“Here she comes. Stop talking about her.” Antonio reached for a second piece of bread, and Robert deftly grabbed the butter.
“Come on, Pop. Too much of this stuff isn’t good for you.”
“You, who ordered a second beer in fifteen minutes, is telling me this?”
Mike let the familiar argument fade into the background as he watched Gina approach the table. As conservatively as she was dressed, she didn’t have a timid way of walking or carrying herself. As unbecoming as her hairstyle was, the severity of it accentuated her exotic eyes and full lips, and a couple of heads turned when she passed a table of four men.
Antonio stood when she got to the table, and he gave Robert and Mike the evil eye until they gave in and followed his lead. Gina reclaimed her seat, pressing her lips together as if trying to hide a smile.
She caught Mike watching her and quickly looked away. When Antonio tried to take the butter, the other two started in again. The genuine affection between father and son always impressed Mike, and he barely paid attention to the petty squabbling.
Apparently Gina didn’t, either. She glanced around the restaurant, her hands folded primly on the table, yet barely able to contain the excitement in her eyes.
Poor kid. Had she really been hidden away at a convent school all her life? Mike didn’t doubt it. The Scarpettis clung to some odd traditional values. Even Antonio had his quirks in that department, although he’d never admit it.
Mike continued to watch how her eyes widened with interest as she took in the rowdy but good-natured interplay at the bar. The TV positioned high on the corner wall was showing a baseball game, and some fevered cheering escalated the noise level.
When Cindy, a cocktail waitress in a black miniskirt and a tight blouse endorsing the Mets walked by with a tray of mugs, Gina’s eyes widened even more. She watched the woman deliver the beer to a table and blinked in astonishment when the redhead leaned over to unload the tray. The way the skirt rode up, not much was left to the imagination.
“So, Gina, what kind of things do you like to do?” Mike asked to distract her. And himself.
Her gaze settled on him. “Me? Well, I read a lot.” Her shrug was apologetic. “I sew and I spend time on the computer. I am afraid I do not have a very exciting life.”
“Nothing wrong with that. Mine isn’t all that exciting, either.” Unfortunately that was the truth. All he did was work.
“But this is a city full of fun and excitement and…” Her voice rose with excitement, drawing her uncle and cousin’s attention. She gave them a serene smile.
Antonio gave her a patronizing one back.
Mike sighed. Poor kid. It wouldn’t kill him to show her the sights a little. He’d have to check the entertainment listings. Maybe The Lion King was still on Broadway.
2
GINA WAVED GOODBYE to her uncle and cousin and blew them a kiss as the elevator doors closed. She could not wait to get out of their office and go to the apartment. She loved her family, but she hated the black dress more. Mama had insisted she wear it on the plane, and Gina had figured it was a small price to pay for a month’s freedom in New York City.
“Where is your car?” she asked when they got outside.
Mike gave her a funny look as he stepped off the sidewalk onto the street. “I don’t have one. We’ll take a cab.”
“You do not have one? I thought everybody in America had two cars and two televisions.”
Laughing, Mike raised his arm to hail a cab. “Not in New York they don’t. It would cost too much for me to keep a car here. Anyway, I don’t need one.”
She liked the way his light-brown hair curled at the ends and touched the back of his white collar. He was tall, almost a foot taller than her, and she liked that, too. “Uncle Antonio…he does not pay you enough money?”
His sea-green eyes unexpectedly met hers, and she felt a tingle at the back of her neck. “I make a very good salary. Keeping a car simply isn’t sensible.”
Gina sighed. Sensible. She did not want to hear that word ever again. Regina Marie, please be sensible, Mama had said a hundred times since Gina had returned from school. You cannot have an apartment in the city, she had said. Living alone would not be sensible for a single girl about to be married.
Marriage. Gina cringed at the thought. She had nothing against the institution, but the family expected her to marry Mario, who owned the neighboring vineyard. But he was old, almost forty, and as exciting as shriveling grapes.
Sometimes when she was home from school she would stroll through the vineyards in the evening and she could see the lights in his house go out at ten o’clock. Her friends did not even leave their houses for the clubs until nine.
“Gina?”
She blinked and saw that a cab had pulled over and Mike was holding the door open for her. Arranging the bulky coat she had put back on over the dress, she slid across the back seat, where she stayed close to the middle of the seat.
Mike put her luggage in the trunk, got in, gave the driver an address and settled back and loosened his tie. His suit was made of a dark-blue lightweight material that clung to his thighs. He was thin, but not too thin, just right, really, with no spare flesh around his middle. Without the jacket his shoulders were broad and straight.
He was definitely the kind of guy the girls at school talked about when they had been lucky enough to sneak away to the city for a night. Gina had been brave enough only once, and she had almost gotten caught by Sister Maria Therese. Even though she had made it over the fence unseen, she had worried the entire night that her empty bed would be discovered and so had no fun at all.
Mike continued to look out the window and she edged an inch closer until their thighs nearly touched. He rubbed his shadowed chin, pushed a hand through his hair, but did not even give her a second glance.
Gina sighed. She hated being ignored almost as much as she hated the black dress. But that was all right. She would soon get a reaction from Mike Mason.
ANTONIO HAD CALLED ahead to alert the doorman at his building to let them in. Mike left one of Gina’s suitcases with the guy while he escorted her to Antonio’s apartment. Leaving the bag was a safety net. In case he had to make a quick getaway.
Something about Gina was giving him hot flashes. Maybe it was her subtle vanilla scent or her soft unconscious sighs. Or maybe it was the innocent way her thigh kept brushing against his as they’d sat in the cab.
Gina walked ahead of him, her swaying hips revealing a few curves. She had them in the right places, that was for sure, not to mention full high breasts not even the ugly black dress could hide.
Shit! What a jerk. He was supposed to be watching Gina. Not watching her.
Ever since he and Robert had noticed that blonde outside his office a few days ago, Mike had been acutely aware of how long it’d been since he’d been horizontal with some sweet young thing. Maybe he ought to lower his standards for a night. Be like Robert and pick someone up at a bar who had the same idea in mind.
But that wasn’t his thing. He’d have to be really horny, and the situation wasn’t that bad yet. But he had gone so far as to find out that the blonde’s name was Heidi and that she was a sales rep for one of their outside distributors. He’d also found out that she’d asked about him.
That gave him the green light. Now he needed time away from his baby-sitting duty.
“Do you know which bedroom will be mine?” Gina asked once they’d gotten inside the apartment.
“Why?”