AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“They’re just friends,” I admitted. “But I suppose that means you took one look at her and decided you may not want to keep things G-rated after all.”
CHAPTER NINE
NATALIA
“I think you should stop. I haven’t seen you this drunk since Anthony proposed in front of our entire family, and you said no, only to have Mom practically force you to change your answer to a yes that night.” Maria joined me behind the bar and nudged my ribs.
Anthony’s proposal was a memory I didn’t want to relive right now. It was just another reminder of the mistakes of my past.
“Are you okay?” Maria went on. “It’s not like you to drink like this, especially at your restaurant.”
“The customers are gone. No one can see me.” I stared at Calista and Ryan at their booth in the bar area about twenty feet away. She was laughing at something he’d said. “Well, almost everyone is gone.” I reached for the wine bottle, hiccupping. It was the second bottle my sister and I had opened since arriving.
“It’s empty, sis.” She snatched it from me without offering a new bottle. “Does your inebriation have anything to do with the fact they seem to be getting along? I, uh, thought that was what you wanted?”
It was ten thirty. Ryan and Calista had been chatting for almost an hour, while my stomach had become a vat of wine-infused acid. I was going to be so hungover in the morning.
“Yes, the two of them . . . just what I wanted.” I slapped my mouth to try and trap the next hiccup from escaping.
“Nat.” Maria set aside the wine bottle before grabbing both of my arms, encouraging me to face her. I slowly turned, feeling like I was about to fall against her. “Do you have feelings for Ryan?”
My hand fell not-so gracefully between us. “No,” I fired back.
She tipped her head, assessing me. “Are you sure?”
“You can lower your signature accusatory eyebrow, missy.” Did I just slur? Shit, I never drank enough to get to a slur state. “I’m not into Mister Hot-as-Fuck Ryan Rossi.”
Maria let go of me, and I wobbled away from her. I planted my palms alongside me when my back hit the counter, and I used the bar top for support so I didn’t drop to my knees.
Wow, I definitely overdid it.
“That hot, huh?” Her lips teased into a smile. “I bet you won’t remember this conversation tomorrow.” She folded her arms and quickly looked over her shoulder toward the “happy couple” before eyeing me again. “So, you’re not into him. You just want to have hot, wild sex with the man?”
Trying to muster the inner strength to keep my mouth shut, I rolled my lips inward as a sign of protest.
“Fine. Be a brat.”
“Hey,” Christian called out, heading our way from the back hallway that led to my office. “I’m leaving. Need anything before I go?”
I looked around the bar, finding it tidy. “I’m good. Thank you.”
He pointed to the locked drawer under the counter where we kept the receipts. “By the way, Rossi made me add the two bottles of Chianti to his tab before I closed him out. I told him not to worry since you owned the place, but he insisted.”
“Oh, he did, did he?” Maria tried to hide a light chuckle by covering her mouth with a fist.
Christian shrugged. “See you tomorrow.” He saluted me, and winked at Maria, then left.
“Well, well, well.” Maria was gloating as if Ryan paying for our wine was somehow proof there was more to the story between us, and she’d just Sherlock Holmes’ed the situation. “Looks like he—”
“Don’t,” I begged, not wanting to reveal Ryan was throwing me a bone because he knew I was having money problems. My head under my Jeep’s hood this morning was all the evidence he needed.
“Okay,” she relented, then jerked a thumb toward the kitchen on the other side of the wall of wine. “But just so you know, I talked to Enzo while he was cleaning up. He’s waiting for everyone to clear out so he can have a private word with Mister Hot as Fuck. Of course, those weren’t the exact words he used. There were considerably more cuss words involved.”
Great. “Enzo shouldn’t have any beef with Ryan just because Anthony’s the man’s brother. He needs to stop being so overprotective.”
“He blames Ryan for breaking your heart. We all do.” She shook her head. “Which is why I’d be shocked to hear you have the hots for him.” She twisted around to peer at Ryan again. “I can understand having a sexual fantasy or two about the man, though.”
Ha. If only it were one or two fantasies. “If Anthony could be so easily persuaded to end things with me, then he never loved me in the first place,” I reminded her. “And also, it’s not Ryan’s fault.”
