Ruined by Desire

Rules

After the photos came the first article which went live at 8:12AM.

Sienna discovered this because her phone started vibrating violently against the mattress while Luca, who had dozed off again, was still half asleep beside her with one arm draped lazily across her waist like he’d lived there for years instead of one night.

UNKNOWN NUMBER: Congratulations on becoming Monaco’s newest scandal.

“What,” Sienna whispered.

Another notification appeared immediately after.

Theo: WAKE UP.

Theo: YOU’RE ON PAGE SIX.

Theo: CALL ME BEFORE I EXPLODE.

Sienna sat upright so quickly Luca made a tired noise beside her.

“Mmm. That feels dramatic for this hour.”

Sienna ignored him completely and opened the article.

LUCA MORETTI SPOTTED LEAVING ROOFTOP BAR WITH MYSTERY WOMAN

The accompanying photos showed her and Luca leaving the rooftop together the night before. Holding hands. Laughing. One photo caught Luca looking down at her with an expression so openly affectionate it made her stomach drop.

“Oh no.”

Beside her, Luca finally opened one eye.

“That tone usually means either murder or paparazzi.”

“Paparazzi.”

“Ah.” He sounded unsurprised.

Sienna turned the screen toward him.

Luca scanned the article once before shrugging lightly against the pillows.

“That’s actually one of my better headlines.”

Sienna stared at him in disbelief.

“They know where I work.”

“They always know where everyone works. And you're on their website. A quick internet search can find that out."

“That is not comforting.”

Luca reached for her waist again, pulling her gently back toward him despite her growing panic.

“Sienna.”

“No. Absolutely not. Don’t rich-man voice me right now.”

“Rich-man voice?”

“The calm voice you use before saying something emotionally destabilizing.”

“I was going to say it’ll pass.”

“It’s already trending.”

That finally made Luca sit up slightly.

“Trending where?”

Sienna held up the screen again.

Theo: Monaco social media has decided you’re either secretly engaged or pregnant.

Theo: One woman called you “the brunette Kate Middleton.”

Theo: I need you to understand how serious this has become.

Luca laughed immediately. "Kate Middleton has nothing on you, Tesoro (treasure)."

Sienna looked horrified. “Why are you enjoying this?”

“Because you just got compared to royalty before coffee.”

“That is not the issue here!”

Her phone rang and it was Theo. Sienna answered it. She knew ignoring him would only make him turn up on her doorstep and he would actually explode if he saw Luca there, shirtless and in her bed.

“This is your fault.”

Theo gasped dramatically through the speaker. “You HELD HANDS publicly. Luca looked at you like a

man moments away from proposing on a yacht.”

Luca looked deeply pleased by that description.

Sienna pointed at him aggressively while still on the phone. “Stop encouraging him.”

“Oh my God,” Theo breathed. “He’s THERE.”

“Unfortunately.”

“I’m coming over.”

“No.”

“I already left my apartment.”

The line disconnected.

Sienna stared at the phone in betrayal.

“He’s emotionally committed to chaos,” Luca observed.

“You’ve ruined my life.”

Luca leaned back against the headboard completely shirtless and unfairly calm while sunlight spilled

across the bed behind him.

“You’re being dramatic.”

“You’re famous.”

“You work at a celebrity magazine.”

“That’s different. I’m supposed to be behind the camera, not in the headlines.”

Luca watched her carefully for a moment as some of the amusement faded from his face.

“Sienna.”

“I mean it.” She looked back at him now, panic beginning to overpower embarrassment. “This is exactly

what I didn’t want.”

The room quieted slightly after that. Luca sat up properly now, expression softening as he pulled he across his lap. She laid her head on his shoulder as he stroked her hair with one hand and drew absent minded patterns on her bare knee.

“Hey.”

She hated how gentle his voice sounded and she hated how aware she suddenly was of him. His bare chest against her shoulder. Her legs across his lap. The fact she was wearing nothing except his shirt and underwear while Luca Moretti touched her hair like it was something precious.

This felt dangerously close to intimacy.

“It’s one article.”

“It’s never one article with you.”

He didn’t deny that and that scared her more.

Twenty minutes later, Theo burst into her apartment carrying iced coffee and the energy of a man

arriving at a crime scene.

“Oh my God.”

Luca looked up from the kitchen where he’d somehow already started making espresso again.

Theo stopped dead.

“You’re even hotter in domestic lighting,” he informed Luca honestly.

“Thank you?”

Sienna buried her face in her hands.

“This is the worst morning of my life.”

Theo dropped dramatically onto the couch beside her.

“This is the greatest morning of my life. Yours is debatable.”

He immediately opened three gossip websites simultaneously while Luca leaned against the kitchen

counter looking entirely too comfortable in her apartment.

“Oh, this one zoomed in on the hand-holding.” Theo gasped.

Sienna groaned.

“They’re calling you mysterious.”

“I’m literally sitting right here.”

“That’s how celebrity journalism works, sweetheart.” Theo looked delighted. “You’re mysterious until you

do one interview and then suddenly you’re ‘surprisingly down to earth.’”

Luca snorted quietly into his espresso as Theo scrolled further before freezing dramatically.

“Oh no.”

“What now?” Sienna asked warily.

“They found your photography portfolio.”

Sienna sat upright immediately. “WHAT?”

Theo turned the phone toward her.

Several entertainment accounts had already reposted her work alongside blurry photos of her leaving

the rooftop with Luca.

WHO IS LUCA MORETTI’S NEW GIRL?

Award-winning photographer Sienna Vale may be Monaco’s newest obsession.

“Oh my God.”

Theo looked increasingly thrilled.

“You’re becoming glamorous against your will.”

“I hate all of this.”

Luca finally stepped closer, setting a coffee carefully in front of her before speaking calmly.

“No one’s saying anything bad about you.”

“That’s because they just discovered me thirty minutes ago.”

Theo nodded supportively. “That part is fair.”

Luca shot him a look which Theo ignored completely.

“I do think,” Theo continued thoughtfully, “that if you’re going to date a billionaire menace, this is

actually decent press.”

“We are not dating.”

Both Theo and Luca looked at her with identical skepticism. Sienna pointed between them immediately.

“I need both of you to be less in sync and less annoying.”

“Impossible,” Luca said calmly.

“Biologically,” Theo agreed.

“I need air.” Sienna stood abrubtly and walked to the balcony doors.

Theo watched her pace across the apartment before his expression softened slightly beneath the

dramatics.

“Hey.”

She looked over.

“It’s okay to freak out a little.”

That gentleness almost made it worse somehow.

“I just…” Sienna rubbed at her forehead tiredly. “I spent years building a career where nobody looked at

me outside my work. And now suddenly I’m becoming somebody people click on because of who I

kissed.”

The apartment quieted. Even Theo stopped joking. Across the room, Luca finally set his coffee down.

“That won’t happen.”

Sienna laughed once without humor.

“It already is happening.”

“No,” Luca said quietly. “I mean I won’t let your work become secondary to me.”

The sincerity in his voice made Theo slowly look between them.

“Oh,” Theo muttered softly. “You’re both completely doomed.”

Sienna glared weakly at him.

“That’s not helping.”

“It’s true though.”

Luca stepped closer then, expression unreadable now.

“What do you need from me?” he asked.

The question caught her off guard because there was no defensiveness in it. No charm. Just honesty. Sienna looked at him for a long moment before answering carefully.

“Space to still be myself.”

“You are yourself with me.”

“That’s not what I mean.” She crossed her arms tightly now. “I don’t want to become another woman

photographed on your arm for entertainment.”

Luca’s expression shifted slightly at that.

“Sienna—”

“I’m serious.”

Theo quietly stood from the couch.

“Oh, this is becoming emotionally significant. I should leave before somebody starts confessing feelings.”

Neither of them acknowledged him or even offered him a glance. Theo looked delighted.

“I’m taking the coffees.” Then he disappeared out the apartment door like an emotionally chaotic little ghost.

Silence settled behind him.

“I like you,” she admitted finally. “Way more than I planned to.”

Luca’s eyes softened instantly.

“That sounds terrifying for you.”

“It is.”

He moved closer carefully now.

“But?”

“But I need rules.”

A slow smile almost appeared on his face before he stopped it.

“Rules?”

“Yes.”

“You made relationship terms and conditions.”

“We are not calling it a relationship.”

“That feels like denial.”

“Luca...”

“Sorry.” He looked entirely unrepentant. “Tell me your rules.”

Sienna drew in a breath.

“No public statements about me.”

“Done.”

“No interview surprises where you casually mention me.”

“I don’t do interviews unless legally threatened.”

“That somehow makes me trust you less.”

Luca smiled faintly.

“What else?”

“No sending flowers to my office.”

His face fell slightly.

“That feels unfair to my artistic expression.”

“No grand gestures every time we argue.”

“You’re removing my primary skill set.”

“Learn emotional communication.”

“That sounds exhausting.”

Sienna fought a smile.

“And,” she added quieter now, “if this stops being real for you… you tell me before I have to read it

online.”

That wiped the amusement from Luca’s expression completely. For a moment, he just looked at her. Then he stepped fully into her space, one hand resting lightly against her waist.

“You think I’d let you find out from a tabloid?” he asked quietly.

“I think you’ve spent years living in a world where feelings become headlines.”

Something flickered across his face at that because she wasn’t wrong. Luca’s thumb brushed slowly against her side and there was no denying the shiver that rippled through her and the gooseflesh that eruptted across her skin.

“I can do those rules,” Luca said quietly. “Even the flower one. Probably.”

Sienna searched his expression carefully.

“And no disappearing when things get complicated.”

His gaze held hers steadily.

“I’m still here, aren’t I?”

He was. He was still standing in her apartment after the headlines dropped, still looking at her like none of this scared him and still there when most people in his position probably would’ve turned the situation into PR and moved on.

It was the thing that scared and thrilled Sienna in equal measure.