An Italian tailor with feelings more complicated than couture corsetry, and a junior designer who would rather wear polyester than be alone in a room with him trade their knock-off relationship for an original in this dislike-to-lovers romance.
Tessa is allergic to three things: tree nuts, micro-purses, and Haus of Lamont's tailor, Giovanni Cattaneo. Stuck in her stagnant career, she's spent years trying to earn a promotion, until, finally, her design is selected to show at Milan Fashion Week. The only wrinkle? Working closely with Giovanni for the next three weeks. If that's not enough to send her into anaphylactic shock, the Tailor of Terror has the audacity to complicate everything with a career-boosting deal.
Giovanni wasn't planning on making a trade with the woman who can't stand him. He doesn't even know what he did to earn Tessa's dislike, but as long as he's the one making that dimple in her left cheek appear, he doesn't care. She needs his appliqué for her design, he needs a girlfriend. What better way to repair the lie he told his parents than stitching his family heirloom into Tessa's dress in exchange for one week of fake dating in Italy?
A near death experience, an adopted family pigeon, and too many scoops of gelato later, Tessa's feelings for Giovanni quietly alter, and Giovanni wonders if she'll finally realize his heart's been sewn to hers for a long time.
Fake-dating goes haute couture in Design and Desire, a summer romance full of forced proximity, pining, and witty banter.
