Pretend It's Love Read Online Free PDF Page A

moment. “Who?”
    “Sadie.” She sighed. “Zia Marcella rang today, Sadie is sixteen weeks pregnant.”
    The air rushed out of his lungs as though someone had punched him in the stomach. The thought of seeing her at the wedding was bad enough, but knowing she was pregnant…
    “I have to go.” He pushed up from his chair and grabbed his leather jacket from the coat stand.
    “Paolo.” She stood, crossing her arms under her bosom. “I don’t say these things to upset you.”
    He gritted his teeth, fighting the pounding in his head. He needed to sort out this problem soon. He was not going to face his ex and her smarmy husband alone while they basked in the glow of their perfect life.
    The life he had wanted.
    “I’m not upset, Ma.” He shrugged into his coat and swallowed against the lump in his chest. “I’ve got to get to work.”
    “I want you to have a good life.” She looked up, her black-brown eyes shining.
    “I’m perfectly happy with my life.”
    At one point he was sure that was true, but now he constantly battled restlessness and dissatisfaction. Pride wouldn’t allow him to let anyone else see that, though, and he wore his reputation as armor. Better to be a womanizing playboy—as his mother had once called him—than to be a loser.
    He had to come up with a solution to this wedding situation. No way was he going to be the Chapman failure again. He needed an idea, and quick.
    “Is it so wrong that I want a few bambini in the house?”
    He rolled his eyes and stepped backward. “No, there’s nothing wrong with that. But I won’t play happy families. You’ll have to wait until Gracie gets knocked up.”
    “Don’t say knocked up.” She scowled.
    “I gotta run.” He turned, shoving a hand into one pocket to fish around for his car keys.
    “Wait!” She scurried back into the kitchen and returned with a cardboard tray filled with plastic containers and glass jars. “I made sauce and some sweets. Chocolate cannoli and kraffen .”
    “The apricot ones?” His tastebuds were already cheering for the delicious doughnut-like pastries.
    “Of course.” She sent him away with another guilt trip about settling down and finding a wife.
    By the time he arrived at First the sun beat down in full force. His leather jacket felt like a straightjacket, stifling him, so he stripped it off and threw it onto the back seat. With a cardboard tray of food balanced in the crook of one arm, he stepped out into the sunshine and kicked the car door closed behind him.
    “It’s already crazy in there.” A voice caught his attention as he walked toward First.
    Noah leaned against the side of the restaurant, shielding his eyes with one arm. He looked as though he’d been put through the wringer.
    “Busy?”
    “Yep. Totally nuts.” Noah shook his head. “You’re going to be in for a treat tonight.”
    Great. Fridays were crazy enough anyway with several of the office buildings in the block using First as their after-work watering hole. There were also a few clubs in the area, which meant they got a lot of younger customers having dinner and pre-drinks before a big night out. Fridays were rowdy, and normally he thrived on the hustle and bustle of a busy night’s trade, but today his energy was failing him.
    Probably because his head was filled with a confusing mix of his pregnant ex and the redhead from last week.
    “Excellent,” he said, not bothering to hide the sarcasm.
    “Oh, more treats from Mama Chapman?” Noah peered into the box and fell into step beside Paul.
    “Don’t even think about swiping any of this.”
    The bottles and containers were labeled with sticky notes and his mother’s looping, barely legible cursive. Most of the bottles were labelled Des or Paul, but sure enough there was a bottle of pasta sauce and a container of pastries that had “Noah” written on it.
    “Score!” Noah reached in and grabbed his items, halting Paul so suddenly that the tray wobbled precariously.
    He