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She’d seen pictures of him before transferring to the company headquarters from the bank, but the first time Audrey had caught a glimpse of the gorgeous, driven man herself she’d stopped breathing and that part of her that used to dream became captivated.
She’d watched, paid attention to everything she heard about the CEO. And every fantasy between wakefulness and dreaming Audrey had had in the last four years had starred Vincenzo Angilu Tomasi.
Her hand froze on the door handle as she had the sick worry that maybe this plan of hers was just another one of those.
Only she fulfilled every single one of the requirements the PAA had said Mr. Tomasi had for the job candidates. Even so, Audrey was fairly certain Mr. Tomasi was in no way expecting an applicant from the lower floor offices of his own building.
While she’d been born into a family that were themselves considered high society, Audrey couldn’t begin to lay claim to that now. She’d attended Barnard for three years, but her degree was from SUNY and the only one of her friends from those days who still kept Audrey in her orbit was Liz.
The roommate who had saved Toby’s life.
Besides, while Mr. Tomasi might not want a super-model like his late sister-in-law Johana for the position, he probably wasn’t interested in a woman as average as Audrey.
Her long hair the color of chestnuts was several shades lighter than his more exotic espresso-brown, and arrow-straight besides. While the drop-dead gorgeous CEO had Mediterranean-blue eyes, an exciting and unexpected combination with his almost black hair color, Audrey’s were the same chocolate-brown as her brother’s.
And they didn’t shine with Toby’s zest for life, either. The responsibilities and work of her adulthood had taken that from her.
She was average in height as well, with curves that weren’t going to make any man stop and do a double-take. Not like the six-feet-four-inch corporate king, who looked more like an action movie hero than a CEO.
Audrey knew she wasn’t the first or last woman to fall for him at first sight.
He didn’t need to settle for average.
Oh, crap. All she was doing was psyching herself out and that wasn’t going to help. Not at all. Either she was going to do this, or she wasn’t.
Okay, so she had a crush on the man. So sue her. She wasn’t applying for the position because of it.
She was here because she wanted to make life better for three children who deserved something better than the hand dealt to them. Her brother might be eighteen, but he was still her child in every way that counted. Even if he didn’t see things that way.
For his sake, and that of the little ones, Audrey had no choice but to take this chance.
Taking a deep breath, she pushed the door open to Mr. Tomasi’s office without knocking.
He was sitting behind his desk, reading some papers spread out in front of him.
“I thought you weren’t going to be back for another thirty minutes,” he said without looking up from the papers, clearly believing the intruder in his office was his PAA.
Just the sound of his voice froze the breath in her chest, making it impossible to speak.
His head came up when his comment was met with silence. At first his eyes widened in surprised confusion and then narrowed. “It is customary to knock before entering the office of your CEO.”
Funny he had no doubt she was an employee, not a client or business associate.
“My name...” She had to stop and swallow to wet her very dry throat. “My name is Audrey Miller, Mr. Tomasi, and I’m here to apply for a position with you.”
CHAPTER TWO
ENZU FOUND HIMSELF nonplussed and that never happened.
It had been years since someone had made it past Gloria to importune him for a job or a promotion. In this case promotion it had to be. None but an employee would have made it to this floor in the building without an escort.
It was sheer luck that this woman had come during the one time a week he was in his office and Gloria was not at her desk.
Reading the intelligence in the chocolate-brown eyes gazing at him from lovely, delicate features made him revise that thought. Maybe not luck at all.
This had been planned. He doubted Miss Miller knew about his little-known weakness for chocolate, though. Her beautiful eyes and the determination tinged by vulnerability he saw in them were unexpectedly compelling.
Regardless, he couldn’t let this blatant disregard of company policy go unanswered. “There are procedures for applying for a promotion. None of them include importuning your extremely busy CEO.”
She flinched at the ice in his voice, but did not let her shoulders slump, or step backward with an apology. “I’m aware. But this particular job isn’t on the internal promotion and transfer database.”
Disappointment coursed through him. It was like that, was it? She was hoping to apply for the job of his lover. It wasn’t the first time this had happened, but it hadn’t happened here at work in a very long time.
“I do not keep a mistress on my payroll.” He used the insulting word to remind them both exactly what kind of calculation had brought Miss Miller here.
Because he found her tempting, and that was shocking enough to make his usually facile brain sluggish.
Besides his love of chocolate, Enzu had a secret passion for old movies. This woman, breaking every company protocol, not to mention good manners, to accost him in his own office, could be the spitting image of his favorite classic movies film star, Audrey Hepburn.
Elegant and refined. Beautiful in an understated way, Audrey Miller had been aptly named.
“I do not want to be your mistress.” The quiet vehemence in her voice was hard to mistrust.
He simply raised one brow in question. He could not believe he was prolonging this conversation. He should have sent her packing with a promise to report her actions to her division supervisor already.
“You told Gloria to find you a mother for your children. I’m here to apply for the position.”
Shock kept him from speaking for long seconds. “Gloria told you? She thinks you would be an acceptable candidate?” he demanded.
This was not his efficient PAA’s style at all. He’d expected a couple of weeks to pass and then a dozen or so dossiers on appropriate candidates to show up on his desk.
This blunt approach to the situation was entirely out of character for Gloria.
“Not precisely, no.”
“Then what, precisely?”
“I would prefer not to tell you how I know about the job you hope to fill.”
That was the second time she’d put an odd, almost disapproving emphasis on the word job. Now he knew what she referred to he could almost understand it, but wasn’t she here to apply for the position? If so, she couldn’t find his methods as unacceptable as her tone seemed to imply.
“Does Gloria know you are here?”
Miss Miller bit her bottom lip and admitted, “No.”
“I see.”
“I doubt it.”
“You do?”
“If you were that insightful you would realize the very real risk to your children in attempting to buy them a loving mother.”
“And yet you are here to apply for the job?” he asked with unmasked cynicism.
“Yes.”
“Isn’t that hypocritical?”
“No.”
Disbelief filled him. “No?”
“I know I am prepared to give them what another woman might only promise for a luxurious lifestyle and multimillion-dollar payoff.”
“I assure you I did not build an empire without an ability to read people.”
“But you are going about this emotionlessly.”
“Which should make me even more capable of making the best decision for Franca and Angilu.” And why was he having this discussion with a stranger standing uninvited in his office?
“Not when that decision is about the emotion you are hoping to provide for them.”
“A woman does not have to love them to be loving toward them.”
“That you believe that only shows how little you know.”
“Excuse me?” Ice laced his tone.
She closed her eyes, as if gathering her thoughts. When she opened them he read frustration, even disappointment, but that determination he’d seen there at first hadn’t dimmed. “May I sit down?”
What the hell? “You have fifteen minutes.”
Something like anger washed over her features, but she crossed the room and sat in one of the sleek leather armchairs facing his modern, oversized executive desk.
When she didn’t speak immediately, he found himself demanding impatiently, “Well?”
“You are looking for someone who will make your children the priority in her life, is that right?”
“You keep calling them my children, but you do realize I have custody of them only because their parents are dead?”
“I know, but your desire to give them a loving mother has made me believe you want to fulfill the role of dedicated father. I guess I shouldn’t have assumed.” She said the last as if she was talking to herself.
“You are not wrong.” He would be a better father than Pinu, who had been borderline indifferent to his two offspring.
“Then they are your children?”
“S?.”
She nodded, as if in approval of his admission. He should not care, but he found himself pleased by that.
“So back to my question: you want a woman who will put Franca and Angilu first?”
“Yes.”
“And you do not think she has to love them to do that?”
“Financial compensation will ensure it.”
“Will it?”
“Of course.” He understood money and how to wield it.
“And if something comes into her life that is more important than the money you are paying her to pretend the children are a priority?”
He did not like her description of the job. “She will not be pretending.”
“If it is for the sake of the money, how can it be anything but pretense?”
“Regardless, I doubt very much that something will come up that would make someone lose sight of ten million dollars.”
“Really? What about a husband who is worth thirty million?”
“I am a billionaire.”
“Presuming you are married to this woman, there would be an ironclad prenuptial agreement that only provides her with a yearly stipend and a ten-million-dollar payout nearly two decades down the road.”
“You are so certain there would be a prenup?” He hadn’t mentioned it to Gloria.
“It only makes sense. A man like you isn’t going to offer a woman half of your empire under any circumstances, but particularly if she comes into your life as part of a business proposal, no matter how personal the terms might seem.”
He inclined his head in acknowledgment of her insight. “There aren’t that many marriage-minded multimillionaires out there.”
“But moving in your circles will increase her chances of meeting them exponentially.”
“I’m not going to get hoodwinked by a gold digger.”
“Maybe. But even if you don’t, you must realize that while money can be a very compelling motivator, it isn’t always the most important one.”
There was something about her tone that made him think she not only believed this, but had personal experience. “Few things trump it.”
“You’d be surprised.”
Audrey—he found it difficult to think of her as Miss Miller—sighed with the kind of weariness that came from a lot more than a single conversation.
“Tell me, do you think Johana Tomasi married your brother primarily for the lifestyle she could enjoy as his wife?”
Enzu shocked himself by saying honestly, “Yes.”
