Some Like It Hotter (Sweet Life in Seattle #3)

by Andrea Simonne

  “That’s right. Our arrangement is finally over, so you should be pleased.”

  There’s a soft snort across the line. “But I am not pleased. Why do you wish to divorce?”

  “Look, I’m sorry. I know you wanted an annulment, but we’ll never get one. I think Giovanni’s already told you that we were romantically involved.”

  “Sì, he is telling me this. I also know he loves you, and that is why you must not divorce. You must stay together!”

  Lindsay’s mouth opens. She’s stunned into silence.

  “Of course, we will have to have another wedding,” Francesca clarifies, in a matter-of-fact voice. “Not this Las Vegas. That is just . . . No.”

  “Maybe Giovanni hasn’t mentioned it to you, but one of the reasons we’ve broken up is that I can’t have children.”

  Francesca doesn’t speak right away. When she does, her voice is softer. “He has told me this, and I am very sorry to hear it. But what he has told me of your condition does not sound so impossible. You should not lose hope.”

  There’s a sick feeling in Lindsay’s stomach because she can’t hang her future on a bunch people hoping for something that might never happen. “I’m sorry, but it’s best for us both if we end it.”

  “Do you love Giovanni?”

  Lindsay goes quiet. “That’s not the point. It will never work in the long run. Believe me, I know.”

  “No, you do not know.” Francesca lets out a frustrated breath. “Giovanni was always so serious as a boy, and now he is the same as a man. This is it for him. He loves you, Lindsay.”

  “And eventually, he’ll love somebody else.”

  Francesca tries to convince her, and she’s relentless, but Lindsay can be relentless too. She even tries to lighten things with a joke. She appreciates what Francesca is trying to do, fighting for her son’s happiness—or so she believes—but she’s not cut out for marriage.

  Plus, Francesca doesn’t know about Olivia.

  After the two of them hang up, Lindsay tries to put the conversation out of her mind. Oddly, in many ways she understands Francesca and suspects they’re probably more alike than they are different.

  That evening, when she gets back to Natalie and Anthony’s house, she sits on her bed in the guest bedroom. She’s been so busy she still hasn’t found an apartment. Luckily, neither Natalie nor Anthony has complained yet. She tries to be helpful around the house but knows she’s pushing it and needs to move out soon.

  Tucking some pillows behind her back, she opens her laptop and brings up Google, the conversation with Francesca replaying in her head. She’s been thinking about it all afternoon, that along with Natalie’s recent suggestion.

  She doesn’t know Olivia’s last name, but figures how many women have been eaten by a shark in the past ten years?

  There can’t be that many.

  Amazingly, it only takes her a few minutes to find a news video with details of a shark attack on a woman named Olivia Cruz.

  Her heart races as she pushes Play on the video. There’s a blonde news anchor discussing the attack on a female diver off the coast of Florida. They show a boat from the diving company, and then suddenly there’s a picture onscreen of Olivia.

  Lindsay sucks in her breath and immediately hits the space bar to pause it, staring at the image.

  Olivia has long wavy brown hair, brown eyes, and Giovanni was right—she’s very attractive. Beautiful even. It’s a casual shot from the shoulders up and looks like it was taken outdoors.

  Does she look like me?

  Lindsay manages to enlarge the paused video a bit and then finds herself studying it for a long time. Olivia is smiling as she looks off to the side, a confident smile, almost a smirk really, and all Lindsay can think is, This is the monster that sunk its teeth into Giovanni, the one who wouldn’t let go.

  She keeps staring at the image. Finally, she climbs off the bed, deciding to find Natalie and ask her opinion. Her sister is downstairs helping Chloe with homework at the dining room table.

  “Can I show you something on my computer?” Lindsay asks.

  Natalie looks up at her. “Sure, can it wait a minute?”

  “No problem.” Lindsay wanders over to the living room where Anthony is sitting on the couch working on his computer as well. Luca has started crawling recently, so they have everything gated off.

  “Did you by chance give your mom my cell phone number?” she asks Anthony from across the room.

  He glances up at her. He’s wearing thick black-framed glasses, which always remind her of Clark Kent. Her brother-in-law is very handsome, but he’s also a serious geek. “No. Did my mom call you or something?”

  She leans against the door frame. “It was no big deal. I was just curious how she got my number.” She wonders if Giovanni gave it to her, but can’t picture him doing that.

  “What did she want?”

  “She wants me to stay married to your brother.”

  Anthony looks up at her in astonishment. He takes his glasses off. “Seriously?”

  She nods. “I was surprised. I always thought she didn’t like me.”

  “I don’t think that’s true.” He studies her. “What did you tell her?”

  “I told it’s over between us. That I want a divorce.”

  Anthony takes this in. She knows he speaks to Giovanni regularly and wonders what they’ve discussed. Except for that one night where they talked about Olivia, he’s said very little to her concerning the breakup.

  And clearly he’s still not saying much.

  “How is Giovanni doing?” She can’t resist asking. “Is he okay?”

  “He’s all right.” Anthony puts his glasses back on and turns toward his computer again. “Last I heard, he was putting the house up for sale.”

  “What?” Lindsay goes still. “He’s selling the house?”

  “It’s a lot of house for one person.”

  She knows it’s irrational, but she loves that house and doesn’t want him to sell it.

  Her sister comes over. “Okay, I’m ready. What is it you want to show me?”

  “It’s upstairs.” Lindsay leads the way, her head still reeling over the news of Giovanni selling the house. She doesn’t want to imagine someone else living there. What if they replace the new light fixtures he put up, or tear down the trellis he built for his fruit trees?

  “I heard you asking Anthony about Francesca,” Natalie says once they enter the bedroom. “I thought you should know I’m the one who gave her your number.”

  She spins around. “Why would you do that?”

  “Because even she gets what’s obvious to everyone except you.”

  “Not this again. I already told you, I know what I’m doing.” Lindsay glances over at her. “I can’t believe you gave Francesca my number without warning me. Are you nuts?”

  Natalie laughs. “I figured you could handle her.”

  Lindsay grumbles. “That’s not the point.” She sits on the bed, scooting over to make room for her sister. “I found a news broadcast about the shark attack on Olivia. There’s a picture of her.”

  “Really?” Natalie’s eyes widen as they go to the computer screen. “What does she look like?”

  “See for yourself.” Lindsay taps the shift key to bring her computer out of sleep mode. The large image of Olivia is still paused on the screen.

  Natalie leans forward, turning the computer toward herself a little. “So that’s her.” Her sister studies the image.

  “What do you think? Does she look like me? And be honest.”

  Natalie glances up at her. “I think she has the same coloring as you, and her hair is kind of like yours, but beyond that . . . No, I don’t see much resemblance.”

  Lindsay lets out her breath. She’d thought the same thing.

  Natalie’s eyes go back to the screen. “It’s weird to look at her, isn’t it? She was attractive enough that I’m guessing she could have had an affair with any guy she wanted. Why go after a seventeen-
year-old kid?”

  “She obviously had issues. Giovanni told me he wasn’t the first one or the last.”

  Natalie shakes her head. “I know it sounds terrible, but I don’t feel sorry that she was eaten by a shark.”

  “Me either. In fact, I’m surprised it didn’t spit her out in disgust after the first bite.”

  “As I’ve already said, I think you should do it.”

  “I don’t know.” Lindsay looks down and wiggles her toes, which are currently soaking in a basin of hot water.

  She’s getting a pedicure along with Natalie and her two nieces. It’s Chloe’s fourteenth birthday, and Lindsay decided to treat everyone. She and Natalie are discussing the fundraiser poker tournament happening next weekend.

  “Your winnings would go to help Seattle Children’s,” Natalie points out. “And you said Giovanni’s already staked you, so why would you hesitate?”

  Lindsay glances over at Chloe and Serena, who are sitting next to each other giggling over something on Chloe’s phone.

  “You’re worried he’ll be there, aren’t you?” Her sister gives her a shrewd look.

  Lindsay shrugs and tries to appear indifferent. “Not at all.”

  Natalie laughs. “I hope your bluffing skills are better than that. Anthony and I want to stake you too, but that’s worrisome.”

  “For your information, I just won fifteen hundred bucks last night.”

  “See,” Natalie says. “All the more reason you should play in this tournament. You’ll probably clean up, and all that money goes to charity.”

  “Yeah.” Lindsay lets out her breath.

  As far as her game goes, she’s feeling pretty good, and winning that big pot last night didn’t hurt. She’s been keeping a notebook, hitting some of the local action regularly, plus she and Dagmar have started analyzing their poker hands again.

  Her classes are going well and her grades are holding up. She’s nearly done with the second mask to send off to the buyer in Berlin, so she’ll be getting another nice check from them. She even found an apartment recently, though she can’t move in until the beginning of next month.

  Everything is going surprisingly well.

  So, why do I feel like shit?

  It’s like she’s sleepwalking through her life. The same chronic dissatisfaction that plagued her before she left for Berlin has returned. And to make matters worse, the ninja memories are still attacking her.

  “I’ve already found a 1920s-style dress,” Natalie says, as the pedicurist pulls her feet out of the water and dries them off. “So you have to play in the tournament because I want to wear it.”

  “You went shopping without me?” Lindsay lifts her own feet out of the water.

  “Just online. I’ll show it to you. I found a website that has a bunch of clothes styled from that era.”

  “You and Anthony can still go to the fundraiser even if I’m not there.”

  Natalie sighs. “I know, but it’ll be more fun with you. I want to cheer you on. Plus, it’ll be exciting to watch you kick some poker ass.”

  “And to think I was actually afraid to tell you I was playing poker,” Lindsay says in a dry tone.

  “Now that I know you’re not gambling away your winnings, I’m all for it.” Natalie goes quiet and looks over at her. “And I think you’re right. Something about all this does feel like home. It’s like we’ve come full circle, haven’t we?”

  She nods. “I’m not nearly as good as Dad, so don’t get too excited. And I’ve played in very few tourneys so far.” The action is faster in cash games versus tournament play, but her sister already knows that.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll be cheering you on, even if you’re knocked out in the first round.”

  Lindsay cringes. “God forbid. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen.”

  Lindsay finds the perfect dress—scarlet red, sleeveless with a black fringe on the bottom. It’s too gorgeous to pass up. Plus, if she wears a push-up bra, it’ll be low-cut enough to distract the weaker male players. Her dad always told her to play ruthless, and he was right. The best card players are the ones who use every advantage they have.

  “Are you nervous?” Natalie asks after Lindsay does her sister’s hair and makeup in the master bathroom.

  “Yes, a little,” she admits.

  For some reason, this poker tournament has been all over the local news lately. She’s not sure why it’s become such a big deal, but it has. It sounds like everybody who’s anybody in Seattle is going to be there tonight.

  “I know what will help.” Natalie grins at her. “Let’s rock out to that poker playlist. I’ll bet the girls will be up for it too.”

  They head downstairs to find Anthony in the kitchen with Luca talking to Manny, who’ll be staying with the kids tonight. Anthony’s wearing a black tuxedo, his hair gelled back, and when Lindsay sees the way he smiles at Natalie, it makes her heart hurt. For just a moment, he looks a bit like Giovanni.

  “Miss Natalie,” Anthony says. “I’m liking this dress on you.”

  Her sister grins. “Thank you.” Luca reaches his arms out when he sees Natalie, and she takes him from her husband. “Do you want to rock out with us, honey bunny?” she coos to him.

  “You guys are rocking out?” Anthony asks, an innocent note in his voice.

  Lindsay smirks to herself. Since she’s been staying here, she’s noticed every time they rock out Anthony manages to be in the vicinity, and every time Lindsay looks at him he’s trying to hide the fact that he’s staring at his wife’s body while she dances.

  “We thought it would help calm Lindsay’s nerves,” Natalie tells him.

  “Good idea,” Anthony says in quick agreement.

  Lindsay goes to ask Chloe and Serena if they want to join, and both girls immediately jump up.

  “Of course!” Chloe says.

  “Are we doing the poker playlist?” Serena asks, following her back into the living room. Natalie is already there with the baby.

  The playlist is something Serena found online, and they’ve been listening to it all week.

  Pretty soon, Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” is blasting through the speakers and the four of them are dancing around the living room. The girls are laughing and jumping up and down, Natalie is doing a bump and grind with Luca still on her hip, and Lindsay’s swinging her hair around, getting into her groove.

  Sure enough, she sees Anthony from the corner of her eye, hovering in the doorway. He’s talking on his phone with his gaze locked squarely on Natalie’s ass.

  Lindsay laughs. In truth, she thinks it’s sweet the way he ogles her sister.

  She glances at him again and suddenly the phone to his ear registers. She wonders if he’s talking to Giovanni. The music is loud, but she strains to hear, trying to tell if he’s speaking Italian.

  She hasn’t seen him in almost three weeks, not since that day at the hospital when he begged her to come back. She keeps wanting to ask Anthony about him but has managed to muzzle herself. She even drove by the house in stealth mode when she knew he wouldn’t be there. The lawn is overgrown, and the flowers she planted are all dead. It saddened her to see it. There was a For Sale sign in front.

  The truth is she’s probably more nervous about seeing him tonight than she is about playing poker. Just the thought of it has her pulse racing.

  Not that anything’s changed.

  Except he was telling the truth about Olivia.

  Prince’s “U Got the Look” comes on next, and everyone adjusts their moves to the different beat. Lindsay dances over to Natalie and reaches for Luca, figuring she’ll give her sister a break.

  Luca grins, putting his arms out, and Lindsay’s heart melts. She’s fallen completely in love with her little nephew. His brown eyes go wide, and she manages to stop him just in time before he grabs her earring. “No, I don’t think so, baby boy.”

  “Gah!”

  Lindsay spins him around and Luca squeals with laughter. But as soon as she starts dancing ag
ain, a ninja attack sneaks up on her. And it’s a bad one. The worst ever.

  She’s dancing in a different living room than this one, “Burning Love” coming through the speakers. Giovanni is flailing his arms around with all his wild Frankenstein moves, letting his freak flag fly just for her.

  God, I loved him.

  Lindsay stops dancing. Her throat closes up, and her eyes burn as she tries to breathe, tries to pull it together. She needs to calm down, knowing this is no way to go into a tournament. If this keeps up, she’ll be playing on tilt.

  “It’s okay,” she tells Luca, who obviously senses her mood change. His little brows furrow as he studies her. “It’s all good, no worries.”

  Clearly, he doesn’t believe her, because his furrowed brow doesn’t go away and his mouth opens with a wail as he starts to cry.

  Natalie comes over. “Is everything all right?” She reaches for the baby, but when she looks at Lindsay her expression turns to concern. “Hey, are you okay?”

  She nods and tries to smile. “Don’t worry about me. I’m fine.”

  Pocket rockets.

  Nice.

  The very best hole cards a person can have in Texas Hold ’em is two aces, and Lindsay’s staring at a pair right now. The odds of a hand like this are only two percent.

  She remains calm. Indifferent even. It’s always been her strength. Most people get excited when they see these kinds of cards and immediately start raising, but she was taught better than that.

  Instead, she puts her cards back down and glances around the table. So far, she’s made it through the first grueling round of play tonight, and after a short break is finally near the end of the second round. Whoever makes it past this hand will go to the final table. Since it’s only one evening of play, the action has been fast, which suits Lindsay just fine.

  She was nervous going in, but as soon as she sat down with her glass of mineral water and her stack of chips in front of her, she felt her usual poker calm come over her.

  Just like home.

  The flop is laid out, and it’s the ace of spades, two of clubs, seven of hearts.

  Very nice.

  She pretends to look at her cards again—all part of the show.