Educating Gina Read Online Free PDF Page A

to displease my uncle, or my mother. That is not my intention.” She shoved her fingers through her hair, letting the thick strands fall in a curtain of silk. “I am just trying to have fun, to be like other girls, to enjoy life before…”
    She pressed her lips together and turned back toward the window. “You are very kind to worry, Mike, but how I dress is not your problem.”
    The hell it wasn’t. He was going to get fired over this. All the accurate forecasts and tight budgets he’d produced weren’t going to mean squat to Antonio if he thought Mike wasn’t doing right by his niece.
    In the back of his mind, Mike recalled how Antonio liked to play up his Italian heritage, make references that he was related to a godfather in Sicily. Some of the guys at the warehouse chuckled about it behind his back. But maybe it wasn’t a joke. Maybe he’d have someone whack Mike and make it look like an accident.
    “Look, Gina, since I’m your guardian…”
    Her eyes blazed.
    “I mean, escort, while you’re in New York, I kind of am responsible.”
    She smoothed her palm over her hip and down her thigh. His gaze helplessly followed. “I am not a child.”
    “No, you definitely aren’t.” He swallowed, cleared his throat. “Will you excuse me a moment?”
    He had to talk to Robert. This arrangement was not going to work. No way. Not without Mike ending up with his butt in a sling.
    Gina stood there looking uncertain, and Mike realized she was waiting for him to get up and leave. That could be a problem, yet he couldn’t very well make the call in front of her. He shifted in hopes of loosening his pants.
    “Is something wrong?” she asked, moving toward him.
    “No.” He shot off the chair. “Nothing. I need to go make a phone call.”
    She followed him out to the hall.
    “In private.”
    Her eyes narrowed and she drew her lower lip into her mouth. “Is it about me?”
    Mike hesitated, fascinated with the new contortion of her lips. “Sort of.”
    She stepped closer. “What have I done?”
    All she had to do was glance down at his fly and she’d know exactly what she’d done. He backed up toward the living room. “Nothing. I have to go.”
    She followed. “But, Mike…”
    Thinking he heard something, he held up a hand for silence.
    “But I—”
    “Wait! Did you hear that?”
    She stopped short and listened.
    A click broke the silence.
    “The door.” Mike cursed under his breath. “It’s your uncle.”



3
    “M ADRE D IO .” Gina’s gaze flew toward the living room. For all her brave words, she did not want her uncle to see her like this.
    “Go to your room. I’ll tell him you’re napping.”
    Not anxious to be sent back on the next plane, she started to obey when the door opened.
    She would never make it to her room before Antonio saw her. To her left was a closed door. She grabbed Mike’s sleeve and pulled him into the dark room with her. Only, it was a closet.
    “What the hell did you do—?” Mike cut himself off at the sound of her uncle calling for her. He muttered a word she did not understand, his warm breath gliding across her cheek.
    The closet was small and crowded and they were pressed so close together, Gina could hardly breathe. She moved her right arm and her breast rubbed against him. At his sharp intake of breath she froze.
    Only one other time had she been this close to a boy. Diego was a classmate’s brother and he had been all hands. It had been fun and exciting at first, but then he scared her by reaching between her legs. When he would not stop as she had asked, she had bitten his arm.
    But Mike’s hands were nowhere near her. She wondered what he would do if she placed her palms on his chest. She smiled when she realized there was nothing he could do. Not without alerting her uncle. And Mike would not do that.
    “Mike?” she whispered.
    “Shh.” He put a finger to her lips, missing at first in the darkness, but then finding her and making her heart race like a