I narrowed my eyes and zeroed in on Nate since he was the easier target for my annoyance. “Saw what? Stop speaking in riddles.”
Torre said nothing, and I twirled his hair around my fingertips while waiting for Nate to speak, but he sat there with an infuriating curve to his lips.
“I don’t know if I want to say anything now, or wait and then have my moment.”
“Jesus Christ, Press. I don’t know how you deal with it. Since Nate the Great is afraid to tell me, you spit it out.”
At that moment, Mike appeared with the champagne bucket, ice, and made a show of uncorking it with a flourish. The busboy placed four flutes on the table, and after it was poured, Mike left and I picked up my glass.
“To friendship. Old”—I tipped my glass first to Presley—“and new.” I touched Torre’s glass with mine. The wine was crisp and dry, the bubbles like music on my tongue. “And congratulations to Torre for his new position atUltimate NYC. They’re lucky to have you, and I hope you set them back on their heels and teach them something new. Keep them guessing.”
“Thanks.” He set his flute down. “I’m still figuring out my place and what my value to the magazine is. I’ve been getting some mixed signals.” He chewed his lip for a minute. “I’m sure it’ll be okay. Just going to take me some time to get used to being in a corporate setting.”
I frowned, not liking the sound of that. “Mixed signals? What does that mean?”
Torre shifted away from me, his gaze everywhere but on my face. “Nothing, really. I-I’ll figure it out. I’m sure it’s just growing pains and finding my way.”
“Is it Matt again? Is he still bothering you?”
“It’s fine. We’re not here to talk about me. I want to hear about you and Presley and Nate.” Ignoring me, Torre smiled at Press and Nate. “Presley, you’ve mentioned that Frisco helped you two get together, and he’s mentioned it too. Tell me what happened?” He shot me an amused glance. “Because the thought of this one”—he pointed to me and smirked—“giving relationship advice is incredible.”
We all broke out into laughter. “I said the same thing when I was doing it, as Press is fond of reminding me.”
Nate, to his credit, didn’t shy away from the conversation. “Frisco decided he didn’t like how I treated Presley, and he paid me a visit in my office to express his displeasure. Loudly.”
“You needed to be put in your place.” I sipped the champagne. “And figure out how important Presley was to you. Sometimes people are too close and can’t see it themselves. They need someone uninvolved to come in and tell them.”
Presley coughed, and I raised a brow. “Are you ill?”
“Me? No. Not at all.” He gave me a bright smile and I narrowed my eyes.
“How did he convince you?” Torre’s gaze shifted from Nate to me, and I allowed a lazy smile while I poured him a bit more champagne.
“Need you ask? You’ve had firsthand experience with how convincing I can be.” I put the glass to my lips and took another drink. “Intimately, in fact, I might say.”
His face flamed. “You never stop, do you?”
“Do you want me to?” I captured his gaze and watched the red flush creep above his shirt collar.
Mike chose that moment to stop by with bowls ofmazzamurru. “I’m serving youalla famiglia, as family.” He waved his arms in his usual, boisterous way. “All the best dishes of the house, including the ones Frisco had me add.”
Next, he brought out pasta, chicken, and fish. I tasted each dish and could find no fault with anything. We ate and ate, and I felt as much pride in how good the food tasted as if this were my own restaurant.
Finished, I wiped my mouth and drank the last of my champagne, noticing that Presley and Nate had cleaned their plates as well.
“Torre,” Press said, licking his lips, “this was the best meal I’ve had in weeks. Months, maybe. I wish this restaurant was in the city.”
“Press is right,” Nate said with a groan. “But if it were, I’d have to start exercising more because I’d gain too much weight from eating there all the time.”
“Mike’s done an amazing job. And once Frisco’s review came out, it was only a matter of time before it became a hot spot. You really helped him.”
I waved off the praise. “He had the means and ability. I just gave him the opportunity to be seen.”
The desserts arrived—plates of tiramisu and homemade cannoli, along with glasses of sambuca and limoncello.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever said it, but I owe you.” A proud smile graced his face. “We might not’ve started out on the best foot, but I wanna thank you. If you didn’t step up to help us out the night Jasper got hurt, I might never have believed you weren’t the dick I’d always thought.”
Nate snorted, Presley howled with laughter, and Torre raised his gaze to the ceiling and shook his head, lips twitching, shoulders shaking with repressed laughter.
