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CHAPTER ONE

Nicoletta Go not to look as if she were staring at or even noticing Taviano Ferraro She’d asked hi of the Ferraro faiven her whatever she wanted This was the first ti so ridiculous that she was embarrassed, but it hadn’t mattered The family hadn’t flinched or hesitated She sat in their private jet with three of her friends headed to Los Angeles to see a Kain Diakos concert because it was Pia Basso’s birthday and that was her greatest wish

Nicoletta was ashairls were acting in front of Taviano They flirted relentlessly with hi his staff around She sat silently staring out the ishing she’d never ht it sounded so fun, asking a favor of the Ferraros wasn’t worth it, not after all they’d done for her Everything felt like a nightmare almost from the first, when she’d told Pia the Ferraros had acquired tickets for theeles and secure a hotel suite for the night

Within hours, Pia, her sister Bianca, and their closest friend Clariss Naples were on Nicoletta about asking the Ferraros for an expense account to go shopping for clothes Nicoletta was horrified The girls ca to ask the Ferraros for money for them to purchase new outfits for their trip, not when they were already providing a jet, a suite at a luxury hotel and the tickets to a concert She found it a little shocking that they would even consider it reasonable for her to ask

They whined at her, re her that it was Pia’s birthday, and then when she absolutely refused, wanted her to ask her foster parents, Lucia and Amo Fausti, to open their boutique, Lucia’s Treasures, to allow the three to choose free clothing That horrified her even ht then, but Clariss must have read her expression because she i and said it was all a joke and of course they were kidding Nicoletta had been relieved, but now, thinking it over, she wasn’t quite so certain

The truth was, she didn’t know or understand people She’d spent the last few years avoiding getting close to anyone She had tooabout her past Now, she was beginning to have more confidence in herself thanks to her foster parents, counseling and, she had to admit, the Ferraro family

Giggles broke out and she glanced up to see Pia alallantly, his strong hands around her waist, steadying her, but there was no expression on his face She knew that look from vast experience Taviano wasn’t happy He never showed it Never But he had a te side of it, as she had been more than once

She knew her friends thought he was absolutely the hottest man they’d ever seen, and she didn’t blame them because—well—he was He was tall with broad shoulders and, like his other brothers, totally ripped Muscles everywhere, and, saying that, they looked a in the suits they wore He had very dark hair, always just a little messy, which she loved, just the way she did the dark bluish shadow that seeine hi like a boy He always looked like a man He had the bluest eyes A dark blue surrounded by very long black lashes

Those lashes suddenly lifted, and she found herself staring into all that blue Her heart nearly stopped and then began pounding He did that to her Always She’d been a terrified teenager when he and his brother Stefano had saved her life and brought her to her foster parents, Lucia and Amo, the twoabout them made her want to cry

Her foster parents knew all about her, everything that had happened to her, and they loved her through her nighth her insanity of parties and rebellion and trying to outrun herself Taviano and his fa to her education, even sending her to Europe and

The moment Taviano released Pia, he shifted out of his seat and around her, ignoring the woht to Nicoletta When he did that, looking so directly at her, she immediately felt shy She’d acted so crazy sos, and there had been that one terrible night …