Kissing Under the Mistletoe - Bella Andre Page 0,9

well-worn jeans and a favorite long-sleeved shirt would have accented the man’s rugged sensuality much better.

“That’s perfect, Mary,” Gerry called out to her. “Your look of longing is exactly right. Hold steady with it while I get some shots from the other side.”

She’d been so lost in the beautiful stranger’s eyes that she hadn’t realized Gerry had started shooting again.

It wasn’t like her to be caught off guard while working. She was known for her focus and stamina. And, sometimes, if people were being disrespectful to her or the crew on a shoot, her Italian temper would be revealed. Since she always gave her best, she didn’t think it was too much to ask others to do the same.

Longing. That’s what Gerry called this feeling inside her chest. And perhaps he was right.

Mary had been a virgin when she left Italy at nineteen and, with her mother’s voice continuing to ring loudly in the back of her head, she’d been careful not to let anyone take advantage of her innocence, either personally or professionally. At twenty-one, she’d truly believed she was in love with her first lover and that he felt the same about her. Too late, she’d realized he was simply in love with her glossy image. He was always gone before the morning light brought bed head and morning breath. Then, when she’d been hit with an awful flu and he wouldn’t come anywhere near her, she’d had to finally accept the truth that he only appreciated her when she was the “perfect” version of Mary Ferrer.

She’d been more careful with her next boyfriend, and the one after that. She’d made certain they had plenty of occasions to see the real her. And yet, as each relationship progressed and then eventually fizzled, she couldn’t help but feel that they had all expected so much more from her than from other women. She wondered if she would ever be able to live up to the idealized image men had of her from all her magazine and newspaper photos.

But it was her last relationship that had taught her the most. Romain Bollinger owned the finest watch company in the world. She had been hired to promote his important new line of Swiss watches, and though she’d always been careful not to mix business with pleasure, he was persistent—and charming—enough that she became his lover, as well. However, when the ad men decided the next phase of advertising for the ultra-important brand would be better served in the future by a woman ten years Mary’s junior, Romain agreed with them by replacing Mary not only in his ads…but in his bed, as well.

That’s when she learned that he had wanted her not for herself, but for her value to his company, both in his campaign and on his arm at parties. When her value disappeared, so did any pretense of affection. She’d been determined to finish out her contract, and that final week of photo shoots with Romain hovering over her harshly critiquing every pose and expression had been excruciating.

As she’d walked out of Romain’s Geneva penthouse for the very last time after finding him in bed with her young replacement, she’d sworn that she would never give up her freedom for anything but true love.

Now thirty-two, and still nowhere close to finding true love, Mary was all but certain her “freedom” would last forever.

But as the stranger’s eyes remained locked on hers while she held his gaze so that Gerry could get the shot he wanted, a shiver went through her that had nothing to do with the cool December air rushing over her skin.

Mistaking the reason for her shiver, Gerry called out to one of the crew to turn up the portable heaters on set.

For the next couple of hours, she continued to pose. Strangers came and went all around Union Square, but the beautiful stranger remained exactly where he was. Perhaps she should have been wary from his interest, but he didn’t look alarming in any way.

He simply looked like a man who was interested in a woman.

Maybe, she thought as Gerry finished shooting his final roll of film and the gorgeous stranger walked toward her, today wouldn’t be an end, but the beginning of something new and amazing.

Chapter Three

As the sun set behind the buildings in Union Square, the temperature immediately dropped by several degrees. Normally, once they called a wrap, Mary would have rushed back to her dressing room trailer to warm up with a cup