Page 39 of Stealing His Christmas Present

Whichever it was, he was always one step ahead because he expected me to try something.

Dammit.

“What do you want me to make?” I asked.

“Whatever you want.”

I eyed him carefully. Was he not confident of my cooking skills or did he really not care?

Maybe both.

I didn’t have much experience with cooking—except for baking. I loved to make Christmas cookies. It was a family tradition.

Well, a tradition I’d started.

While I’d been spending some time with my grandma, who didn’t have personal servants for everything, I’d learned some basic things when it came to cooking. She’d also taught me how to do my favorite thing: baking Christmas cookies.

Everyone loved my cookies, and I loved making them.

Christmas was the only time when I was allowed into the kitchen, and I’d used my time there as much as I could, always coming up with something new.

Maybe I could make some Christmas cookies too. This house was already sad enough without any Christmas stuff, and I wanted to do something to cheer myself up. It would also make me feel close to my family.

Pablo grabbed himself a chair and took a seat in it in the middle of the kitchen. He was going to stare at me the whole time, wasn’t he?

Great.

Not.

I turned away from him, trying to ignore his intense gaze on my back.

***

I WAS ALMOST DONE WITHthe pasta, and the cookies were in the oven, when I spun around and met Pablo’s surprised gaze.

“What?” I raised an eyebrow at him and glanced over my shoulder just to make sure nothing was on fire.

It wasn’t.

“How?” he asked, getting to his feet.

“I have no idea what you’re asking.”

“You’re a mafia princess. You’ve had people cooking for you your whole life.”

“You know nothing about me,” I said.

“Then why don’t you tell me?”

I tilted my head at him. “I’ll answer your question if you’re willing to answer one of mine.”

His brow furrowed. “Fine.”

He really wanted to know, didn’t he?

Interesting.

“My grandma taught me how to cook when I was at her place. Tomasso was with me too, but he preferred to spend his time outside with Grandpa. We couldn’t all visit our grandparents together because it would’ve been too much of a security risk. We couldn’t do it often either, because my grandma and grandpa had a deal since she wasn’t from a mafia family.

---