“Could you stop ogling my goodies?” I asked over my shoulder to Sal.
“Does it distract you?”
Well, I couldn’t admit to that.
“Not at all.” Even though I wasn’t completely set or comfortable, I took the shot.
And missed. Which, damn it, meant they won. I could only blame myself.
“Son of a bitch,” I muttered.
“All right.” Gio slapped his hands together then started rubbing them like he was trying to get warm. “Time to pay up.” He grabbed Bianca around the waist and pulled her up to his height. Her feet dangled about a foot off the floor. They then proceeded to kiss like horny teenagers.
Oh man.
My stomach clenched at the idea of Sal grabbing me like that. If he would have just been in a bad mood earlier and apologized that would have been one thing. That I could get over. This other thing of just not liking what he knew about me I wasn’t as sure I could move past.
“I’m not kissing you.” I put my hands on my hips and turned my face to stone.
His eyebrow quirked up as did the corner of his cocky ass mouth.
“What’s the matter, sweetheart? Afraid you’ll like it?”
“Clearly I wouldn’t.”
But yeah, I was kind of afraid I would.
“Then what are you worried about? Maybe your skills aren’t as mad as you think?”
“You know, I’m really beginning to dislike you.”
Actually, the more he was an asshole the more curious I became. He’d given me a glimpse of the human side of him when we walked around town and then again when he kept me from bouncing off the floor.
Gio and Bianca watched him laugh at what I’d said while I continued to try to figure him out.
“I don’t think you are, sweetheart.”
There was only one way to prove him wrong. I just hoped it actually worked.
“Fine, big guy. Give it your best shot. Kiss me.”
Before I finished that statement, Sal took a big step toward me and invaded my personal bubble. Warmth covered me, cocooned me and damn he smelled good. Soap and something else I wasn’t going to take the time to figure out.
I didn’t want to notice these things. Didn’t want to acknowledge the way my stomach flipped then flopped when his breath feathered over my skin. Trying to avoid looking up into his eyes proved futile. The draw was too much for me to resist.
My breath caught in my chest at the gleam covering his warm, brown eyes that melted my resolve.
There wasn’t a chance in hell that kissing him would prove anyone wrong except me.
Leaning in, Sal stopped just before our lips touched, a quiet groan rumbled in his chest then he dove in. His lips were soft and full as they opened against mine, and his tongue licked at my bottom lip. He didn’t hesitate the minute my lips parted.
His tongue slid against mine. I pushed myself up onto my toes to get closer as I lost myself in his taste, in his touch.
With my hand resting against a chest that was like granite, I pulled back, slowly opening my eyes.
Woah.
“Damn.” Bianca gave me a half-smile when I glanced her way.
At the same time, I was grateful for the distraction and annoyed that I wasn’t still looking at Sal.
As soon as my gaze was no longer on him, Sal pulled back so quickly I almost fell over. Didn’t even notice I’d been leaning on him.
Oh, how I wished that kiss had happened without an audience.
Without a word to me or anyone else, Sal walked away from us and was out the door to the bar before anyone could stop him.
But holy crap that might have been the hottest kiss of my entire life.
Chapter Six
“Well, that was hot.” Bianca brought me out of my own head, where I’d happily been since the moment Sal’s lips touched mine.
Doing a visual sweep of the area, I found that Gio was gone, too. Seemingly no one else in Bill’s was paying any attention to the monumental thing that had just happened either. They went about their business as I tried to both act like Sal hadn’t just rocked my freaking world with a single kiss, and that I didn’t care that he ran off after doing it. Apparently, he was better at this than I was.
“The kiss was average.” I shrugged. “I’ve had better.” I hadn’t had better. I really, really hadn’t.
She laughed loudly. “Sure you have.”
“Where’s your man?”
“Oh, he went after his lovesick cousin.”
“What are you blabbing about?” I swiped my glass of water off a nearby table that we had commandeered and downed half of it, trying to get rid of his taste that still lingered in my mouth.
“I told you he likes you and that other garbage was a weird form of flirting. He just doesn’t know how to handle it.” Bianca wouldn’t lie to me intentionally, and though she sounded sincere, she had to be dead wrong on this one.
“God, you make him sound like a fifteen-year-old virgin.”
Bianca’s eyes bulged slightly before she took the seat across from me. “Oh, he’s definitely not a virgin.”
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing. Look, he’s leaving tomorrow, and that kiss sure looked like more than a bet. For both of you. I think Gio made that stupid bet because he knew Sal wanted to kiss you but wouldn’t do it on his own.”
“That’s kind of pathetic and proves he’s not my type.”
“We’ll see,” was all she said back.
The next day, I tried not to think about the fact that Gio wasn’t at work because he was driving Sal and Gemma to the airport. I’d spent most of the night thinking about him and that kiss while also trying to figure out why he was being such a jack nut some of the time.
We could’ve had a nice little hook-up, no doubt a truly satisfying one, and then gone our separate ways. But no. Instead, I was left stuck between knowing how good it might’ve been and how much of an asshole he could be.
The only thing able to distract my brain was the last-minute run through of the delivery plan with Bianca.
We were set to sit down with Gramps to present this idea that we were so excited about. He didn’t know why we asked him to meet. Didn’t even know it was about the restaurant. He probably thought we were going to beg for some time off.
Bianca and I got off work at the same time and left Joe, head of the kitchen, to close up shop. When we stepped out the door, Gio stood right outside with a sly grin while leaning against the bench in front of the restaurant. Bianca gave him a huge grin back, and I wanted to throw up all over the both of them.
“Hey.” Bianca leaned in for a kiss. “Gemma and Sal made their flight?”
“Of course.” He spoke to her but was eyeing me.
I didn’t like it. He kept glancing at me like he had a secret I didn’t know yet and I hated being left out more than almost anything else in the world.
“I think Sal’s coming back before Christmas,” he added still watching me.
“Why?” I began walking toward the lot where I parked.
“Oh, I think you can guess,” he answered with a snicker.
Spinning around, I caught him with this look on his face again, like he was hiding something. His mouth was clearly being held together tightly by his teeth, he was trying not to smile like the freaking Cheshire Cat.
“Why did you make that bet, Gio?”
“I just wanted to con a kiss out of Bianca.” The laughter in his voice was a dead giveaway that he was lying through his teeth. He could have gotten that from her at any time. They kissed more than anyone I’d ever met, and I supposed that came with being in love.
“I call bullshit because she gives you that for free.”
“Well, that’s why I did it.”
Rolling my eyes, I set Bianca a look so she’d know I didn’t believe him and clearly she didn’t either.
We went our separate ways at the car because there wasn’t a chance in hell I wanted to spend the afternoon with tho
se two lovebirds. I loved Gio but it was equally likely I’d murder him with a spork, given the chance. He needed a hobby. One that preferably had nothing to do with me or my love life. I
Instead, I grabbed a shower back home then went two towns over to the historical museum. My major in college may have been marketing because that was practical. If I’d gone with what I enjoyed most, it would’ve been history. But history was unlikely to pay the bills.
The staff had to kick me out of the museum that night. I hadn’t been paying any attention to the time and scared the crap out of the employee as she was locking up. After an apology and a really good laugh for the both of us, I got back on the road home.
In the morning, Bianca and I had an appointment to meet Gramps an hour before Romano’s opened. He was already there, unlocking when we arrived, our pages and pages of statistics and projections tightly in hand.
He put the coffee on then joined us at one of the larger tables.
“So, young ladies, what do you have up your sleeves?”
Bianca gave me a little nod to get started.
I took a deep breath, slowly blew it out then began to talk.
“Bianca and I have been thinking about the business and well, we thought it might be time to start offering delivery.” He already started shaking his head before I finished my sentence. “Don’t dismiss this idea, old man.”
He stopped and smiled over at me.
Now it was Bianca’s turn to jump in.
“Gramps, delivery could expand the business in ways that we can’t on site. It’d be a real money maker. We have the projections.”
“Kitchen’s not big enough, and we make enough money,” he said but made no move to leave.
At least we had his attention.
“I checked into it.” She continued. “The space next door is vacant and pretty cheap. We could expand into it; knock down walls if we have to. It’s not huge but it is big enough. And yes, we make great money but this—” she pointed at the papers we had spread out in front of us, “—would be a game changer huge. You could retire one day on this kind of money. If you want to.”
“I’ll work here until the day I die.” Gramps scoffed at any mention of cutting back or outright retiring anytime someone brought up the idea.
“You can do that, too,” I said with a smile. “But this way you’d have a choice. Not to mention what expanding would mean to Bianca. She’s going to be here forever, too. And probably her kids.”
“What’s Gio say?”
Bianca’s face hardened. He and the business were still a slightly sore spot even though Gio took his own parents down, along with an aunt and uncle, after what they tried to do with Romano’s. He also still refused to learn how to make the pizza sauce. Like he was afraid they’d think he would try to steal it. More time needed to pass before things were normal.
“Well, he thought the delivery thing was a great idea but that’s as far into this he went.” The tightness in Bianca’s face loosened as she spoke.
“Except to say he’d help in whatever way you wanted him to,” I added because deep down Gio was a good guy who’d spend the rest of his life trying to make right the one mistake he regretted the most.
Bianca smiled and said, “Yeah, that.”
Gio hadn’t actually promised to do anything, but we all knew he would without being asked. He’d work until his hands bled if he had to.
Gramps sat there going over every projection, every piece of paper we brought with us. Even when Gio arrived to get the kitchen going, he sat there. And we sat with him. Finally, he dropped the last page, sat back in the chair and folded his arms over his chest with a sigh.
“I see you girls have done your homework.”
We nodded enthusiastically.
“Well, I don’t have it in me to take on this kind of project so you two are going to be in charge of everything. I’ll take weekly updates but other than that, I’m totally hands off.”
Our smiles grew comically wide. He’d agreed. I couldn’t believe it.
“You two would be stupid not to tap into Gio’s knowledge and experience. The past is the past.”
He got up and disappeared into the kitchen to help Gio as if he hadn’t just completely changed our lives. Even if we failed, this project would consume our time and our energy. My heart raced with excitement.
We jumped from our seats, hugging each other tightly, squealing, and jumping where we stood. We swayed to the right then overcorrected and almost fell over.
I’m sure we’d look ridiculous if anyone else was watching but who cared.
We were going to do this. We’d be working together for the foreseeable future and it meant I could back off of job hunting, resume sending, and desperately looking for a position somewhere. I’d already found one.
Bianca would be in charge of the business side of things because she majored in business and had grown up learning how to run the place.
My specialty was marketing with a small side of management. I’d work out all the advertising, though truth be told, I didn’t think we’d need much more than flyers and word of mouth because the citizens of our town had been chomping at the bit for Romano’s to deliver.
Also, I’d be in charge of hiring the delivery guys. Gramps would take care of extra kitchen staff because he was particular about those people. When the time came, we’d be ready.
For the first time in forever, I was genuinely excited about having some direction in my life. Other than the continual loop of trying to figure out what I was going to do next.
The excitement didn’t die down over the week even as the reality of the amount of work ahead of us set in. We were both still buzzing the next weekend.
We let the current staff know we’d be looking for some more hires. Bianca and I decided early on that we weren’t going to waste any time. She got right to work on applying for permits, hiring a contractor, while I’d start taking applications for delivery guys.
Since several contractors had come out to give us estimates on the second kitchen weeks ago when Gramps took a few days off in a row which meant she was able to hire and schedule them to start the following Monday.
We were prepared to hit the ground running as soon as we got the yes. For the time being, we would run two kitchens, one for deliveries and the other for the restaurant.
When I went to the bar on Friday night just two weeks before Christmas and Isaac showed up smiling and laughing it was exactly what the doctor ordered. Bianca and I had been working on the expansion for weeks before we even mentioned it to Gramps and weeks since.
I needed to let off some steam.
Isaac and I played three games of pool in a row before stopping for a drink.
“You look like you could use some… fun,” Isaac said to me.
“Do I?” I asked while raising an eyebrow.
The way he dropped his voice on the word fun let me know exactly what he meant.
We locked into a stare down that only ended when we left the bar and went back to his place.
Barely through the door, he kissed me. Long and hard, a kiss that should’ve had my engine revving.
Then Sal’s face popped into my head. I jolted and pulled back then shook it off.
His hands were everywhere, big and rough, and his mouth sucked on my skin everywhere it touched. If he left a mark on me, I was going to kill him.
Isaac pulled at my shirt. Instinct told me to help. Getting naked was what we were here to do. Yet instead of becoming pliable, my body went rigid as if it had a mind of its own. He stopped and pulled back.
“Are you not into this?” he asked quietly.
“No, I am. Of course, I am.”
“Doesn’t seem like it and I’m not into coercion.”
I didn’t say anything for a long while. Being with him should’ve been easy. Yet for some reason, my body didn’t want to cooperate and I couldn’t get that asshole Sal out of my head.
“I think I’m going to go,” I finally sai
d to him.
Isaac backed away to give me the space I needed to leave.
“See ya around,” he said as I opened the door.
With a glance back at him, I gave a quick nod then left.
In the morning I showered, dressed, and went over to Bianca’s as soon as I woke up. I needed some girl talk and remembered that Gio was working the weekend but she wasn’t so we’d have some alone time.
Before I left my apartment, I sent her a text to let her know I was on my way and she replied to come in without knocking.
“Bianca?” I called out after opening the front door.
“I’ll be right down,” she called out. “I’m getting dressed. What’s up?”
We had to yell through several layers of floor but it was worth the effort. Sure, I could’ve waited until she actually came downstairs but why waste those precious minutes when we could get started right away.
“I almost hooked up with Isaac last night.”
“Bailey—” I wasn’t sure if that was shock or warning in her voice. Probably both.
“I know what you’re going to say. But the weird thing is, I couldn’t do it because I kept thinking about—”
“Me?”
I jumped and let out a scream when that deep voice cut through my words.
The glass I’d been holding shattered to the floor with such a force that it broke into a few dozen jagged pieces. Glass slid across the wood floor and over my feet.
“What the fuck?” I snapped.
“Bailey, are you OK?” Bianca’s feet slapped against the hardwood floor as she came around the corner of the kitchen.
“Stop.” I threw my hand up to make sure she didn’t come any closer. “There’s glass everywhere.”
How the hell had I not seen him leaning against the wall near the back door?
Knowing this house almost as well as my own, I walked over to the broom closet to pull out everything I needed to clean up the mess Sal helped me make.
“Didn’t know you had company,” was all I could think to say to fill the silence.
“I tried to warn you,” Bianca said back. My back was turned to her but I could hear the smile in her voice. “But you kept talking.”
Love by the Mile (Harbor Point Book 2) Page 5