The second she called me sir, I felt a stir in my pants. Now I associated that title with sex, and it was impossible not to.
“Who’s this?” Mom asked, approaching Mia at the island. “And what smells so good?”
Mia quickly washed her hands before she shook hands with my mother. “Mrs. Barsetti, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Carter’s maid.” Her eyes focused on my mother’s features, probably looking for the similarities I shared with her. Mia wore a pretty smile, and the makeup on her face made her glow even brighter than usual. Instead of looking like the help, she looked like a supermodel working in my kitchen. “I hope you’re hungry. Carter asked me to make his favorite dish.”
Mom was slightly startled by Mia, staring at her like she couldn’t believe that my maid was so beautiful. She finished the handshake before she recovered. “I could eat lasagna any time.”
“Damn, you’re hot.” Carmen, the big mouth of the family, blurted out those words without thinking twice about it.
I rolled my eyes. “Carmen, come on.”
“What?” Carmen said innocently. “She is. Look at her. Can I borrow that dress?”
Mia’s cheeks blushed slightly, and she smiled in a way I’d never seen before, like she was actually uncomfortable. She always kept her composure around me, even when I was the bad guy. “Yeah, sure. We look about the same size.”
Carmen walked up to her and greeted her with a hug. “I can’t believe my brother has a maid. I guess that’s a good thing because he didn’t know how to do his own laundry until he was twenty.”
“Carmen.” I wrapped my arm around my sister’s shoulders and slowly steered her away from Mia. “Why don’t you go set the table?” I gave her a gentle push, getting her out of the kitchen and away from Mia.
Mia smiled, like she didn’t seem bothered with the conversation. “Nice to see you again, Mr. Barsetti.” She shook my father’s hand.
He did the same. “Likewise. Need any help?”
“Absolutely not,” she said. “Take a seat in the dining room, and I’ll get the drinks started. A scotch, neat for the gentlemen and a glass of wine for the lady?”
Mom smiled. “That would be nice.”
Carmen walked back into the room. “I’ll take a scotch too—make it a double.”
I lowered my voice so only Mia could hear. “Don’t make it a double…”
Mia chuckled. “Alright, sir.”
We moved into the dining room and sat down at the table. I was relieved the introductions were over. Now we could talk about something else other than my hot maid. But judging by the excitement in Carmen’s eyes, she couldn’t stop thinking about it. “Did you hire a model to be your maid?”
I ignored my sister’s question, not wanting to talk about how hot Mia was in front of my parents, especially when my father knew I was sleeping with her. “She’s good at what she does—regardless of her looks.”
“Or her looks make her better at what she does…” Carmen wore a playful grin.
“Anyway…” I tapped my fingers against the table. “I’m glad you guys could stop by and see the place. I’m liking it so far.”
“What about work?” Mom asked. “You’re doing everything over the phone?”
“Yeah, pretty much. But I’ll have to talk some trips here and there. That’s the nice thing about having Mia around. She can keep it looking nice while I’m away, make sure the gardeners take care of the yard. Stuff like that.”
Carmen narrowed her eyes on my face, not buying my story for a second.
“Your father and I are very happy you decided to move back,” Mom said, beaming with pride. “When Conway decided to move back, we were pretty jealous. But now all the kids are together again. It’s really wonderful.”
“Yeah, I missed seeing Conway all the time.” I used to see him every weekend when we were both in Milan. We drank and fucked around, spent the nights on the town. But his bachelor days were long behind him now.
Mia walked into the room and put the drinks out for all of us. She handled everything like it wasn’t her first time waiting on people. Maybe Egor had her do something similar when she was in his captivity. “Dinner will be right out. Anything else I can get in the meantime?”
“No, we’re okay,” I said. “Thank you, Mia.”
She smiled then walked out again.
Carmen shifted her gaze back to me, suspicion written all over her face.
I ignored her look, knowing exactly what she was thinking. If I provoked her, she would accuse me of a lot of things I didn’t want to be accused of. “So Reid is pretty—”
“There’s no way that woman just works for you,” Carmen blurted. “You’re telling me this gorgeous model waits on you, and you keep it professional?”
I used to want to strangle my sister a lot. This was one of those times when I really wanted to strangle her. “My professionalism is none of your business, brat. Now be a mature adult and behave.”