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Sam was less impressed. ‘What did you fetchhimhome for?’
‘He fetched me home, actually.’
‘I thought your boss was a selfish bastard who...’
She flashed him a warning look as the tingle between her shoulder blades alerted her to Ezio’s presence.
‘I’ve heard a lot about you, Sam.’ Ezio had to make his remark to the narrow, hostile back of the teen he was meant to be impressing. Tilda doubted that Ezio could recall the last time in his life he’d tried to impress someone.
‘I’ve heard more about you, I bet. Ezio... Ezio... Ezio...’ Sam mocked, ignoring his sister’s horrified expression as he added, ‘She’s always talking about Ezio this, Ezio that.’
‘I am not, Sam!’ Tilda said, shaking her head as Ezio’s dark eyes skimmed her flushed face. ‘That’s not true.’
Or was it?The disturbing possibility brought a frown to her smooth brow.
‘I called my goldfish Ezio when I was a kid.’
And now you’re so old.‘I’m flattered. Good goldfish?’
‘Dead goldfish,’ Sam came back with a straight face.
The teen watched suspiciously as Ezio threw his head back and laughed. ‘I hear you are smart, Sam.’
‘Yeah, a lot of people are intimidated. Tilda is quite bright too, you know—well, above average.’
From where she had dropped into a chair Tilda, gave a laugh. ‘Why, thank you!’ she drawled sarcastically.
‘But she’s a bit of an innocent, people take advantage.’ Sam shot Ezio a glare before adding in a guilty aside, ‘Including me.’
Ezio took the warning from the skinny little fourteen-year-old with an appreciative nod.
‘Fancy a game?’ Sam said casually, nodding towards the screen he’d been crouched over.
Tilda’s eyes flew wide as she shook her head emphatically. ‘Sam, Eziodoesn’t.’
‘Ezio does,’ her ex-boss and future husband contradicted, taking off his jacket before looping it across the back of one of the dining chairs, dragging it into position next to Sam’s chair and straddling it.
Her last chance had been Sam hating him, but against all the odds Samwasn’thating him. After he beat Ezio at the computer game, they bonded some more over a game of chess, after which winner Sam declared it aclosegame...a massive compliment, coming from her brother.
‘You’re too good for me,’ Ezio said, polishing his rusty humility.
‘You must be hungry, Sam, and Ezio has to be... Somewhere to go...?’ She sent Ezio a nod of encouragement. ‘Didn’t you say that you had to...?’
‘I cancelled remember? And you are definitely too tired to cook,’ he continued his lips twitching at the killer look she had slung him. ‘How about take away?’ The ease with which he had adopted a pattern of easy familiarity made her grit her teeth.
She resented that he was very much setting the pace, taking control, but her hands were tied.
After some debate, pizza was decided on, and her choice of pineapple on top was treated with universal contempt.
My God, she thought, listening as her brother and her ex-boss and soon-to-be husband bonded over their shared loathing of pineapple on pizza and love of chess. If this day could have got any more surreal, she didn’t know how.
She knew it was all an act on Ezio’s part, but she had to admit, the man he was pretending to be ticked a lot of boxes. If that man had existed, she would have been in love in seconds. The acknowledgment created a sense of unease that she couldn’t shake.
It was still there when, midway through the pizza, Ezio dropped the bombshell without any warning or consultation.
‘I asked your sister to marry me and she said yes, Sam, but you have the casting vote. We’d be moving to Greece, which would be a big thing for you, so what do you think?’
‘What? You’re getting married? And... Greece?’ Sam looked at his sister for confirmation. ‘For real?’
