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He gritted his teeth. He’d grown up with the media scrutinizing his every move. He knew the importance in addressing potentially harmful news. Since she’d arrived in Spain, Anna had grown up in a bubble. As much as he respected Diego, he hadn’t understood the obsession with keeping Anna locked down so tightly. Anyone could have seen how miserable she was at being so restrained.
And yet, as he watched her look around the alley in wide-eyed wonder, he felt a moment of kinship with the family’s butler. In that moment he wanted to keep her safe, bundle her back to Granada before a reporter climbed up the drainpipe outside her hotel to sneak a picture of her getting out of the shower or stalked her all over town.
Determination settled in his bones. By showing up last night, he’d done more harm than good. He was responsible for this, so it was up to him to fix it.
“Gregory Peck’s character lived on this street. A reporter,” she said as she looked up, eyes fixed on the windows above them. “Started out scummy, but ended very sweetly.”
“Unfortunately, most reporters don’t undergo such a dramatic character revision,” Antonio replied dryly. “I have evidence of that.”
“So do I.” She frowned, a frustrated huff escaping her lips. “Did you see the magazinearticle?”
He paused then answered truthfully. “Yes.”
She closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them, pinning him with that arresting amber-blue gaze.
“He spoke to me at Alejandro and Everleigh’s party.” She huffed again and tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ear. “At first I was...flattered. He asked about the dress I was wearing, one I designed.”
“How did he find out...” He let his voice trail off, one eyebrow going up suggestively. Cool, collected. Even though he was anything but on the inside.
She grimaced. “Because I’m an idiot. He made a raunchy joke, I replied I wouldn’t know because I’d barely even been kissed. He lasered in on my comment like a sniper. Asked if I was waiting for Prince Charming. I got flustered and said ‘Something like that.’”
More hair fell out of the loose bun on top of her head. A messy style that should have looked frazzled, but on her looked carefree an, like she’d just rolled out of bed. She probably had, he realized, an image of her in bed in nothing but a negligee flaring in his mind.
She sighed, brushed the hair behind her ears again in a gesture that reawakened a memory of her scampering up a hillside, perching atop a boulder and smiling down at him, cheeky and barefoot and innocent.
Innocent.
The word burst through his illicit daydreams.
“You would think,” she said, continuing on with no clue as to what debauchery his mind had just entertained, “that a mention in a top fashion magazinewould be everything an aspiring designer could want. But the inquiries I’ve gotten haven’t been about my work. Well, hardly,” she amended as she started fiddling with her bun, tugging and pulling loose strands up through the band. “Most have been about your family, inside information on Adrian and Alejandro. Do I know who you’re dating...blah-blah-blah.” She yanked so hard on one strand of hair, he nearly winced on her behalf. “Leo White made me sound like a naïve goof. No respectable brand is taking me seriously—they just remember that I’m ‘the aspiring virgin designer.’”
Her head snapped up at the sound of his snort.
“What?”
“Did someone actually say that to you?”
“Yes. And don’t you laugh,” she retorted with a fire that intrigued him. The old Anna had never stood up for herself. “The couple of portfolio requests haven’t gone past a ‘thanks for sending this.’” She shook her head, the strands she’d just put in place falling once more to form a halo of dark brown around her face. “Although that’s my own fault.”
“How so?”
Another shake, dislodging more hair. “Long story. A problem for me to fix.”
Her words caught his attention. At the age of ten, she’d been more than happy to let him take the reins, rely on him. With the void of Alejandro’s company, he’d welcomed the role of not only friend but protector.
But the resolve he’d glimpsed last night was apparently not a fleeting thing.
“Besides,” she continued, “most of the people who contacted me are just trying to use me to get to your family.”
She shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself as if trying to ward off some unseen enemy. The result of the sudden shove headfirst into the world of the rich and famous.
That meant that what he had to show her next wasn’t going to make things any better.
She suddenly gave him a sweet smile tinged with embarrassment. “Sorry. All this time and I’m still using you as a sounding board for my problems.” She closed the distance between them and, before he could guess what she was about, went up on tiptoe and kissed his cheek. The simple gesture tugged at his heart. “It was nice catching up, Antonio. Thanks for showing me the fountain and the Steps.”
Get it over with.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket, clicked on the link Alejandro had texted him, and handed it to her. She accepted the phone with a quizzical look. Then her eyes focused on the glaring headline and her lips parted.
