AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Does he want to be?”
I started to object, but then rethought things. “Maybe.”
Cesare raised an eyebrow. I had a feeling that he had an opinion on the topic.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, and then an upsetting thought crossed my mind. “Is Leo okay?” Maybe he’d been readmitted when I was working elsewhere on the floor.
“He’s fine. That’s not why I’m here.” He paused, and I studied him. He had on a black leather jacket that matched his dark good looks. His jeans were black, too, as were his work boots. He didn’t look like a man who wore much color, but the black suited him. It somehow accentuated his handsome, Italian features. “I’m here about a phone call I got the other day.”
Ah. I shifted from one foot to another. “What about it?”
“I can’t figure out why you called.”
“That makes two of us.”
He stepped closer. “Maybe we can figure it out together.”
Now I really had to tilt my head up to look him in the eyes. “That’s not necessary.”
“I’d really like to know,” he said, his voice low. “And I think you’ll feel better if you do, too.”
“You can’t know that.” He didn’t know anything about me at all, really, except that I took good care of his friend. Oh, and he knew how I kissed. There weren’t a whole lot of men lately who could claim to know that.
I, on the other hand, still didn’t know anything about him. Maggie had texted some pictures of the baby yesterday. After cooing over her little girl, I’d casually mentioned Cesare’s name, asking if she knew anything about him. She hadn’t responded yet.
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” Cesare said, practically reading my mind. “And I think that bothers you.”
I tried to laugh, but it came out more like a weak cough. “Don’t flatter yourself.”
He shrugged, not taking offense. “I know when a woman’s attracted to me. That’s not what’s happening here.” I kept my face frozen, not sure what to say to that. “Or at least that’s not the only thing happening here.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re questioning yourself, about why you kissed me. Right?”
“Right.” My voice was a little shaky, because that wasn’t the only thing I was questioning. The bigger question was why I’d responded to him the way I had.
“You had to, but I think you know that. So my guess is, you’re upset about something else.”
“I’m not upset.”
He cocked his head to the side as he looked down at me. “But it’s on your mind. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have called me.”
I exhaled sharply, looking at a spot on the ground. “I don’t usually do that—kiss men I don’t know. I just—I just can’t quite wrap my head around it.”
Cesare stepped even closer, and my gaze returned to his. “Maybe you’d feel better if you knew more about me.”
I bit my lip. “You said not to ask questions.”
“About some things that happened that night. But we can get to know each other better. In fact, I know of a way to do that.”
“How?”
“It’s an ancient tradition passed down through the generations.”
“I don’t know much about Italian culture,” I said.
“You might have heard of this practice. It’s called a date.” He grinned.
