A Billionaire for Christmas Read Online Free PDF Page B

summer.”
    “That was six months ago. Besides, I’m certain you must have checked the results of the DNA test by now.”
    A flush heated his cheeks. How could Mrs. Bello know he’d demanded that Max, Aubrey’s son, be tested to ensure that he was in fact the Travati heir?
    Mrs. Bello smiled at his guilty expression. “You’re not the only Travati who talks to me. Granted, you’re the only one who comes and brings me cannoli, but the others…they call.”
    Call? Which of his brothers called? As though it mattered. He had no patience for his brothers’ judgment of him anymore. Both Leo and Devon were content to sit back and let Justin run Travati Financial, but Anthony was finished taking orders. He’d already laid the groundwork to begin his own investment company with his meeting at Carmine’s today.
    “I should go.” Anthony folded his napkin and placed it beside his plate.
    “But you’ve barely spoken to Shelly.”
    “I’ll see her soon.” Anthony forced a smile to his face. “I’m excited to hear about her job, her place, her life.” His lies seemed to appease Mrs. Bello. What he truly wanted was to put Shelly back on a plane now, tonight.
    She was trouble. Trouble with azure blue eyes and white-blonde hair. She might be clean, she might be drug-free and employed…but then again, she might not. Wasn’t that the curse of the addict? Always one step from falling off the wagon? Well, he wasn’t going to attempt to help her out of the muck if she fell this time. He wouldn’t follow her into the abyss, and he definitely wouldn’t allow Shelly to drag down Mrs. Bello too.
    “Thank you.” Anthony bent down and pressed a kiss to each of Mrs. Bello’s soft cheeks. She smelled of powder and talc with hints of espresso. “You’ll tell Shelly good night and thank you for me?”
    “Of course. We’ll see you soon.” Mrs. Bello started to rise and he squeezed her arm.
    “Don’t get up. Finish your espresso and cannoli.”
    Anthony pulled his jacket from the closet, put it on, and headed out the front door. The cold air, sharp as glass, sliced his skin. He shook his head and walked down the front steps. Let the chill bite him and cool the remnants of heat that still pulsed through his body. The desire for a woman he wanted nothing to do with. As his foot hit the front sidewalk, the glimmer of red Christmas lights reflected on blonde hair caught his peripheral vision.
    Shelly.
    His gut tightened and an all-too-familiar thrill warmed his blood. Smoke rings caught the light and drifted up toward the flashing lights. He turned to look directly at her. Shelly stood at the corner of the house, in the shadows.
    “Caught me.” She tossed the cigarette to the ground and rubbed it out with the tip of her boot. Her gaze caught his. “Old habits die hard.”
    The muscle in his jaw tightened. “All old habits?”
    Her eyes seemed to harden with his inquiry. She walked toward him. With each step, heat built in his gut. No, this wasn’t the Shelly of Texas, nor was she the Shelly of his youth. This creature was something new, someone unknown to him, and yet she created the same heat, the same desire, the same damned need within his body as the Shelly he’d fallen deeply in love with so long ago. She stirred something else, too. Her eyes were harder, edged with a what seemed to be a hard-won knowledge. He wondered if that knowing gaze came from a deep understanding of herself or of the depravity of human nature.
    She stood before him now. Not too much shorter than him, but just enough. His chest tightened. Her skin was once again healthy and nearly flawless. As she turned her face to him, a glow from the moon outlined her features, and the blinking Christmas lights tinted her face first red, then green.
    How many times had he stood in this exact spot and kissed Shelly Bello good night? Pulled her body against his and slid an arm around that tiny waist. Felt the press of her breasts, her hips, against him. More