Page 150 of Revere: A Legacy Novel

Smartass.

“Cross, I said pick one,” his mother warned.

He decided to move his ass.

His girl kept laughing, though.

“Yeah, yeah. Keep laughing,” he said.

Catherine made a whip sound under her breath.

Cross tickled her side as he passed.

Emma rolled her eyes, but smiled when he came to stop beside her. He loved his mother simply because she had always loved him. He kissed the top of his mother’s head, and hugged her tight with one arm.

She stilled against him. “What was that for?”

“Nothing.”

Catherine looked over at Cross with a soft smile, but she stayed silent.

“Nothing?” Emma pressed.

“I just love you, Ma. You know that, right?”

“Of course, I do. Now clean or cook. Pick one.”

“Seems we have a guest.”

Cross lifted his gaze from the menu at his father’s words only to see Dante Marcello walking through the front door of the restaurant. Calisto didn’t actually seem all too surprised about Dante’s arrival, despite his words.

“Seems so,” Cross said, going back to the menu.

“Calisto,” Dante greeted when he came up to the table. “May I sit?”

Calisto waved a hand at the table. “Right on time, Dante.”

“I see why you wanted three chairs at the table,” Cross muttered low. “Thank you for asking me to breakfast, only to do this, Cal. Really.”

Dante chuckled as he sat down. “You won’t even pretend to play nice with me, Cross?”

“Not in my family’s territory, in my boss’s restaurant, Dante. I don’t need to. We don’t like each other.”

“You never did like me or play nice.”

“You never pretended to like me, either,” Cross replied with a smirk.

Dante nodded. “That’s true. That was also my mistake.”

Calisto cleared his throat, and stood from the table. “I’m going to ask the cook to lay off the pepper this time around.”

“Tell the waitress to let him know,” Cross said.

“I’d rather do it face to face.”

Cross shook his head as his father headed for the kitchen. “Catherine is heading to your place today, isn’t she, Dante?”

“For lunch with her mother, brother, and his wife, yes.”