Page 13 of The Billionaire's Bad News Baby

“Are you trying to be insulting?”

“No, honest, I’m not. I must be doing it accidentally.”

Civil, Elio reminded himself sternly. For your own sake, try and be civil. Unfortunately, Kayla seemed entirely incapable of keeping her mouth shut.

“The pasta is good as well,” she said, making her way through her meal.

“Thank you.” He watched her carefully as she failed to say anything else.

“What?” she asked, wriggling under his scrutiny.

“That’s it? Just a compliment? No other smart remarks?”

“Well, I was just trying to be nice, but I’m sure I can come up with some insults if that’s your thing.”

“Forget I said anything.”

“That’s a very hard thing to forget.”

Elio was certain she was going to give him a migraine before the meal was over, but before he could open his mouth to keep squabbling, an outrageously loud crack of thunder hit right above them and for a second, the lights flickered off and on again.

Neither of them had anything to say for a few minutes after that, with Kayla constantly sneaking glances up to the ceiling as if it were going to cave in on them. When Elio started talking again, it had less to do with picking a fight and more to do with turning his attention away from the storm swirling violently around them.

“You weren’t actually serious about swimming back to the mainland, were you?”

Kayla shrugged and swallowed her mouthful. “It seemed like as good a plan as any at the time. Getting stuck here with you while you were so angry seemed… not ideal.”

“Neither is drowning off the coast of Italy. You would single-handedly tank the tourism industry, at least temporarily.”

“Yeah, I’m sure my ghost would feel really bad about that.”

“And what about after this?” he asked. “Any more CEOs that need to be tricked into taking their papers with your dramatic skills?”

Kayla made a face, screwing up her nose. “No, not if I can help it.”

“What do you mean? Only going after the lower classes from now on?”

“I mean, I’ve quit. This is my last job. I never want to serve another court case ever again, thanks very much, even if they offer to take me on a full European tour.”

Elio was a bit stunned. Especially by the tone of her voice; how tired she sounded. He’d assumed she’d taken pride in her work, considering the lengths she went to in order to get the papers in his hands.

“You maybe could have quit a little sooner, then,” he said. “You know, as a favor to me.”

God, what was wrong with him? He was supposed to be making a good impression, and here he was, already cringing at how much of an ass he was still sounding like despite a failed attempt at being funny. But Kayla laughed. Actually laughed, like she’d gotten the joke. Which not many people did.

“Well, if I ever come across a time machine,” she said, “I’ll go back and quit a little sooner, just for your sake.”

“I’d appreciate it.”

Kayla raised her glass to him and took a sip, and now Elio was in an entirely different sort of spin.

“I didn’t expect you to hate your job,” he said, pushing his food around the plate.

“Why not?”

“Because you seem to be very good at it.”

She shrugged again, as if hiring some random fisherman in a foreign country to get her onto someone’s private island and to knock on their door with a straight face wasn’t remotely impressive.

---