Page 59 of Choosing Hope

He kisses my cheek and whispers, “Buongiorno, Bella.”

Lily joins us, jumping up and down, clapping her hands and laughing—clearly in on the surprise.

“Carlo,” I yell, slapping him on the arm.

“What’s wrong, Bella?” he replies with a face-splitting grin.

It’s a relief to see him more relaxed than he was yesterday.

He moves away from me to pick up Lily, twirling her around like a spinning top.

“Uncle Carlo, that was funny,” she squeals excitedly.

“Hello, you must be my birthday Princessa! Mummy told me you were having a party. Can I come?” he asks in a silly voice.

“No,” she shouts, with a huge grin, playing along. “No boys allowed.”

Her high-pitched screech cuts through me.

“Calm down, Lily,” I say, in my deep, motherly tone, which they both ignore.

“No boys?But I can be your prince,” he explains. “Your prince should accompany you to the ball.”

“I don’t need a boy to take me to a party; I have my girlfriends,” she sasses back, making me smile. At three, she’s already showing signs of being a strong woman. I love that for her.

Carlo catches my eye and rolls his eyes with a huge grin.

“Anyway, you’d have to be the beast,” she shouts, to steal the focus back to her.

His response is to hold her tight and tickle her ribs. She giggles and thrashes her body.

“Stop!” she hollers.

“Not until you say I can come to your party,” he replies gleefully.

I lean back on the counter, watching them, with a smile on my face. Lily adores Carlo; he’s been a big part of her life. Whenever he’s in England, he always makes a point of seeing Lily, even if he can only spare a couple of hours. Carlo is Lily’s godfather and guardian. He’s the only person in the world that Spencer would trust his little girl with.

“Yes,” she squeals, giggling, “yes, okay, you can come.” She finally yells, and I watch her fighting to gasp for breath while laughing so hard.

He kisses her cheek before placing her down, and she immediately runs to me, as if she thinks I can protect her. Glancing down fondly, I smooth her now messy hair back from her sweaty face.

“Reporting for work, boss. What can I do to help?” he asks flippantly, rolling his sleeve back up.

I don’t miss his sexy forearms, and typically for him, he doesn’t miss my admiration either. When our gazes clash, he bobs his eyebrows, forcing me to grin. He’s a cocky bastard; he knows how gorgeous he is.

“I’m just about to throw together some lunch; you could give me a hand with that,” I suggest.

“No. Come play on my bouncy castle,” Lily whines, finding her confidence again and grasping her uncle’s hand to pull him outside.

“Santo Cielo! It’s huge! Did you get planning permission for that thing?” Carlo teases, peering out at the monstrosity in the garden.

“Yeah, Spencer told me to get the biggest one,” I explain.

“Sounds like Spence,” he says with a fond grin. “How many little rug-rats are coming?”

“Twenty, with their mothers.”

That gets his full attention, no doubt at the thought of a house full of women.