Page 11 of The Grumpy Billionaire
“I can’t believe a billionaire would come to Uncle Tony’s Pizza for lunch. Shouldn’t he be at, like, Capriccio or something?” he said, referring to a swanky high-dollar restaurant on the river near the city’s financial district.
I scanned the restaurant’s rear wall. “Do you think there’s a back door to this place?”
Sheldon finally looked down at me. “Why? We should go talk to Mancini—maybe he’ll give us a sound bite about the hearing. It would be a total scoop. Rob will love us.”
My entire body clenched at the thought of walking over and speaking to Reid. I may have even winced. “I promise you—hewon’ttalk to us.”
“Yeah, well I know he doesn’t do interviews, but—”
Sheldon’s eyes narrowed as he studied my face. “Hey, what’s the deal? You know him?”
I nodded, my lips tight. “We knew each other as kids…. and we dated in high school. I can’t talk to him, Shel.”
“Okay… so I take it things didn’t exactly end well.” His usually jovial face contracted into a scowl, and the volume of his voice rose with his suspicion. “Wait—did he do something to you?”
Sheldon’s spine straightened, and his shoulders went back as he looked behind me again.
I grabbed his arm and whispered, “No. No. Keep it down, okay? I did something tohim. And Ireallydon’t want to see him any closer than from across the chamber of the State House.”
Now Sheldon’s face relaxed into his usual easy smile. “Oh, I get it. You broke his heart, didn’t you?”
His tone took on a tint of admiration. “My little Mara—melts the legendary Ice Man and then leaves him cold.”
“Don’t tell anyone, okay?” I pleaded. “And get me out of here. Maybe if I walk behind you, he won’t see me?”
Sheldon shook his head, beaming. “So you want me to be your blocker? I gotta say I’m surprised to see this side of you. The fearless reporter, afraid to face her high school sweetheart.”
At my murderous glare, he laughed then pulled me behind his body. “Okay, chicken shit. But you can’t hide from him forever. Not in the smallest state in the nation.”
As Sheldon walked toward the front door, I shadowed him, staying close and trying not to step on his heels.
I wasn’t sure where Reid had chosen to sit, and I didn’t want to know. I kept my eyes trained on Sheldon’s back like a greyhound after a mechanical rabbit.
“Mara?” A voice from my past, as familiar to me as my own, came from the side, near the service counter.
Crap.He hadn’t taken a table after all, but stood near the counter with a white to-go bag in his hand. And he was looking right at me.
Sheldon stopped. I ran into his wide back then stumbled backward a couple of steps, dropping my purse and reporter notebook. I watched my belongings crash to the floor. Then I looked up again.
Crapcrap.
There he was, Reid Mancini, right in front of me and far more beautiful than my memory or imagination had been able to grasp. In the years since we’d last stood face-to-face, he’d changed.
He still looked likehim, wavy brown hair, Caribbean blue eyes you could drown in, tall and athletic in that lean tennis player kind of way. But the years had sculpted intriguing new differences.
The youthful lankiness of his body had been replaced with a broader, thicker masculinity. All the boyish softness of his teenaged face had disappeared and left behind the more angular features of a full-grown man.
The beautifully-shaped lips that had long-ago kissed me and driven me crazy were now set in a grim line, matched by the faint lines that whisked out from the sides of his narrowed eyelids as he studied me.
“Hi… Reid,” I wheezed like someone in the middle of an asthma crisis.
“You dropped your…” He motioned toward the assortment of cosmetics and personal items pooled at my feet.
“Yes.” I nodded then finally yanked myself out of shock and into action as he dropped to one knee on the dirty floor of the pizza place in his designer suit. It had probably cost more than I’d earn this year.
“No! No—I’ll get it.” I tried to wave him off. “You’ll get yourself… dirty.”
Reid ignored my protests and began to gather my things with his free hand.
