“Oh.” Her face heated, and she took another sip of her beer. “I never thought my appetite was sexy.”
“Oh, it is. Believe me.”
“Well, in that case…” Feeling a little daring, she broke off another piece of bread, swirled it into the oil, and lifting the dripping oil-soaked bread, opened her mouth and popped it in.
Luca groaned in reply and took another swig of his beer.
* * *
Their first official just-the-two-of-them date. Luca was relieved that it was going well.
Dawn was wearing a tight black top with crisscross straps at the back, black skinny jeans, and black leather boots. She looked hot. Her hair was spiked a bit, but not as severely as when he’d first met her. He hadn’t realized how sexy short hair could be on a woman, but she rocked it.
Dawn had a tight bod, but she was definitely not a “dressing on the side” kinda girl. Being Italian with a mother whose cooking could rival a religious experience, he loved that about her. Man, I really dodged a bullet with ‘salad only’ Lisa. Why the hell didn’t I see it sooner?
And Dawn was fun to be with. He didn’t have to try so hard. He was having a great time with her, and he didn’t want it to end.
They were halfway through their dinner when a commotion broke out in the booth next to them, a clatter of cutlery followed by a yell.
“Help!”
Luca leaped up and rushed to the next booth. Assessing the situation in moments, he saw an older man, about his dad’s age, choking and struggling for air. The woman he was with, no doubt his wife, was frantically slapping him on the back. Luca went into rescue mode, pulling the man out of the booth and standing behind him. He wrapped his arms around the man’s middle and pushed in and up just beneath his diaphragm with one strong movement. A piece of meat flew out of the man’s mouth, landing on the floor. The man breathed in great gulps of air, teetered, and slumped to the floor, unconscious.
“He has a heart condition,” the woman cried, falling to her knees.
“Someone call 911.”
“I called.” It was Dawn’s voice, from behind.
Luca felt for a pulse and watched the man’s chest to see if it was rising and falling. When it was clear the victim had gone into cardiac arrest, Luca tore open the man’s shirt, knelt by his side, located the correct spot on his sternum, then began CPR, alternately compressing the man’s chest and opening his mouth to breathe life-saving oxygen into his air passage.
The man didn’t respond, but Luca kept it up. He could keep the blood circulating until the paramedics arrived. Not giving up was key.
Finally, he heard the welcome words “Stay back. Get back, everyone.”
Within moments, two paramedics rushed up. Luca knew them both. Jeff Dresden and Bob O’Rourke, both friends of his brothers and long-time paramedics.
“Hey, Fierro, good thing you were here.”
They quickly went into action using their portable defibrillator and Ambu bag.
When the man came to, everyone in the restaurant cheered.
Luca helped the paramedics lift the man onto the stretcher. Jeff slapped him on the back. “Good work, Fierro.”
Bob grinned. “You Fierro guys. You’re always making first responders look good with your heroics.”
The man’s wife turned to Jeff. “Is my husband going to be all right?”
“He’s stable, ma’am, thanks to this hero cop here.”
She turned to Luca and hugged him. “Thank you for saving my husband. I don’t know how I can ever repay you.”
“I’m just glad he’s stable. They’re going to take good care of him.”
She nodded and left with the paramedics.
By then, a crowd had gathered around him. Strangers were slapping him on the back, congratulating him. The manager came up to him. “You… Fantastico! Grazie. Pizza on the house for a month!” He pulled him aside and lowered his voice. “We’d love to have you come back and give our staff some training. You are amazing.”
