Lia went right up to the paper bags, grabbed one, and started scooping beans into its depths. I eyed the rest of the open-air shop. What had once been a house with many rooms was now a shop with walls knocked down, one full of families sipping hot chocolates on couches and baristas busily steaming milk.
After another moment, I hurried after Lia. One more try. After that I would give up.
“Lia...”
She focused on closing up the coffee bag with the tab at its top. “Uh huh?” She didn’t look at me.
“I need to talk to you… about us.”
I swallowed hard. That sounded stupid… About us? What are we, dating?
She turned to look at me, her face hard. “Okay.”
I cleared my throat. “I heard you talking to Dominic. I know you think I’m into Angelo for his money.”
Her eyes fell into tiny slits. “You were spying on us?”
“No! You were in the foyer. I was just walking down the hall. I was...”
There was no use. Lia looked for a reason to be mad at me. It would be hard convincing her I was innocent of anything.
“Here’s the thing,” I said. “I love Angelo. That’s the truth. Plus, the idea of me being a gold digger doesn’t really fly anyway. I have...”
“You have your own money,” she snapped, a hand on her hip. “I’ve heard that excuse already. But here’s my thing. Angelo doesn’t have a lot of experience with… long term relationships. Got that? He doesn’t know what he’s in for with you. I don’t think that you having your own millions makes much of a difference. I grew up in a world of money, Paige. I know what people are like. Once you get a little, you need more. It never stops.”
“I’m not like that,” I sincerely said. “I haven’t even spent any of the money I inherited. Hell, I never even asked for it. Do you think I wanted anything from Moretti?”
Realizing my voice kept rising in volume, I paused and took in a shaky breath. No sense making a scene.
Lia’s lips pursed. She sighed and tossed her hair over her shoulder, looking away.
“I would never hurt Angelo,” I said. “He’s done so much for me. He saved me. He’s there for me… Always.” Tears sprang into my eyes as I spoke about the man I had come to love more than life itself. “I’d be a total mess if it weren’t for him.” I smiled ruefully. “Hell, who am I kidding? I am a mess. But at least I’m not in a mental institute somewhere… and that’s thanks to him.”
Lia looked back at me, her expression unreadable.
“I know how close your family is,” I said. “I get that you’re doing your job and watching out for him… I just hope that you and I can at least get along.”
Lia huffed and looked down at the floor. Over her shoulder a little boy walked by with his mom, a baby doll clutched firmly in one hand.
A picture hit me, fast as lightning and as real as the present moment. My mom. Me.
It was a Christmas morning. I don’t know how old I was, but I could still sit comfortably in her lap. We snuggled together on the couch, the small Christmas tree twinkling away next to us. The radio played in the kitchen, and underneath it Sophia’s and Dad’s voices.
I had a new doll. It came to me that morning, hidden in a box swathed in blue wrapping paper with snowflakes on it. She had red hair and brown eyes. When you tilted her backwards, her eyelids closed and opened.
I named her Emily.
With that doll in my hands and my Mom’s arm wrapped around me, the smell of cookies baking in the kitchen, I knew for sure that it was the happiest I’d ever been.
Maybe, I thought contently, the happiest I would ever be.
I snapped to, being yanked back to the present moment as if by a long rope tied to my waist.
The little boy’s mom looked down at him and smiled. He giggled and jumped up and down.
Air. I needed air.
I needed to get out of there.
I flew across the wooden floor and out the front door, throwing myself along the sidewalk and into the side of Lia’s car. I dug in my purse for a quick puff.
After taking a hit, my breathing steadied. I closed my eyes and turned around to rest my back against the car.
What just happened?
The freak out came out of nowhere. And all over the sight of a toy.
Angelo was right. I needed therapy. I needed someone to share these horrible episodes with, someone who might be able to help.
At least now I’d acknowledged the truth.
When I opened my eyes, Lia stood there staring at me.
I looked away, choosing to focus on the snow covered metal bench in front of the coffee shop instead.
Out of the corner of my eye, Lia slowly walked up to me. “Are you all right?”
I licked my lips and looked at her square on. “I’m fine. It was just an anxiety attack. It happens sometimes.” I stared her down, daring her to make fun of me.
“Shit,” she breathed. “That’s awful. I’m sorry.”
I could barely believe my ears. “Really?”
She tucked some hair behind an ear and shifted weight from one foot to the other. She looked… uncomfortable.
“I used to get anxiety attacks. I remember how much they suck.”
I blinked harshly, unable to stop staring at her. “Yeah,” I agreed with a thick tongue.
A heavy moment passed. My turn to pick up the baton.
“Do you know why?” I asked.
She lifted a shoulder. “Social anxieties? That’s what my shrink thought anyway. Eventually they went away. I haven’t had one for years.”
I gulped. “Angelo wants me to go see a therapist.”
“You should.”
I nodded and looked at the ground. It had finally stopped snowing. “I’m going to.”
Another uncomfortable moment stretched on.
“I need to go buy that coffee,” Lia said. “Do you… do you maybe want to come in? We can get a cup of coffee or something and hang out for a bit.”
Now she looked uneasy.
I cleared my throat. “Okay. Yeah.”
We filed back into the coffee shop where she picked up her abandoned bag of coffee. Getting into the line, we ordered two cups of dark roast. I tried to figure out what had just happened. Sometime in between my monologue about my undying love for Angelo and Lia coming out to find me at her car something changed.
We found two cushioned seats in the corner and settled in, my erratic emotional state doing anything but calming down. At least before I knew how Lia felt about me. Now I had no clue.
“I’m sorry,” she said to the window, before looking over at me. “I...” Her head shook. “I judged you too quickly.”
I wrapped my hands around my coffee mug and absorbed the warmth. “Thank you,” I slowly responded.
“What you said… about Angelo helping you...” She sighed and flipped her hair over her shoulder. “I get it. That’s what Angelo is good at. He pushes people to become their best.”
She finished with a tight smile.
It was good enough for me.
I nodded. “Yeah, that’s exactly what he does.”
“And about anxiety… maybe I could help you. I could, you know, share some tips. Stuff that I learned to help keep it under control.”
“That would be nice.”
“I’m sorry I was such a… you know what.” She ducked her head.
“Let’s just forget about it.”
Lia peeked up at me through her bangs. “I don’t know. Everyone knows what I said about you.”
“Yeah, but things are… good now… Right?”
She paused for a moment. “If they are with you...”
“They are,” I quickly said.
A slight chortle left her lips. I laughed out loud. Finally, the tension broke.
“Good,” she sighed. “Good.”
Angelo
I rubbed my eyes again to get the sleep out of them.
“Aw,” Paige cooed from next to me on the co
uch.
“Poor baby Angelo,” Lia teased.
I gave her a thumbs-up. If it were the day before I might have been tempted to make it the middle finger instead, but her attitude had dramatically improved in the last twenty-four hours.
I knew why. Paige gave me the entire breakdown of what happened at the coffee shop as soon as they got back.
The change came not a moment too soon. I’d been about to lose my temper big time with Lia. Seeing both her and Paige happy and relaxed made me feel the same way. The storm had passed. We survived it.
Mom and Mariel came into the living room, the last two people to join Christmas morning.
“Merry Christmas!” we all shouted to each other.
Mom beamed. “Were you waiting for us to open presents?”
Lia, sitting on the floor next to the tree, picked a present up and shook it.
“Pops first, Lia,” Mom told her.
She shot our mother a dark look. “I know.”
At least some things didn’t change.
We passed around presents, taking our turns one at a time. I held my breath as Paige opened the complete knitting kit I’d put together for her.
“You keep saying you want to start,” I explained.
She smiled wide. “I love it! I’ll make you a scarf first.”
I went in for a kiss. From the other side of the room, Franko made a choking noise.
The pile got smaller and smaller. The last one passed out was for me. I already knew who it was from. Paige ducked her head as I undid the bow and tore off the wrapping paper.
“A book?” I questioned out loud.
She didn’t answer.
Instead of the coffee table book I expected, a scrap book revealed itself, the picture on the very front one of me and Paige taken on the Staten Island ferry last August.
I opened the book and flipped through the pages. Each of them contained photos of us together, some familiar and some I’d forgotten were ever taken.
I shook my head in amazement. “Paige… This is… Wow.”
“Lia helped me. I couldn’t figure out what to give you. Until yesterday I only had that.” She gestured at the underwear and socks I’d opened earlier. “We stayed up late making it.”
I stared at Lia. “Really?”
She shrugged nonchalantly. “Yeah, you know.”
I smirked. She could act coy as much as she wanted, but deep down my sister had a heart of gold.
“Thank you,” I told them both.
Paige grinned up at me. I squeezed her knee and gave her a kiss. She didn’t pull back after a second, though, and it turned into a long, sustained one.
“Ew!” Franco complained. “Get a room.”
I broke off the kiss, but kept looking at Paige.
“Breakfast?” Pops asked, hauling himself out of the armchair by the fire.
“The quiche is just ready,” Mariel said, leading the way out of the room.
“That was a really amazing present Lia,” Tre said.
“Thanks Tre.” She stood and pushed her way through a sea of discarded wrapping paper. Tre’s eyes followed her, his face practically glowing.
“Hmmm,” I muttered.
“What?” Paige questioned.
I smiled down at her. “I’ll tell you later.”
The procession moved into the dining room. The usual giant Christmas morning spread covered the table, leaving barely any room for breakfast plates. We all found somewhere to sit and began to chat. As we ate, the topic bounced around, sometimes breaking off into three or four separate conversations. Sophia kept it lively, making everyone laugh with her jokes. I kept one arm draped across the back of Paige’s chair.
This is what I call time well spent with family.
At the end of the day—or rather, the beginning—what more could anyone need than the people you loved the most?
“I’d like to make a toast,” Paige blurted out, getting to her feet.
I stared at her in surprise. Paige rarely ever demanded attention in a group.
She raised her glass of spiked eggnog. “To my new family.” She looked around at all of us. “For years, it was just me and Sophia. We scraped by as best we could. We had to be not only each other’s sister, but each other’s parents as well.”
Across the table, Sophia blinked hard, and sucked in her bottom lip, something she did when we were young to stop herself from crying. I had not seen her this vulnerable for years.
“For the first time in a long time,” Paige continued, “I know that we have more than each other to count on. And I just want to say that knowing … having that feeling of home and family. It means a lot to both of us.” Her face was heavy with emotion as she looked down at the table. “So, thank you for having us.”
“Cheers to that!” Sophia shouted, standing up and raising her glass.
Everyone else added their cheers. Paige took her seat and I kissed her, though it was a pathetic attempt since I couldn’t wipe the grin from my lips.
“I love you,” I whispered against her mouth.
She sighed in pleasure.
She didn’t have to say a word. I already knew, without a doubt, that she felt just like I did.
Another set of words itched on my lips.
Now would be the perfect time to say them.
But no. I would wait. I wouldn’t spoil Paige’s toast by following it up with my own.
The things I had to say were important, but their time would come.
Soon.
Paige
I couldn’t believe it myself. First, I confronted Lia head on, and won her friendship, so big bonus there. After that, I gave a toast in front of Angelo’s family, plus Tre.
Who was this new girl?
As soon as breakfast ended I snuck away, needing some quiet space in which to breath and think.
I found it upstairs in Angelo's old bedroom. Falling backwards into the mattress, I let go.
Soon the trip would be over. Sophia, Angelo, and I would be back on the jet tomorrow, headed for New York and, soon, the new year.
And, for me, therapy.
I gnawed on my lip to think of it, but at least now I knew the sick feeling in my stomach came from fear.
Fear was manageable. I could handle fear. Once you could name a thing, managing it got easier.
Someone knocked on the door, and opened it without waiting for an answer. I bolted up.
“Hi,” Angelo smiled. “Sorry. Were you sleeping?”
“No, I was just laying here looking at the ceiling.”
He came in the rest of the way, closing the door behind him.
I patted the seat next to me. Angelo settled down and put his arm around me. I sighed and dropped my head into the crook of his arm, riding high on his scent.
“That was a sweet thing you said at breakfast.”
“It’s true,” I whispered.
He ran his hand up and down my thigh. “I think they feel the same about you… even Lia.”
I laughed. “What? That quickly?”
“Lia functions in extremes. I don’t think she knows how to exist any other way. You broke the ice with her… so now she probably loves you.”
“Mm. Well that’ll be nice, supposing it’s true.”
“Hey.” He hooked my chin with his thumb and turned my face up towards him. “You’re amazing. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you. You know that, right?”
“I know,” I breathed.
He opened his mouth slightly, but he didn’t speak right away. In fact, he didn’t speak at all. Instead of talking, he kissed me.
Ripples of heated pleasure went from my lips down to my core.
Slowly, Angelo began to undress me, pulling my shirt over my head and unhooking my bra. Not wanting to be outdone, I pulled his own shirt off and ran my hands over the hard ridges of his chest.
Gently but assertively, he guided me to lay down on the bed, and pulled my pants and underwear off in one quick motion. I stretched out, naked an
d slightly shivering.
I jerked my chin at his own pants. He smirked and dropped them. A rapidly growing tent in the boxers pointed my way.
I smiled and waited for more. Angelo shucked the boxers, leaving them on the floor and joining me naked in the bed.
Coming to put his weight on top of me, he kissed me deep, taking each press of his lips lower. Down my neck and across my breasts he went.
I closed my eyes when he got to my nipples. He sucked one between his teeth while rolling the other one in a hand.
I sighed in pleasure, reflexively opening my legs to rest them against his outer thighs. He held onto my hips while he kissed down my stomach.
His lips grazed like velvet against my swollen nub. Taking his time, he ran his tongue down my folds, and up, tormenting me as he alternated flicking my clit and licking my folds, mowing around in little circles.
A spark of pleasure hit and I cried out from the intensity of it all. Angelo slowed down, making his touch even lighter.
My body hummed in the intervals between every jolt of sensation, each new one coming on quicker than the last. They all piled onto each other until I exploded, with fingers digging into Angelo's hair and lips calling out his name.
Angelo crawled up towards me, that heated look I loved so much in his eyes. He kissed me deep, his tongue flicking gently against my own.
With one arm slinking under my neck, his hard tip brushed against my folds. Ever so slightly he pushed inside, making each inch gained a drawn-out affair.
My belly pounded and I pressed my hands hard into his back, eager to have his full length.
Reading me well, he thrust deep, entering me all the way. The pleasure rolled on in waves, a perfect match to our ragged breathing.
Angelo brought his hands down and under my hips, pushing my lower back up. His dick hit a new spot, the perfect spot. The room began to spin. I closed my eyes and embraced the earth-shattering ecstasy wrecking me.
Angelo huffed into my neck, his thick corded muscles flexing under my hands. He held me tighter, pushing all of his weight down onto me.
With a sexy rumble, he pressed his lips back against mine. Our tongues danced together as he shuddered in my arms.
The Billionaire and The Virgin Page 28
