“And who is this beauty?”
“No one of importance,” I said.
“I’m Donatella Stevens. Happy Birthday,” she added, holding out her hand as Luca took it, kissing the top of it.
I growled.
Luca grinned. “She is yours I see. No worries my friend. I don’t poach.”
“Then let go of her hand,” I sneered, stepping forward.
Luca dropped her hand.
“Please, let me get you both a drink,” Luca smiled, raised his arm and waived. Within a second, a waiter arrived with two flutes of champagne. He took them from the waiter and handed one to Donatella, the other to me. Taking it, I never took my eyes from him.
He was being nice. Luca Costa was never nice. He was a leach. A weasel. The worst of the worst and having him this close to Donatella was pissing me off. I don’t know why I thought going to this party was a good idea. Gio was right. I should have kept my ass in Chicago.
Once again, I was fucking everything up.
When Giovanni arrived, he was going to have my ass.
I tried to listen to Luca as he droned on and on about something that didn’t concern me. All I could think about was getting the fuck off this boat and back to the hotel.
Leaning against the railing, I watched as the party-goers all laughed, drank and had a fucking merry time. Too bad this was the lamest fucking birthday party ever. Even Luca was not his normal subdued self tonight. He was more, as he tried to be charming, which was alarming as he engaged Donatella. What really caught my attention was the volume of women compared to men. Generally, when Luca partied, he preferred his boys around him. Yet, I couldn’t find a single one of them.
All I saw were women.
I didn’t like it.
“I’ll be right back,” she whispered in my ear.
“You are not going anywhere.”
“I have to pee.”
“Fuck,” I sighed. Of course, she did. Seeing her champagne flute, I noticed it was empty. Taking it from her, I handed it to Luca and asked, “Where are the bathrooms on this tin can?”
“I can show her.”
“No.”
“They are down below. Here,” Luca said, turning to a woman. “Sweetheart, would you please take Donatella to the ladies' room.”
“Sure,” the pretty blonde smiled, reaching for Donatella. Before I could stop her, the young woman already had Donatella moving fast through the crowd.
“Don’t worry Lorenzo, Brittney will watch her. Now that we are alone, my father would kill me if I didn’t take the opportunity to talk to you about joining our families.”
Watching Donatella disappear, I said, “Luca, we’ve had this conversation before. I am not the head of the family. All business matters need to go through Giovanni.”
“I’ve tried man. He won’t take my calls.”
“Then there is your answer.”
“But my father really wants to meet with him. He’s got a business opportunity that he believes will benefit both families.”
“Look,” I snarled, turning to the weasel. “If my brother hasn’t called your daddy back yet, he isn’t going to. My family doesn’t associate with bottom feeders. So back the fuck off.”
I didn’t bother waiting for his response as I pushed past him. I needed to get Donatella the fuck off this boat fast. I didn’t like what my gut was feeling. Something was off about this party. There were too many women and the waiters were all men. Some I’d seen before back in Chicago. Something else was going on here and it was making me nervous.