Page 29 of Stroke of Luck

Clapping my hands in excitement, I do a little happy dance before I grab a plate and flip open the BBQ chicken pizza, leaning over to take in a deep whiff of the decadent aroma. “God, I feel like it’s been ages since I’ve had this pizza!”

Snagging two slices, I wolf down the first one and savor the second. “Now this is what I’m talking about! Why can’t all parties have pizza? Seriously, who decided that all the fancy stuff should be served? Except for the crab puffs—those can stay. But for real, no one really likes that other shit.”

“My, what a sophisticated lady we’ve landed ourselves,” Paolo chuckles as he sips his champagne.

Flicking my pinky finger out, I take another bite. “Just like my mama raised me.” Unable to hold a straight face, I burst out laughing at the idea of me being a proper lady. “As you saw, it wasn’t from lack of trying.”

Giorgi scoffs at that. “Stellina, trust me when I say we wouldn’t have given you a second glance if you were anything like what your mother wanted you to be.”

“Too true,” Paolo agrees. “It’s the fire you have that caught my attention first as you shouted obscenities out onto the world, in Italian no less. Very sexy I might add,” he adds, wagging his perfect eyebrows at me.

“Stop, you’re gonna make me blush,” I tease.

Soon we’re done eating and Paolo pops up from the table, dramatically bowing to me. “Might I ask the fair lady to dance?”

“Ah, I don’t think there is dancing at an event like this…” I caution.

Paolo steps up into my personal space and grasps my chin with a sly smirk. “Oh firefly, you have so much to learn about being with us. We don’t give a fuck what anyone else thinks. If we want to dance, we dance. No one will stop us, I can guarantee it, and if they do I’ll shoot them.”

“Paolo, you can’t shoot them for telling us not to dance at someone else’s event!” I squeak.

Paolo rolls his eyes, dropping his hold on me. “I didn’t say I would kill them, just maim them a little is all. How do you think we got the respect we have now—by asking nicely?”

“Fine, whatever,” I huff. “Let’s go dance and maybe try another tactic if they have something to say. There is a lot of press outside, and I don’t want to start off our relationship by writing to you in prison.”

“That’s the spirit, firefly!”

Giorgi finds a spot that isn’t too crowded, pulling out his phone. “What are we in the mood for?”

“What kind of dancing are you thinking of?” I ask with a grin.

Paolo steps up behind me, putting his hands on my hips. “If you want to rub that fine ass of yours up on me, then we’re gonna need to go somewhere else because I’m not gonna get in trouble for causing these old geezers to have a heart attack. Remember, you said no jail time.”

“Let’s try this,” Giorgi says as Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO starts to play.

“Hell yes! Every day I’m shuffling!” I sing as I bust out the dance moves I learned back in middle school.

Giorgi has the biggest smile as he joins me, then we realize that Paolo doesn’t know the moves, so we start to teach him. It doesn’t take him long to pick it up since he’s actually a really good dancer. Soon we have the whole gala watching us, clapping and bobbing along to our impromptu dance party. Then it shifts to I Just Wanna Dance with Somebody and I just let myself go and dance with the music, closing my eyes as I sing along. As I dance, flashes of another night dressed in my pajamas, listening to this song pops into my head. I was with one of the girls, and we let loose after she finished a really important test for her law degree, singing into our hair brushes. The joy of that moment fills me, and I know it’s one of the pieces of my heart that I’ve been missing.

The need to remember who these girls are pounds through my head, but it’s just out of reach, slipping through my fingers. When the song ends I open my eyes, finding myself once again in the ballroom of a fancy hotel with Othello and Enzo watching us, trouble flickering in their eyes.

“Baby girl, what are you doing?” Othello asks even though he can clearly see what’s going on.

“Has it been that long since you’ve had fun that you can’t even recognize it?” I taunt, grinning at him as Giorgi collects his phone and turns the music off.

Othello stalks up to me, wrapping his hand around my throat and pulling me to him. “Are you sure you want to play this game, baby girl?”

I shiver at the threat in his tone, warning me of all the delicious things he could do to my body. “I’ll take the risk.”

Smiling down at me, he scoops me up, tossing me over his shoulder. “Let’s go. Seems our woman wants to play.”

“What the fuck, Othello! Put me the hell down!” I laugh as I slap his ass, which gets me one in return, much harder than I’d done to him.

“Be good or I’ll change my mind about that surprise.”

“Fucking asshole,” I grumble but let him carry me out of the room.

“It’s a shame we didn’t have a better place to show you off in that dress, firefly,” Paolo sighs as he walks behind Othello. “Not just any woman can pull that off and our woman needs to flaunt it.”