Slowburn

Chapter 56

         When we got to the restaurant his brother wasn't actually here at work, but Renzo went into the back and asked the chef to make whatever dish it was that he'd told me they don't even serve here. While we waited Renzo started asking me a lot of questions about my family, where I went to school, why I moved to Nola, and all kinds of things that kept me busy talking. 

It only dawned on me that I'd been talking for an hour without ever getting to ask him a single thing. "Why are you secretive? Why don't you answer my questions?" I asked him. We'd since finished the delicious meal he'd ordered us. 

"I'm private, not secretive" he corrected me. "Well, then I am private too" I tried giving him a taste of his own medicine, even though I'd already told him everything. "No you aren't. The first time I met you you were sharing life stories with a homeless man" he called me out. It made me chuckle. 

He covered his mouth from me to hide his smirk. 

        "Can you tell me anything about yourself? I feel like I don't know you" I looked into his eyes to see what I'd find there. He diverted them from me. "That's because you don't know who I am," he deadpanned. "But I want to" the truth slipped out before I could catch it. His eyes came back to mine and he pinned me to my seat with that intense blue gaze. 

"When I was in Italy as a teenager, there was this beautiful fountain, you've probably seen it in movies and stuff, Dante dared me to jump into it naked. My family is big on betting and wagers so dares were like our version of 'man up and do it or you lose', and I don't like losing" he randomly started telling me. 

I leaned my elbow onto the  table we were sitting at in the back left corner of the place, and put my chin in my hand so I could listen on. "Did you do it?" I was curious, and he'd stopped talking.

        Leaning back in his seat he stretched his arms to thread his fingers behind his head and smirk. Oh my. The way his chest broadened and his arms flexed. The visible tattoo, and even his scars from his roughness all looked hot. He made everything hot. Even stretching. 

"Yup. I got chased down a few blocks by the polizia, but I knew those alleys like the back of my hand and hopped a half-wall with nothing but my hand covering my dick" he chuckled. I covered my mouth and gasped. 

"Were you born in Italy?" I asked him. He said yes and told me what province. I guess his dad and grandpa were businessmen back in Italy who owned a lot of different properties, so Renzo has lived all over Italy in so many cool places. 

He moved here when he was 11, but spent every summer in Italy until he started running his own company here. I smiled at everything he told me. I loved this. 

        "I wanna go to Italy. It's on my bucket list" I told him. "Next time I go maybe I'll stuff you in my luggage" he teased me. Renzo's eyes drifted past me, which made me glance over my shoulder to see Rocco had just walked in. I could tell he wasn't expecting us here by the way he paused and looked between us. 

"I know what you're thinking," I sighed. Rocco walked closer to us and stopped beside our booth, but didn't sit down. "What am I thinking?" He tipped his head at me. He's handsome, but there is something about Renzo that sets him apart. He's the man in the room your eyes would follow even with his attractive brother and cousin standing around him.

        "You're wondering why I am here with this psycho" I deadpanned. He tipped his head back and laughed. "I know exactly why you're here. He's bribing you with food. That's his way of apologizing" Rocco chuckled at his brother's expense. Renzo just crossed his arms and quietly watched our exchange. 

Something in my gut twisted when Rocco mentioned knowing his brother's tactics. I guess that meant he did it with every girl. It was stupid to think I was different.