Page 73 of Twisted Throne

She wouldn’t meet my eyes, but looked like she was going to explode into another curse-filled rant at any minute. Lucy reminded me of myself a bit. Although she had both of her parents, they had always seemed distant and content to dump her on others as much as they could. Namely Elena, up until now. But she was tough, and if my past experience was any indication she would only get tougher. Regardless of age, you had to be tough if you were in this family. But there was a sense of kinship between us, and not only because Gia seemed to have a soft spot for her.

“What is it exactly that you’re trying to do?”

She scooped up the spatula up off of the floor and set it down on the counter.

“Well, I was trying to make Gia some coffee, but this damn machine isn’t cooperating at all.” She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the espresso maker, her anger and frustration seemingly outweighing any sort of inhibitions that she might have had around me.

“So you two never managed to figure it out?” I thought back to when I had come across Gia, barefoot and fighting with the machine the day before. And a couple of days before that, come to think of it.

“No! That’s why we tried to go back to her apartment, so we could get her coffee maker!” Lucy threw her hands up, exasperated. “She said coffee calms her down, so I was trying to be nice and make her a cup, but this fucking thing is absolutely impossible!”

She took another swing at the espresso maker. It seemed to be winning. She slammed the coffeemaker with the spatula again, then threw the spatula into the sink with a grunt.

“And why exactly does she need to calm down?” I frowned and studied Lucy closely. The two of them were tight—had Gia shared any doubts about either what had already happened, or where we were going? This was perhaps the first time that I had ever found myself emotionally involved with a woman, and I’d be damned if I’d let even Gia make a fool of me.

I’d thought she was happy about dinner tonight. It would seal our relationship within the family and would be a public statement of our attachment. If Gia was having second thoughts, then that would change things, and not in a way that I found acceptable.

Lucy looked at me, eyes narrowed.

“Are you fucking for real right now?” Her indignation outweighed any sense of decorum she had and she lost any and all pretense of deference. “She needs to calm down because not only do you have her all hot and bothered, but I’m pretty sure she’s in love with you too. Gia hasn’t, like, said it or anything, but I’m always right on things like this.”

In love with me?

I mean, sure, I knew that she enjoyed our time together, both in bed and out. And it seemed like that enjoyment had extended outside of bed as well. There was also no denying the way that she had decided to throw herself into the thick of family affairs, but love?

Hmm… maybe I should give her a gift. Something besides the best sex of her life.

“Are you up for doing me a favor?”

“Abso-fucking-lutely!! Do I get a gun?” Lucy bounced up onto the balls of her feet, a huge grin spreading across her face.

“No.” Her face fell slightly. “But you can have a credit card.”

Chapter Thirty-Four

Gia

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

I smoothed down one last flyaway strand of hair, grabbed my clutch, and went to open the door, ready for my date with Paul. But to my surprise, it wasn’t Paul on the other side of the door, it was Carlos.

“Gia, I’m here to escort you toLa Villetta.Paul sends his apologies for not bringing you himself, but he will meet you there.” Carlos smiled easily.

“Um, sure. Thank you.” I took his proffered arm and headed toward the stairs. “Do you know why he didn’t come? Is everything alright?”

“Everything is fine, he just had an errand to run on his way there.”

So an errand is more important than our first official date?

I tried to hide my annoyance and kept up small talk with Carlos on the way to the restaurant.

When we pulled up in front ofLa Villetta, Paul appeared to open my door before the valet could even reach us. I took his hand and allowed him to help me out of the car. Carlos flashed us a grin, then pulled smoothly away from the curb.

“You look ravishing,soubrette.”