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“That’s right,” I admitted. “Criminals?”
“Yeah,” he insisted, leaning forward. “Two of them had been accused of trafficking and racketeering on multiple occasions. The driver was a known hothead. He’d done time for attempted murder. I don’t think anybody’s going to miss those three.”
“You sound like you condone this kind of activity,” I said, noticing how stiff his posture had become.
“Who cares what I think, Piper?” he asked, offering me a warm smile. “Those three are gone. Whoever wanted to steal from their bosses, got the job done and got rid of them, once and for all. Can I askyousomething now?”
“Sure.”
“What’s the story between you and Cesare?”
Holy crap, I wasn’t prepared for this.
Not by a long shot.
I was prepared to ask all the questions, not have my back to the wall.
“Well, he’syourfriend, isn’t he?” I attempted to answer with a question of my own. “Why don’t you askhim?”
“Because he’s way too private about his personal life,” he explained, his gaze still on mine. “He’s not going to tell me in a million years.”
“Then, I won’t tell you, either,” I said, taking my eyes off his face to look down at his bicep. Its bulge was stretching the sleeve of his red t-shirt. A thick vein was spanning the entire length of his arm, disappearing under that sleeve.
He gave a brief chuckle. “Guess what. You just did.”
Damn.
I shouldn’t have allowed this. I should have come up with a lie. I wasn’t a fan of those, but a lie would have prevented him from pressing the issue.
I was just about to burst out in anger. I wasn’t expecting this from a grown man. Gossiping? For real? And who was he gossiping about? A man he was tight with. A man who considered him more than just a cousin.
I didn’t.
He smiled, the waitress setting down two mugs of steamy-hot coffee. His long fingers surrounding his mug, he looked up at me, still wearing that wicked smile. It was a little like Cesare’s. Only he wouldn’t part his lips. Matteo’s mouth was a bit bigger, and he offered me a glimpse of his pearly white teeth. The tip of his tongue peeping through the seam of his mouth, I tried to phrase a proper comeback.
“I don’t understand the purpose of this question,” I confessed, feeling red heat rise up my cheeks. “Why was it so important to you to find out if Cesare and I were a thing?”
“It wasn’t,” he said, stirring the coffee in his mug. “We were just making casual conversation. It’s funny, though.”
“What’s that?”
“Why you’re having this conversation with me, instead of him,” he explained, putting some force in his voice. “I mean, clearly, you two had a moment. You should feel more comfortable around him. At least, comfortable enough to not hesitate to ask him those questions. We’ve only seen each other twice, and, let’s face it, the second time didn’t end so well. Unless…”
He ceased talking altogether, his gaze dropping down to my cleavage and rising back up to my eyes. His gaze dipped back down to my mouth, and then shot up to my left eye first, before settling on the right. My lips drawing his attention once more, he repeated the same thing. Sparks flew between us, our eyes locking in the soft illumination. A wave of heat roared through me. I stared down at his big bicep for a second time that night, before my eyes rose back up to his face. I studied the hairs of his well-trimmed stubble just below his bottom lip. I could see some moisture across the length of that lip. As I did that, I sensed some moisture spreading through my core.
“Unless you wanted to have a moment with me, too,” he finished his little speech in a strong, masculine tone, leaning over towards me.
More waves of heat splashed around my existence. A naughty thought entered my mind, bringing a devilish smile to my face.
Rub my heel into his crotch under the table.
It would be hot.
It would turn him on for sure.
Also, no one would notice. The tablecloths were long enough to hide everything.
But I wasn’t going to move a muscle. I wasn’t going to do anything inappropriate. Not in there. Not in a public place like that.
