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Right on cue, I heard my phone ringing on the nightstand where I’d left it. Chiara was calling.
“Hello?”
“There she is!” Chiara sang happily into the phone. “I’ve been texting you.”
“Oh. I haven’t seen it, I’m sorry.”
“How about I take you out for some early dinner. There’s a new brasserie downtown I’d like to try.”
“Umm, I’m not sure if early dinner works. Salvatore isn’t home yet.”
“My cousin can have his fun with the boys, and we can have ours.”
“Chiara, he doesn’t like me going out alone. Not right now.”
“Nothing is going to happen to you in the middle of Palermo. I’ll text Pietro and he can send a couple of guards.” I bit my lip, trying to decide if I should take her up on her offer. “Come on, Grazia. Bruno is out of town and Francesco has speech therapy for a few hours. I’m not good at being alone.”
Some lingering sadness on the end of her sentence made me frown. Sometimes, things Chiara did or said made me wonder if she was going through a rough patch that she fought to keep hidden, because there were moments when she wasn’t anything like the Chiara I used to know. Time changes people and Chiara said a few times that ever since she became a mother, she left all of that explosive temper she had in the past, but I still wasn’t at ease. It wasn’t my place to meddle, or even worry, but I couldn’t help myself. She was a friend and my husband’s cousin, but for three years, she was also my sister.
“Fine, I’ll go get ready.”
“Good. Meet me inAlberghriain an hour.”
“Ok.”
I washed my face and hands before going to get dressed in a cherry red summer dress and some strappy sandals. While I was getting dressed, I tried calling Salvatore twice, but he didn’t pick up and I quit trying because I didn’t want to bug him if there was no reason to do so.
“Totto!” I yelled from the foyer and the butler appeared promptly.
“I’m here.”
I looked at him in the mirror while putting on a pair of hoop earrings Salvatore got for me.
“Can you tell one of the guards that I will need a car ready, please?”
“Yes. Going out?”
“Chiara wants to go to a new restaurant. I can’t get a hold of Sasa. Will you let him know where I am?”
“I will.”
He disappeared into the kitchen and I walked out the front door. To my surprise, Salvatore was just coming up the driveway when I went down the stairs in front of the entry. The Maserati rolled to a stop slowly and silently and my husband looked damn sexy in that car. I stopped moving – I think I stopped breathing too – and watched him park.
“What, Grazi?” There was a shadow of a smile in the corner of his lips. He knew exactlywhat.
“You’re hot in that car.”
“Really?”
Effortlessly, he picked me up with one hand and walked with me until my ass dropped on the warm hood of the Maserati, settling nicely between my legs. The hem of my skirt raised and he looked around, to see that Mariano, one of the guys patrolling the grounds was close. The man took one look at us and disappeared.
“You really like this car, don’t you, Grazi?”
“I like you in it. The way you maneuver all that horse power does something to me.”
“Yes, I know.”
“You know?”
