Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 76840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
“Anneke?”
“Yes?” She kept her gaze glued to the floor.
“I’m happy we can talk normally like this,” Marcus said quietly.
Oh.
And she heard herself say, “Me, too.”
“I hope one day we can be friends again.”
“Same.” Her heart squeezed. Friends. Marcus wanted to be just friends. She could be happy with that. She should be happy with that. Right?
WILLEM CALLED ANNEKE to his office first thing in the morning the next day, and Anneke was stunned speechless to find Marcus Ravelli with her brother. Apparently, the successful opening of Galleria dei Sogni had new merger opportunities coming up for the two companies. With Marcus on a one-month stay in Amsterdam, Willem wanted Anneke to work with him on DKE’s behalf.
“I’m hoping this won’t be a problem,” Willem then murmured, “since Ravelli informs me that you’ve become...friends?”
Put like that, Anneke was hard pressed to refuse Willem’s request. Or at least that was what she tried telling herself, all the while struggling to ignore the way her heart leapt at the prospect of being able to talk to Marcus again.
And yes, a chance to speak to him, to hear his voice from time to time, was all she wanted. She had come to accept this sick addiction of hers, and as the next few weeks unfolded, she fed it without hesitation.
He’d call her every morning, just to say hi – as a friend – and she would say hi back, also as a friend. From there, their talks would progress to anything under the sun – her work, her current read, everything really. And she didn’t mind because it meant getting her daily fix.
He’d invite her to have coffee after doing an ocular on a property they were considering making a joint purchase of, and she’d say yes, since they were friends. He’d invite her to dinner or a drink after work, and she’d say yes, too.
She could say yes to everything because they were friends, and soon enough Marcus’ presence began to extend to other parts of her life. He began to show up in family functions, and none of her family would even blink an eye. When the Queen of Contini came to Amsterdam for a visit, the first thing the monarch demanded was to know where the Italian billionaire she had been hearing so much about was.
And so Marcus had been summoned to the de Konighs’ residence, and Anneke felt like she had fallen into a crazy rabbit hole, watching her grandmother and soon-to-be ex-husband converse easily about the region’s economy, Brexit, and the next Marvel film of all things.
Anneke breathed a sigh of relief when the butler came in to announce that dinner was ready to be served. Oh, thank God. That was just in time, too, since she didn’t trust the calculating gleam in the Queen’s eye one bit. If not for dinner being served, Anneke had a feeling Queen Wilhemina would have asked something infinitely embarrassing.
As everyone started to file out of the living room, Marcus came to her side, asking swiftly, “Are you alright?” She looked paler than usual, and he didn’t like it.
That he would notice her unease disturbed her even more. Wasn’t that too much for a mere friend? Lowering her voice to a whisper, she asked, “Don’t you think this is crazy?” When Marcus arched a brow in question, she continued unevenly, “I don’t know if this is natural. I mean, I know we’ve become f-friends again, but...” Her voice trailed off. Oh, how to put what she felt in words when she didn’t even understand her own feelings?
Taking a deep breath, she tried again. “I just want to know if – well – don’t you feel this is weird at all?” she ended up bursting out.
Ah. Keeping his voice level, he asked, “Are you talking about my relationship with your family?”
She nodded.
“Do you not want me to be friends with them?”
“Of course not!” Anneke was horrified. “I’m glad you’re friends with them, but—-”
“You are worried about what other people would think.” Marcus shook his head with a sigh. “You must not concern yourself with such wasteful things. You will end up leading the kind of life that makes other people happy but not yourself.” He looked into her eyes, saying softly, “What should only matter is that we are finally okay with what we have. Si?”
It took her several moments before she said finally, shakily, “It’s terrifying how good you are with words. ”
Marcus’ lips twitched. “Shall I take that as a yes, and you promise to stop worrying your pretty little head—-”
Anneke made a face, knowing he was only using the condescending term to rile her up and keep her mind off her worries.
“—-about whatever trash the gossip world can come up about us?”
“I guess.” A glum sigh escaped her. “It’s not like I have a choice.”