Except she wasn’t Simone Taylor any more, she was Simone Zanetti. Her marriage yet another thing she’d done not for herself, but because of circumstance.
When would it ever be time just for her?
‘I’m glad you appear well. Are you fully recovered from your accident?’
‘I am, thank you.’ Things were mostly back to normal. She still woke up a little fuzzy, and needed more sleep than normal, but she was almost back to her old self.
‘Everyone appears to be watching us,’ Rocco said, breaking Simone out of her reverie.
‘Really?’ After so long trying to fly under the radar she enjoyed hearing that perhaps, she might be creating a bit of a stir. Sure, marrying Leo had done that too, but the aftermath had been so tightly controlled by marketing, she’d felt like a chess piece being pushed around rather than a person in charge of their own destiny. Rocco guided her as they executed a seamless turn and Simone smiled. ‘Surely they have enough to do rather than to worry about us?’
‘The Zanetti and Silvestri rivalry is renowned.’
‘And why is that?’
It seemed as reasonable to ask one of the participants in that rivalry now, as anyone else. A look passed across Rocco’s face, something intense, although she saw him pull it back in. Try to hide it.
‘Zanetti’s a pretender. Pushing in where he wasn’t invited and isn’t wanted.’
Simone stiffened and the burn of indignation rose inside her. Leo might have been relatively new to the game of design after exploding onto the scene when he’d left modelling, but he’d been phenomenally successful. Nobody could deny that.
‘Please don’t forget, Mr Silvestri, that you’re talking about my husband.’
‘Your husband…Midispiace.’ Whilst he might have said it, Rocco didn’t seem sorry at all. ‘Then why isn’t he here dancing with you, instead of me?’
She opened her mouth to say something else in Leo’s defence, but no words came out. She’d spent most of her life trying to fit in with what other people had wanted of her. Even when she’d broken free, her role as an executive assistant had her taking charge of other people’s lives, making them easier, sometimes at the expense of her own. Then in choosing to marry Leo, it was to help Holly, not because she’d wanted it for herself.
When wouldshestart to matter to others, even a little?
‘So, Simone. When are you coming to work for me?’ Rocco asked with a sly kind of grin teasing the corner of his lips.
She wasn’t unhappy about the change of subject.
‘Is that what this is about? Some kind of job interview? Why didn’t you just pick up the phone?’
‘I tried that once and you rejected me.’
She cocked her head. She’d told him before she was under a restraint of trade. Seemed he wasn’t keen on listening. ‘So you thought you’d dazzle me with your winning personality by insulting my husband?’
Rocco laughed without affectation. Like the one before, it was warm and sounded like he was genuinely amused.
‘I like you, Simone. You’re wasted where you are.’
She didn’t have time to disagree.
Over his shoulder, into her startled vision, came Leo. Stalking through the dancers like a shark parting a school of fish. Leo’s vibrant eyes fixed on her with the cool intensity of a predator watching its prey. Goosebumps showered over her skin as he approached and clapped a hand on Rocco’s shoulder. Not hard enough to start a fight, but firm enough to send a message. Simone had only accepted that people were watching her and Rocco dance before. Now, she sensed the attention of the crowd shift onto the three of them.
‘I’m cutting in, Silvestri.’
Rocco shrugged Leo off and turned.
‘The music’s not finished.’
‘But your dance is.’
Rocco’s grip didn’t tighten, but he didn’t relinquish her either.
Leo’s jaw was clenched hard, his nostrils flaring. His anger appeared barely reined in. Simone wasn’t sure what the issue was between them, but she wasn’t about to let them have a fight over her, as perplexing and in so many ways, thrilling as that might have seemed.
