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"It wasn't a date. It was merely part of our deal."
"You called it a date," I remind her smugly. "And for once, you laughedandgot laid. And now that you crave more of everything I can give you, you're running from me. Admit it."
"Tell yourself whatever stokes your oversized ego,Dickhead."
God, I like that bite in her voice. But I still wish she was saying my name.
The Uber stops beside us as Giulia, and I face off. Then she offers the slightest, most professional smile in the world. "Until next time, Giovanni."
I watch the Uber roll away and sigh. "I can't wait, cutie."
A week has passed, but not quickly enough.
I go through the motions as an underboss. Checking in on enforcers, overseeing all the usual Giovanni assets while monitoring theVitalendeals from our side of things, supervising my legitimate businesses from a distance, and visiting my brother and his wife or my father and Gabriella.
None of it takes my mind off of Giulia for long. Not even the small street scuffles that I used to look forward to as a respite from the monotony.
I can't stop thinking about her knowing smile, her bright laughter, the cunning flash in her emerald eyes, the way she moaned breathlessly as I pounded into her, and her whispers in Italian against my ear.
Slamming the laptop shut on the work I've long forgotten, I rub my face and drag my fingers through my hair. I don’t want to wait six more days to see her at the next meeting we have scheduled in Oregon with another contact. I fucking can't.
She didn't even speak to me directly about setting up the meeting. It was organized through some other Russo in a roundabout way, telling me she's avoiding my messages. She was avoidingme.
"You good?" Bruno eyes me from where he's leaning against the wall on his phone.
"I'm great. Go back to texting your ex-girlfriend that you want to get back together."
He makes a face. "Oh, please. I'm just asking her to mail some of my shit to me. I'm not interested in any relationship for a whilebecauseof her—let alone her."
Bruno puts up with a lot of crap with his position in the family as one of our top enforcers. Despite being a little anal about sticking to the rules, he's a loyal friend and genuinely deserves someone who can handle the lifestyle of a mobster and love him for all his preachy, moral ways.
I don’t have to wonder if Giulia could handle the mafioso life I was born into because she was born into it, too. We're two sides of the same coin. Suppose the violent, bloody feud hadn't ripped our families apart for so long. In that case, I might have met her sooner, under different circumstances that made her less ice-cold about things. I wonder if she would have dropped her detached act immediately if that had been the case instead of making me jump through a dozen hoops to get her to smile.
I can't say I regret it. I like a challenge; apparently, she's planning on being a never-ending one.
"What the hell have you smiling like that?" Bruno asks, drawing my attention back to right here in this little office space my family uses as a front for a more profitable business.
I shrug and slip my laptop into its bag, reaching for the keys in my pocket. I'll take the car I brought here to the airport where my private charter is waiting.
"Rilassati, amico."Relax, man."I'm headed out on a personal business trip. I'll be back."
He scowls. "You sure you'll get back? How do I know you won't stir up trouble and get shot wherever you go?"
I laugh as I leave him stewing. Probably best not to tell him I'm going to stir up some trouble. The fun kind, to be specific. Since I'll be catching Giulia by surprise by showing up in California.
The private flight goes off without a hitch, and four and a half hours later, I straighten my suit as I walk out of the lovely hotel where I just booked a two-night stay, squinting in the Los Angeles heat. It was stormy in Chicago, but LA is hot, bone-dry, and filled with the usual traffic.
I know where her office here is. I'd planned on stopping by, but I clock a few definite mobsters across the street when they stop and look me over. Much as I'd like to wipe the over-serious looks off their faces by engaging with my fists, I decide they'll work great as messengers—if I leave them alone, Giulia will probably know within a few minutes I'm back in her family's city.
She won't like that. She'll probably track me down to knee me in the balls again.
Fine by me. I grin and stroll down the sidewalk toward a high-end seafood restaurant I scouted earlier, determined to make this little plan of mine work. Giulia is trying to avoid Roberto Giovanni, the troublemaking street Don of her family's biggest enemy.
Tonight, I'll introduce her to another version of myself. Rob Leone—my business entity. Nonproblematic upright citizen, billionaire, and someone who's about to sweep her off her feet. Again.
It takes about ten minutes after I've sat at the table I booked before coming out here for Giulia to grace me with her presence. Immediately, just seeing her melts away the residual tension and long week I've had.
She's in office apparel, of course. Hair up, white blazer, face carefully composed—until her gaze lands on me, and her eyes flash murder.
