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I pull out my phone again, but my eyes dart around. I can’t find her, and my heartbeat speeds up. Has she left? She’s working—she’ll be the last one to leave. I look around, ignoring the tightening in my chest and the nautical knot in my stomach.
I’m nearly ready to run around and look for her when Mila walks in, laughing at something Andrea says. My brother fucking misses half of our family functions, yet he comes to the opening of Sydney’s boyfriend’s new gym and flirts with my…?
I rush through the room, my vision blurred. “What’s so funny?”
Andrea’s eyes widen for a moment, assessing my mood, and then amusement flickers through his dark eyes. “I was just telling beautiful Mila here how I would like to paint her. Naked.”
Mila gasps and puts her hand on my chest. The contact sears me like a propane torch, but it stops me from punching Andrea in the face. I glare at him, and he chuckles and leaves.
I lower my head and inhale. Her lavender scent dulls the ache I’ve been feeling for weeks. Mila drops her hand from my chest, and I miss the touch immediately.
I lock my gaze on her, drinking in the pain in her eyes. “We need to talk, Princess.”
Mila flinches at the nickname. “I think we said enough last time.”
“No. I have more things to say.” I grip her arm, but she shakes it off and steps back.
“I’ve heard enough, Gio. Enough to humiliate me for a lifetime. I don’t want to hear your further manipulation or atrocious proposals.” She shakes her head and blinks a few times.
“Just tell me if you’re okay. Does your sister need anything? I can help. Do you have other jobs booked?” I can’t see her suffer.
She narrows her eyes. “Leave me alone.” She marches away.
There are only a few people in the world I can fully trust. Most of the time, I’m alone, relying on myself. Right at this moment, standing in the middle of a room full of people, I’m lonely like never before.
“Oh, my poor boy.”
And here I thought this day couldn’t get any worse. “Mother.” I don’t look at her.
She pats my back in that way she used to when I was a little boy. Now my mother pities me. Wonderful. “What’s going on between the two of you?”
“Nothing. I have to go. Something came up at the office.” I kiss her forehead.
She looks at me with a skeptical eye. “It’s Saturday. I’m sure the office will survive the five minutes you give your mother. Talk to me.”
“There is nothing to say. Everyone wants me for my money, and I offered her the best I could. It wasn’t—” I almost say enough for her, but I know that’s not the issue here.
“The right woman for you wouldn’t care about your work, your money. She would stick around to find the real you, behind the walls you built after Kimberly.”
My nostrils flare. “Don’t mention her.”
Mother waves her hand. “Don’t be so sensitive. It’s been long enough. Mila seems like a keeper.”
Keeper. Mila would appreciate the irony. She is a keeper, and among all thekeepersI have, she is the only one that matters. Too late for that. “I guess I’m not the one to keep her.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. You rule an empire. I’m sure you can woo a woman.” Mother swats at my shoulder. If she only knew how powerless I am in this regard.
“I don’t know what to do,” I admit. The first bite of humble pie doesn’t taste as rancid as I thought.
“Go out of your way. Do something she won’t expect, something that would cost you.”
More than a now-useless event company?
Reading my mind, she gives an exasperated sigh. “I’m not talking about money, Gio.”
“She doesn’t want to listen.” I need to get out of here.
“Then make her.”
