Chapter Twenty
Gio
I didn’t believe in hurting women. That was the only reason Chablis was still able to walk. When I saw Carly’s face, after Chablis threw herself at me, I knew I was going to have to work even harder to tear down her walls. If I’d been a lesser man, Chablis would be sporting bruises for days.
“What was all that about?”
I turned to give Tony a look. “What was what all about?”
“Up in the VIP section, just before we opened. Thought you were into Carly.”
“I am.” My voice came out in a growl and I watched Tony hold his hands up as if in surrender.
“Hey, if you say so. I’m just saying, kissing one of the dancers tends to send a different message.”
“She kissed me. She’s lucky I don’t believe in hitting women or I’d have knocked her on her ass for it.” When Carly got up from the table where she and Camille had been talking, and headed toward her office, I pushed away from the bar. “Keep an eye on things out here.”
“Sure thing. Go get your woman.”
“I intend to.” I stalked after Carly and reached the office door before she got it closed.
“Gio. I have some paperwork to get done before I leave. It’s Camille’s night to close.”
“Go to dinner with me.”
“What?”
The surprise on her face amused me.
“You heard me,Tesoro. Go to dinner with me.”
“I don’t think...”
I put a finger to her lips. “The only word I want to hear from that pretty mouth is ‘yes’.”
“You’re insufferable! If I say yes, will you let me finish so I can get home to my son?”
“Of course,Bella.”
“Fine then. Yes. Happy?”
“Si. Very much, so.” She wasn’t getting away that easily. I pulled her into my arms and molded our bodies together before I kissed her yet again. She tasted like cinnamon and spice and it made me groan. “Tomorrow night. I will pick you up at six. Be ready. And wear something sexy.” The dazed look on her face when I walked out of the office made me smirk. She could pretend like she wasn’t affected as much as I was but her body said otherwise.
“I take it, judging by your smirk, things went well.”
“That they did, Tony, that, they did. I want you to look into Chablis’ work history. She says she was a manager before she came to work here. I want to know where and why she left.”
“You thinking you should have made her manager instead?”
“I don’t know.” My phone vibrated in my pocket and I pulled it out.
La famiglia needs you.
“I have to go. We’ll go through the inventory again on Monday.” That would tell us if we had a thief on the payroll.
Arriving at the address that accompanied the text, I headed into the warehouse. It was on the outskirts of the city, and from the outside it looked like it was rundown. The inside was completely different. State of the art surveillance equipment lined one wall. A steel staircase led to the second level where a series of rooms were built. Three of those rooms were soundproof.
“What do you have for me?”
