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She wants to pretend that’s possible, but I know better.
“Is something wrong?” Hesitantly, she breaks the momentary silence between us, and I reach for that. For the moment when she tries to get closer to me.
“I had a business meeting. With someone—important.” I don’t want to tell her names; she doesn’t need to know them. It can only make things dangerous for her, to bring her into the intricacies of my business.
Then why would you consider bringing her further into your life at all?
“And it didn’t go well?” She lets out another breath, and I try to picture where she might be. If she’s in the break room, or outside, in the back of the shop.
“It made me want to see you. To be at your place. Where things seem—simpler.”
Emma snorts, and I know I’ve said the wrong thing. “It seems simpler to you. But I have plenty of things to struggle with. Things I know you wouldn’t want to deal with.”
That’s where you’re wrong.But I don’t say it out loud. If she hasn’t started to figure out how I feel by now, then she’s intentionally pretending not to know. There’s no way she can’t have seen it,felthow I touch her, heard the way I speak to her. She can’t possibly think that she means nothing to me other than someone to tattoo me and fuck me and then leave again until the next time.
She’s intentionally putting distance between us, and I think it’s because shedoesknow.
“I’m sorry things are difficult right now,” Emma says finally, and the regret in her voice sounds genuine. “But I have to go, Dante. I have a client. I’ll talk to you this weekend.”
And there it is. A firm boundary that I can’t resent her setting, because itisfor the best. But when the phone goes dead, I feel that ache spread through me, and there’s nothing that will salve it other than her.
Lorenzo was clear in his opinion. And deep down, I know he’s right. Trying to make what I have with Emma into something public and permanent would cause problems that neither of us is ready to deal with—especially not her. It could fracture what little goodwill I have left with Sicily.
But I’m not ready to give her up.
And I don’t care who thinks I should.
17
EMMA
When I get to work Friday night, Rico is there. And from the look on his face, I can tell that he’s pissed.
At first, I think it’s that he suspects I’ve been withholding part of Dante’s tips. It hasn’t been much, fifty dollars here and seventy-five there, enough to help pad what I’m losing every night that I tattoo Dante on account of Rico’s extortion. And every time I hand over the rest of what Rico demands, I think back to Dante sitting at my kitchen table and telling me that he wants to solve my problems. I think of him handing me way too much money, and how I gave some of it back.
I wonder if I’m being an idiot by not accepting his help. But if I let Dante burrow further into my finances, into my personal problems, he’ll figure out pretty quickly that Rico is extorting me. And Iknowhow Dante will react to that. He might be a different sort of man with me, but he’s still a mafia boss. And I can guess how he would handle Rico’s threats.
“Emma.” He bites off my name like it tastes bad in his mouth. “We need to talk.”
“Okay.” I walk to my station, setting down my bag and trying to take a moment to clear the apprehension from my face. I don’t want tolookguilty, or else Rico will zero in on it.
It’s hard to remember now, that while we were never close, there was once respect between us. Mine for him as a respected artist, and his for me on account of my hard work and drive. He was always going to make sure I didn’t outshine him, but if he didn’t want me to beasgood as he is, he wanted me to be a credit to him. But now, there’s only resentment and anger. It’s an unhealthy work environment, and one I wish I could leave.
But there’s no way I’m getting out of the Night Orchid now without tanking my career.
“I saw your picture,” Rico says bluntly the moment we’re in the break room, shutting the door firmly behind him. “With Dante Campano. You went to an event as hisdate.”
It’s not a question. And there’s no point in lying. I mentally curse myself for ever having agreed to go to the gala, much less not having ducked back into the car the minute I saw the photographers. I’d hoped that something like that event would have flown under Rico’s radar, but clearly, he pays attention to things that I wouldn’t have expected him to.
Or maybe he just stumbled across it on social media.
“I wasn’t aware that there was something wrong with that,” I say airily, leaning back against the counter. I knew Rico would be pissed if he found out, but my best bet is to act as if I don’t think anythingshouldbe wrong. If I act guilty, he’s going to treat me like I am.
And truthfully, other than blurring some client-artist boundaries, Ididn’tdo anything wrong.
“You said nothing was going on between the two of you, when he came and roughed me up. That you had no idea why he would do such a thing.” Rico’s eyes narrow. “I don’t like being lied to, Emma.”
“Therewasnothing going on between us then.” That, at least, is mostly true. There was an attraction there, and Dante certainly was thinking of how to act on it, but we hadn’t slept together yet. We weren’tanykind of together, and I’d been doing my best to ensure it stayed that way.
