Thankfully, the priest approached the lectern to begin the service, and everyone went quiet.
“Thank god,” I whispered as I made the sign of the cross across my torso.
When the service ended, everyone mingled in the church, some still seated in the pews, while others spoke in the aisles. The repast was going to be held at a nearby restaurant, but my father continued to talk to Lorenzo, the conversation turning to business as usual.
Alessandro continued our conversation. “Have you always been in Caltanissetta?”
Leo had gone to talk to other people he knew, so it was just Alessandro and me, a couple feet from my father and Lorenzo. “Um, I went to school in Florence before I came back home.”
“What did you study?”
I noticed Wolfe move toward us, looking just as pissed off as he had an hour ago when the service started. His eyes werewider than I’d ever seen them, and I was seriously worried he was going to pull out his gun and shoot Alessandro right there. “Nursing.” My eyes flicked to Wolfe, who stood a few feet away from us, just glaring at us.
He glared so hard that even Alessandro glanced at him before he looked at me again. “Is he your bodyguard?”
“Um, something like that.”
Then Wolfe growled. He literally growled in a fucking church.
Alessandro ignored him and turned his attention back to me. “I won’t be able to make the repast, but I would love to talk to you more. Want to grab dinner tomorrow night?”
He was about to get a bullet in his head. I was actually relieved he’d asked me out, so I could reject him and all this could end before Wolfe flipped the fuck out. “I’m flattered, Alessandro. But I’m not interested.” I let him down easy because I didn’t want it to be awkward going forward, but I also wanted to be firm so this would be over.
“Oh…okay.” He faltered slightly, like he’d never heard a woman say that before. “May I ask why?”
Wolfe continued to stand there awkwardly, just staring us down from five feet away, his eyes about to pop out of his head. Then he started to growl again, low and slightly under his breath, but the warning was unmistakable.
“I’m just not,” I said quickly. “But I wish you the best.”
“Wish me the best?” he asked with a chuckle, like he hadn’t ever been rejected in his life. He probably had his choice of any woman he wanted in every room he stepped into. “You don’t have a boyfriend, and it’s just dinner?—”
This time, Wolfe snarled like a wild animal, so loud that several people nearby turned to look at the interruption. It turned quiet after, everyone staring at the three of us.
Alessandro held Wolfe’s stare and didn’t move.
And then Wolfe growled at him…getting closer and closer.
Alessandro exchanged a quick look with me before he walked off, clearly thinking Wolfe was some deranged psychopath.
Which was fucking fair.
Alessandro headed to the exit to wait for his father outside the church, and Wolfe turned his derangement onto me next. He didn’t say a word, just silently seethed as he looked at me as his next victim.
People eventually turned back to their conversations. It didn’t seem like my dad or Lorenzo had noticed anything because of how deeply absorbed they were in whatever they talked about.
I addressed Wolfe in a whisper. “You need to calm down.”
“I don’t calm down.”
I saw a doorway that led to a hallway in the church, so I left the nave and stepped through the doorway to another part of the church that was lined with windows. No one was in this corridor, so I walked a short distance away then turned around.
He was right in my face, towering over me, so close it seemed like he might kiss me if he weren’t so pissed off.
“What the hell was that?”
“You’re lucky I didn’t shoot him.”
“In a church?”
