Page 258 of Modern Romance January 2025 5-8

From where she stood, she could see a small portion of the wrought-iron gates at the bottom of the long driveway and felt a part of her reach for them. Her instinct screamed at her to run. To escape this attraction before it became a bigger problem in her life. But when she looked at the envelope, she knew she couldn’t.

Regardless of what happened between them, she had a job to do. It was the only point in her life that gave her any fulfilment at all.

‘You can do this, Charlotte,’ she said to herself. After all, she had escaped without anyone’s help. She had set up this new life for herself, and she had got the job at De Luca and Co. on her own. If she had to face an attraction to Enzo every day, she would do it. If she ran, there was no guarantee she would find an opportunity like this again. Through him, she could leave a mark.

So, inhaling deeply, she swallowed the ever-present urge to flee and walked back into the house. She would just need to be careful. All she had to do was try to stay away from Enzo as much as possible. With her own office and her own room, that shouldn’t be too hard.

He’s your boss. There’s no Enzo. It’s Mr De Luca to you.

The door was still open, and Enzo was standing at the window with his hands clasped behind his back. From his profile, she could see a frown on his face.

Charlotte regretted the almost-kiss even more now, because it would have only added one more weight onto the shoulders of a man who already bore so much.

Act like nothing ever happened. An Oscar-winning performance. Understand?

‘Mr De Luca,’ she said clearly. She almost faltered when he turned at the sound of her voice and the frown slipped off his face to be replaced by something softer. She could have almost sworn that he was about to move closer to her but stopped when she ploughed on. ‘This arrived for you.’ She kept so much space between them that she had to fully extend her arm to hand the envelope to him.

He looked at her for a fraction of a second. Not moving. Assessing. And then he reached for the envelope, stepping back once he had it in hand. Granting the request for space that must be clearly legible in her body language.

‘What is it?’ She was relieved that his tone was back to business as usual. Relieved...and hurt.

‘I don’t know. Isabella said it arrived by messenger.’

Charlotte watched his hands work to open the envelope and had to look away. There was no way hishandswere making her feel things.

‘It’s an invitation,’ he announced.

That got her attention. She watched as his eyes skimmed over the card.

‘To a ball in Milan. This is perfect.’

Yes, it was, because now Enzo would be away for a few days, and she would have the time to recalibrate. It was exactly what she needed. So why did she feel disappointed that he would be leaving?

‘I’ll go make the arrangements for your travel.’ Before Enzo could say anything else, Charlotte was fleeing, her heart twisting as she put space between them.

Enzo watched her rush out of his office, but he wasn’t going to let her hide from him again. So he followed her.

She must have run all the way because he found her seated behind her borrowed desk, trying to behave like the quiet, efficient PA when he knew it was a façade. He had seen the fire in her when he almost kissed her.

He was in a rage after seeing the lawyers, but Celeste had stepped in and pulled him out of his own head. She had reminded him who he was. He couldn’t understand why a woman that strong was trying to hide or why, after he had seen under that mask, she was trying to pretend like he hadn’t.

And it rankled that she was doing everything she could to avoid acknowledging their almost-kiss, avoid him. They needed to talk.

He sat opposite her, the table between them. ‘You will arrange forourtravel. We will first visit the vineyard in Piemonte, then attend the ball together. Book rooms for us, we’ll leave in the morning.’

Celeste tensed.

‘What’s wrong?’ He could hear his frustration leak into his tone.

‘Nothing’s wrong,’ she replied, without taking her eyes off her screen.

Enzo reached over and pushed the lid of her computer down, keeping his hand on the device to prevent her from hiding behind it.

‘Do you mind? I’m trying to work,’ she snapped, then blinked as if the response caught her off guard.

Good.

He wanted to see more of that feistiness. He could see she tried to suppress it.