Page 40 of The Billionaire and the Maid

“Hi,” he says with a smile.

“Hi,” I say back as I nervously put my weight on one foot and then the other.

“You look lovely,” he adds.

“Thank you,” I reply, trying to just accept a compliment for once in my life. Ugh! I feel so awkward tonight.

He pulls back after placing a quick kiss on my lips and places his hand on the small of my back. Why does that simple act give me goose bumps?

He opens my door and I take a seat in his car, noting that he already had the seat warmers on for me. I watch him walk around the car and get inside.

“How was your day?” he asks as he pulls out of the driveway.

“Oh, you know, had coffee with Gus, found a dress for the gala, and then went to work,” I say as if it was a totally routine day.

“A dress, huh?” he asks as he glances over at me.

“Yes. I know you probably had something in mind, but I have these vintage shoes and Greta had this incredible vintage dress. I think you’ll approve,” I add hastily, afraid I’m disappointing him. Geez, what if he had something picked out already?

“I can’t wait to see it,” he says with a smile, and I relax. I should relax. This is all fake. This is all fake, right?

CHAPTERSIXTEEN

Chase

My mother has gone overboard for the party. Of course, she has. I would expect nothing less. I’m hoping this encounter with my parents will go more smoothly than the first. My parents are…difficult. They are not like my grandfather who is openly caring. But I know they love me in their way. I mean, they did go out of their way to get me into a good college after I fucked around at my boarding school and almost got expelled for sleeping with the dean’s daughter. We were both drunk at an off-campus party. It was bad and it got leaked to the media and was a nightmare.

That’s when I started to become guarded about dating. My college girlfriend was great but she couldn’t handle the paparazzi that followed us all over the city constantly.

And then there was my last girlfriend, Carly. She’s the reason my playboy public image is likely burned into everyone’s retinas including Ella’s. Carly was in love with me for my ability to get us into exclusive clubs and concerts. When I suddenly didn’t have time to take her to clubs, she gave me an ultimatum between her and the company. I had every reason to want to work, but in the end, I didn’t have any more reasons to stay with her.

That’s half of my reason to remain without a girlfriend. But when my grandfather got sick a few years ago and decided to retire, it lit a fire under me. My father was never interested in running this company, but I am. Dad wants to play it safe and stay on our original course and I know we can’t, not if we’re going to be competitive in the long term. So working on a new direction for us has consumed me for the past three years. I’ve spent most of my time out here in Storyview Falls instead of my city apartment, so I can be close to Nonno and also focus on my new shoe idea. And I know it’ll consume me for the next few years as I work to hopefully implement my plans once I’m voted into the CEO position.

I glance over at Ella who’s taking in the scene before us. She’s so…different. She wasn’t like other girls when we were kids and she sure as hell is not like the women I’ve been around as an adult. Could she even fit into this crazy world that I call mine? I wouldn’t want her to change a thing about herself, but I also wouldn’t want her to be stifled by it.

“Wow,” Ella says as she looks over at the two-foot-tall birthday cake sitting on a circular table in the corner of the room.

“Yeah, my mother likes to go a little overboard for birthdays, but this is pretty low key for us,” I explain as I motion around us. It’s not a huge party, nothing like the gala we’ll be holding in about a week. I think we’re having maybe fifty guests and a cocktail reception with a string quartet with some food being brought around. There will be a champagne toast soon and Nonno will make a quick speech and cut his cake. As far as Marino parties go, this is low key.

“Thisis low key?” Ella asks, her eyebrows shooting up her forehead.

“Uh, yeah,” I reply as I look from her to our guests.

“Well, I can’t wait to see what you do for the gala, then,” she says with a frown as if the gala is going to be some sort of coronation ball.

“It’ll be on a grander scale for sure,” I warn her.

She swallows nervously and I take her hand in mine. She looks up at me. “You alright?”

Nodding, she opens her mouth to speak but a server with a tray of champagne descends upon us and we both accept a glass just in time for my father to clink a spoon against his champagne flute. The room settles down and focuses their attention on him.

“Welcome, everyone. I want to thank you for coming today to celebrate my father’s seventy-sixth birthday. Papà, we are so proud of you, and we wish you many more happy birthdays,” he says as he claps while holding his glass.

Nonno walks over to Dad and Mom and turns to our guests who are a few close business colleagues, two of our neighbors, a few family members, and a close circle of Nonno’s friends who he golfs with once a week and vacations with once a year.

“Thank you all for coming to celebrate this old man’s birthday,” he starts and there’s a round of chuckles from the guests. I watch Ella instead of Nonno. She’s beaming at him, and he makes eye contact with her and widens his smile.

Something about that connection they seem to instantly make is unsettling to me. My girlfriends never connect with my family, and I like it that way. It makes it easier when we part ways.

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