Page 44 of The Roman's Woman (A Singular Obsession)

No, he’s taller.

Outside, Gio gave her a little nod, his hands in his pockets.

She shot to her feet and grabbed her purse. “I have to run, Richard. I’ll get back to you about coming around to the house.”

“Fine, darling, fine,” he said absently, trying to be subtle about the close inspection of his replacement.

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, she hurried outside before Gio decided to come inside—she could smell the testosterone from here.

Chapter 15

Richard is trying to get her back.

It was obvious. The man kept leaning in and trying to touch her hand, even when she was signing paperwork, for crying out loud.

And there he goes again.

One more, and Gio was going to go in there to beat the crap out of the good professor. He looked like an academic, too—of the overbred chinless variety.

Except he had a chin. Richard wasn’t hideously ugly, as much as Gio wanted to believe otherwise. He had those pale good looks of the English upper class, the weak kind that would fall apart in middle age. No doubt Richard did well with women in the University environment, where sheltered co-eds were easily impressed by a clever turn of phrase and a tweed coat.

Gio stood outside stewing until his fixed attention was noticed by the occupants of the cafe. Sophia turned and saw him waiting on the sidewalk. She didn’t look happy to see him. Perhaps he should have warned her he was coming back early.

She didn’t waste any time saying goodbye to her ex. Fortunately, for his equilibrium, all Richard received was a distracted wave as she headed for the door.

“Bongiorno, mi amore,” he said, putting his arms around her and giving her a warm and very visible kiss.

He didn’t fool her for a second. She gave him an exasperated glare and pulled him down the street, away from the cafe, putting on her coat and scarf as they went.

“What are you doing here?”

Merda, she sounded mad.

“You said you were meeting Richard at the cafe near Kelly’s place. That is her place, isn’t it?” he asked, gesturing across the street.

“I meant, why aren’t you in London?”

“My meeting was rescheduled so I headed back early.”

“Of course it was.”

Red warning lights started flashing in his head, but he ignored them. “What does that mean?”

She stopped and spun around to face him. “It means, did you reschedule it or did the other guy?”

“My associate canceled,” he lied.

Sophia’s lips pursed and she tapped her foot. Even when she was angry, she was so damn sexy.

“Gio.”

Distracted by the delicious fullness of her lips, he’d lost his train of thought, a dangerous thing when a woman was irritated with you.

“Yes,bella mia?”

“Don’tbella miame. I know you came back early because I was meeting Richard. But there was no reason to. You don’t have to be jealous.”

“I’m not jealous,” he protested, growing warm despite the sharp bite in the air.

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