“What mm-hmm?” Rocco demanded.
Celeste grinned. “You know, mm-hmm, as in yummy. As in, hot!”
Rocco held out his hand. “Give it to me.”
“No,” Celeste said, holding the magazine to her chest. “It’s my magazine, and I’m not finished with it yet.”
Gritting his teeth, Rocco moved to the sofa, plunking himself down on the other side of her.
There was an uncomfortable silence while Rocco stared at the photo.
Had he been looking at Nico that way through the entire photoshoot? He knew what he was thinking when he looked at a woman in that way. Would anyone else looking at the photo know? Would she know?
“I didn’t think …” Dario ventured.
“What?” Rocco asked, looking over at him.
“I guess I didn’t think— I just wouldn’t have thought one like this …”
Celeste rolled her eyes. “What he means is, he didn’t think any of the photos would be any good because it looked as though—”
“As though what?” Rocco demanded. “Can’t one of you complete a sentence?”
He looked from Celeste to Dario. He couldn’t decide whose expression was more annoying—Celeste’s or Dario’s. She looked like a sly feline while his cousin looked like a laughing hyena.
“As though the two of you didn’t enjoy being photographed together,” Dario said diplomatically.
Celeste made a face. “‘Didn’t enjoy being photographed together’? It looked as though the two of them were having side-by-side colonoscopies.”
Rocco opened his mouth.
“Without any anesthetic,” Celeste added. “At least, when you two knew you were being photographed.”
“What about when I got up on the hood of that car?” Rocco demanded.
Celeste shrugged. “The mood between the two of you did improve after that. Look at that one, Dario, with him up on the hood.”
Dario pointed at another photo. “Yeah, but this one was taken before he did that.”
“You’re right. It was. But like I said, they didn’t know they were being photographed when that one was taken. It’s like the photo on social media.”
Dario lifted his gaze. Rocco knew his cousin well enough to know that look he was giving him now was a look of concern.
Celeste sighed. “Just goes to show you.”
Rocco frowned. “Show you what?”
“The camera catches what the eye can’t see,” she said. “Professional photographers will tell you it happens with their best work—revealing the truth people try so hard to hide. Guess people can succeed at hiding it from themselves and other people. But not the camera.”
Rocco’s shoulders twitched. There it was, that itchy feeling beneath his skin.
There must be too much sugar in this GoGo squeeZ.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
NICO
Nico stared at the letter in her lap. She had yet to open it, but she couldn’t hold off any longer. She’d made a promise to herself she would read it before she set foot on Italian soil. She looked out the window of the plane. Soon they would begin their descent into Milan Malpensa Airport.
