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ChapterTwelve
“Goddamn Flyers,” Tony grumbled.
“Tell me about it,” his brother Joey concurred. “What a shit season.”
Tony’s phone pinged. He glanced at the text and groaned.
“Let me guess,” Luca said. “Gwendolyn Baxter.”
Tony grunted in response.
Gio, Luca’s twin, shook his head. “Not sure why you were so determined to take that job. You knew Gwendolyn Baxter was going to make your life a living hell.”
“Wetook it,” Tony made sure to stress thewepart, “because she’s a big player in Philadelphia. If she likes our work, she’ll tell her other rich friends and it’ll put Moretti Brothers Restorations on the map.”
“You’re already on the map,” his cousin Aldo pointed out. “Hell, the business has been featured on HGTV a few times.”
Kayden upended the almost-empty Doritos bag into his mouth, shaking out the last few broken pieces. “Tony’s just looking to be a big shot like the Russos.”
Tony chucked a beer cap at Kayden’s head. “Asshole. As if I’d ever want to be like those uptight prigs.”
“You gonna text her back?” Gio asked.
Tony shook his head. “Fuck no. The second I answer, she knows she has me on the hook and sends me three hundred follow-up texts. We have a meeting first thing in the morning and there is nothing she needs to know now that won’t wait until then.”
Joey grinned. “I think we all know she’s less interested in the hammer you’re swinging in her house and more interested in the one between your legs. That woman is hot for you.”
Tony had spent the past month enduring Gwen’s flirting and constant sexual innuendoes, using his brothers as a buffer as much as possible. The woman would not take no for an answer.
“I’d take a job with the Russos before I’d ever sleep with Gwen Baxter,” Tony said, taking a swig of beer. He’d had plenty of experience with the Gwens of the world, women with money to blow, who believed it gave them access to whomever their heavily mascaraed eyes landed on.
Tony was aware that women were attracted to him and his brothers. Nonna insisted it was their good Italian genes, proclaiming them the most handsome men in Philadelphia. Even Finn’s mother, Riley, had dubbed them the Italian Stallions. He laughed whenever she called them that, but the truth was, women came on to him…a lot.
However, few had ever truly caught his eye, and even fewer had held his attention for very long.
Jess was the exception.
“Jess still working for the Russos?” Gio asked. His brothers had all taken a shine to Jess and Jasper, which ensured they didn’t like the fact she was working for the Russos any more than he did.
Tony scoffed. “Yeah. Bet it’s driving Matt crazy too, now that he knows she lives here.”
“How the hell did she even wind up working for the asshole?” Kayden asked.
That had been one of the first things he’d asked Jess after learning she’d gotten the job offer. “The Russos eat at Paulie’s too. Apparently Matt stops in at least once a week and grabs the daily special as takeout. He stopped in the week after Jess was attacked at the motel and asked about her bruises. Jess explained what happened, then said she was short a second job, and he offered her the cleaning gig.”
Luca chuckled. “Paranoid bastard probably thinks we sent her in to spy on him.”
“When you put it that way, I’m not so sad about her keeping that job,” Joey said, laughing. “Let him sweat it out, thinking she’s feeding us all his sordid secrets.”
It wasn’t unusual for the guys to come over on Sunday afternoons in the winter to watch whatever sport was in season together. Today was a little quieter than usual, as Aunt Berta had taken Jasper to a birthday party for his cousin’s son, Billy. Jasper had been living for the party, talking about little else all week. Tony was glad the day had finally come, not sure Jasper would have been able to contain his excitement a second longer.
The moment she’d discovered Jasper would be occupied all afternoon, Jess had taken an extra shift at Paulie’s, despite his invitation to join them all to watch the game.
It had been three weeks since he and Rhys had kissed her.
Three long fucking weeks.
Since then, Jess had spent most of the time she was in the apartment with Jasper in their room or taking on more shifts at the diner.
