Chapter 26: Chapter 26
Just when she thought she was done with a big bad wolf a tiger comes strolling in, can this day get any worse.
The first thing that came to Paige's mind was to deny. So she looked up at him and twisted her face. “Er… I don't know what you are talking about.” It wouldn't look good to offend the man, she still didn't know where his position was in the family tree.
Two pairs of amused brown eyes stared back at her, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly which caused Paige's heartbeat to escalate as the suspense was killing her.
He waved his big hand in the air “There is no need to pretend, I already know the relationship is fake.”
Did he know? That can't be possible.
“I was the one to give Leonardo that idea.”
Paige kept quiet and fine lines appeared on his forehead and disbelief set in his voice when he saw he was not getting anywhere with her.
“Don't you remember me?” He frowned and stuffed his hands in the pocket of his slacks. “If I'm to remember correctly, you are his assistant, and you are the one who collected me from the airport and made the arrangements for me to stay in a hotel.” He paused after that, waiting for her to say something.
Paige stared at the high cheekbone, that beard, and nose and frowned. This was the same guy? No way. At the time he wore sunglasses, and his hair was mussed up in a carefree style and the buttons on his shirt unbuttoned. And he had been clean-shaven. But here, he looked like a different person.
Seeing that some semblance of recognition has entered her eyes, he put forward his hand. “The name is Alberto, by the way.”
Slowly Paige's senses returned, and she started to recall. When she made all the connections, her brows creased. “You should have told me right away who you were instead of scaring me like that and letting me ponder who you are.” Paige hit him on the arm.
Realizing what she had done she stared up at him to gauge his reaction, but he was laughing silently and Paige had the oddest feeling that this man didn't often laugh but here he was laughing as he had just discovered laughter.
She had just acted as she knew him for a long time. Was that how relieved she was?
Just a moment ago she had been thinking of how she did not have any ally here in Italy, that if Leo left her on the estate she was doomed to be alone. She didn't know she would find a friend here, let alone an ally!
In a way, this felt like this was a vacation. She was not working and was only enjoying herself to the fullest. Except once in a while when Rosa came in to disturb her. Paige frowned and eyed Alberto askance, biting her lips.
“Are you and Leo close?”
“We are as close as two sides of scissors.” Came the voice from above her head.
“Then you must know…er… a lot about him. Tell me about Leo,” Paige said fishing for information.
He turned his head to her. Was she mistaking the amusement she saw in his eyes? Paige blushed, and he raised his brow at that.
“Come let's go sit over by the pond and I will tell you.”
Paige followed his gaze to the man-made pond on the course a little further from the group and sparsely covered by trees and reluctantly followed him there.
When they got to the pond and sat down, dropping their equipment in front of them, Paige turned inquisitive eyes to Alberto.
On seeing that, Alberto laughed. “Alright, I will tell you.”
He told her about the first girl they fought over. About when they had stolen grape from the vineyard and ran from there till halfway back to the house. The result was that their feet ached and their body felt like they had been through a lot. And how they would cause havoc for the workers running around the vineyard with their small feet until they sent their fathers to come and collect them.
As he was talking, Paige mumbled, “He is that carefree. I can't believe it. Now he is just serious and stiff.” She regretted that the moment she said it because Alberto threw her a glance and she couldn't continue.
She was explaining to the man he was at the office. He wasn't at all like that now. “What happened to him?”
Alberto refused to say much if Leo did not tell her. He doesn't have to. The silence grew.
Paige tried to imagine Leo as a small boy of five with a mob of brown hair getting up to no good and couldn't.
It was not her fault when all she had ever seen of him was his serious face dishing out orders.
It was hard imagining him as that carefree and relaxed child who would steal a grape from his own father's vineyard and then run halfway with it.
When she looked up, Alberto was looking down at her with a strange expression on his face, and before she could utter a word mumbled, “I think Leo likes you.”
If Paige had a wine or any edible food in her mouth, she would have thrown it all up on the ground as her baby blue eyes widened in surprise.
In her mind, she thought about the possibility and came to the conclusion there wasn't one.
So she immediately tried to diffuse the situation. Purposefully lowering her voice, “No he doesn't. He is only worried about me that's all.”
Throughout her brief explosion of shock, Alberto's stare did not leave her face, but he did turn his head slightly to say. “Are you sure about that? Then why does he keep turning his head in this direction every five minutes? I'm pretty sure he is into you.”
Paige was speechless. At this point, she didn't know what to believe Rosa said Leo was not capable of love while Alberto said he liked her. She turned to stare at the man in question as if his mere presence could bring forth the answers she sought and their eyes met over that short distance. Paige held her breath as she stared at that lean bronzed face, that rough full brows, and the sensual chiseling of his mouth and felt her heart catapult in her chest.
It's only been a few minutes since they separated from each other, but to her, it felt like an eternity. How was such a thing even possible?
At the office, Leo had never expressed any likeness towards her and only wore an expressionless face around her. It was as if he only saw her as his assistant, and nothing more. Then how could Alberto say he liked her.
Ah, Paige squeezed her eyes shut and pinched the space between her eyebrows. This was all too much for her to bear.
“Come,” Alberto murmured, drawing her to her feet. “You have stayed idle too long I will teach you how to play golf.”
Because Paige's head was still whirling around with the comment Alberto made earlier she barely registered that Alberto had drawn her to her feet, let alone that she was standing as she tried to understand that comment.
When she couldn't, in frustration she turned to the one that made it in the first place and rasped, “How can you say he likes me when he barely even talks to me.”
“He doesn't talk to you?” Alberto said with a hint of surprise. “Then how do you work together in the office if you don't converse.”
"I don't mean the…er… business conversation. He doesn't talk to me like he wants… I mean he er…he…" Alberto continued staring at her without offering to help and gradually Paige felt her cheek grow warm. "Darn it, you know what I mean."
Alberto chuckled, and then a barely perceptible frown came over his face. "I don't know why he would do that. But what I do know is that it's possible he does not know he likes you. If he is subconsciously suppressing that feeling."
Paige's eyes wanted to fall out of its socket. What was he saying? This can't be true. Alberto was only speaking based on his speculations no one knows what was running in Leo's mind. And why did he say he was subconsciously suppressing his emotions what did he know?
Because her thoughts had been flying everywhere, she hadn't realized when Alberto went behind her handing her the golf club and covering her hand with his own in preparation to teach her how to hold the club over the ball on the field when to her surprise Leo arrived there all masculine and in a foul despicable mood.
"Alberto! Cosa pensi di fare," he rasped in smooth Italian. Then English. "I will take it from here."
For a full second, it appeared as though a silent message passed between the cousins before Alberto chuckled and raised his hands in surrender, retreating, and then turned to give Paige one last look. Paige could almost hear him say 'I told you so' before he left.
The golf club slipped from Paige's hand as she turned to stare at Leo. Everything Alberto has told her ran in her mind as stared at Leonardo with a strange light in her eyes and he stared back.