Her Little White Lie Read Online Free

see them,” she said, stuttering. He didn’t need to know that sometimes she looked at pictures of him for a little longer than necessary. It wasn’t like anyone could blame her. She was a woman; he was a stunningly attractive man. But she knew she had no shot with him, ever. And no desire to take one. “But also, we haven’t really been seen together in public, so it seems odd that they would just assume, based on a random tip, that we’re engaged.”
    He shrugged. “It sounds like something I would do. Keep a real relationship under wraps. In theory. I haven’t had one, so I wouldn’t know.”
    “Right. Yes. I know that.”
    “You do read the stories, then.”
    Her cheeks heated and she cleared her throat. “That and I have keen powers of observation and … Oh, no!”
    “What?”
    Paige looked at the clock on Dante’s wall, positioned just above his head. “I have to go pick Ana up. Everyone is probably waiting on me.”
    “I’ll come with you,” he said.
    “What?” She needed to get away from him for a minute. Or have flustered-angry Dante back. Now that he had a plan he had taken firm control over everything and it was making her feel dazed.
    “Well, I am your fiancé now, am I not?”
    Paige’s head was swimming, her fingers feeling slightly numb. “I don’t know … are you?”
    He nodded once. “Yes. For all intents and purposes.”
    “Oookay then.”
    “You seem uncertain, Paige,” he said, taking his coat off the peg that was mounted to the wall and opening the door.
    Paige scrambled to collect her things from the chair. “I … I’m not, not really. I just don’t know how you went from spitting nails in my office to … agreeing.”
    “I’m a man of action. I don’t have time to be indecisive.”
    She walked past him and out into the lobby area of his floor. His assistant, Trevor, was positioned behind his desk, his eyes locked on to the both of them.
    “Have a nice evening, Mr. Romani,” he said.
    “You too, Trevor. You should go home,” Dante said.
    “In a bit. So …”
    “Oh, yeah,” Paige said. “We’re engaged.”
    “You are?” he asked, his expression skeptical.
    Paige nodded and looked at Dante who looked … uncharacteristically amused. “Yes,” she said.
    He nodded. “Yes.”
    “I … didn’t know,” Trevor said.
    “I’m a private man,” Dante said. “When it suits me.”
    “Apparently,” Trevor said, looking back at his computer screen.
    “See you tomorrow,” Dante said. Trevor made a vague nod in acknowledgment.
    Paige followed Dante to the elevator and stepped inside when the doors opened. “So … Trevor doesn’t seem thrilled,” she said. Really, she was surprised at the dynamic between Dante and his assistant. Dante was something of a fearsome figure in her mind, and the fact that Trevor hadn’t been fired on the spot for his obvious annoyance with the situation wasn’t exactly what she’d expected.
    “Trevor is mad because he didn’t know,” Dante said. “Because he likes to know everything, and make sure it’s jotted down in my schedule at least six months in advance.”
    “And you don’t mind that he was … upset?”
    Dante frowned. “Why? Did you expect me to throw him from the thirtieth-floor window?”
    “It was a possibility I hadn’t ruled out.”
    “I’m not a tyrant.”
    “No?” He gave her a hard stare. “Well, you fired Carl Johnson. For the baseball game,” she said.
    “And it makes me a tyrant because I expect my employees to show up during work hours and earn the generous salaries I pay them?” he asked.
    “Well … it was for his child’s T-ball game …”
    “That meant nothing to anyone else in the meeting. It might have personally meant something to Carl, but not to anyone else. And if everyone was allowed to miss work anytime something seemed like it might take precedence for them personally, we would not be able to get anything done.”
    “Well, what about when you have something in your