Page 53

Shit, am I supposed to do the same? I have no idea how to greet him or act around him. It was so much easier this morning waking up with him.

"Let me guess, your allowance ran out?" Antonio asks, hugging Gigi.

I swallow. I've always wanted siblings; I actually begged my mom and dad for one. Dad would have been on board, but Mom never let me forget that Iruinedher figure.I had the waist of a wasp before I had you, she used to say.I'd rather die before I go throughthatagain. Seeing Antonio and Guiliana like this brings my childhood longings back to the surface. How much easier would my life have been if I could have shared it with someone?

Despite Antonio's biting tone, it's obvious that he adores his sister. And her teasing shows she feels the same.

"Oh, don't be an ass," she grins up at him. "Really, I'm only here to see you. It's been a while."

"It has nothing to do with the new Mercedes that just came out?" He arches an eyebrow at her.

I sit on the couch, mesmerized by their interaction; all that's missing is a bowl of popcorn.

"Oh," she flutters her eyelashes, "it has?"

"I know Guido already called you."

He drops his jacket over the headrest of a chair and walks to the little bar in the corner.

Gigi looks flustered. "Are you spying on my phone again?"

He pours himself a drink. "It became necessary, sorry, Gigi."

She rolls her eyes. "Are we on high alert again?"

"I wouldn't say high, but alert, yes," he downs his drink.

"I see your clothes haven't come in yet, passerotta." He saunters over to me, his gaze hot enough to light a fire in my stomach.

"Wait, passerotta?" Gigi asks, looking from him to me with an astounded expression on her face.

"Gigi," Antonio warns in a deep growl.

"I don't get it," I say, pleading with my eyes for her to fill me in.

She laughs, "You were what? Ten? Eleven?"

"Gigi, no," Antonio shakes his head.

"He found this baby bird after a storm and brought it home. Dad warned him that it would die, but he had it in his head that he would save it."

I can't help it. I hang on to every one of Gigi's words; she's opening up a whole new side of Antonio to me.

"I'm warning you," Antonio reiterates.

She waves him off, and in a conspiratorial voice, continues, "He was with that bird, twenty-four seven. He even took it to school. He fed it, cleaned it, the whole nine yards." Gigi smiles proudly at her big brother, and I think it’s that look on her face that resigns him to Gigi finishing her story. "And then one day, the baby bird turned into a beautiful sparrow." Gigi finishes.

"Ah," I look from her to him as warmth spreads through me. Seeing this side of him makes me… makes me like him even more.

"Okay, now can we?—"

I interrupt Antonio, "What happened to the bird?"

"It flew away," he replies sourly.

"He was heartbroken," Gigi intimates.

"I was not. It was just as nature intended. The bird flew off with… damn you Gigi," he growls again, making me laugh. "I'll send you to a nunnery," he threatens his sister, making her laugh even more.