by Nina Milne
Now he smiled at her, the smile so full of love that she could feel it envelop her as he handed her the glass, expertly garnished and complete with an umbrella.
‘Hold on. I need to get the aperitivo.’ He returned a few minutes later. ‘I thought we could have dessert first.’
His voice had a small catch in it and Emily glanced across at him, saw a sparkle in his eye, but also a hint of nerves as he placed down a plate with a variety of truffles, in individual paper cases, beautifully arranged in a pyramid.
He picked up his cocktail and they clinked glasses. ‘To us,’ he said.
‘To us.’ She looked at the drink. ‘It’s beautiful.’
‘Yes. As is the woman who inspired it. Would you like to know what it is called?’ His voice had dipped to a husky rumble that slid over her skin, made her giddy as it seemed so full of promise.
‘What is it called?’
‘Emily’s proposal,’ he said, and her heart beat a little faster as he nodded to the plate. ‘Take the top chocolate.’
She did so, felt the weight of it and now her pulse rate notched up as she picked up the chocolate and gasped. Nestled in the paper case was a ring.
Luca reached out and took it, went down on one knee.
‘Emily Khatri, I love you with all my heart. I swear to cherish and look after you, stand by your side through thick and thin, for the rest of my life. Will you marry me?’
Tears of happiness prickled her eyelids as she nodded. ‘I will marry you, Luca. And I vow to always be there for you. For ever.’
He slipped the ring onto her finger and she gazed down at it. ‘It’s beautiful.’ The glitter of white diamonds alternated with some brown gemstones she didn’t recognise.
His grin widened. ‘They are called chocolate diamonds,’ he explained, and she gave a small gurgle of laughter.
‘Of course, they are—and they are perfect.’ Just as she knew their life together would be.
* * *
If you missed the previous story in the The Casseveti Inheritance trilogy, then check out
Italian Escape with the CEO
And if you enjoyed this story, check out these other great reads from Nina Milne
Baby on the Tycoon’s Doorstep
Their Christmas Royal Wedding
Whisked Away by Her Millionaire Boss
All available now!
Keep reading for an excerpt from From Best Friend to Fiancée by Ellie Darkins.
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From Best Friend to Fiancée
by Ellie Darkins
CHAPTER ONE
‘WHO KNEW THAT you were such a stud?’ Lara said, eyeing Jannes over the top of the magazine.
‘You know there’s not a truthful word in the whole article, don’t you?’ her best friend replied with an eye roll and a withering look. He pulled the magazine back from her and pushed her towards one of the food stalls at Broadway Market. They’d met at the corner opposite London Fields, the same as they did every weekend he was in London, catching up on everything they’d been up to in the weeks that he’d been in Harbourside, the coastal town where his yacht club was located, or away sailing. That was the price you paid for your best friend being a professional athlete, she supposed. If he was going to keep winning these round-the-world races and breaking records left, right and centre, she was going to miss him while he was doing it.
But at least she got to see his face in the papers while he was away. Even if he wasn’t very happy about it. She smirked at Jannes. ‘At least they spelt your name right.’
He groaned. ‘This isn’t funny, Lara. All the sponsors we were lining up for the next transatlantic record attempt are freaking out. If they drop me because of this, then my plans will be down the toilet.’
She gave his arm a comforting squeeze and then bought him dhal and samosas from one of the stalls at Broadway Market, and crossed back over the road to eat in the park, spreading out her jacket on the grass as a makeshift picnic blanket. It felt like months since she had had the sun on her face. The winter had been long and hard, with an epic blizzard thrown in for good measure. But this morning she had woken up to spring. Her coat cupboard was still scattered with hats and scarves, but she’d left the house in just a sweater and a light jacket for the first time since September. London was glorious like this, and the whole of Hackney seemed to have a smile on their face.
She knew that her social feeds were going to be flooded with sunshiny pictures and iced coffees and spring flowers, and could hardly wait to launch her own spring theme. She made a mental note to take some pictures in the park before they headed back to her apartment. As an influencer, half her life was lived online, and the other half was spent studying for her MBA and launching her consultancy business, to help others achieve the success that she had found in building her little online community.
She took one look at Jannes, though, and stopped grinning. ‘I’m sorry, Jannes. I don’t know why they would make stuff up like this.’
He shook his head, looking again at the magazine. ‘I went on, like, four dates this year. None of which went particularly well. And they’ve gathered every paparazzi photo that can possibly make me look like I’m with a girl and made me look like some sort of Casanova. I sneeze in a woman’s general direction and all of a sudden I’m cheating with her on my other non-existent girlfriend.’
He said that as if she wasn’t hyperaware of every date he had been on. As if she hadn’t hung off his every word and nearly killed herself feigning nonchalance every time he had mentioned another woman’s name. Really, sometimes it was exhausting loving Jannes as a friend the way she did, and him being beautiful, the way that he was. And knowing that under different circumstances—if she were someone different, someone less broken—that this could really be...something. But she was broken. And she wasn’t someone different. And if she and Jannes tried turning this friendship into anything more then she knew that she would hurt him and lose him, and she just couldn’t risk that. So she changed the subject, as she always did. Lightened the tone and tried to pretend that it didn’t hurt. You’d think after three years of this, it would be easier.
‘Or, you know,’ she said, aiming light and hoping that her voice didn’t shake. ‘You’ve got your arm around a girl wearing a bikini...’
He hit her playfully on the arm with the magazine and she figured she’d got away with it. ‘Oh, my God, I’d gone for a swim!’ he protested. ‘This is what I’m talking about. She slipped and I caught her. I probably saved her a concussion, but according to this we had a torrid three-day affair.’ His voice sounded a little strained, and he was avoiding eye contact. Was he embarrassed about the picture? she wondered. Or was he in tune with her on this, as he was on just about anything else? Did he feel them drawing together every time that she did? Was he fighting as hard as she was?
‘She does look a little dazed,’ Lara observed, looking at the girl in the photo and accidentally dripping raita on her face.
Jannes shoved her with his foot. ‘You’re meant to be on my side.’
‘Of course I’m on your side,’ she told him gently. ‘Tell me what I can do to help.’
‘How are you with crisis PR?’ he asked, a note of tension in his voice that she couldn’t account for.
Lara smiled, after just a fraction of a hesitation. ‘I don’t know. I’ve never tried it, but I’ll probably be excellent. What are you thinking?’
He shifted a little uncomfortably. ‘Well, I had an idea. It was something my grandmother said, actually. The thing is, I have an awards thing in a couple of weeks, and it could be a good chance to present a new image. An
d I thought if you came with me, it might...change the narrative.’
‘Explain,’ Lara said, creasing her forehead as she listened to him.
‘Well, people know that we’re friends. We’ve been photographed together before. If we went together, and made it look like we were together, it would make me seem more...settled. Less...’
‘Man slutty?’
He barked a laugh—she loved that. Loved that she could take him by surprise and make him lose control for a second. ‘Well. Yes. You have this thing that makes people love you. I could do with a pinch of that.’
She frowned, thinking. ‘I don’t know, Jannes. It feels a little...weird. You’re my best friend, and nothing more, and we’ve always been very clear about that. With each other. With everyone else. I’m worried that if we start bending the truth about that, there’ll be a grey area, you know?’
‘I know,’ he said. ‘And I agree. You know how much you mean to me, and I don’t want to do anything that would risk that. But... Lara, I cannot lose this sponsorship. If I don’t attempt the speed record this year—I don’t know if I’ll be able to do it again. And I can’t think of another way to turn things around as quickly. And we know what we are, right? We know where we stand. That doesn’t change.’
She thought about what he’d said while she ate. ‘Why don’t you take your grandmother?’ she asked at last, thinking aloud, avoiding the proposal he’d put to her until she had thought about it some more. Maybe there was some other way out of this that didn’t involve her examining her feelings for him quite so closely.
‘You think I could trust Mormor near a TV camera?’ Jannes said with a laugh. ‘She’d be rampaging on my behalf. It was her idea that I ask you.’
Lara nodded. ‘That’s a good point. I love it when Mormor rampages.’
‘Which is why it always terrifies me when you two are in a room together.’
She should agree to it, of course. She shouldn’t even have to think about it. Jannes was one of her closest friends and, much as she would do just about anything to help him if he was in trouble, this was just...a little close to the bone. Because she was pretty sure that Jannes had been as determined as she had over the years to ensure that their friendship had never been in danger of being mistaken for more. And they’d never spoken about it, but she was pretty sure it was a battle that was being fought by both of them.
Jannes was a great guy. Certainly the best one that she knew. And Lara had a thing about nice guys—she didn’t date them. What was the point when they got attached and she got attached and then they both got hurt? It hadn’t taken her long into her twenties for her to realise that she was really bad at relationships. She’d freaked out the few times that things had been going well, and it had become clear that she wasn’t cut out for making things serious.
Looking back, she knew exactly what the problem was—there was something wrong with her. When her father had walked out on her—for the other family he’d kept hidden from her her whole life—something inside her had broken. She wasn’t sure what part it was, but somewhere along the line between dating and liking and loving, something was just...off. She was off. She tried to love and she couldn’t, so she pushed boys away before she could hurt them. She wouldn’t hurt Jannes. It was just unthinkable. Which was why she’d been keeping him firmly in the safe zone since the day that she had met him.
But he needed her, and she’d never been able to resist it when Jannes needed her. Eventually, she gave him her answer.
‘Fine, I’ll be your plus one,’ she said. ‘And I’ll pretend to be your girlfriend. But we don’t let this change anything between us, right? Everything stays the same. I don’t want things to be confusing—I love you and you know that, but as friends and nothing more. I don’t want anything to change.’
He nodded firmly, which gave her a little bit of confidence that this was all going to be fine, even if her gut was telling her something different. ‘I know; I understand and I feel the same. This is all just for show. It doesn’t change anything.’
‘Good.’ She let out a breath, let the tension drain from her shoulders. And then an idea struck.
‘Hey, you know it’s Pip’s wedding next weekend? Will you come with me? If we’re going to pretend to date, it’d be weird if you didn’t, right?’ If they were doing it once, what harm could it do to make it twice?
Her sister—her half-sister—had sent the invitation months ago, and she hadn’t been able to say no, not when Pip had uninvited their father so that Lara wouldn’t have to see him. She’d ignored the event in her calendar, hoping that something would come up that would mean she could get out of going. But nothing had and she’d been dreading it, but this could be perfect. She took a deep breath. ‘I can’t not go and I’m dreading it. I was going to just tough it out but... I’m wavering. So just do me a favour and hold my hand for a few hours?’ He’d just told her that he wanted her to do practically the same thing for him, so it could hardly be a big deal.
‘You know you could just find a nice boy to take you?’ Jannes said at last.
Lara rolled her eyes. ‘Ew, no thanks.’
Jannes laughed. ‘Did you say ew? Are you twelve?’
‘No, I’m thirty-one, very busy running a business where I’m expected to be available twenty-four-seven and can’t be arsed filtering through all the douchebags in London to find the one decent guy left. So you’ll have to do.’ Which were all perfectly valid reasons for her not to date. And all true. But Jannes didn’t need to know that they weren’t the whole truth. That she didn’t see the point in dating, when everything always ended in tears. And she didn’t like doing that to people, least of all someone who she actually liked.
Jannes smiled, so broadly that it almost annoyed her. ‘Ah, so you’re going to convince me with flattery.’
‘I’d ask Jess—’ great friend, but also newly married ‘—but she’s up in Yorkshire being deliciously loved-up with Rufus. For once you’re not on a boat somewhere, you just asked me for a massive favour and I promise to buy you loads of booze if you say yes.’
He caved. ‘Fine. Yes. You’re very persuasive. But I don’t get why you’re dreading it,’ he added, because he knew nothing about anything.
‘You’ve never been a single woman in your thirties, have you, Jannes?’ Lara said, giving him the most condescending look that she could muster. ‘I can’t be doing with everyone asking me when I’m going to find a nice young man and settle down.’
She felt a release of tension that she hadn’t known she was carrying when Jannes agreed to go with her. At a regular party, she would show up solo without giving it a second thought. But this was family, and her family was...complicated. Her half-sister was getting married, and had invited Lara to the big day. And when she said invited, she actually meant insisted, tearfully, on how much she wanted Lara to be there, and when she’d said that she wasn’t sure it was a good idea...
That was when Pip, and her mother, and Lara’s mother to boot, had suggested that maybe she needed to see someone about her issues with her family. That perhaps they could go to therapy. Family therapy, all of them together, and maybe even ask her father to go along too. She was practically sick at the thought. She had to do a better job of holding it together around them, or she was going to be subjected to that torture. Because how could she say no to Pip or her family, when they had taken her in when her world was falling apart?
She had no choice but to go to this wedding and convince them all that she was perfectly fine. There was no way that she was going to choose to do that either sober or alone.
‘Fine, I’ll come,’ Jannes said, giving her a smile that crinkled his eyes. ‘But are you sure that the whole pretending to be your boyfriend thing is necessary? I could come just as your friend. I mean, the best man might be hot. I don’t want to cramp your style.’
‘If he is, I’ll drop you in a heartbeat, do
n’t worry,’ Lara said with a smile. ‘It’s just so that I don’t have to spend the whole day defending my single lifestyle. You know they’re all going to be talking behind my back anyway.’
He gave her one of those sympathetic looks that she hated. ‘Jannes. Cut it out.’
It was only because he looked suitably remorseful that she decided at the last minute not to throw the chickpea she’d been threatening him with. ‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘It’ll be very romantic. Kidding,’ she added, swatting him in the chest when his face went kind of grey. ‘I’m kidding. Don’t freak out.’
‘I didn’t freak out,’ Jannes said, pulling himself up a little straighter.
Lara snorted. ‘You so did. And one of these days we’re going to talk about your rampant fear of commitment. But not until I’m done with you.’
‘It’s hard to know if that’s a threat or not,’ he said, narrowing his eyes.
‘It’s absolutely a threat.’
‘Fine, we’ll deal with my commitment issues when you’re ready to talk about yours too.’
Pfft. What was the point of having a fake boyfriend instead of a real one if it didn’t get you out of talking about your commitment issues? Besides, those commitment issues had been doing them both a favour ever since they’d met. You didn’t meet a man as pretty as Jannes—and if anyone doubted a man could be pretty, she’d simply produce him as evidence—without being ever so slightly tempted to know what it would be like to get naked and sweaty with him, just the once. Besides, he was a nice boy, and she was a disaster with nice boys. She wasn’t consigning Jannes to the ‘do not drunk dial’ group in her phone over a couple of nights of fun and then a major freak-out on her part. Or his, for that matter.
It wasn’t worth losing him over an orgasm or two. However tempting he looked.