He certainly hadn’t wasted any time in driving home her real status! Flinging a load of mundane tasks at her even though they’d only just arrived. Angie picked up a brush and began to pull it through her wet hair. Well, the work could wait. She was through with being useful, doormat Angie. Angie who took just whatever Riccardo Castellari cared to chuck at her. Because she was slowly beginning to realise that Riccardo treated her the way he did because she let him!
And she wasn’t going to let him. Not any more.

The Italian Billionaire’s Secretary Mistress by Sharon Kendrick (I know it is a mouthful), first published in 2009, brings to readers the story of Riccardo Castellari and 27 year old Angie Patterson, the latter who has been in love with her boss Riccardo for the better part of the five years since she has been working for him in the capacity of a secretary.

However, Angie has decided that enough is enough and come New Year, she would tender her resignation after finding herself a new employment opportunity. Angie knows Riccardo unlike any other, his likes and dislikes, his family and their birthdays, how he is like when he is in pursuit of a new woman, and what it is like when he wants to end things when the affairs run their course.

She however, is the invisible secretary to the man who owns her heart, and the toll it takes on Angie has hit a point where she is unwilling to let it destroy her anymore, especially as time passes on and she is witness to societal pages bearing gossip of Riccardo’s newest liaisons with beautiful women, not to mention the role that she has to play when Riccardo is in pursuit.

Riccardo hires Angie based on her plain looks, so that she would not be a distraction nor harbor any illusions of grandeur when it comes to him. Over time, she has become the only person who could get away with teasing him, even be it occasionally, and the only one who can lay it down as it is to him. He does not particularly appreciate what his lethal good looks and sex appeal means when it comes to the fairer sex even though he benefits largely from the fact, the “burden” that he has to shoulder with countless women showering their unwanted attentions on him is not something he particularly wants.

Things take a turn when Riccardo carelessly gifts Angie a red dress after one of his trips to New York which changes the power dynamics between the two. Riccardo for the very first time is forced to take notice of the bombshell that Angie is, and the dynamite that she is to his senses is not something he recovers from henceforth.

Riccardo is honest to a fault when it comes to his archaic views on marriage, and the fact that he has no intention of tying himself down with a woman for a lifetime until he is well and ready and finds the virgin female he is looking for to school her in the art of seduction and lovemaking (solely for his benefit) and bear his children.

The affair that begins between Riccardo and Angie (if you could call it that), is one filled with moments of mirth, sheer disbelief on the part of Riccardo, and bliss and heartache for Angie whose tender emotions don’t stand a chance with Riccardo’s lethal sexuality unleashed on her. Riccardo resists at every turn from succumbing to the emotional aspect of his relationship with Angie, and that is where the angst factor comes from, giving the story the edge it deserves.

I loved both Angie and Riccardo; Angie because she realizes at one point that she is done being at the beck and call of Riccardo and so over being a doormat variety of heroine and stands up for herself, and Riccardo because he is totally clueless when it comes the havoc that Angie creates inside his heart when all is said and done.

The fact that Riccardo does the pursuing in the end is what sealed the deal for me – a rarity in romances these days, where every conflict is resolved before it becomes an issue, because everyone loves “healthy communicating adults” in a relationship. Well let me tell you, not so much when we want the drama associated with some levels of misunderstanding between a couple!

Recommended for fans of Sharon Kendrick, some of her books are to die for and this is one I enjoyed immensely!

Final Verdict: Riccardo and Angie are the perfect boss-secretary combo until a red dress changes all that. Blindsided heroes make for the best romance novels!

Favorite Quotes

He wanted her here—in his car—down some little Tuscan track! His furtive secretary lover.
Her body screaming its protest, Angie wrenched herself out of his arms. ‘Stop it,’ she whispered from between lips which felt swollen to twice their normal size. ‘Stop it right now.’
A nerve worked at his temple. ‘You don’t want me to stop it.’
Maybe her body didn’t—but her dignity demanded it. Or did he think he was just going to erode that too with his sexual mastery—the way he had chipped away at her heart?
‘Oh, yes, I do.’ Ineffectually, she pushed at the hard wall of his chest. ‘Do you really want me to turn up at your house and to meet your family with my cheeks all flushed and my hair awry—making it perfectly obvious what we’ve just been doing?’
‘They won’t care what you look like,’ he snapped insultingly.
‘I find that very hard to believe,’ she returned, enjoying the outrage on his face as she dared to stand up to him. ‘And even if they don’t care—then I most certainly will. I’m here as your secretary, remember? And there’s a certain standard to maintain—a decorum—which I don’t intend to compromise with a quick fumble in your car!’
‘A quick fumble?’ he echoed, outraged.
‘Well, what would you call it?’
‘You do not think that such an experience would be pleasurable?’
‘N-no.’ She was on less sure ground now. ‘I’m not saying that at all. You’re very good, as I’m sure enough people have told you. I’m just refusing to turn up to your house giving people ammunition to make negative judgements about me.’
Struggling to rein in his ragged breath and trying to ease the unbearable ache at his groin, Riccardo glared at her. This was no coy little game she was playing, he realised with dawning disbelief. She really meant it. Did she think that he would fall under her spell if she resisted him?
And yet he could not remember the last time a woman had spurned his sexual advances.
For a moment, an unwilling respect warred with his feelings of frustration—and then he moved away from her with an impatient click of his tongue and started up the car.
‘Riccardo—’
‘Don’t talk to me when I’m driving!’ he thundered.
‘But you’ve left the handbrake on.’

For a moment he sank into the feeling, revelling in the sensations which were whispering over his skin before he realised where he was—and then he swore softly in Italian.
‘Che ora e?’ he snapped, lifting his wrist to glance at his watch. He sat up, his face wreathed in anger. ‘Why the hell did you let me sleep?’
Dismayed, Angie stared at him. ‘Because you looked as if you needed to.’
Jumping out of bed, he grabbed his jeans and began to pull them on. ‘Madre di Dio!’ he exclaimed furiously. ‘You’ve certainly changed your tune! From worrying about what my brother might think of our behaviour—you switch to luring me into staying.’
‘I didn’t lure you!’
‘You covered me up with a duvet,’ he accused.
‘Is that such a heinous crime?’
It felt like a trap. A trap as seductive as those great big eyes of hers and her warm, soft body. He shook his head. ‘I don’t want to spend half the afternoon in your bedroom!’ he declared.
‘Then don’t! Nobody’s keeping you here. Go!’

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