Page 89 of The Sexy Billionaire

“Guess you’re not going to be able to hide from her now.” Luca chuckles before he walks over to say hi.

“Paige, welcome to our home. We are so happy you could make it,” my mother says as she greets the women.

“Thank you for having us. Your home is so beautiful,” Paige says, hugging my mother.

“You didn’t tell me you were bringing guests,” I tell my sister.

“Didn’t think I needed your permission.” She shrugs before giving me a look.

“You don’t, I just didn’t realize they were coming.”

“Why would it matter? Do you have a problem with them?” she asks.

I shake my head. “No, of course not.”

“Good, then it’s going to be a great lunch with friends,” she says excitedly before joining everyone else.

Get it together, Gio,they are your family’s guests. Except I hate how my eyes track her every movement. That the sound of her laughter soothes me, that the damn coconut scent she’s wearing evokes memories of things I shouldn’t be thinking about. What I also notice is that she looks refreshed. A week in Rome and color seems to have seeped back into her skin, the dark circles vanishing from under her eyes. There’s a lightness to her that wasn’t there in New York. She turns and sees me, her eyes light up and a smile falls across her face; she seems happy to see me. But I thought … thought that I had messed things up on the plane.

“Gio, hey,” she says, walking over and kissing my cheeks.

“This is a wonderful surprise,” I say, looking down into her dark eyes, hating how the tiny fragments of my heart throb against my chest and something else throbs against my pants. Her cocoa hair is pulled up in a ponytail, and she’s dressed in a figure-hugging white summer dress. I can tell it’s designer by the way it falls over her body perfectly. She looks like an angel sent down to torment the devil in me. “You’re looking refreshed,” I tell her.

“I do?”

I nod. “Rome agrees with you.”

“It’s been a whirlwind of a week, but it’s nice not having to look over my shoulder, even though I do, out of habit.”

My hand curls tightly beside me, thinking of everything her ex has been putting her through. I think I’m going to make some calls next week to see what I can do to make his life a little harder than it needs to be.

“You two look like you’ve been having a great time.”

“You’ve been watching?” she asks as her tongue slides along her glossy lips, my eyes tracking the movement.

“I have.” I’m not going to deny it because she can see that I have.

“Good to know you’re still keeping an eye on me. I thought you had forgotten about me.” She smirks.

“I could never forget about you, Paige.”

Her breath hitches at my admission and before she gets a chance to say anything, we are called for lunch. I escort her toward the table, and she takes a seat beside me, which makes me happier than it probably should.

Lunch continues as it normally does, with everyone talking over the top of each other. It’s loud and chaotic, but it’s my family.

“Ladies, will you be here for the Summer Ball?” my mother asks.

“When is it?” Paige asks.

“Next month,” Natalia answers.

“I’ll be back in New York then. I’m sorry that sounds like it would be awesome,” Savannah adds.

“You never know, your date today could change that.” Natalia winks.

“So true,” Savannah answers excitedly.

Date? Does that mean Paige has a date, too?

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