Page 85 of Auctioned to the Billionaire Surgeon

He pulled on the collar of his shirt and looked uncomfortable. “I guess you could say so. I really didn’t know you were in town until the benefit, Gia.”

“Maybe that’s why you haven’t returned my calls, then.” She looked across the table at me. “Jammy, what was it you said you do? You’re work colleagues with my Paolo, no?” She put her hand over his on the table.

He moved his immediately

This bitch. “We’re dating.”

Gasps went up from the women around the table. Gia pouted prettily and gave Paolo a hurt look. “After all we’ve shared recently, I’m surprised you didn’t tell me.”

“It hasn’t been recent…”

“Well, it’s not exactly ancient history,” she snapped.

Startled to hear they hadanykind of history, I tried to catch Paolo’s eyes. He was carefully avoiding looking at me. Wouldn’t he have told me if they’d dated?

“It’s true, though, that you know Paolo from work, correct?” Paolo’s mom asked.

“Yes. I’m finishing up my requirements to earn my Physician’s Assistant degree.”

“Impressive,” Paolo’s dad said, and I could’ve kissed him. “Gia doesn’t have to work, though, do you, sweetheart?”

Feeling less kissy.

“Nope,” she sighed happily. “But I do have adegree in public management from Yale.” She shot me a look that I ignored. Of course, she had a degree from Yale that she didn’t even have to use.

“Jelly is going to be an amazing physician’s assistant,” Paolo said, giving me a kind smile.

“What is that? A doctor or a nurse?” his mother asked.

“It’s sort of a hybrid,” Paolo explained. “They’re not doctors and have a nursing background, but they diagnose and treat diseases much like doctors. They collaborate with the doctor…”

“My God, Paolo. Your mother didn’t ask for a college education. She asked a simple question.” Paolo’s dad was looking at him like he was a moron.

I decided it was time to move on. “If you don’t work, what do you do with your time?” I asked Gia.

“Oh, I chair committees and host charity events. That sort of thing. It’s the kind of thing the wife of a prominent surgeon would need to know how to do.” She smiled at me with fake sweetness. “Have you done those kinds of things, Jammy?”

“No.” I saw the satisfied looks that flashed between Gia, her mother, and Paolo’s mother. They’d just declared me non-threatening and made me feel about two inches tall. I also really wished I’d corrected them the first time they’d called me Jammy. Now, they’d said it so much it felt kind of weird to correct them at this point.

“Goodness,” Paolo’s mother looked at me with fake concern, “surely Paolo told you that he’s expected to be with a certain…classof woman. It has to be someone of equal social standing who couldhelphis career. Not bring it down.”

Gia, her mother, and Paolo’s mother all exchanged glances as if I was stupid to think I could ever have any kind of real relationship with Paolo.

Right. I was starting to get a better sense for why he’d been interested in an elite auction to begin with. He’d been trying to keep this very thing from happening.

I glanced at Paolo, waiting for him to defend me. Or at leastsaysomethingon my behalf. I knew he’d tried, but I needed him to keep standing up for me. I felt attacked, as if the reason for this dinner was to show me how ill-equipped I was to be with Paolo.

He stayed silent. His eyes were on me, and they seemed to be begging me for understanding. But my understanding was all used up. I put my napkin beside my plate. “Could you direct me to the ladies’ room?”

Paolo’s mom instructed one of the staff members to show me where it was.

I thanked her, followed her down the hall, and then stood in the bathroom. I tried to breathe deeply and get a grip on myself. I texted Nia and Nadine telling them what was going on.

They both texted back to get my act together, get back out there, and wipe the floor with Gia Santoro.

The problem was? I didn’t feel up to it. I felt defeated. Embarrassed. Paolo was never going to end up with someone like me. He was always destined for the Gia Santoros of the world. Not the Jelly Pinkoes. Who was I kidding?

There were just a couple of weeks left in my contract with Paolo. I’d originally been excited to continue dating him after the contract was up. Now? I wasn’t. More to the point, I knew it wasn’t going to happen. I wondered if he’d figured it out yet. There was just too much stacked against us.