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I held my hand out to her, showing her that I would be by her side the entire night. “Let’s do this.”
Her chest heaved as she inhaled a breath, then a second later she clasped my hand.
She wasn’t wrong, it took five times as long for us to get to the bottom of the stairs, and by the time we made it back onto level ground, she was huffing and puffing again.
“I think I need another nap after that.” She laughed, snorting at the end, and I couldn’t help but grin. She was unashamedly her. The more time I spent with her, the more I saw the little quirks that she had. Like when she screwed up her nose when she didn’t like something. Or the way she’d narrow her eyes and tilt her head to the side when she was thinking. Or the way she always took a big breath before she spoke.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Navy asked, staring at me like I’d gone insane.
I turned so I was directly in front of her, my hands on her hips. “Tell me something about you that no one else knows.”
“You want me to tell you a secret?” She pursed her lips, but couldn’t contain the smile trying to push through.
“Yeah. A secret.”
She flitted her gaze to the side, rubbing her lips as she thought about it. “I hate vanilla ice cream.”
“Wow. That’s…bold.”
Her hand moved to the side of my face, her fingers rubbing against the bit of scruff there. “What about you, D, tell me one of your secrets.”
D. I’d never been given a nickname before, especially not a single letter, but the way it rolled off her tongue and the way she stared into my eyes as she said it made me want to demand that she repeat it over and over again.
“I like to take long soaks in the bath.”
She screwed her entire face up. “Seriously?”
Nodding, I pulled her closer to me. “Yep. Seriously.”
“Are you two gonna stand out here all day or come in here so we can finally eat some food?” Sofia called, but neither of us turned to look at her. I could already tell from where she was shouting that she was in the doorway of the dining room. “Navy has to eat for two, you know.”
“We’re coming,” Navy replied, but her gaze didn’t move off of mine. We were locked in a stare—a stare I wished wasn’t happening in front of my little sister.
“Ma, tell Dante to hurry up.” She sounded just like she did when she was eight years old, complaining that I wouldn’t stop chasing her around the backyard.
Shaking my head in amusement, I reluctantly pulled my attention away from Navy and led her into the dining room. I didn’t care about making Sofia wait, but I knew Lorenzo wouldn’t be impressed.
Every seat but two were taken—the two nearest Lorenzo. This was where Christian used to sit, and before him, Uncle Alonzo when my father was at the head of the table. It was the chair reserved for the underboss.
There may have been three different people sitting in this seat over the last couple of years, just one of the many changes that had transpired since my father died, but one thing that always remained the exact same was Ma’s feasts.
The table was full of food, the aromas causing my stomach to growl, knowing what it had coming its way.
I pulled out the seat next to Romeo, then pushed it in for Navy as she sat down. I clipped my head in a nod, greeting Lorenzo, then took the seat next to Navy and him.
Conversation was rife as we all piled our plates high, digging into what could only be described as the best home-cooked meal in the entire existence. Several times I turned to look at Navy, but she was either shoveling pasta into her mouth, or listening intently as Aida or Ma spoke to her.
They were animated, talking about things from the past but also the future. I couldn’t tell whether it was overwhelming Navy or not, but just as I was about to ask her if she was okay, the dining room door swung open and Mateo appeared.
His expression was blank as he beelined it for Lorenzo and whispered something in his ear.
Lorenzo’s gaze caught mine, fire burning in the depths of his eyes and I knew he needed me without saying a single word, so I leaned over to Navy and whispered, “I’ll be back. Stay here.”
She turned her head, bringing her face mere centimeters away from mine. There were questions in her eyes, questions that I didn’t know the answer to yet, but she didn’t vocalize them, instead, she nodded.
Pushing my chair back, I then followed Lorenzo out of the dining room, knowing that Christian and Romeo were behind me. It was serious if he’d given all of us the look.
We’d only just made it out into the entryway when he spun around and growled, “Agent Peters is at the gate.”
