The Tycoon's Defiant Southern Belle Page 0,29
asked him, completely off subject.
Angelo stopped and looked down at her, seeing her horrified and confused expression and he couldn’t stop the chuckle. “I take it you’re not much of an exhibitionist, eh?” he suggested.
Jade’s cheeks turned pink at his question and she wasn’t able to answer him. She looked away, down at her feet, at the sidewalk and checked out her nails. “I guess I’m a bit naïve, aren’t I?” she asked finally.
Angelo couldn’t resist. He bent down and gently kissed her. It was only a brief touch, but it was enough to fluster her, which made him feel good. He liked that he could do this to her. “I know just the thing to get over a breakup that you didn’t care about,” he said and put his arm around her shoulders.
The overhead door chimes were the first thing to break her out of the daze that Angelo’s kiss had put her into. The teenager’s mouth hanging open behind the ice cream counter was the next. She looked around, suddenly realizing where they were. “We can’t be here,” she whispered up to him with a horrid sense of urgency. She tried to take his hand and pull him out but he wouldn’t budge. “Angelo, we have to get out of here,” she hissed again, grabbing his arm this time.
Angelo continued to ignore her. “The lady will have cherry vanilla ice cream in a cup with caramel sauce and a double helping of whip cream.” He looked down into her frantic eyes and smiled. “With two cherries,” he followed up.
The teen behind the counter looked at Angelo with growing fascination. It took him an instant, but the boy finally snapped out of it and he grabbed the ice cream scooper, filling Angelo’s order. When the cup was sitting on the counter, Angelo said, “I’ll have a scoop of praline pecan and strawberry.”
The boy quickly grabbed a bigger cup and put the two scoops into the cup. Angelo gave him a ten dollar bill and thanked him, taking both cups and walking to the door.
Jade stared after him, her lips trying to tell him to go to hell, but she couldn’t seem to form the words. He just kept walking, standing in the doorway then waiting for her to follow him. “Are you coming? The ice cream is melting.”
Jade stomped to the door angrily. “We can’t be here!” she growled to him. “Let’s go.”
Angelo shook his head with a barely-there smile. “Take your ice cream, Jade. Pick a table.”
Jade looked around, finally aware that others were watching them, all of them just as fascinated by the scene as the boy inside the ice cream shop had been. In defeat, she took her ice cream cup and walked over to one of the empty tables with a large umbrella offering shade. She sat down and stared at her ice cream cup, wondering how she could avoid the next round of gossip.
When he sat down across from her and leaned back in the dainty looking chair, she glared at him, suddenly realizing what he was doing. “You know exactly what’s going to happen now, don’t you?” she asked him.
Angelo looked up at her, trying to appear innocent.
“Don’t even try it!” she said, but she picked up her spoon and took a bite of the decadent treat. “You know what this will look like, don’t you?”
His smile grew wider. “If you’re trying to imply that I might be doing something other than helping you feel better after your breakup last night, I can’t imagine what is on your mind.”
She took another bite, loving the rich ice cream. “You’re trying to get everyone to think that we’re together now,” she hissed.
Angelo raised an eyebrow once again. “We are together.”
She was startled by that comment but tilted her head. “Are we getting married then?” thinking to startle him, to break his confidence.
“No. You definitely wouldn’t want me as a husband,” he replied with grave seriousness. “But we are a couple.”
His statement certainly turned the tables on her. She hadn’t startled him at all but she was stunned. “I’m guessing you’re trying to tell me that you think you’d make a very poor life mate?”
He shrugged one of his extremely large shoulders and took another bite of his ice cream. “Let’s just say that marriage might not be the best idea. But I can take care of you.”
Although he didn’t look at her, she could tell that there was much more behind his words. It was