Page 63

A tear slid down her cheek. “Are you going to die?”

Her distress made him want to reveal everything, but fear held him back. Humans often reacted badly to finding out about the magic world hidden all around them. His personal experience meant he was also scared of betrayal.

“Of all the things that might be considered negative about my condition,” Gio said, holding out his arms. “Dying young is not one of them.”

Mila fell into his embrace, wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”

She still didn’t know, not really. Was this subterfuge going to help by giving Mila more time to settle into her love for them or was it going to cause her to distrust them later?

Mila pulled out of their hug and took both his hands in hers and words started pouring out of her.

“What can I do to help you? I notice you don’t eat much, is it your condition? Tell me what foods are good for your stomach, and I can fix those. I know a chef with a blog about how to eat healthy but still make tasty food. There was a boy I knew in middle school who had PKU so I know some diseases require really restrictive diets.”

“What the hell is PKU?” Carter asked.

Mila looked over at where Carter stood, hands buried in his pants pockets, and his shoulders hunched. He was still hurt from Mila’s earlier reprimand.

“It stands for phenylketonuria, it’s a rare genetic disease," Mila explained, holding out a hand to him. “I’m sorry I snapped at you. I was scared. I don’t want to lose either of you.”

“You won’t,” Carter promised, rushing to grab Mila’s hand as if she was going to rescind the offer. “I can’t believe you remembered the name of that disease all these years later.”

“I remember because I almost killed him,” Mila said, another tear escaping. “I would share my lunch with him every day. My ham sandwiches. My cheese and crackers. My chicken salad. He was always so hungry because of his diet that I felt bad so I split my lunch. He got really sick that year. He was constantly in and out of the hospital."

“You were a child also,” Carter said. “You can’t blame yourself! You didn’t understand.”

“I know that now, but when his mom found out why he kept getting sick, she went looking for me at school and yelled at me. She said it would be all my fault if he died.”

Gio hissed out a breath and felt rage emanating from Carter. “Who says that to a child?” Carter muttered, trying to hold onto his temper.

“Someone who almost lost their son,” Mila said with a shrug and another tear. “I learned all about the disease and started finding or making things to give to him at lunch that wouldn’t hurt him. That might be where I started obsessing over baking. I felt so guilty for years.”

Gio shook his head. “If the same thing happened to one of your nieces or nephews, would you let someone tell them it was their fault if their friend died?”

Mila jerked back. “No! of course not!”

Gio raised an eyebrow. “Then why are you blaming your child self? There were adults everywhere meant to monitor both of you. I’m sure that child knew he shouldn’t have accepted your food, but he did. Why is all the blame on your shoulders,bellezza?”

He could tell he was getting through to her by the way her shoulders relaxed, and the tears stopped falling. “I never thought of it that way.”

“That’s the only way to think about it,” Carter grumbled.

That seemed to remind her that Carter was hungry. She tugged at their hands to urge them to the stairs. “You need food, and Gio needs to tell me what he can eat.”

Gio didn’t want to leave the studio. He wanted to strip Carter and Mila, then pose and draw them. Unfortunately that would have to wait.

Judging by the longing look Mila gave one of his paintings, he might not have to wait too long. They would be the most beautiful thing he ever painted.

Chapter 20

Mila

“I can’t believe Gio won’t let us see the painting,” Mila complained as she and Carter walked hand in hand down a bright sidewalk. It had been a week since she’d seen Gio’s studio, found out about his rare disease, and demanded to be painted.

Every day she and Carter sat in the studio while Gio worked on the painting. After the first section, he’d said they didn’t need to pose anymore, and he could take a photo with his phone and use that. Carter argued that spending twenty minutes a day posing for Gio wasn’t a hardship.

Mila agreed. Besides, Carter was constantly whispering naughty things in her ear and the session usually ended with sexy fun times on the pillowed floor of the posing area. She wouldn’t trade that for anything. Sex with Carter and Gio was always amazing, but it was different when they did it up there. Almost as if it was sacred because they were joining together in the most intimate way possible in a place that reflected Gio’s soul.

“He’s always like that. Sometimes I don’t even get to see the painting after it’s done because it’s not perfect enough,” Carter said, pulling her into a small boutique. “Look at that dress. I think it would look great on you!”