“Such as?” he asked. The thought of the little heathens running wild through his house was going to make him break out into hives. Yet another reminder, as if he needed one, of how incompatible children were with his life.
“The only thing here for them to do is swim, so let them use the pool. They brought their suits.”
Luca folded his arms across his chest. “Isn’t that how this whole thing started? Letting them use the pool now would be like rewarding their bad behavior from last time. Besides,” he said before she could protest, “Nico is still trying to get the pH balance of the pool right after they were in it last time. I don’t know what they threw in there but I nearly had to drain the thing and start from scratch.”
“It wouldn’t be like that this time. They know how to behave. They’re just bored. They’re children, not dogs. You can’t tell them to sit and stay and expect them to wait for your next command.”
Luca frowned at her. He knew she had a point but he didn’t want to acknowledge it.
“Fine. I will make sure Joe either has something more suitable for them to do or we will take them somewhere or something. I’ll send him out right now for a truckload of toys. But for right now, can they sit and watch the movie? I don’t think it’s going to kill them.”
She sighed. “Fine. However, while we are on the subject…”
He groaned and rubbed a hand over his face. “What now?”
“If the children are going to be in your home, there are a few things I’d prefer you didn’t leave lying around.”
“Such as?” he asked, his irritation rising again.
“Just off the top of my head, you’ve got a bar in the corner where the liquor is out in the open. Your entertainment center is stocked with movies that are highly inappropriate for children…and a few that are highly inappropriate for adults as well.”
He grinned at that one, but let her continue without comment.
“You have cigars and matches lying about. Your coffee table is made of glass and has sharp corners. If one of the girls were to trip, it could be disastrous. They aren’t toddlers, of course, so I don’t think we need to childproof the entire house, but kids do tend to get a little rambunctious now and then so I figure it’s better to be safe than sorry. There are—”
Luca held up a hand to stop her. His head was already pounding and they’d been there only five minutes.
“Enough, Stanzia. Give it a rest.” He pulled her aside, out of earshot of the girls. “This is my house. I’m not changing anything because a bunch of kids happen to be here for a few weeks. If they are too old for Barney, I’m sure they are old enough to know to keep their hands off booze and matches. If not, remove the dangerous items yourself but leave the rest alone.”
She opened her mouth to speak again, but he didn’t let her get that far.
“If you’ll excuse me for a minute, I need to take care of a few things in my office.”
Her eyes narrowed for a moment. Then her face cleared and she gave him a sweet smile that he didn’t trust for a minute.
“You go right ahead and do whatever you need to do.”
He smiled at her. Finally. “Thank you. Joe,” he said, gesturing for the man to follow him.
Constance nodded at him and he said, “Kalimera, Miss McMurty,” bestowing a brilliant smile on her as he extracted himself from the girls and made his way to the office.
“Kalimera, Joseph. And please, call me Constance.”
“As you wish, ma’am. Sir,” he said, turning his attention to Luca. “I have the items you asked for. I’ve placed them on your desk.”
“Thanks, Joe.”
“I’ll go join the girls,” Constance said.
Luca nodded absentmindedly. “I’ll be in my office for a bit.”
“Don’t mind us,” Constance called over her shoulder.
Chapter Eleven
Luca watched her leave, admiring the way her hips swayed back and forth when she walked. The cutoff jean shorts she wore complimented her figure far more than those hideous khaki things he’d first seen her in, and he’d thankfully broken her of those hideous sandals.
When she disappeared into the kitchen, Luca turned to find Joe waiting patiently for him with an amused smile that he tried to hide by turning quickly away. Luca chose to ignore it. Calling attention to the fact that he’d been ogling her would only make matters worse.
Joe followed him into the office and closed the door.
“Do you have those papers from the office I need to sign?” Luca asked him.
Joe nodded and pulled out a briefcase. Luca went through his paperwork as fast as he could, wanting to get that out of the way before some wayward child came crashing through his office door. His father had been surprised when he’d jumped back into the work pool and shown a renewed interest soon after their meeting, but he hadn’t hesitated to include him on the new projects they had in the works. Luca had forgotten how much he enjoyed working with his dad, being involved in new real estate ventures, scoping out locations and developing new properties. He just needed to find a way to balance it with some sort of social life so he didn’t become a total workaholic like his old man.