The Broken One (Corisi Billionaires, #1)(19)

“Heather,” I said, then groaned because his smug grin revealed he was giving me shit. I put my hand out. “Give me the damn card.”

He stepped outside of my reach and tore it open. “‘Dear Mr. Romano.’ So formal. Apparently you didn’t knock her socks off.”

“Give me the fucking card.” I moved toward him.

He stepped even farther away and kept reading. “‘Thank you for returning my daughter’s stuffed animal. You brought smiles back to our house. We hope our gift brings a smile to your office. Sincerely, Heather Ellis.’ Sincerely. Not love. You’re not her hero.”

With one swift move, I ripped the card from his hands. “Are we done now?”

His grin only widened. “I can’t leave without knowing what she sent.”

“Yes, you can.”

His grin faded a bit. “You’re going to throw it away, aren’t you?”

“Don’t you have work to do?”

He walked over to the box, picked it up, and shook it near his ear. “What if it’s something amazing?” He turned it in all directions. “Aren’t you curious what a woman thinks would put a smile on your face? Let’s be honest; you’re not a laugh-a-minute kind of guy.”

“I don’t care what she sent.”

He flipped the box in his hands, acting like he might drop it. My eyes narrowed, but I didn’t allow myself to reach for it. “That’s a lie, and we both know it. If you didn’t care, you would have opened the box. You’re scared.”

“And you’re an idiot.”

“You’re afraid you might like what she sent.” He tucked the box beneath one arm and put his other hand over his heart. “And that, gasp, it might actually make you smile. Then what would you do?”

“Put the fucking box down.”

He didn’t. “Not until you admit you liked the woman. Dad said you thought she was beautiful.”

I sighed. “She was.”

“So you took her number?”

“No. She has a kid.”

“Yeah, I know. Mom told me all about her. If you don’t date her, I think Mom is ready to adopt her. She’s totally stalking her on social media already.”

“That’s . . . unfortunate, since I have no plans of ever seeing her again.”

Mauricio flipped the package in the air again. “Maybe I should look her up then. I wouldn’t mind a woman sending me gifts.”

I closed the distance between us and removed the box from his hands, slamming it down on the table where it had been. “She’s not your type, Mauricio. This is a nice, family woman.”

“I’m not getting any younger. Who knows, maybe it’s time for me to find a woman like that to settle down with.”

He was deliberately trying to push my buttons, and for some reason it was working. “If your goal is to piss me off, you’re doing it. I don’t have time for this shit.”

Still smiling, Mauricio sauntered to the office door and asked, “So it’s okay if I call her, right?”

I didn’t dignify his question with a response. Instead I closed my office door with enough force to relay my thoughts on the matter. On the way back to my desk, I paused and reread both cards. Ava’s handwriting was difficult to decipher. Some of the words would not have made sense except for Heather’s addition of the correctly spelled word beneath.

“Thank you for being so nice to him . . .” Ava obviously did not know how close Wolfie had come to the trash bin.

“We hope our gift brings a smile to your office . . .” I took Heather’s card with me back to my desk and read it through again. It was generously polite, considering what my parting comment had been. There was no hint in it of wanting to hear from me again.

Which was for the best.

I threw the card onto my desk and tried to dive back into work, but couldn’t. My thoughts kept returning to how Heather had thrown herself into my arms when she’d first seen Wolfie. Joy filled. Uninhibited. Exactly the way a man wants to be greeted just before he carries his woman off to bed.

She was an educated woman, one who ran her own business, and it showed in the confident way she’d looked at me. Her attire might have been office appropriate, but her demeanor had been warm and relaxed. She hadn’t seemed at all bothered by the chaos of the children, and her protectiveness of her daughter had been clear. It was a combination of strength and softness I found appealing.

As appealing as I’d found the rest of her.

I shook my head.

Connecticut was full of single women—many as attractive if not more attractive than she was. There was no need to spend another moment thinking about how perfectly she’d fit against me or how the scent of her had sent my blood rushing straight to my cock.

Intelligent women were not a rarity. Nothing about her was unique. I could find all of that in another woman who didn’t have a child.

I remembered the feel of Ava tightly hugging my neck. Initially it had brought back nothing beyond a sadness that my own child would never hug me that way. Having read her letter, though, I had to admit it felt good to know I had returned the smile to her face.

Her hero.

She could do a lot better than me, but I didn’t hate the idea that something I had done had brought joy to the child.