Page 15 of The Billionaire's Bad News Baby

“Thanks,” Kayla said, a sweet smile lighting up her face and doing nothing to help Elio’s flustered state.

“I don’t know if you need pajamas, maybe—” he said.

“That’s fine. I can just sleep naked.”

Elio choked on his pasta, a bit of tomato lodging itself in his throat. Thumping himself on the chest, with tears stinging his eyes, he was finally able to look up to see Kayla trying to smother hysterical laughter behind a hand pressed over her mouth.

“Sorry,” she said, between heaves of her shoulders.

“Funny,” said Elio when he could breathe again. “You’ve got a future as a comedian. Who knew?”

Kayla hid her face in her hands, her wild hair providing an extra curtain, clearly embarrassed with herself, but not embarrassed enough to stop laughing.

He was starting to think getting the upper hand, let alone getting at least an equal footing, was going to be impossible with this woman.

CHAPTER 7

KAYLA

Despite the storm, Kayla slept deep and long through the night in her borrowed clothes, smelling hints of Elio’s aftershave every time she shifted in bed. And the bed; she’d never slept in something so luxurious. It was like the bed out of a fairy tale. She was tempted to look under the mattress for a pea hiding underneath.

But she’d always been an early riser, and by seven a.m., despite the last dregs of jet lag in her system, she was lying awake, the room still dark with thunder rattling the window panes. She’d never seen a storm like it. Even as she was pulling on the pair of perfectly tailored slacks that Elio had lent her, rolling up the bottoms a couple of times so she didn’t fall face first through a window, there was no glimmer of the ocean she could see from this view. It was all just a roiling mess of black rain pouring with the intensity of a fire station hose. The only light came from the occasional crack of distant lighting and the sound… it was as never-ending as the ocean itself.

She really was lucky that Elio had taken her in. Plenty of other people she had served papers to would have gladly left her out in that storm. Saying she could try and swim across to the mainland was all well and good, but in reality, she’d be huddled under a grapevine somewhere trying to avoid drowning and getting hit by lightning. So, yeah, maybe she could be a little less snippy with the guy who’d literally put a roof over her head, food in her belly and clothes on her back. Her mom had always said that she needed a good night’s sleep to get perspective, and it had proven true once again.

Kayla could easily spend the day lounging around in what Elio had called the guest wing, which to her felt like a whole other house within a house: a bedroom, a living room, a bathroom with one of those fancy clawfoot tubs out of a movie, and a kitchenette too, like a hotel. But the only thing in the fridge was cans of soda and that wasn’t exactly going to stop the rumbling in her belly. Not when it was growling hard enough to compete with the thunder. And besides, she could at least make Elio some breakfast to say “Thanks for not leaving me to drown despite just getting served with a court case. Here’s an apology omelet.”

So she poked her head out of the door, feeling like a little kid getting out of bed for cereal before her mom was up, and peered around at the dim house. Outside the guest suite, the marble hall loomed large and dark as Kayla padded through it on bare feet. She didn’t know where any of the light switches were. She didn’t even know where the kitchen was; Elio had just led her to the dining room last night when he’d served dinner. Surely it would be on the first floor, though? Who had a kitchen on the second floor? But rich people did have some weird design choices sometimes, as she was learning very rapidly.

Feeling more and more like a criminal, she wandered through the villa, poking her head into random doorways. She found a beautiful living room, the walls lined with books, a fireplace and velvet couches scattered at just the right angle. Through another door was a study that she recognized from the large glass doors where she’d knocked and tricked Elio into taking the decoy box. She closed that door quickly, an office seeming strangely private, and she’d stuck her nose in there enough already. Even the broom closet she opened was spacious and clean looking.

From there, she found the kitchen and a light switch, illuminating the space in bright white light. God, she would kill to have a kitchen like this at home. Every appliance, from the oven to the fridge, was made of gleaming stainless steel. A marble countertop in the center of the room was probably worth more than her car. Their dishes from dinner the night before were soaking in the sink, along with a couple of pots.

Kayla probably should ask Elio permission before messing around in his kitchen. But… she just couldn’t resist, could she? Not with a two-door refrigerator staring her in the face. She opened the doors, which unsealed like the air hatch of a spaceship.

The insides looked like something from a magazine, the sort of thing you’d look at and go, surely, no one actually has that? But apparently, they did. There was a whole shelf of fresh herbs, bright and fresh and green. She could smell the tomatoes without even having to pick them up. There were mushrooms straight out of a storybook, alongside all sorts of cured meats that looked like illustrations. There was even a carton of fresh eggs, all of them somehow rustic and pristine at the same time.

“Hello?”

Kayla nearly threw the entire carton in the air and instead clutched it tight to her chest as her heart hammered away. Peeking around the door of the fridge, she saw Elio there, dressed in trousers and a linen shirt, hair smoothed back but his eyes still sleepy. With the storm still carrying on, she hadn’t even heard him approach.

“Are you hungry?” he asked, peering down at the eggs that she was now cradling like a baby. Somehow none of them had cracked, so that was something in her favor at least.

“Uh, no. Well, yes. But I figured you’d be hungry too because you know… it’s breakfast time. And it’s my turn to make a meal, so here I am…”

She trailed off as he started smirking at her, putting her rambling to a stop.

“Would you like some?” she asked, holding up an egg. He continued to stare at her blankly for a second, still blinking away sleep, but then he shrugged.

“Sure, why not.”

He sat at the marble counter, rubbing his head like he had a headache. Or maybe it was the fact that it was so early. Either way, he looked better with his hair ruffled and his edges not quite so crisp. Kayla probably shouldn’t be thinking about how good-looking the guy was; that somehow seemed inappropriate. Was there even an ethical code here, considering she’d served him legal documents? She had no idea, but the whole thing was so bizarre that it was honestly just easier to act like there was a moral code that needed to be followed, which meant she really should stop thinking about how good he looked with his hair messed up like that.

“Sorry if I woke you,” she said, meaning it. He really did look tired; the bone-deep, long-term sort of tired you couldn’t just get rid of with a nap. But Elio shook his head, letting her off the hook for waking him up at least.

“The storm woke me up. Then I thought someone had broken in… then I remembered.” He frowned and scratched the back of his neck as if he was still taking in how strange this whole situation was. Which made Kayla relax a little bit. At least it wasn’t just her bamboozled by their impromptu imprisonment.

“I don’t think I said thank you,” she said, the words coming out easier if she focused on assembling ingredients she wanted to try on the counter. “Not properly, anyways. So, thank you.”

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