsh when he said, “What is your solution, Pia?”
“You should pretend... I mean we should pretend to be interested in each other.” When his frown morphed into a scowl, Pia hurried on. “As if we were dating each other. As if we were...violently attracted to each other and nothing else, no one else would do. It’s the perfect solution,” she added when he just stared at her.
“How?”
She folded her hands, realized how defensive she looked and dropped them. Did the man have to look so displeased just by the notion of them dating? “Gio thinks the world of you. If you weren’t so utterly out of my league, I think he would have pushed you and me toward each other.”
“What?”
“Do you need me to spell it out? It’s all I’ve been hearing from Gio, from everyone’s mouths since I arrived in Milan. About the kind of women you go for. Even Gio isn’t foolish or stubborn enough to wish for something between us. Which, perversely, makes it the perfect solution.”
“I have to admit your scheming does prove you have Vito blood.”
“Most of the men I’ve met over the last few weeks, Enzo included, wouldn’t dream of coming near me if you made it clear that I belonged to you. They are all in awe of the force that is Raphael Mastrantino,” she added caustically.
His lips twitched. “Are you mocking my reputation?”
Pia smiled. His eyes lit up; he looked incredibly gorgeous. “I wouldn’t dare.”
“And you would be okay belonging to me?”
She shuddered. “It’s archaic, but nothing else, I fear, would keep them away. This way, you can rest easy that I won’t get my hands on Gio’s fortune. Gio would be thrilled that I have somehow enthralled you and I... I can make plans. As much as I’m making a deal with the devil.”
“I am the diablo?” he said in a soft croon that sent shivers down her spine.
“Si,” she replied.
But Raphael was no devil. Nor Prince Charming either. He was more like the big bad wolf. But sometimes it was the wolf that provided the most protection. It was the wolf you could trust to keep others at bay.
How she would survive a fake relationship when she couldn’t even look at him without melting on the inside she didn’t know. But this was the only way.
For Gio and for her own peace of mind.
He reached out to her and tilted her chin up. “What plans would those be?”
“Plans that don’t concern you.”
“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