Rocco Mondelli is grieving and furious. His grandfather, the only father figure he knew, died. His last words were take care of Olivia. When the will is read, Rocco is stunned to know his grandfather not only left him only fifty percent of the shares of the company, with the remaining ten under the guard of his nemesis to be given to him when he gains the trust of the board by proving he is no longer a reckless playboy; he also bought a luxurious apartment for a former supermodel Olivia. Unable to do much about the former, he focuses all his anger on the latter.

Olivia Fitzgerald stunned the world when she suddenly disappeared from the fashion world bailing on a three million dollar contract. Now in hiding, she has been working on her own fashion line, determined never to model again. Fate has other plans and with the death of her benefactor, her only option is to give in to Rocco's demands if she wants her dreams to come true; become the exclusive face for Mondelli for a year and pretend to be his ever loving fiancée.

Rocco has no plans of ever settling but due to his grandfather's will, he has to pretend to do and who better to do it with than his grandfather's mistress. I loved how over the course of the book he overcame his ruthless passion for his company and only showed affection to his sister and the Columbia Four, men he considers more brothers than friends. I also loved the fact that he is not afraid to apologize and say he is wrong. Each time he discovered one of assumptions regarding Olivia were wrong, he humbly apologized to her. Despite his antagonism towards her and the belief she had an affair with his grandfather, he still helped her overcome her past demons whenever she let, showing her a side only his close ones know. Both of them are deeply embroiled and affected by their pasts. Olivia is a strong woman who finally broke under the constant pressure of a life she never liked. She would have happily lived her life hiding if not for the circumstances. Her determination in making her dream come true is the thing which spurs her to enter that world again but Rocco's supports helps cross the first couple of major hurdles. Falling in love enables her to cross the final hurdle and face her demons once and for all on her own.

Rocco is not a knight in shining armour, nor is Olivia a damsel in distress but both are strong willed individuals who support & complement each other. They know when to stop and take a step back to let the other person breathe. Their chemistry is absolutely stunning. The moments they fall in love will leave tears in your eyes. The best thing I loved about this story is how Ms. Hayward built the relationship with these two individuals instead of having them fall straight into bed at the first sign of attraction, making the moment they finally come together poignant. I could not put THE ITALIAN'S DEAL FOR I DO down once I started, finishing it in one go. The ending left happy tears in my eyes. Looking forward to reading about the rest of the Columbia Four especially Stefan, Zayed & Christiano. Well... all of them.