Taming the Heiress (4 page)

But I can't resist the opportunity to
torment my little sex kitten even more.

"Indeed," I say with a somber nod.
"Francesca is quite artistic, that's probably why she got so into
them. I could swear I caught her panting at one point."

My mother laughs pleasantly, the sound of
which is cut short as her name is called by a slew of
photographers. She excuses herself politely and I'm left alone with
a steaming date by my side.

"Wasn't that fun?" I ask with a smirk on my
face, finally turning to look her in the eye.

And what I see surprises me, because
Francesca's eyes are filled to the brim with hot tears of
humiliation.

Before I can react, her hand hits my face
with a loud 'smack' and she turns around and storms off, while I
stand there, the sound of her slap resonating in my ears and a
burning sensation spreading through my cheek.

"Trouble in paradise, Kaiden?" a
photographer shouts at me, and of course, I realize they got it all
on their cameras.

How's that for a hot story?

I don't think I can eat another scoop of ice
cream for the rest of my life.

For the past week, all I've been doing is
being cooped up in the apartment, eating junk food when my tummy
aches get too bad. Basically, I've been existing on Ben &
Jerry's Cookie Dough, and a box of donuts Emmalee brought to my
place a few days ago, worried about me.

The donuts are all that is left now, since I
can't fathom eating another spoon of ice cream, and since they're
so old they've gotten moldy, I'd rather not risk it.

At that point, I realize I can't stay in my
apartment for ever.

Never mind the fact I've been told that by
Emma, my housekeeper, my brother and both my parents. I needed the
time to heal, because the past week has been nothing but a shit
storm of blog posts, tabloid articles and general terrible
gossip.

It started with Kaiden's damn interview. And
then someone took a photo of me arriving at his place, which was
just perfect, because it kicked off further speculation.

Of course, it wasn't mentioned until the day
of the premiere, when I was too busy to pay attention to the media.
Then, all hell broke loose the day of the movie premiere ...

There were photos of everything - save for
our little touch and feel exploration in the theater, thank God. If
anyone were to know about that, I would just about die of
embarrassment.

But there were plenty of other photos ...
Like me, red as a tomato, in the middle of an embarrassing
conversation with Monica Hunter.

Fucking Monica Hunter, who's won two Oscars,
and I was being teased about being fingered in front of her.
Can
I die now, please?

And then there were the photos of me
slapping Kaiden, which of course, fired off a whole new story and
plenty of speculation about what happened.

Let's just say our faces have been plastered
on every gossip website, many of which took it upon themselves to
tag me in their posts to make sure I saw it. Who
does
that?

I don't let myself think about
him
.

Meaning, I try to stop it, but occasionally
it
does
happen.

I'm too embarrassed to even think about what
I let him do in the theater, but what's surprising is the fact that
he hasn't made a single comment to the media about us. Actually,
the tabloid's favorite movie star kid has been keeping low, not
even photographed with a pretty model, leaving a club and looking
completely shitfaced.

It's
mildly
shocking.

But I don't let myself dwell on it too much,
because Kaiden Hunter is a complete, utter asshole, and I don't
want anything to do with him.

My phone has been ringing off the hook,
though I haven't bothered to check my messages yet. Not many people
have this number, so I have no idea whether the media got a hold of
it or what.

However, staring at the moldy donuts I
realize something's gotta give.

With a sigh, I take a long shower, dry my
hair and sit down to do my hair and makeup. Somehow, despite the
fact that I've been existing on junk food for the past week, I seem
to have lost weight. My cheekbones are jutting out even more than
usual, and it's not a good look for me.

With a sigh, I glance at my answering
machine, wondering whether I should just delete everything. On a
whim, I press the button to hear my messages, of which I have
37.

I take my makeup brush and start to apply
eye shadow, when Kaiden's voice comes across the line and I
immediately drag a line all over my eye, ruining my makeup before
I've even started.

I pout and start to remove the eye shadow,
ignoring his pleading voice in the machine, but too stubborn to
turn it off. Or at least that's what I'm telling myself ...

He starts with apologies. He's sorry, he
fucked up, he was nervous, he feels strange around me. He trips
over his words in a rush to get them out, and it's kind of
cute.

Next, he tries flirting with me, which makes
my blood boil in my veins. It's still kind of adorable though, and
I don't mind hearing the compliments after a week of self-pity.

Then we have mild annoyance because
apparently, it's been three days since the premiere and I haven't
bothered to answer my phone, plus Emma won't give him my
address.

Poor thing.

And smart Emma.

But why am I kind of angry at her, then?

The messages go from angry, frustrated,
flirty and then some more apologizing, and by the end, I'm
completely exhausted. But my makeup is finished too, and I've
gotten dressed as well. So I take a deep breath and prepare myself
for my first foray into the outside world after a week of
absence.

I figure a little shopping never hurt
nobody, so I call my driver and he confirms he'll be waiting for me
downstairs in a few minutes.

Feeling restless, I finally decide to just
head outside and get some fresh air.

As soon as I step out on the pavement, I
regret my decision. There's a whole bunch of photographers camped
out in front of my building, and I can barely shade my eyes with a
pair of sunglasses before they start snapping their cameras in my
direction.

Questions about Kaiden are fired at me, and
I ignore every single one.

Probably because at that moment, I spot the
man himself standing across the street from me, partially hidden by
a tree and disguised with a newspaper.

It actually makes me smile, it's that
silly.

He motions for me to come closer, and I
don't know why, but I
really
want to.

So for once, I listen to my heart, not my
head. I follow him into a side alley, shaking the photographers off
and almost bumping into Kaiden when I turn the corner.

"Fuck, you scared me," I curse out loud,
then clear my throat, feeling embarrassed by his mere presence.

I'm afraid to look up, because his closeness
alone makes me lose my mind. I'm angry, feel cheated and annoyed,
but there's still that underlying current of attraction between us
... And I'm afraid that if I raise my eyes to his, I'll lose any
resolve I had when I came out of the building.

Thank God I'm wearing sunglasses.

"Francesca," he breathes and my heart does a
wild thing in my chest, hearing my name on his lips. He should say
it more often, it sounds that good.

"Yes?" I reply icily.

He flashes me an embarrassed grin,
scratching his head, obviously gathering the courage to apologize
to me in person, too. "I've been a jerk," he finally admits.
"Sometimes it's hard to get out of my own skin ... I think you just
drive me a little bit crazy."

I raise my eyebrows, not bothering to say a
word, but imploring him to go on with my gaze alone.

"Fuck, I don't know," he says, frustrated.
"I just ... I really like you."

I snort and he starts waving a hand in the
air. "No, I do ... Not like anyone else before you. And I'm so
scared you'll realize I'm not good enough for you, you'll just
write me off."

I can feel the sincerity in his voice and I
finally take my sunglasses off, looking him straight in the eye. "I
don't like people messing with me," I say sternly.

"I've noticed." His grin grows wider and an
impulse to smack it off his face overtakes me.
As long as it's
followed by a long, slow kiss ...

"Please, I need you to be respectful," I ask
him, and this time, I think he can see I'm being serious. "I'm fine
with banter ..." I reach over to him, gently stroking his arm. "But
I like to keep my image spotless, and you're really not helping
with that, saying things like you did at the premiere."

He actually looks sheepish for a moment, but
as my hand moves up his biceps, he grins slowly, lazily. "Like what
you feel?" he asks, his voice rough.

I shrug, smiling a wicked grin myself. "I
could do better," I tease him.

"Oh yeah?" His eyebrows shoot up. "I bet I
can take him."

"We'll see," I promise him, turning around
to leave the alley. Just as I'm about to go, he grabs my arm and
pulls me back, wrapping me in a tight embrace.

"Going somewhere?" he whispers in my ear.
"But we're nowhere near done ..."

And then he kisses me, just like I want him
to. His breath is hot and minty, and he pulls on my lower lip with
his teeth gently, making me go crazy. His tongue darts in my mouth,
licking mine, making my head spin and my stomach drop.

His hand finds the small of my back and he
pulls me closer, making me whimper as his hands roam my body.

"More?" he asks, teasing me, moving away
just a few inches. But it's too much, and I want him back where he
was right away.

I don't respond, instead pulling him closer
until our lips collide again.

But then, the perfect moment is spoiled by a
bright light flashing in my eyes.

"Francesca! Francesca! Look this way,"
someone shouts and I immediately move away from Kaiden's embrace,
looking like a deer in the headlights as photographers swarm
us.

Fuck, we should've been more careful.

I know the question is coming, so it
shouldn't be a surprise when someone asks me about my father. But
nonetheless, my heart falls deep, crashing against my ribcage when
they do.

"What is happening, Francesca? What about
your engagement? Does your father know you're
cheating
on
your fiancé?"

Kaiden looks at me with complete shock as a
slew of questions are fired at us, and my heart skips a beat,
knowing my game is finally up.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck.

I feel like I need to take a moment to
explain myself.

I'm not a bad person, I'm really not ... But
it just so happens I might be engaged at the moment to a man who is
most definitely not Kaiden Hunter.

Here's how it all happened ...

3 months ago

"Francesca! Come in here," my father beckons
me to come into his office. With a heavy sigh, I exchange smiles
with my mother and walk into his study at my childhood home. It's a
house in the suburbs on NYC, and I've spent my whole childhood
here.

I have fond memories of the place, but I
have a sinking feeling that is about to change.

I step into the study, my father already
sitting down at his desk. As I do the same, taking a chair opposite
of his, I realize we're not alone.

There's another man in the room whom I don't
recognize. He has short, very dark hair, almost black eyes and a
hint of stubble on his face. He's very handsome.

Oh boy.

"Francesca,
cara mia
, I want you
to meet Cristiano Antonetti," he says proudly, pointing to the man
sitting next to me. I give him an awkward wave, which is followed
by a smirk from the man.

So, he may be handsome, but he obviously has
no manners or a sense of politeness.

"Pleased to meet you," I say through gritted
teeth, and he doesn't say a word back to me. Nice."Why am I here,
Daddy?" I turn my attention back to the man of the hour.

He sighs like he's carrying a heavy
burden, rubbing his eyes. "I've told you to call me
papa
,"
he says sternly, and now it's my turn to snort.

"Dad, we're not in some mafia movie," I say,
trying to make him believe me.

"We are Italian!" he exclaims loudly, as if
to prove a point.

"You were born in Queens," I point out, and
he gives me a look I know means I need to shut my mouth now, so I
sigh instead. "Why am I here?" I repeat impatiently.

"To meet Cristiano, of course!" my father
says happily, coming around his desk and pressing his heavy hands
against the man's shoulders. Cristiano smiles at me, revealing his
perfect smile.

Fuck, he really is handsome ...

"Cristiano here is a friend of the
family," my father says proudly, and I have to bite back my next
comment.
Really? Why don't I know him then?

"He has come here today to finally meet
you," Daddy continues, looking at me enthusiastically, though I
still don't have the slightest idea what this is all about. I
implore him to go on with my eyes, and he claps his hands
excitedly.

"Dear Francesca, Cristiano is the man you're
going to marry!" he says loudly, looking like a giddy child. I'm
thankful I don't have a drink with me, because if I did, I would be
sputtering liquid all over the place at this exact moment.

Instead, I just sigh heavily, thinking this
is just another one of my Dad's wild ideas. "What?" I ask tiredly,
too exhausted to fight him.

Maybe I can reason with my father.

"You are to be engaged within the next three
months!" my father practically screams.

Yeah. Sure.