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Chapter 5
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2026-08-07 16:55:36I grabbed Maya’s wrist before Leonardo was even out of earshot and pulled her down the hallway, into my room, shutting the door hard behind us.
“Okay,” Maya said, dropping onto the edge of the bed. “Spill. All of it. Don’t skip anything.”
I sat down beside her, hugging a pillow to my chest like it could shield me from how much this was about to embarrass me. “It felt real, Maya. Not like a normal dream. I could feel his hands. His mouth. I could feel the water still on his skin.” My face burned just saying it out loud. “I woke up and for a second I actually thought it happened.”
Maya’s mouth curved into a slow, wicked grin. “And? What did dream-Leonardo do exactly?”
“Maya.”
“I need details. For research purposes.”
I buried my face in the pillow and groaned. “He kissed my neck first. Then lower. I called him daddy.”
Maya slapped a hand over her mouth, but her shoulders were already shaking with laughter she was clearly trying to hold in. “Okay. Okay, wow. That is… that’s a lot, Amelia.”
“I know.”
“No, I mean that’s good.” Maya recovered, straightening, her expression shifting from teasing to something sharper, more focused. “That’s your body telling you something your brain is still too scared to admit. You don’t dream like that about someone you don’t want. Not like that.”
I pulled the pillow tighter. “It doesn’t matter what I want. It matters what I can actually have without getting thrown out on the street.”
“Then stop waiting for it to happen by accident.” Maya turned to face me fully, her voice dropping into the low, practical tone she used when she was serious about something. “You’ve been doing the soft, quiet thing. The shoulder slipping out of your sweater, the sad little balcony moments. That’s good. That plants the seed. But a man like Leonardo isn’t going to fall for subtlety alone forever. At some point you need to give him something he can’t stop thinking about when he closes his eyes tonight.”
“Meaning what?”
“Meaning it’s time to turn the heat up. A little.” Maya’s eyes lit with the kind of mischief that always meant trouble. “Wear something that actually shows what you’re working with. Walk past him in something soft and tight instead of soft and loose. Let him catch you stretching in the kitchen. Let your towel slip an extra second longer after a shower. You don’t have to throw yourself at him. You just have to make it impossible for him to look away.”
My stomach twisted, half nerves, half something warmer I didn’t want to name. “Victoria will notice.”
“Victoria notices everything,” Maya said. “So you get smarter, not louder. Small moments. Believable ones. Things that look like accidents.”
Before I could answer, a knock sounded at the door, three even raps, unmistakably his.
We both froze. I shot up off the bed so fast the pillow tumbled to the floor, smoothing down my sweater with both hands like that would erase every word that had just left my mouth.
“Come in,” I called, voice not quite steady.
The door opened, and Leonardo stood in the frame, still in his black shirt with the sleeves rolled up, looking entirely too composed for a man who had no idea what he’d just interrupted.
“I’m hosting a pool party this afternoon,” he said, his gaze flicking briefly to Maya before settling back on me. “Business associates, a few friends. You’re welcome to join, if you’d like.”
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out fast enough.
“We’d love to,” Maya said brightly, from somewhere behind me.
Leonardo’s eyes moved to Maya, one brow lifting slightly, then back to me, and for the briefest second something almost like amusement passed over his face. “Good. Two o’clock, by the pool.” Then he was gone, the door clicking shut behind him.
The moment his footsteps faded down the hall, Maya spun around, grabbing me by both shoulders. “Was that the same cold, unbothered billionaire everyone in the tabloids is terrified of? Because that man just knocked on your door personally to invite you to a party.”
“Maybe,” I said slowly, a small, disbelieving smile pulling at my mouth despite myself, “he likes me too.”
“Then this,” Maya said, already pulling me toward the closet, “is your opportunity. You do not waste an opportunity like this, Amelia.”
“Waste it how?”
“A pool party means swimsuits.” Maya was already digging through hangers, tossing aside the modest one-pieces Victoria had bought for appearances. “You need something that makes every man there forget how to speak. Something bright. Something that shows just enough that he can’t look at you for more than five seconds without thinking about it for the rest of the day.”
By the time two o’clock came, I stood in front of the mirror in a deep red bikini, the fabric cut just high enough on my hips to make my stomach flip every time I looked at myself. Maya had curled loose waves into my hair and lined my eyes just enough to make them look sleepy and warm rather than done.
“You look insane,” Maya said approvingly, adjusting one of the ties at my hip. “In the best way.”
I reached for the light, floppy linen jacket hanging off the back of the chair and pulled it on over my shoulders, letting it hang open, loose enough to move with me but thick enough to hide the raised, silvery marks along my back and shoulder blade. No one needed to see those today. Not yet.
Out by the pool, the afternoon sun sat high and gold over the water, glass in hands, low laughter drifting between Leonardo’s guests. I let the jacket slip slightly as I walked the length of the pool, unhurried, letting the sunlight settle warm against my skin, feeling more eyes on me than I was used to and, for once, not shrinking from it.
I found Leonardo near the far end, a drink in his hand, mid-conversation with a man in a linen suit. I didn’t look at him. I didn’t have to.
I felt the exact moment his conversation stopped.
I kept walking, slow and unbothered, letting the jacket slide another inch off one shoulder, and settled into a lounge chair in full view of him, tilting my face toward the sun like I hadn’t noticed a thing.
Behind my sunglasses, I smiled.
I had barely closed my eyes when a shadow fell over me, blocking the sun, and a voice I didn’t recognize spoke close to my ear.
“Well, well. Look who finally decided to show her face.”
My whole body went cold before I even opened my eyes.
I knew that voice.
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