“Seriously?” he asked. She hadn’t been like this during their lunch. Now he couldn’t wait to get home and google her and find out all of the details of Fiona and her past. To get a sense of who the real Fiona was because right now he couldn't figure her out.
She shrugged. “Isn’t that what you’d expect me to be? Shallow and vain?”
“No. The woman I met at lunch today isn’t consumed with herself. You’re a kind and caring person. I know I’m not what you expected in a match?—”
“How do you know?”
“Because you aren’t what I expected. I just imagined you’d have someone more . . . well less like me in mind.”
“Less like you?”
“You know, someone who spent their time in front of the cameras, as you do.”
“I didn’t want that. I was actually hoping for someone who would be the yin to my yang . . . or is it the yang to my yin? I can never keep those straight.”
“Yin to yang,” he said absently. “Yin is the masculine, yang the feminine.”
“What type of woman were you expecting?” she asked, turning the questions on him.
He didn’t like being put on the spot. He wasn’t used to talking so intimately with women, but he knew that he should say something that would make her feel good about herself. He thought about it for a good long minute before he said, “Well...tobe honest someone who was more the girl next door. Someone who wasn't...plastic.”
“Plastic? Do you mean as in surgery?” she asked.
“No . . . I think I mean the type of woman who’d say what you just said about being ‘fab.’ A diva who is putting on a show all the time. And I think that you can be that woman, but there is something more to you. You were real at lunch, and that’s the woman I want to see more of,” he said.
“I’ll try, but it’s hard to just be myself. You need to cut me some slack.”
“You can trust me, Fiona,” he said.
“I’m not sure yet,” she said. Bella Ann made a cooing sound and Fiona reached down to lift the baby out of the stroller. As she stood up and turned around, Bella Ann reached one little hand out toward Alex.
He took her hand in his and he realized that this was for real. He’d always thought he wanted a family, but now that he saw the seeds of one right here before him, he was gripped with fear. Dating supermodels was one thing, marrying one . . . he didn’t want to end up being her experiment in the real world and getting his heart broken by both her and her daughter.
“Where is Bella Ann’s father?” Alex suddenly asked.
Chapter Three
Alex was looking at her like he needed an answer and she knew she had to give one. But the situation with Giovanni was complicated and she wasn’t sure what to say except, “He didn’t want to be a father. So he’s out of my life.”
“Do you still love him?” Alex asked.
“No. I was never in love with him. It wasn’t that type of relationship.”
“Explain it to me,” he said.
“You’re being a little demanding,” she said. “I’m not used to explaining myself to anyone.”
“Sorry,” he said. But she could tell he wasn’t.
“No, you’re not,” she said, not about to let him get away with any prevarications.
“You’re right. I’m not. But before I let myself start thinking that this match could be the real thing, I want to make sure that he’s out of the picture.”
She pushed the stroller over to a bench and sat down, gently placing Bella Ann on her lap. Alex joined her and sat a good distance from her.
“Gio and I had an affair while I was doing some work in Milan, he's a photographer and we'd known each other for awhile. He was always flirting with me and one night the flirting turned into something more. I thought...it doesn't really matter what I thought. He’s not interested in settling down, said we were just having fun together.”
Alex nodded. “I can understand that. Accidents happen.”
