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“I’m very sorry, Mrs. Bianchi. Your daughter and I wanted to keep our relationship secret for a while. You know how things are in our circles,” he says. There’s not a hint of deception in his voice. He even manages to sound sincere.
He’s going along with it?I angle my head to read the expression on his face, but it’s blank and dry. He appears unaffected by this whole ruse.
My mom is nodding in agreement. “I guess you’re right. This is such good news.”
One would think she’d be put off by the fact that her daughter is dating a member of a known crime syndicate, but from what I remember, my parents adore the D’Angelos. Something about their late father being a really good friend to Dad and helping him out when the company was in trouble.
“How long have you two been dating?”
“Mom,” I say quickly, “why don’t you head back into the ballroom and Carlo and I will join you soon? We have some things to discuss. He came to the party earlier than me and I haven’t seen him all day. We have all the time in the world to talk later.”
My mom smiles and after one last glance at us, she goes back inside—leaving me alone with a stranger who is apparently now my fake boyfriend. He doesn’t even hesitate. As soon as she’s gone, he rips his hand away and turns to me, dark eyebrows slightly raised in question.
“What the hell was that?”
CHAPTER4
Carlo
My jaw is tense as I stare down at the woman standing beside me. She shifts uneasily, her eyes darting around while she pointedly avoids eye contact.
The last few minutes have been nothing short of bizarre. I stepped outside the ballroom to grab something from the limo we brought and was returning only to run into her—literally. She made a nice indent on my chest before swaying on her feet, an action I’m going to guess was the result of inebriation. But not even that can explain what went down in the next couple of minutes.
“Well?” I ask again, my patience wearing thin.
She finally sighs and looks up at me, and I’m treated to the sight of her eyes. A light brown color, hazel. Something about them draws me in, like a siren calling to a sailor. Which is equal parts disconcerting and startling.
“I am so very, very sorry,” she blurts out. “I didn’t mean for that to happen.”
“I was expecting an explanation, Ms. Bianchi. Not an apology,” I state.
She stares at me for a second and blinks slowly. She’s still drunk—not enough to slur her words, thankfully, but drunk enough to confuse strangers for boyfriends she introduces to her parents. Still, the situation is too weird for me to walk away from. And I’m really curious about why she did it.
“I would explain, but I can’t even believe what just happened.”
“Believe it. Because we’re about to walk back into the ballroom, and I guarantee your parents will have questions. Now, do you need me to find your actual boyfriend?” I question.
She shakes her head and mumbles incoherently under her breath. “I don’t have one,” she finally replies.
I stare at her for several seconds, wondering again what the hell is going on. With a sigh, I rub the bridge of my nose, staring at her.
“Why did you introduce me to your mom as your boyfriend?”
“Because I needed a boyfriend.”
“And there wasn’t a slew of willing suitors available for the task? Why did you have to wrangle me in?”
She huffs slightly. “I didn’t mean to. You just happened to be there.”
“Start making sense,” I snap.
With an exaggerated sigh, she quickly fills me in on her parents’ request that she bring a boyfriend to the party, lest she find herself engaged to Dante Marino. His name inspires only an echo of remembrance. I’m still waiting to hear why I got dragged into it.
“I tried to find someone in time but, surprisingly, it’s really hard to find a man to act as my boyfriend—and who my parents would believe I was dating.”
“And you thought I was a worthy candidate?” I question, surprised.
“No. I barely even know you. But like I said, you just happened to be there.”
