Page 46 of The Roman's Woman (A Singular Obsession)

Please call me if you need help with the Italian.

“Figlio di troia. Is he serious?” Gio growled, snatching up her phone. “I thought he didn’t text on principle.”

Sophia avoided his eyes. “It’s the first text he’s ever sent me.”

And it was about him, offering help as if he was some kind of villain.

Because God hated him, the phone buzzed again and he lost it. He snatched the device from her hands and threw it into the middle of the street where it was immediately run over by a passing car.

“Gio!”

Shocked at his own behavior, he froze.

“Goddammit, Gio, all of my contacts were in there, my calendar—”

He grabbed her hand. “I am so sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”

He looked at the phone, wondering if it had survived when another car, a bigger one, ran over it a second time. Wincing, he squeezed Sophia’s fingers until she met his eyes.

“I’ll buy you a new one—a better one. The most expensive one money can buy.”

She glared at him. “I don’t want a more expensive one. I wantthat one,” she said, pointing at the wreckage that used to be her phone.

He cringed. It was in several large pieces now.

“I can run out and grab it. My tech guys from the bank might be able to recover some data from the SIM card,” he offered, preparing to dart out into the busy street.

Sophia clutched his arm. “Don’t. You’ll get hit by a car…I have a backup of the data on my laptop.”

Relieved, he hugged her. “That’s great!”

But she was still upset. Putting a hand between them, she shoved him away. “Go home, Gio.”

Oh, he’d fucked this up.

“Sophia, I am so sorry.”

Her eyes closed. “I know that, but it doesn’t make this okay. You can’t keep flying off the handle like that and expect an apology to make it all better.”

“I don’t. I swear I’m not usually this insane. But you can’t trust this guy,” he said, gesturing back to the cafe.

She passed a hand over her face, and he hung his head. He was losing ground rapidly. He shouldn’t have come, but it had been hard to stay away knowing she was going to be alone with a former lover.

And now she was selling her father’s car to him, too? He should have Enzo make Richard an offer for the damn thing after Sophia rid herself of it. One he couldn’t refuse.

Merda. His possesiveness was turning him into the godfather. Also, Richard looked like the type to whine to Sophia the minute Gio had his back turned. It was best to leave things alone. He would have the man watched, however. If his friend Alex’s situation with his wife’s stalker, Stephen Wainwright, had taught him anything, it was to proceed with caution—and to trust no one of the opposite sex around his woman.

Giving up, he kissed her forehead. “I’m still sorry, and I’m going home now to think about what I’ve done,” he said in an appropriately chastised tone.

Sophia’s lip quirked. “Good.”

“I don’t suppose you want to come with me?” he asked, waving to his driver.

The man was standing next to the car down the block.

“No. Kelly’s waiting for me with a very large bottle of wine. I’ll see you at your place later. Besides, I drove here.”

Disappointed he couldn’t sweep her off, he nodded.

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