Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 73663 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 368(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73663 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 368(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
“Uh, okay, I’ll admit that occurred to me.”
“I like that you showed up anyway. If I asked you to undress for me, right here and now, would you do it?”
“I, uh, I don’t—” He doesn’t let me finish, which is a huge relief because my cheeks are so red I’m afraid they’ll explode, and I really don’t know what I was about to say.
“You don’t have to worry. I’m not going to. That’s not what tonight is about, I promise.”
I take a deep breath to steady myself. “What’s it about then?”
“Like I said, a proposition. Call it a business deal, if you like. Come have dinner with me and I’ll explain everything. Then you’ll be free to accept or to turn me down with no hard feelings either way.”
“Really?” I ask, biting my cheek. “If I say no, you won’t fire me?”
“I promise I won’t retaliate in any way. I’m not petty, Maddie.”
I nod once, too curious not to find out what this guy could possibly want from me, and more than a little hungry. “Fine. Let’s go.”
“Fantastic.” He stands, all over-six-feet of him, bristling with muscle, draped in a sleek expensive suit, looking like sin, and pain, and sex. “Come with me.”
Chapter 7
Renzo
The Rossi name still opens doors in this city, and Les Bouchard is no different. The hostess seats us at a private booth in the back corner tucked away from the other patrons, as intimate and exclusive as it gets. The restaurant is high-end, luxurious and beautifully designed, and Maddie’s staring around with wide, excited eyes.
But all I can do is watch her.
There’s something obscene about this girl, and I don’t know why I never noticed before. It’s her lips, or her thick hair, or what I know she’s hiding underneath that baggy sweater.
Or maybe it’s her earnestness. She seems genuinely excited to be here, impressed by the fancy decorations and the serious serving staff.
I want to keep studying her, but the waiter comes right over. I order wine and the tasting menu for two before he has a chance to say anything.
“This place is amazing,” Maddie says.
“You’ll like the food. And the wine I ordered will pair perfectly.”
“Are you a wine guy? Actually, don’t answer, of course you are.”
“What’s that mean?”
“Look at you. Fancy suit, lots of money. You definitely like expensive wine.”
I laugh, unable to help myself. She’s giving me this sly little smile like she knows she said something bad, but she’s also teasing me and testing the limits of this outing.
“You’re right, I enjoy the privileges of money. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it.”
“I never said there was.”
The waiter returns with the bottle, opens it, pours the glasses, and retreats again. I raise mine to Maddie. “Here’s to a budding relationship.”
“I’m not even sure what kind of relationship this is going to be,” she says, swirling her glass, looking hesitant now. I caught a glimpse of the girl she’s hiding, but now her walls are back up.
I consider for a moment how much to tell her, and decide to ease my way toward the big request. “How much do you know about my family?”
Her eyes widen a fraction and she hurries to sip her wine. Which means she knows the rumors. I wait until she clears her throat and shrugs. “Not much,” she says.
“The Rossi Famiglia has been in Philadelphia for generations. We began in sanitation—” The most cliché of all Mafia fronts. “—and spread from there into other ventures. Now, I run the real estate investments, as you’re very much aware. But we have other wings and connections, and we’ve become a part of this city in a way few other families are.”
“I heard something like that,” she admits, shifting in her seat. Clearly uncomfortable.
“A couple weeks ago, I made a deal with another prominent family. It was a business deal, one I never expected to make. I agreed to marry his daughter.”
Her eyes widen and her lips open. I caught a glimpse of her pink tongue. I wonder what it would taste like drenched in red wine and shoved into my mouth.
“That’s… exciting? Right?”
“Yes and no. I barely know the girl I was engaged to. Like I said, it was business, but then this morning she disappeared.”
Maddie stares at me like she doesn’t understand. “Disappeared?”
“She ran,” I say gently. “She weighed a life hiding from everyone she knows and loves against being my wife and decided she was better off getting on a plane.”
“Oh,” Maddie says, clearly uncomfortable. “Oh, wow, that’s—I’m so sorry, that’s terrible.”
“It’s fine. I suspect you had a harder time breaking up with your boyfriend than I’m having right now.”
“Probably.” She takes a long sip. “Why are you telling me this?”
“In my line of work, with my family the way it is, there are certain expectations on a man such as myself. Wives, children, heirs, those things are very important, and losing a fiancée in such a blatantly disrespectful way will have a very ugly reputational hit.”