Both Giovanni and Nathan seemed to notice me at the same time. Giovanni’s face broke out into a smile, while Nathan clenched his jaw and tore his gaze away. Why was he acting like he was angry with me?
He sat beside Giovanni, but the rest of my flight crew were at the other end of the table, as if they weren’t allowed to mingle with our boss. He waved me over, and I chose once again not to be rude.
“Buonasera,” I said when the men were on their feet. I slipped into the empty seat beside him, the men sat, and my gaze settled on Giovanni.
“Buonasera,” he echoed back.
He turned and glanced at Nathan, uttering something. Whatever was said made his translating bodyguard choke on his drink. Discussion ensued, and occasionally the dark, intense eyes would glance my direction.
“What are you talking about? I recognized some of those words.” Words likeAmericano.
“It’s nothing.” Nathan didn’t even disguise the lie.
“I’m supposed to believe that?”
His gaze trapped mine. “No, but it’s better than the alternative, trust me.”
“Tell me.”
He shook his head. “I’ll tell you later.” It looked like theinstant it was out, he wanted it back.
My heart fluttered and skipped. What did that mean? “Later?”
His eyes narrowed when Giovanni spat out a long sentence, and the thin Italian lips turned up in a seductive smile.
“Mr. Abramo?—”
“Gio,” Giovanni corrected him, a scolding tone.
“. . . wants to know if you’re seeing someone.”
What?I kept my gaze fixed on Nathan, studying the American beside our employer. I wondered if he’d translate my words literally.
“Would it stop him if I were?” Sleeping with Giovanni Abramo would be like jumping out at fifteen thousand feet without a parachute.
Maybe the same could be said of Nathan.
His eyes were empty. “No, it won’t stop him, but it might slow him down.”
I turned to Giovanni.“Si.”
I hoped it wasn’t obvious it was a lie. I’d become quite a good liar in the last decade, but the man to his right didn’t look easily fooled.
I knew what a liar looked like, and, like the chameleon, I could spot another of my kind hidden in the bush.
Giovanni’s questions were tedious, but I had fun giving purposefully cryptic answers. And I also enjoyed Nathan’s reaction to them. Once the entrees were done and the Italian had two glasses of wine in him, he looked ready to strike.
“He says you’re the best-looking pilot his family has ever had.”
I gave a tight, polite smile.“Grazie.”
Giovanni’s next sentence made Nathan pause, and since it had been delivered with lust and a seductive smirk, I could wager a guess as to what it was. Before Nathan could spit out the translation, Phillip appeared.
“There’s a phone call for Mr. Abramo.”
He was annoyed but climbed from his seat and followed Phillip, leaving me to examine Nathan.
“What did he say?”
