Page 75 of Effortless

“No, I’m pretty sure that’s what he’s doing.”

“Should we give them a minute?” Tommaso asked.

Camilla shrugged. “It’s been long enough. Let’s go.”

She slid her hand into Tommaso’s, and wove their fingers tightly together. He brought her a little closer to his side as they headed for the kitchen.

The closer they got to the kitchen, the better Camilla could hear the whispering hisses between her parents.

Yep.

Her dad was absolutely giving her mother the heads up on Camilla’s extra guest. Just like she said. All she could do was shake her head.

“Told you,” she said to Tommaso.

He laughed lowly, and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

Camilla walked into the kitchen with a wide smile, and Tommaso was right behind her. She didn’t miss how her father’s gaze dropped to the two’s connected hands. He quickly looked back to Camilla’s mother.

Emma, on the other hand, didn’t look away as fast.

“Oh,” Emma mumbled. “Well, hello.”

Camilla held back her grin, and Tommaso tightened his fingers around hers like he had seen her amusement. Seemed even with a warning from Calisto, her mother was still shocked.

“You don’t mind putting an extra plate on the table, right, Ma?” Camilla asked.

Emma recovered quickly with a nod. “Yes, of course.”

She expected nothing different.

Her mother was a lot of things, but rude was not one of them.

“So, do you want to introduce us properly, or …?” Emma let her sentence hang out in the open as she nodded in Tommaso’s direction.

Tommaso only chuckled under his breath.

“I mean, if you want to,” her mother added.

Camilla was well aware her mother knew who Tommaso was without needing proper introductions. The two had more than a handful of conversations about the Chicago-born man, and sometimes those chats were because her mother wouldn’t leave her the hell alone. Not to mention all the information her mother had been fed from August and Calisto.

But fine, if that’s what her mother wanted …

Camilla would play that game.

“Ma, Daddy,” Camilla said, not even bothering to hide the roll of her eyes, “this is Tommaso. He made a special trip down from Chicago to see me. Since I was already having dinner here tonight, I figured he could join me.”

Emma nodded. “Okay. Hello, Tommaso.”

“A special trip?” Calisto asked, not giving Tommaso the chance to respond.

“I kind of missed New York,” Tommaso said.

He shot Camilla a smile.

She returned it with a wink.

“Huh,” her father said.