“I’d love to travel, but I don’t get much chance. Business here keeps me so busy.”
“I’m sure it does.” He burst into a huge smile and then noticed me and Cesare glaring at him.
How dare he try to smooth-talk her right in front of me—and why did she keep encouraging him? She couldn’t be serious about giving him a decent shot to win her hand. That was ridiculous.
“Which countries have you been to?” he asked.
She blushed. “Mostly just Europe—Italy, of course. I went back two years ago with my father to meet his relatives over there. It was kind of mandatory.”
“You should visit China. I’m learning Japanese now so I can go there next. My father wants to make contact with some Yakuza bosses there so we can…”
“The Yakuza are outlawed,” Cesare interrupted. “For someone with a masters in international relations, you aren’t very well versed in mafia law.”
Romeo only smiled at him. “It’s only outlawed to establish business relations with them—same with the Chinese Triads. My father says building network connections with them and learning their methods only makes good business sense. He says that’s why the Italians are falling behind while the Russians, Japanese, and Chinese keep getting stronger—because we don’t learn from other cultures.”
“That is so interesting!” Gia gushed. “What do they do that’s different from us—I mean, besides everything?”
Romeo laughed. That sound grated on my nerves. “I can promise you we won’t be doing anything the way the Russians, Japanese, and Chinese do things,” I snapped. “We have our own way of doing things. We should be moving farther away from them, not closer to them.”
“You think that because you’re here in New York,” Romeo countered. “If you travel to other parts of the world, you realize the whole criminal underworld revolves around the Russian bratvas, the Yakuza, and the Triads. Places like Australia don’t even have an Italian presence anymore—not any worth mentioning. It’s all Russian, Japanese, and Chinese. They’re the only players left. We’ll die out if we don’t adapt to modern conditions.”
“I think maybe you don’t know nearly as much as you think you do,” I growled.
“Let’s not talk about business at the dinner table.” Gia held out her hand to Romeo. “Tell me more about what you do when you’re overseas—when you aren’t working on your father’s business.”
He beamed back at her, and her cheeks colored. I spotted Cesare fuming on her other side, especially when she almost touched Romeo right in front of both of us.
“I like everything!” Romeo blathered. “I study the local music, the food, I go sailing, I go to the theater—whatever is going on locally. It’s all fascinating.”
“I’d love to do that! Have you ever gone to South America?”
He snapped his fingers and pointed at her. “No, but I’d love to. That’s next on my list, but I don’t think my father is very interested in it. He pays for me to travel on business, so he thinks anything else is a waste of time.”
She burst out laughing, and her cheeks flushed even more. Her hair spilled over her cheeks, and she looked more beautiful and captivating than ever.
Romeo couldn’t take his eyes off her. Could they really have this much chemistry for each other on his first night here?
I glanced over at Cesare. If looks could kill, both Romeo and Gia would have been dead already, but neither of them noticed.
“I’ve always been fascinated by South America,” she told him, “but my father said the same thing as yours when I asked if I could go there to travel around. I have some really great books on Venezuela and Peru. They’re over in the library. I could show them to you if you’re interested.”
“That would be great,” Romeo replied.
“Let’s go!” She waved him toward her and started to push her chair back.
“Hold it, Princess,” I told her. “We’re in the middle of dinner here. You can’t leave now.”
“We can eat dinner anytime. Come on, Romeo. One of the books has full-color prints of the Andes and Patagonia. You’ll love it.”
Romeo glanced over at me, but Gia was already pushing back her chair, standing up, and walking away. Romeo hesitated a second and then hurried after her.
Nicky shot me the most brutal scowl I’d ever seen and then stalked off to follow them.
“What the fuck just happened?” Cesare snarled under his breath.
I wilted into my chair. “She’s actually going to give him a chance. I thought this afternoon that she was just being diplomatic or maybe that she wanted to use Romeo to figure out what Marco was up to. Now I see she’s really going to go through with this. She’s going to give him a shot at marrying her.”
“What the hell am I doing here, then?” he demanded. “It’s stupid for both of us to be here at the same time.”