Read The Cinderella Project (A Comedy of Love, #1) for Free Online Page A

fine, Vera. I’ll just wait out here until she arrives.” With a wink I said, “You know how Ella is. I’m not about to risk her wrath on the off-chance that she walks in and finds the two of us alone, no matter how far apart we are. Remember the ‘come on in and have some lemonade’ incident?”
    Vera cringed. “Very good point. Well, I hope you don’t mind the heat. I have my lunch on the stove, so I should get back to it.”
    I agreed. As Vera shut the door, a familiar giggle sounded from around the far corner of the row of townhomes. Ella popped into view walking backwards, arms out as if she were pushing someone away. The look on her face said she was enjoying something. A hand shot out suddenly, seized Ella by the forearm and then dragged her back out of sight. I started to run, but after three steps, she giggled again and squealed playfully. Then came a loud slurping sound I didn’t care to identify. I waited. Moments later Ella appeared around the corner again looking as though she’d just been handed a million bucks.
    “Hey,” I said, pretending I hadn’t seen anything.
    “Nicky… .” Her massive smirk vanished under a crimson blush. She tried to recover with an attempted smile. “Oh, um, I didn’t think you’d be here for another few minutes. I’m sorry to keep you waiting. I got hung up at school a bit.”
    “With that guy you were just with?”
    Ella went rigid and she looked away. “He’s just a classmate. I needed a ride home so I could be here in time to make lunch for you.”
    I squinted at her and asked, “Classmate? How many guys actually go to beauty school? That’s a bit… odd, don’t you think?”
    “Nicholas Cairn!” she blurted. “Angelo is a perfect gentleman. He’s an artist. Just because he chooses to use hair for his art doesn’t mean he’s some kind of freak. Some of the best stylists in the world are men. It’s like all those gourmet chefs.”
    I shrugged. “Hey, I was just curious. I’m not accustomed to guys doing hair is all.” I tried to chalk it up to an overdeveloped sense of paranoia and too little sleep. Ella had been good to me. After all, I didn’t actually see them doing anything wrong. Maybe this “Angelo” guy was just really funny and Ella was responding appropriately. My stomach rumbled, so I decided to file the incident away and forget about it. Besides, I had been missing Ella all morning. “Let’s go on in and eat.”
    She pursed her lips and nodded. An engine roared and we both glanced over to notice a Porsche 911 bolt from behind the townhomes. The car hesitated at the street, then took a quick right and headed past us. As he drove by, the driver honked twice and blew a kiss at Ella. Okay. High comedy. Right.
    Ella blushed again, then grabbed my hand and hauled me quickly inside. “Angelo’s just friendly like that,” she said quickly. “Italian courtesy.”
    “Right. What’s for lunch?” Best to just ignore this. No need to read into things—Ella did enough of that for both of us. I turned to watch the Porsche drive away anyway.
    She pulled my face away from the window and gave me a quick kiss. “What’d you want, Nicky?”
    I glanced at my watch. “I need to be back at the office by one, so I’ll have to leave here by twenty ’til.”
    “You walked?”
    “I always walk. Good exercise; saves on gas. You know how much gas costs.”
    Ella walked into the kitchen, silent. “I’ll make sandwiches then, since you don’t have time for me.”
    “Hey, I have time for you.”
    She faked a pout. “I was only joking, Nick.”
    Ella never had mastered sarcasm. “You say that, but sometimes it’s hard to tell you’re not serious. I know I’m gone a lot. That’s part of needing to manage several obligations simultaneously, okay? I’ll still be here for dinner, as usual, okay. C’mere for a sec.”
    Ella pulled out a loaf of sourdough, set it on the counter and then moped across the kitchen tile to where I stood. I took her