Page 68 of Claimed At First Sight

Heat creeps into my cheeks.

Dammit. I don’t want to come across as interested in the Marco family. I’m gathering strategic information. That’s completely different.

“I prefer knowing how many people I’m potentially arguing with,” I quip.

That earns me a genuine laugh.

“Fair enough. And yes, there’s one more brother. Remo. Though he’s not here tonight. He…” Gabe pauses. “He tends to avoid social functions whenever possible.”

“Smart.” I grin, taking a sip of my juice. “I like him already.”

Gabe snorts.

“Remo is the computer genius in the family. Getting him away from his machines…” Gabe searches for the right words.

“Requires an extraction team?”

“Exactly that.”

I lift my glass, and we clink them together. Somehow, I’m more relaxed than I was five minutes ago. Though that feeling doesn’t last.

A prickle runs over my skin, and my fingers tighten around the stem of my glass.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Butterflies take flight in my stomach.

No.

I refuse to become one of those women who can sense a man entering a room like some tragic romance heroine.

Still, I turn.

And find him.

Our eyes lock across the ballroom, and heat rushes through me so suddenly I forget how to breathe.

God, the way that man looks at me. It makes my knees weak.

Maximo starts toward me without breaking eye contact. People move aside as he passes, but he doesn’t look at any of them.

I cannot falter now. Not on our first meeting since Sicily.

I lift my chin, forcing myself to hold his stare as he draws closer. Then movement in my peripheral vision catches my attention.

There’s a beautiful woman walking beside him.

My stomach drops.

Huh?

I don’t understand.

Chapter Twenty-One

Maximo

She’s glorious.