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“That’s awful,” she said. “I mean, I know my family is a pain in the butt, but I can’t imagine…”
“Maybe you can,” he said, recapturing her hand. “You lost your parents far more completely than I did. And you were younger.”
“But I had my siblings. They’re…” She put her hand over her own heart. “They’re vital to me. I’m so, so sorry you don’t have that.”
She threw her arms around his neck. The chair rocked backward, but Alessandro didn’t care if they landed in a heap on the floor. He took her hug, her warmth, took it for the extra minute he could believe in it.
He knew on a logical level that some people could love their siblings, could rely on them for anything. But he’d spent so long living his life without his, knowing—telling himself—deep in his bones that he didn’t need anyone, that the lone wolf act had become part of him. Megan loved her brother, sure, but was she going to put aside her own wishes for the rest of her life to make him happy?
Megan held him for a long time. Alessandro had lost track of when they’d come into the room, and she didn’t seem to care either. The evening fell early outside the windows, leaving them in shadows. Only a light in the corner blinked green. Alessandro closed his eyes against it, burying his face in her long thick hair. It might be his favorite thing about her. If it wasn’t for all the other things he loved about her.
Megan took her arms away suddenly. “I have an idea,” she said.
“I have no doubt you have.” He smiled.
One side of her mouth turned up. “We could kill a couple of birds with one stone if it works.”
“Those poor birds,” he murmured, kissing her cheek, “getting in the way of one of your plans.”
When he backed away this time, she went pink. So of course he had to do it again. Then his kiss found its way to her jawline, and his mouth opened wider so he could touch her again with his tongue. She gasped. “Don’t you want to hear my idea?”
“I also have an idea.” He groaned into her ear.
Her belly laugh shook them both.
“Okay.” He let go of her and folded his arms between them, though that just meant his forearms were pressed against her breasts. Megan kept her hands on his shoulders, so he guessed she didn’t mind. “Tell me,” he said.
“Well, I was wondering about your girlfriend.”
“Not my girlfriend,” he pointed out.
“Right. Your not-your-girlfriend. The papers have been kind of mad at you both, haven’t they? First because you punched out that reporter—”
“He was a pap, and I did not punch him out. I just pushed him away from Nikki. With a closed fist.”
“Oof. So okay. They’re mad because of that, and then they were mad because you two broke up. At least, that was the impression I got after my video. Which I’m sorry for again, by the way,” she added quickly.
“Don’t.” He cut a hand across between them. “Do not apologize for that anymore.Iapologize. I overreacted. I should have known better.”
“Okay. We’re equal on apologies. So anyway, I was wondering… what if we use my family’s history and do some good in the meantime?”
Do some good. That was all he’d come back to Boston to do. He’d somehow managed to screw it up. And now here was Megan Fielding, offering a solution as easily as she’d offered her help the other day.
“You have already done good,” he said. “The fundraiser tickets and this hotel.”
“Yeah, but that was easy. That was my background. My contacts. And this way, you and I might be able to see each other. Without being hassled by my family or attacked by the media.”
He stared at her. What was she talking about? Nothing could make that miraculous scenario happen.
He must have been silent for too long because she reached for the tips of her hair and ducked her face. “If you want to see me—a little, that is.”
He groaned and kissed her again. “Megan,cara. I want nothingbutto be able to see you.”
She’d gone pink again. “Okay, well, that’s good. So what if we do what you and Nicola did? Date for the cameras? Now that my name’s out there anyway, I can use the publicity to help Fielding Paper. And you can use it to help the Studio. We can’t put this genie back in the bottle, so let’s make it work for us.”
To be able to be with her? To hold her hand where other people could see? “I love the theory,cara, but I see many obstacles.”
“Kane?”
