Oh! I ran to the stereo system and pressed play. Italian music seemed to float out, and mom and me both moved our hips to the opening notes, trying to bring them to life with our bodies. We both stopped when we realized we were doing it, and we exploded with laughter.
Matteo walked in right then and smiled at me.
I gasped and rushed to him.
“Good day, ah?” he said at the same time I said, “What the fuck happened to your eye?”
It was swollen shut.
Mom rushed to the fridge and pulled out wrapped steaks Scarlett had sent over. Mom took the raw meat out, and close enough, she stood on her toes and set it against Matteo’s eye. He went to take it from her, and their hands touched. Instead of recoiling like she usually did, she left her hand there on purpose, it seemed.
“That’ll help with the swelling,” she whispered.
“Grazie,” he whispered back.
And in that moment, I knew something was changing. He felt the beginning of her acceptance, and maybe she felt the first wave of his warm love and appreciation.
“I’ll start plating everything,” she said, leaving him with the steak pressed to his eye.
I took her place and walked him to the table. With a shit-eating grin, he wrapped his arms around my waist and sat down, pulling me onto his lap.
“What happened, Matteo?” I whispered.
He gazed at me with one intense dark eye, making me feel like the star he believed was created for him. “Natchitoches.”
“Natchitoches?” I repeated, not catching on right away. Then I remembered. “Oh, when I sassed Rocco outside of Scarlett’s dance studio?”
As he laughed, he bit at my neck, making me laugh. “Sass him?”
“Yeah, when I basically told him to get control of his boil.”
“I can’t get control of the beautiful star that sasses me.”
“Wanna try after dinner?” I stuck my tongue out at him.
His eyes heated, and a second later, a slow smile came to his face, one that showed teeth.
My breath caught and he pointed at his lips.
Leaning in slowly, I set my lips against his, then my forehead against his. “I’m sorry, Teo,” I whispered. “I didn’t mean to cause—” I nodded to his eye “—something like that. Someone hurts you, they hurt me too.”
“Same here,” he whispered. “Except I’ll kill a motherfucker.”
“Instead of killing him, I’d rather sweeten him up. Do you think he’ll accept cookies from me? I really shouldn’t have said what I did, even if it is the truth.” And if I had been of sane mind, I would have kept quiet. In Matteo’s family, if a woman disrespects one of the men, it was her man or husband who took the punishment for it.
“He didn’t say what you think he said.” Matteo patted my hip. “He was worried about you.”
I groaned, covering my face. “Double the cookies then.”
Matteo pulled my hand away from my face. “Mamma has a recipe for a cookie he likes.”
“She already taught me how to make it. She said it’s one of your favorites too!” I went to hop up, but he held me tight to him.
“You’ll be too far.”
I smiled. “I’ll be missing you too,” I whispered against his lips, “as I’m helping mama plate the food. She made dinner. I made dessert.”
“You aredolce.” He kissed me, then lifted us up, setting me on the chair. “Relax, baby. I got this.”
