Page 11 of Cara & Gian: The Guzzi Duet

“Grab me another drink, too, Stephan,” Gian said at the man’s back.

Stephan’s steps hesitated, and Gian could almost hear the man’s refusal trying to force its way out. The guy wasn’t entirely stupid, and kept walking. Underbosses trumped Capos, after all. Stephan didn’t have to like Gian when the rules came into play.

“You could try not to antagonize him as much,” Bambi said quietly.

Gian turned to face the woman again. “Like he does for me?”

“That’s just Stephan’s ways.”

“And those ways will eventually get him killed.”

Bambi frowned, but wisely chose not to respond. Then, she turned and said something to the woman at her side but a couple of seats away in the booth, drawing Gian’s attention there.

To the redhead.

A woman he thought he hadn’t known from Adam. She had been so quiet at the table, her attention on the few people at a booth across the way from theirs, and not making a spectacle of herself as Stephan had done for him and Bambi. It suddenly made sense then why Constantino had not been treating the girl as a disinterested date.

It was his cousin, or rather, one of them.

At first, Gian thought Lea Rossi. But his mind quickly corrected that, as Lea Rossi’s death—an event that had been widely publicized, due to the nature of the murder—had happened months ago. He only knew of the Rossi twins, as their uncle was an older Capo for the Guzzi famiglia.

Gian had met Lea Rossi on a scarce few occasions when their paths crossed for different events or whatever, but he had never sat down and had an actual conversation with the girl. He had been told by Constantino—the twins’ cousin—that the twins lived in Toronto.

He knew Lea had a twin. He did not realize her twin was identical.

That red hair of hers that had been so striking under the club lights from up above, was even more stunning close up. A shade that a woman couldn’t buy in a bottle, and couldn’t quite be duplicated in a salon.

A black double-wrapped velvet choker rested around her throat, showcasing tanned skin and the delicate line of her neck. A simple bow was tied at the middle, making Gian wonder what she would look like with the choker on, looking up from her knees.

He wasn’t quite sure where that idea came from, but it was a good one.

Cara, he thought her name was. Wasn’t that what Constantino had said before about his cousins—Lea and Cara.

Gian didn’t pay attention to names, unless it served him some purpose to.

Her ice-blue eyes looked him over, and Gian was taken aback by the lack of makeup on her pixie-like features. Most woman put too much makeup on instead of too little, determined to make a man focus on attributes instead of imperfections. But all she wore was just enough to shape her wide eyes, and a red tint on her full lips that matched the color of her hair.

From what he could see, her tight black dress fit to her curves perfectly, and guessing by the way she crossed her legs out to the side, she was not a short woman.

Beautiful.

Natural.

Sexy.

All of that and more came to mind.

“You stare a lot, don’t you?” the woman asked.

Gian came out of the daze with a bang. “Am I not allowed to stare?”

Bambi glanced away from the two, hiding her smile. “I think I’ll go find Stephan and see what’s taking him so long.”

Do that, Gian wanted to say.

He said nothing until Bambi was gone. The two men left at the booth, quickly followed her lead, leaving Gian alone with the beautiful redhead. He didn’t sit, though, simply stayed where he was.

“It’s Cara, right?”