Page 49 of Cavaliere

“Good evening. What can I get you two started with tonight?” he asks, barely making eye contact with Wren. Finally, someone who knows respect. It looks like I’ll only be firing one person tonight.

“We’ll have a bottle of Cabernet Franc and the Burrata to start.”

“Absolutely.” He nods as he whisks off.

“I hope it’s okay that I ordered for you.” Wren seems like the type that would be okay with it in this type of setting, but there’s always a huge possibility she’s about to chew my ass out.

“It’s fine. Cabernet Franc just happens to be my favorite red wine. But just so we’re clear, if I want a sugar daddy, I’ll get one,” Wren says coolly, looking around the restaurant, dismissing me.

I catch her wrist resting on the table, squeezing firmly. “You’re mine. That means I take care of you and that tight little cunt. And if I find out someone has been sniffing around what’s mine, I will cut his dick off and shove it so far up his ass. You with me?”

The waiter drops off our wine without a word.

“I’m with you,” she breathes out, eyes wide.

Chapter

Thirty-Three

MATTEO

Desire is flaring in her bright blue eyes.

All I can think about is those eyes looking up at me while she’s down on her knees with those plump lips wrapped around my cock, tears pooling in the corners of them as her spit mixed with my arousal drips down her chin because she just choked on me.

“Do you know what you want to eat?” I ask, changing the subject because if I don’t, I’m one more fantasy away from ruining these slacks. Aldo would never let me live it down.

“I was thinking about the fettucini.” Wren’s voice sounds raspy. Her poor cunt has to be dripping.

“Good choice,” I agree. After our appetizer is dropped off, I order our food, topping both of our glasses off and grabbing mine to toast. “Cheers to the start of us.”

“To the start of us.” Wren lightly clinks her glass against mine. I don’t miss the doubt swirling in the depths of her bright blue eyes. Actions speak louder than words with her. Wren needs to learn that I’m in this for the long haul and not for instant satisfaction.

Our food comes as Wren and I fall into easy conversation. I tell her about growing up in a huge family that never seems to leave you alone, but at the same time, you can’t imagine your life without them. It feels like second nature telling her things about me that I haven’t told anyone outside of the family. She asks about Gio and if he has always been the way that Gio is. Her laugh when I tell her yes is infectious. Of course, my psychotic brother has won her over.

She tells me about her childhood and how her dad left when she was around three years old, and she doesn’t really remember him. Her mom floated from guy to guy, making her move around a lot as a kid. She told me about how she left as soon as she graduated high school, working in random restaurants until she settled in Ravenna Heights, where she created her first real home for herself in that shithole apartment. She didn’t have any real friends until she met Delaney.

This is a whole new side of dating that is a first for me. I’ve never given the slightest fuck about where a woman came from or what her childhood was like. But with Wren, I find myself wanting to know every single little detail she can remember. I want to find her mom and make her life a living hell for treating Wren the way she did, but I want to thank her at the same time because what Wren went through is what brought her to me.

I’m happy that she’s found a person in life that she can rely on with no questions asked, but it pisses me off that it didn't happen until her adult life. Everyone needs someone through every stage of life that they can rely on. I don’t care if you’re two years old or retired.

“Have you ever tried to track your dad down?” I take a sip of wine, waiting for her reply. If she knows where he is, I’m going to have a very hard time not hunting him down and teaching him how to be a real man and not bailing on your fucking kid that needs you.

“Oh.” Wren laughs lightly, trying to not make this subject seem as heavy as it is, but I can see the sadness that briefly sweeps across her face every time she mentions him. “No, I haven’t tried. I figure if he really wanted me in his life, he would have made that happen, you know?” She shrugs. “I don’t want to make someone be in my life who doesn’t want to be in it.”

“And you’re okay with that?” I ask as I study her.

“Yes. I refuse to be someone's obligation. I made peace with it a long time ago, handsome.” She smiles softly at me. My gut clenches at her calling me something other than Matteo. I don’t think she realizes that it’s the first time she’s done that. “Hey,” Wren’s eyes are looking at something on the other side of the restaurant. “Is that Aldo?”

My eyes follow hers to see Aldo lurking in the corner like a fucking stalker. Real smooth, Aldo. “Yes,” I sigh.

“What’s he doing here?” Wren’s eyebrows shoot up before lowering her voice as if he can hear us. “Is he on a date?”

“No, baby.” I chuckle. “We own this restaurant.”

“We?”

“Aldo, Gio, and I.”