“Something nice.” I grinned harder, loving the idea of being alone with her.
“That’s incredibly helpful. Glad I asked.” Her sarcasm made me chuckle.
“Wear a dress.”
“Thank you.” She sighed with relief. “I’ll see you at six.”
“It’s a date.” I couldn’t help myself.
“It’s dinner,” she reminded me, but I could tell I was working my way through her barrier.
I was tired of what was happening here and gave Donatello the word to finish the man off himself. I needed to get home. As I strolled across the dockyard toward my car, I fell into a deeper thought.
I seemed to be killing off a man a day. Since this hit was linked to Stefano and not one of my own, it wasn’t a hard decision to make. Still, I wasn’t any closer to learning why my dockyard had suddenly become attractive, and I still hadn’t figured out what the hell the numbers meant. My ships were arriving on time, and none of my oil was being touched or tampered with. Were they trying to distract me by driving my attention there so they could make another move somewhere else? That was a very real possibility that worried me.
“Elio.” Niccola addressed me as I came into the kitchen. He wore a pissed off expression as he looked up from the newspaper.
“What’s on your mind, Niccola?” My oldest cousin was just shy of two years younger than I was, and we had become quite close since we moved to Tuscany.
“Mariano and Anna are already into the grappa, and they haven’t even left for the evening. I don’t want to be a witness to your mother’s actions, so here I am.”
I rolled my eyes and bet my parents wished they never implemented the open-door policy for their house.
“Lucky for them, I hid the pistols from her.”
“Mm,” he chuckled, amused. “Where are you off to?” He peered at my signature black attire. The jet black with a pop of gray just spoke to my soul.
“I have a date.” I dropped my wallet in my breast pocket.
“With who?”
“Sienna.”
“Oh, please, let me be there when you drop her back off at Mariano’s place?” He laughed darkly as he pulled out his phone. “Vinni needs to hear about this.”
“I don’t think Mariano will even notice she’s gone.”
“Either way, text me, and I will pull up a chair for the performance.”
My phone rang on the counter, and I flipped it over to see the caller ID.
“Dammit.” I took a deep breath, not wanting to deal with work shit right now. I answered it quickly. “What?”
“I think I may have something for you,” Donatello grunted.
I squeezed my eyes shut and cursed again. “It will have to wait.” I hung up and rushed out the door. I was certainly not going to be late.
“Vinni.” I pointed to the car, not wanting to drive tonight. I didn’t want to be spotted in the city any more than necessary. I didn’t need to tell him why I was leaving; his brother had already filled him in. “Mariano’s.”
“Yes, boss.” He opened the door for me, and I slipped inside. Vinni was a lot younger, but he was a damn fine shot and always had my back. He loved to drive and had worked his way up from being my driver to acaporegime. However, I don’t trust anyone else behind the wheel, so he still continues to drive for me. Cousin or not, we all earned our place and our keep here. Plus, Vinni was the last person you’d ever think would have ties to the Mexican Cartel. The fact that he did had come in handy a few times.
“We will be eating at the E Lucevan Le Stelle Bar Bistro,” I let him know as we pulled up in front of Mariano’s house. As she stepped out, she nearly took my breath away.
A silver silk dress clung to her body, and when she took one of the steps, I saw her long leg reach out from the slit in the fabric. My hands twitched to feel that skin. Her breasts were half tucked into scraps of fabric, and her hair was long and wavy. I pressed my hands against my thighs to settle my legs then gathered myself and stepped out of the car.
“Ciao belle,” I whispered as she came closer.
“Elio.” She gave me one of her sexy smiles as she looked up with hooded eyes.