“So where to now?”I ask when we reach the park’s gate.I’m kind of hoping there’s more she wants to do.Even another carriage ride.
“How about some dinner and a drink?”she asks.
“Are you old enough to drink?”I ask and watch her cheeks turn that golden bronze color that makes it look like the setting sun is illuminating her face.Even in the dark.Probably why I said it.To see that.Not good.
“Yes, I can drink,” she says, showing me the steel that’s just beneath her soft, sweet beauty.“I can probably drink more than you.”
I laugh.“You’re probably right.I don’t drink much.”
I did drink a lot when everything fell apart and I became Moretti’s slave.Then I stopped, vowing to stay sober until I get my revenge.But lately, with Goldie constantly on my mind and everything else going on, I’ve started to drink again.Not great.
She looks at me like she doesn’t believe me.
“There’s a new restaurant just around the corner,” she says.“I saw the opening from my bedroom.It might be Italian.Or something similar.Let’s go see.”
She starts down the sidewalk and I follow.There’s something so sad in the way she chose this restaurant… seeing it from her window, not able to just go down there to check it out whenever she wants to.She’s caught, trapped in her life, just as I was in mine with Moretti.Hers is a softer, more comfortable cage, but a cage with iron locks nonetheless.
And there I go again, letting her get to me.Letting myself get close to her.
She’s a tool.A key that will unlock all I desire.
But not if lose sight of that.Not if I let her in.
But damn, with the way her ass sways on those shapely legs of hers and the way her voice sounds like morning bird song even over the screeching, wailing and booming New York City traffic, it’s proving very hard to keep her out.Bordering on impossible.
Chapter23
GIANNA
The restaurantI’ve been eying through my bedroom window turned out to be French.I went with the chef recommended coq au vin even though I’d probably prefer a Ratatouille, which has been my favorite French dish since I saw the cartoon of the same name.Matteo opted for themenu gastronomique, which involves several dishes that look to be enough to feed a whole family.But he’s been making them disappear and is showing no signs of stopping.
“You were really hungry,” I say, smiling at him across the table, hoping I don’t have anything stuck in my teeth.“Good thing I suggested dinner, right?”
He nods and smiles in a way that doesn’t involve opening his mouth, which is currently full.
I lean back and sip the red wine, the taste of which reminds me of late summer, sitting in the soft sun, snacking on berries and being happy and content.I don’t even need anything stronger.
He swallows the food he was chewing and leans back to drink some wine too.“I haven’t been eating much lately.”
“Glad that’s changed.We don’t want you losing any weight.”Oh, God, I sound just like my grandmother.What is wrong with me?
The smile stretching across his face and eyes tells me he finds me amusing.Like a little weird girl… that kind of amusing.Totally not what I’m going for.
“You keep feeding me like this and I won’t lose any weight,” he says.“Probably the opposite.And you won’t like that either.”
I almost say,No problem, because I like a little bit of meat on my men.
No idea where that came from, maybe some movie I saw, because it’s certainly not something I think or say.Good thing I managed not to do it.Maybe this rich wine we’re drinking is going to my head faster than I thought.
“But I’m thinking your father wouldn’t like that very much,” he says and cuts off another chunk of his steak.
“We used to go out together to dinners like this as a family,” I say since I don’t really want to answer his other question.“Until my brother died… we haven’t been anywhere together since then.That’s why I really wanted to try this place.Before it closes down, as so many restaurants in this city tend to before I can try them out.”
“I’m sorry about that,” he says and takes another sip of his wine.“About your brother, I mean.Were you close?”
“He was a lot older than me,” I say.“But he was always there for me.I miss him a lot.”
“I lost my older brother too,” he says, looking down at the piece of steak stuck to his fork.
