Adonis in Athens - Page 33

“Lena, come on—that’s a dumb question.”

“Baba was in the office today!” she whispered. “Working.”

“What?” He froze. He’d taken over his father’s office but the old man still had a key. He didn’t have business secrets from him, but the divorce papers were probably still sitting right where he’d left them on the edge of his desk. Shit!

“And Mr. Carozo came in! They were in your office for over an hour.”

“Are you serious?” Apollo felt annoyance crawl through his gut, leaving him a little out of sorts. If it hadn’t been for the divorce papers left on the desk, he wouldn’t give a shit, but based on Melina’s panicked voice, he was guessing they’d been found. “So he saw the papers?”

“Oh, yes.” Melina was still whispering; she lived with their parents, so it was hard to have privacy.

“And?”

“Be prepared. They’re having a meeting now—Mama, Baba, Yaya, Sophia and Giorgios.”

“Like it’s any of his business!” he muttered. He wasn’t fond of his brother-in-law and avoided him as much as he could.

“There’s a little good news, though.”

“Thank God.”

“The Italians signed all the contracts—the deal is done and you’ve made Baba very happy.”

“I’m not sure any amount of money will make Mama get over my being married for three years without telling her. To an American, no less.”

“Well, that’s the other thing—Mr. Carozo adores Paige. I mean, he went on and on about her for at least 30 minutes, telling Baba all about how she put Mrs. Romano in her place and how she would be such a great addition to the business—and the family.”

“Oh, shit.” He groaned. “He said all that?”

“Yes!” Her voice dropped. “I have to go—Mama’s calling for me!” She disconnected.

“What’s going on?” Paige had been watching Apollo intently and though she didn’t understand more than one or two words of Greek, his facial expressions and body language said it all.

“As you Americans say—the cat is out of the bag.”

Her eyes widened. “About…us?”

“I left the divorce papers on my desk and my father went in to meet with Mr. Carozo today.”

“Oh, shit.”

“It’ll be okay.” He pulled her close. “Thanks to you, we just closed a deal worth millions. Even if they’re upset with me, they won’t be upset with you. Apparently, Pio Carozo is a big fan of yours.”

She flushed. “Maybe I should go home and come back in a month or so, after you’ve had time to talk to them and—”

“No.” He kissed her. “I’ll handle my family. Once they meet you—”

“Meet me?!” She shook her head vehemently. “That wasn’t part of the deal. Your sister was one thing, but no way! Apollo, that’s just asking for trouble! No matter what, the outcome goes against us!”

“How?” he demanded.

“If they like me, and we can’t find a way to make this work, everyone will be hurt and it’ll make it even harder for us to split. If we decide to try to stay together but they don’t like me, it’s going to make it that much harder for me to stay. And, of course, if they don’t like me and things don’t work out between us, you’re going to hear I told you so forever!”

He grunted. “That last scenario is the least of my concerns, but you have a decision to make. Now that they know about us, either I sign the papers immediately and put you on a plane home, or you stay like we planned and meet the family. There are no other options. I mean, you could stay anyway, but they would find us. Athens is a big city, but unless we went to an island or something, people know me and if my mother started making calls, they’d find us. Not to mention, my mother has a key to my house.”

She sighed. “You know, maybe this is a sign that this is just too complicated.”

His eyes darkened and a scowl covered his features. “Really? After all we’ve shared the last few days, you’re willing to walk away?”