‘You don’t have any security guard or anything?’ He glanced down the side alleyway, loathing the still shadows and the thought of her arriving here alone night after night.
‘No,’ she murmured.
‘But you’re a bona fide princess.’
‘Not really.’ She sounded choked. ‘They changed the line of succession after my mother and I left.’
‘And cast you out into the world, alone and defenceless?’ he muttered as he forced the key to turn in the half-rusted lock. He didn’t know too much about the situation in her home country, but it didn’t sound right.
She stiffened beside him and he heard her sharply inhale.
‘I can take care of myself,’ she said valiantly.
Jade cringed as she stepped over the threshold. It was such a lie. How could she claim that when she didn’t even know which of these doors off the vestibule led to Juno’s apartment?
Panic rose. She couldn’t pull this off. She didn’t have any cash, didn’t know where to get food or how to even order a damn pizza. Now she had to go into the office for another few days and pretend she was the capable, smart and savvy Juno. It was mortifying.
She’d never made a meal in her life. Everything had been brought to her. She was the definition of spoilt—to be so incompetent in all basic life skills? She’d been supposed to come here and eat pizza and doughnuts without being judged, to walk around sightseeing, blending in like any other tourist, childishly soaking up the Christmas lights and candy... It was supposed to be her secret escape, a few days of anonymous freedom. Only now?
Alvaro’s mouth compressed as he gazed down at her as she stood frozen in the open doorway.
‘It’s not right to deny someone their birthright. To take away their identity and place in the world,’ he said roughly.
Once again, his tone held an emotional, personal edge she didn’t understand and hadn’t expected. What did he know of identity and loss? Obviously something, because he was right.
‘I know,’ she said huskily.
She burned with guilt at lying to him, yet his empathy drew her to him at the same time. She had the most appalling urge to lean close—not for the safety or the security a big strong man like him could offer. But for quite the opposite—something far more tempting, far more dangerous.
She didn’t, of course. She stiffened and forced herself to step further into the relative safety of the building. She was not screwing this up for Juno. But she wished her twin had told her how ridiculously attractive Alvaro was, because her inability to cope with the reality of him was something terrible. If only she’d known.
‘Goodnight, Juno.’
For once in her life Jade couldn’t execute a polite reply. She simply nodded and closed the door, before leaning against it to stop herself opening it again and saying something stupid.
Why now? Why him?
She’d met several attractive men: advisors, guests, even King Leonardo of Severene—who her father and his advisors suggested would be a suitable husband...
But she’d never felt her pulse skip and sprint the way it did around Alvaro. She’d never felt restless or had an ache burning deep and low in those secret parts that had stayed resolutely silent before.
How was she to survive the next few days with Alvaro Byrne as her boss?
It was impossible.
CHAPTER FOUR
‘SO, JUNO—’
‘Please,’ Jade interrupted Grace, another of the social media assistants. ‘Please call me PJ.’
‘PJ?’ Alvaro, sitting just along from her, frowned.
‘Yes.’ She forced a smile and grabbed assertiveness with both hands. ‘For—’
‘Pineapple Juice?’ Grace joked.
‘Plain Jane?’ Jade giggled back.
‘Poor Joke?’ Alvaro added blandly.
Jade shot him a look. ‘Yes, it’s a new thing, but it’s good to refresh, right?’
‘Refresh?’ Alvaro echoed.
‘Like we need to do with some of your social media channels,’ she said with more bravery than she felt. As a comeback it was weak, but it was the best she could muster in front of everyone.
It was her own fault that he was watching her with that wary, almost disapproving eye. She’d been late, thanks to figuring out the damn subway system again, which would’ve been fine except he was waiting by her desk to ask her to join in this never-ending meeting with so many other people.
‘You did an amazing job turning this issue around for us yesterday,’ Sophy, the marketing manager, filled the sharp little silence. ‘It’s the honesty and authenticity that people have responded to.’
Jade wasn’t either honest or authentic. She was sitting here lying to them all right this second. And she couldn’t bear to look at the tall man sitting to her left, yet she couldn’t seem to stop herself. Her pulse still wouldn’t settle but worse was the heightened state of awareness, the heat, the craving she felt for his attention.
‘Are you all okay to work through lunch?’ Alvaro asked. ‘I’ve ordered catering.’
A noisy cheer echoed around the meeting room. Jade’s stomach cheered too. Turned out Juno didn’t keep her fridge well stocked and Jade hadn’t had time to stop to get anything on the way to work this morning. So yes, she was starving again.
‘Lunch is important, after all. To keep us going.’ Alvaro’s gaze landed on Jade again. ‘And it’s our last week before our Christmas break, right?’
Try as hard as she could, she couldn’t tear her gaze from that knowing glint in his—as if he’d somehow twigged she’d gone without again and he’d deliberately ordered in.
‘And the sooner we refine these plans, the sooner we can break up early,’ he added.
While the rest of the staff looked delighted, Jade wished she could melt and slide into a gooey mess under the meeting table. She never tripped over her words. She never felt nerves like this. But she was far too conscious of him.
‘Can you work up a proposal, PJ?’ Sophy asked. ‘It doesn’t have to be fully costed or detailed. I’d just like the concept to mull over during the Christmas break.’
‘Of course.’ Jade scrambled to catch up on what it was they’d been saying and on what topic it was she was supposed to propose...and she’d get to researching ‘how to write a proposal’ the second she was back at her desk.
‘Wow, did you get hair extensions?’ Grace paused beside her when they finally stood to leave the meeting room, almost three hours later.