Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 96129 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 320(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96129 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 320(@300wpm)
“I was not expecting to see you,” Rocco said after a long moment, still looking at her as she opened the fridge and pulled a bottle of water out along with a huge container of mixed fruit. She downed the entire bottle of water in what seemed like two huge gulps and opened the container, standing in front of it and eating.
“Are you going to share that?” Rocco raised an eyebrow.
Instead of answering, Rosie looked at me. “Do I have to?”
“No, you don’t have to.” I felt myself smile, the smile widening when her eyes fell to my lips.
She looked away with a blush as if she’d done something wrong. At the very least, I knew she was as affected by me as I was by her. It occurred to me that when she looked at me, she very well may be seeing my brother, and that soured my mood instantly. The way Rocco was blatantly checking her out soured it even more. I’d kill him for this.
“Don’t you have places to be, Marchetti?” I said after a moment.
He looked at me, eyes dancing. “Nope. Can’t say that I do.”
“Well, you should leave anyway.”
“I think I’ll stay a bit longer.” He turned and went back to the fridge.
I turned my attention to Rosie, who had already eaten half the bowl of fruit. I was impressed. I could eat that in one sitting, no problem. Rocco could inhale it from just looking at it, but Rosie was tiny.
“Do you want actual food?” I asked after a moment.
“You’re going to make food?” Rocco turned around and looked at me. “Because if that’s the case, I won’t be leaving any time soon. I’m not going to miss that shit show.”
“Fuck you.” I shot him a look before looking at Rosie again. She smiled, and fuck, it was so disarming that I lost my train of thought for a second. “I have pizza and a few other things in the freezer. There’s also two ready meals in the fridge.”
“Oh, I love those ready meals.” She kept eating her grapes. “Maybe after I shower.”
She looked up at me and right back down at the grapes, a light blush creeping on her face, and I swear time froze. I knew she wasn’t inviting me to shower with her. I knew she wasn’t because I was a sane person who was capable of logical thought, but the way she said it and looked at me, it was the only thing I could picture. When she was finished, she grabbed the container and tossed it into the recycling bin.
“How’s your little brother?” Rocco asked as she went over to pick up her bag.
“He’s good.” She smiled at the mention of her brother. “Really good.”
“How’s your dad?”
“He’s . . . good.” Her smile faltered for a moment. I thought she’d leave it at that, but she indulged him by answering honestly. “He’s in jail on a bullshit charge. He was supposed to serve twenty-four months, but he’s getting out soon because of good behavior.”
“Damn. I’m sorry to hear that. I heard he has some bodegas.”
“Yeah.”
We’d just found all of this out and I wasn’t sure where he was going with this interrogation, but it was obviously making her uncomfortable and I didn’t like it.
“Have you been holding shit down at the bodegas while he’s away?”
“No. I don’t go there anymore.” She looked away, but not before I saw the discomfort.
Rocco shot me a look, wordlessly asking me if I caught it.
“Well, it was good to see you, Roc. Maybe next time you can tell me how Mikey became a cop, and you became a convict.”
“To be a convict you have to be convicted, sweetheart.” He winked.
Even though her reaction was to roll her eyes and laugh as she walked away, I wanted to pound Rocco’s face into the ground. He looked back at the open fridge. At the rate he was going, I was going to start charging him for my fucking light bill. The moment she grabbed her bag, walked upstairs and closed the door, Rocco shut the fridge and whipped around to face me.
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
“Are you fucking kidding me? Sweetheart? A wink? And could you make it any more fucking obvious that you were checking her out?”
“Oh, so you’re mad that I’m checking out YOUR BROTHER’S GIRLFRIEND?”
“Keep your fucking voice down.” I stood quickly, the barstool screeching with the force. “Next time you call her sweetheart and wink at her, I’ll murder you and I won’t be using a fucking apple.”
At that, he grinned and shook his head. “You’re so fucked. I’m only going to state the obvious once. A woman should never come before a brother.”
“She won’t.” I felt myself scowl.
She wouldn’t.
It wouldn’t come to that.
Besides, she wasn’t his.
12
DOMINIC
For Rosie’s first assignment at Oui, she was accompanying an old lady to the MET. It was exactly why people should withhold judgment about things, escort services included. Billie’s husband died six years ago, and she’d been using Oui since. Her kids lived out of state, so she called us to send people to accompany her to museums, the zoo, wine and painting nights, you name it. I had to jump through hoops to make sure she ended up with Rosie, trading people’s schedules and making sure no one got screwed over because of it. The look on Rosie’s face when she saw her date was priceless. I signaled Marco to make sure he stayed with her as I got in the backseat of the SUV Nico was driving. If it weren’t for the other things I needed to take care of right now, like the status of her father’s bodegas, I would have probably stayed and watched her myself.