Page 66 of Not Mine to Keep

I clasped it between my palms and gave her a nod of thanks.

“Well, he’s on his way.” She pointed as Alessandro strode over. “Good luck with him. If you need me, call, okay?”

“Thank you.” I hugged her. “I really appreciate that.”

“We should get going,” Alessandro remarked, his first words to me since we’d left Italy. “I have to drop you off at my place, make sure security is set up, then head to the office for a board meeting.”

“Yeah, okay.” I twisted toward the exit, but he snatched my wrist.

“My stubborn mother wants to have a dinner party tomorrow night. I told her that wouldn’t be happening. If she calls you on that new phone of yours, because I’m sure she had Izzy add her number, please ignore her. Do not give in.” His eyes fell to the iPhone I’d forgotten was in my hand. “Okay?”

“You want me to send your mother’s calls to voicemail?” Was he kidding?

“Please do.” He let go of me and reached into the inner pocket of his suit jacket; he’d changed into a gray three-piece suit aboard the flight, making me feel seriously underdressed in my jeans and tee. Retrieving his sunglasses, he pointed with them toward the Range Rover parked outside. “That will be your ride this summer. If you go anywherewithout me, someone from my team will accompany you along with those twoidiotiof your father’s.”

“You’re going to let me go out without you? I’m shocked.” I’d envisioned him holding me captive for “my own good” all summer.

“You’re not my prisoner,” was all he said before walking ahead of me. He didn’t go too far, just to the passenger door of the black Range Rover, and he opened it and waited for me.

“What, no Lamborghini?” I jested, unable to help myself.

“Only two seats. Need security,” he said, as if not recognizing I was being a smartass.

“You seem to be all I’ve needed so far.” That part wasn’t a joke. The man could handle me in more ways than one.

He lowered his sunglasses to meet my eyes, shook his head, then motioned for me to get a move on.

I managed a thank-you for the door holding, then slid inside. Leo was in the passenger seat up front, so we were saved from Frankie’s presence for now.

Alessandro palmed my door shut with a loud thud, then went over to his brother Enzo and hugged him before Enzo started back inside the hangar. Was he heading back to his wife? I was pretty sure he’d said Enzo lived in Charlotte.

Alessandro exchanged a few words with his family and Hudson, then joined me in the SUV and told our driver to get a move on. He kept his eyes on his phone, rapidly firing messages.

He didn’t speak to me until he had me alone in the fancy closet ofourbedroom at his penthouse.

“How’d you do this?” My fingers flew across my clothes all neatly hung up inside the luxurious walk-in. My wardrobe only took up one sad side of the massive space that was larger than my bedroom back home. “How’d you—?”

He leaned inside the doorframe of the closet, casually observing me. “I had my assistant send a team to pack up your stuff and get it here ASAP.”

“When? How?”Also, your people went through my personal things? Underwear? How lovely.

He sighed as if annoyed by my questions, then peeked at his fancy watch. “I don’t know. With the time difference, it was still early yesterday before we went to bed, and my people work fast when I ask them to do something.”

I did another double take of the massive closet. “Where are your things?”

“In the other closet.”

“Another closet?” I blinked. “Of course a billionaire would have two closets like this.”

“Mine’s smaller. Thought you’d need the bigger one. Clearly, I was wrong.” He pushed away from the doorframe, reaching into his back pocket for his wallet, then offered me a credit card. “For shopping.”

I waved his hand away. “I don’t need anything. I’m good.”

“You might.” He nudged it my way, but I refused to take it. I was his job, not his mistress. I wouldn’t act like my mother once had with Armani—shopping on his dime.

“Fine.” He put away the card and quietly left the closet. I followed him like a lost sheep unsure where to go, and I hated myself for that. But this was new territory.

I was in a penthouse in the sky—literally, we were in the sky, because clouds loomed just outside the bedroom window—and this was all madness.

---