“What are you going to do now?”
“Take one breath at a time.” I smiled at her.
She squeezed my arm. “I know the entire city of Vegas is going to sound like it’s cracking in two tonight when all those pining women find out Mr. Big is in love.”
“In love?” I scoffed. “He’s not in love with me, George.”
“If he’s not, he will be. There’s no way he can’t fall in love with you.”
“I love when you get all uplifting on me.” I leaned in and kissed her cheek. “Call you soon.”
Big placed his hand on my lower back as we entered the front of the house. The music was still going, and the place was buzzing with energy. This was a good night for Vinny, and I felt bad about leaving.
Vinny stood and held out his hand when Big stopped at his table.
Big shook it. “Salemi. Here’s what’s going to happen. Leonora is going to be my wife soon. That means she’ll have eyes on her that weren’t before because of her last name. I understand you have an arrangement with Joe Fedele. It’ll be the same for my wife. She can still manage for you, but she doesn’t do anything but manage, and she stays behind the scenes with Georgia.”
Vinny nodded.
“I hear my wife dances like she did tonight, or our arrangement is broken in any way…” Big let the sentence linger, and the threat was there even without the words.
“Understood, Mr. Bigatti.”
Big nodded to his guy at the table, who came over and handed Vinny an envelope out his suit jacket.
“Open it.”
It seemed like Vinny didn’t want to, but he did.
“That covers the money you fronted for bail and interest. There’s also some extra for your trouble.”
“Leo’s no trouble.” Vinny looked at me. “You want this?”
I could feel Big harden at Vinny’s blunt question. I wasn’t sure what he was going to do if I didn’t, but I had a new respect for Vinny. He had balls. I could see it in Big’s eyes too. He wasn’t expecting Vinny to ask me.
“Yeah. I’m good.”
If I said anything other than that, and Vinny stood against Big, he would lose everything he loved. Including his life. And I’d done this to myself. I’d acted impulsively, just like I did when I flung the drink on that chick’s car.
Well, at least no one could fault me when it came to trying to keep my brothers safe, or ever accuse me of not loving them enough.
“You want this?” Big looked at me and chucked his chin at the club.
Point for you, Big.He was giving it back to Vinny in the same way. He was asking me if I still wanted to work there.
“Yeah. I’m good.” It would be nice not to have the pressure to work, but I liked the girls and felt they needed me. Georgia stuck around for the same reason.
We left after the air was clear. Gio and the other men, who were probably just muscle, followed us out. Gio and Big shook hands, and we all separated.
Umberto was standing against a convertible Ferrari smoking a cigarette. His long black hair was slicked back, and his tan skin glimmered under the lights of Dynamic. I had a feeling he’d been watching the car for Big because the top was down.
Umberto handed him the keys and nodded at both of us. He headed toward another expensive car.
Big opened the door for me, and I slid in. This was a fucking rockstar of a car. The engine roared to life, and it purred underneath my legs like a powerful cat. I was still sensitive from what we’d done—and I was getting turned on again.
Once he’d opened the floodgates, it was like I’d been swept up inside them. If he decided to punish me by withholding sex, I really might hurt him.
I tried to focus on something else. “What kind of Ferrari is this?” I dug in my bag and found a hair tie so I could pull my hair up in a messy bun. It was going to be a windy ride.
