Her lips tighten. “I wish Pop felt that way.”
Ah. The heart of the matter. “He doesn’t want you studying?”
“He didn’t really want me to go to college in the first place. It was just ‘the thing to do.’” I’ve never seen such sarcastic air quotes in my life. “Now I’m supposed to shut up, sit down, be a proper little lady, and marry the guy he’s picked out for me. And that’s it. Nothing else.”
“Be a proper little mob girl.”
“Exactly.” She shudders out another breath. “God. I’m sorry, Cain. I didn’t want to be this way tonight. I just wanted to see you…have some fun.”
I mull her words. She’s probably telling the truth, but I can’t help but think there’s more to it. She might not even realize it herself. “You just wanted to get out of the house.” And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
“Well, yeah, you could say that.” She starts to add something else, but the waiter returns and drops off our food. Jessica’s plate of angel hair pasta, chopped tomato, and olive oil barely looks like enough to feed a kid. Me? I’ve got a slab of steak the size of my head.
The waiter tops off our wineglasses and departs. I dig into the steak—medium rare and perfect as usual. Jessica seems to gather herself and takes a few bites of salad then samples the pasta.
“You know…” I venture after a moment. “I can barely stand being around your dad. It must be hell having to live with him.”
She shakes her head. “You have no idea.”
“So…all this with me. With us. It’s really just to get you out of the house. Maybe yank his chain a little. Am I right?”
Her gaze jerks up to mine as if I’ve accused her of kicking a kitten. But she doesn’t deny it.
“You know, it’s okay. I get it.” She’s quiet, just letting me talk. “And I mean, what should I care if I get some smoking-hot sex out of it?”
Her eyes narrow as if she’s trying to decide whether she should be offended. She probably should be. Somehow I don’t think she is. “That’s not all it is,” she says after a few moments.
“You sure about that?”
Again, she considers her answer. And then she smiles. “No. Not really.”
I laugh and pat her hand. “So…what do you have to study to become a physician’s assistant?”
She entertains me for the next several minutes talking about her classes. I try hard to pay attention—I really do—but it’s not exactly scintillating material. Still, she’s passionate about it, and I like the way her eyes light up as she’s talking. So I watch her eyes and her mouth and wonder if she’s ever given a guy a blowjob. I could teach her that. That’d be a good addition to her syllabus.
After the meal I’m surprised when she takes me up on my offer of dessert and coffee. After the boring meal I figured she’d beg off any major calories. But she orders tiramisu and gives me a sly look. “Plain-ish pasta means I can have dessert.”
“Ah, so there was a method to your madness.”
“Always.”
Watching her eat tiramisu is like watching her have an orgasm. I can barely focus on my wedge of chocolate cake. All I want to do is focus on her face and think about what I could do to put that same kind of ecstasy there. My dick’s gone hard—no surprise there—and my hands twitch with a need to touch her. Finally I give up and lay my fork down.
She finishes a few seconds later and gives me a look like she knows exactly what I’ve been thinking. At least she’s smiling again. The faint redness her tears left around her eyes has faded.
“We should get out of here,” I suggest. “You want to go someplace a little more…”
I don’t even have to finish the sentence. She knows just where I’m going with that. “Yes. I do.”
#
With the bill paid and a generous tip tucked under one of the empty plates, we head out of the restaurant. I’ve got one thing on my mind—getting inside Jessica. She’s relaxed, far more than she’s been all night. Whether it was the wine, the coffee, or the tiramisu, I don’t care. Whatever’s going to get her into my bed is fine with me. Her hand clamped in mine, I’ve got a one-track mind and I’m not afraid to use it.
Then, suddenly, she stops. I pull up short, still holding her hand and realizing she’s not moving. I turn around.
Well. Just when I thought we were going to get out of here without any issues. Joy.
Carmine Romano is standing just behind us in the restaurant lobby. He’s got hold of Jessica’s elbow, and he’s eyeing her up and down like she’s a piece of meat. I turn to face them both.