Page 36 of The Baby His Secretary Carries

The secrecy around that part of her life was really starting to irritate him. They would definitely have to dig into that before he brought up marriage.

He was pondering how he would open that topic as they walked out of the restaurant and were accosted by a woman waiting for her table.

“Gio! I heard you were here for the Donatelli anniversary party last night.” She swept her talonlike nail through the fall of her raven-black hair. “I was supposed to be there, but I only arrived this morning.”

He flickered through his mental contact list, coming up with... “Jacinda. It’s nice to see you again.” It wasn’t. She reminded him of his mother. He would bet the Casella fortune that Jacinda had not received an invitation to last night’s party and had arrived here this morning with the intention of running into him or some other poor sod she’d chosen to target.

“The rumors are true?” She took off her sunglasses and bit the tip of one arm as she studied Molly. “You’re marrying your assistant’s assistant?”

“I don’t think anyone is so crude as to say that,” he said with a note of warning.

“Oh.” Molly jolted slightly. “We’ve met. I didn’t recognize you with your, um, hair down.”

“We weren’t properly introduced last year.” Jacinda swept a catty glance down Molly’s flowing pants and the lace top that hugged her breasts and arms. “You’ve had quite the transformation yourself, haven’t you?”

“We’re meeting someone,” Gio said flatly and set his hand against Molly’s back to signal they were cutting this short.

Molly stubbornly dug in her heels, staying where she was. “I heard that Mr. and Mrs. Zamos were in a terrible car accident. I’m so sorry. I hope they’re recovering?”

“Alexandra?” Jacinda dragged her attention from Gio’s half embrace of Molly to Molly’s penetrating gaze. “Pfft. I’d never worry about her. That woman has nine lives. They’re already back in Athens.”

Molly was visibly taken aback by the callousness of that response, as any decent human being would have been. Gio was.

“Excuse us,” he said firmly, and escorted Molly to the elevator. He waited until they were alone inside it, then said, “You didn’t have to try to be nice to her. She’s not someone I cross paths with often.” He couldn’t think of any other reason she had made such an effort at conversation.

She didn’t say anything and kept her nose forward. Was she pale?

“Molly?”

“Hmm?”

“You’re upset.” Of course, she was. Jacinda had been outright rude toward her.

For the barest moment, Molly’s mouth quivered, then she firmed it, blinked rapidly and asked with a hint of belligerence, “Because I came face-to-face with one of your past lovers? That’s none of my business.”

“Is this you being possessive, Molly?” He didn’t hate it. In fact, he found it heartening that she was invested enough in their relationship to be annoyed.

“No.” She scowled and stubbornly kept her face forward. “I know where you slept last night. As long as we’re monogamous while we’re together, that’s all that matters to me.”

While we’re together. That raised his own hackles of possessiveness.

“We all have a past that can’t be changed.” She folded her arms and looked to her shoes. “I’d be a hypocrite if I was upset about yours.”

Like her past with the father of her baby? If he wanted her to tell him about that, he needed to earn her trust.

“Jacinda was never my lover.”

She released a choked noise of disbelief. “Perhaps we have different definitions of that word. When I came out to the pool that day on the yacht, her boobs were in your face.”

“I don’t take something just because it’s offered. I decide what I want, then I don’t rest until I have it.” He held her gaze, drilling the deeper meaning of his words into her.

He wanted her.

She swallowed and her lashes quivered.

Tension was creeping in around her eyes, though. A vulnerable tug pulled at the corners of her mouth, giving her a look of persecution.

Pregnant, he reminded himself. He couldn’t take the high-handed, steamroller approach that was his preferred method of getting what he wanted. He eased the moment with humor instead.

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