The Arrangement .(15)

His eyes narrowed. “I never flirted. You clearly have a very active imagination.” His gaze traveled over her chic, well-fitting clothes, as if reminding himself of what was beneath. “From the moment I saw you, there was never anyone else.”

“Do you really expect me to believe that?”

He didn’t know, but she’d seen him leaving a restaurant with another woman, on a night he was supposed to be working late. She watched from the cab as they parted ways, his arm resting against the small of her back as he helped her into her car. He had told her he would be working, but he had lied. He’d been enjoying dinner with the striking redhead.

Alexa glanced away as the pain of the memory lanced through her.

Leonardo sighed heavily, frustrated by the turn of the conversation. He closed his eyes briefly. When he looked at her again, he seemed to have calmed himself.

“I don’t care what you think anymore, Alexa.” He completely removed his tie and bunched the silk into a fist. “Whatever was wrong, you were the one who left, without giving me a chance to rectify what you thought I’d done wrong. That’s how much our marriage meant to you.”

When she opened her mouth to speak, he cut her off.

“Whatever you thought, it’s in the past. All I care about is what we do from here on out—what you agreed to in my office yesterday. Do you remember that conversation?”

Alexa’s mouth clamped shut. It was too difficult to answer, to admit what she’d agreed to. She wished she could forget.

“Let me remind you,” Leonardo continued. “You agreed to spend the next two months with me, living as my wife, in every sense of the word.”

She let out a shaky breath. “I haven’t forgotten.”

She wanted him, despite the anger and the pain that had resurfaced. He was just too good-looking, too tempting to resist. And he wanted her, too.

She knew it as sure as she knew her own name. He liked sex, and he was incredibly good at it.

“Good.” With a satisfied gleam in his eye, Leonardo turned on his heel toward the door. “Someone from your favorite spa will be here in about an hour to do your nails and makeup,” he said over his shoulder. His footsteps halted at the door, and he turned fully to face her. “Wear the green dress you bought on our honeymoon in Paris.” His eyes easily found the dress hanging from a hanger on the opposite wall. “I never got the pleasure of seeing you in it. We can rectify that tonight.”

After he left, Alexa took a good look at the dress. She’d purchased it to wear on the last night of their honeymoon. He never saw her in it because their last night in Paris, when they were supposed to go out to dinner, he’d tied her to the bed. After their mind-blowing lovemaking, they’d ordered room service and eaten in the suite instead of venturing outdoors. Then they’d resumed their marathon session late into the night, loath to return to the routine of daily life they’d left behind.

Alexa wasn’t a prude, but she felt her cheeks heat up anyway at the memory of the things Leonardo had done to her while she was bound to the bed in the hotel. Just thinking about it made her breathless.

If just the mere memory of his lovemaking could have her so shaken, how in the world would she be able to handle what was to come and leave intact in two months’ time?



Cool water from the massaging showerhead trickled down Leonardo’s body as the conversation with Alexa rewound in his mind.

When did she start thinking he was involved with other women? Had she always been so insecure? He hadn’t noticed. Had he really been so preoccupied with work? She’d always been the epitome of self-confidence.

It’s true she was different to him, but not in the way she’d indicated. The fact that she was African-American didn’t have any bearing on his interest in her. He simply never considered ethnicity when he saw her. What made her different wasn’t her race, but it was her personality, her beauty, and how she carried herself with quiet confidence and grace.

He noticed her right away, in the boutique she co-owned with a friend at the time. After she helped him pick out a gift for his assistant, he found he couldn’t get her out of his mind and returned the same day to ask her out.

After that initial date, he’d been sure that he would make her his wife.

Nothing would stand in his way.

She had been different in other ways, too. Unlike other women he’d known, she didn’t seem impressed by his wealth, and she never appeared to want anything from him. Her lack of interest was refreshing, and he wanted to give her everything her heart desired, anything to make her happy.

Maybe that was his mistake. She never asked him for anything because she didn’t want possessions.