Luca sighed. “Yes, so you’ve said before.”
“No.” Constance folded her arms. She wasn’t backing down on that point.
Joseph tried again. “We will do our utmost to keep the photographers away from them, certainly. Our interest is in you, Miss Constance. However, if it were to be known that they were spending time with Mr. Vasilakis…”
“No,” she said again, standing firm.
“If they will be here with you anyway, I don’t see the harm in leaking that fact,” Luca said. “I agree there will be no pictures of them. But a few stories about them hanging out with me won’t traumatize anyone. They will never be directly involved. They seemed to be having a grand time earlier today. Do you really think being taken on trips and getting to swim in my pool is going to upset them?”
“That’s not the point,” she said.
He released an exasperated sigh. “It’s exactly the point. They aren’t going to be damaged or mistreated. No orphans will be harmed in the making of this film,” he said, making those ridiculous finger quotes.
She could almost hear the eye roll in his voice. “I thought you didn’t want them here.”
“I don’t. But I do need you here. And at least the illusion that I’m spending time with the kids wouldn’t hurt either. If letting them hang out by the pool for a couple days gets me a little respectability, I’m willing to make the sacrifice. I doubt very much they’ll mind.”
She hated to admit he was right. Given the choice, the girls would jump at the chance to hang out in his pool and go on more excursions. Yet it still worried her. Luca’s lifestyle wasn’t one she wanted them exposed to, even if they did manage to keep the photographers at bay. Something she doubted was possible.
“I suppose appealing to your decent side and asking you to help me out with no strings attached wouldn’t help?”
“Sorry. I don’t have a decent side that I’m aware of.”
She glared at him. “I need some air.”
She stood and marched through the kitchen and onto the back patio. The scene of the crime where the whole fiasco started. She groaned and plopped onto a chaise with her face in her hands.
What in the hell was she supposed to do? If she walked out of there, she’d be facing her director the next day and would very possibly lose her girls. She would do anything for them. Take a bullet, jump in front of a bus, whatever it took to keep them safe and happy. In that context, spending a few weeks being treated to all the luxuries life had to offer in order to keep their family intact really didn’t sound all that bad. As long as it was understood her girls would not be used as paparazzi fodder. Underneath it all a tiny part of her, the part she didn’t like to acknowledge existed, was even excited by the thought of spending so much time with the enigmatic and completely annoying Luca.
Regardless of how she felt about it, he was right. She didn’t have a choice, not if she wanted to keep her girls. Son of a bitch.
She took a deep breath and marched back into the house, resuming her seat. Luca and Joseph looked at her, eyes wide and waiting.
“I don’t want my girls in any questionable situations,” she said.
“No, no,” Joseph said. “We’ll have several activities planned, outings the two of you can take them on, picnics, days at the beach, that sort of thing. I promise they will enjoy themselves.”
She had no doubt that they would. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was them having too much fun. Getting too attached to a lifestyle, and maybe a man, that they couldn’t keep. She wouldn’t allow anything that might hurt them down the road. They’d been through enough in their lives to dangle such a shiny carrot only to yank it away.
“I wouldn’t want the girls to know what’s going on. For them, if I agree, it can be just a fun vacation that has a beginning and an end, with a man who is just a friend. No fake couple stuff in front of them.”
“I’m not sure that will be possible if we are to get the publicity we need.” Joseph shifted his feet and glanced at Luca.
“Minimal then,” she said with a sigh. “Nothing that would make the kids think it is real. They’re going to have to go back to their old lives and I’m not going to let them be hurt by any of this. It’ll be hard enough to go back to the real world when the vacation is over. I’m not going to let them get attached to someone they think might be sticking around. I don’t think it’s too much to ask to keep it PG around them.”
After a quick glance at Luca, Joseph nodded. “Not at all.” He gave her a kind smile and she blew a breath out. “Now, you’ll need to move onto the estate for the duration of your engagement in order to facilitate intimate photo opportunities and make the relationship appear more realistic.”