Page 17

If there was one thing Nadia understood, it was the less you talked, the least attention you drew to yourself. Her friend, Haley, had perfected that.

She was at least thankful Leo’s laugh had drawn Dante’s attention, and it was as if his anger began to slowly dissipate.

“Here.” Nadia scooped half her rice onto Leo’s plate, and then the rest onto Amo’s. It was actually really good and seasoned to perfection, but she didn’t mind letting them have it instead. Finally, she took a piece of Leo’s tuna and placed it on her plate, but as she did, she would have sworn his eye, that was as deep and blue as the ocean, had seemed mystified. Unsure what caused it, she knew not to draw attention to it as she then, riskily, went to take a piece of tuna off Amo’s plate and managed to reach across the table to plop it onto Dante’s.

Dante stared down at his plate, just as dumbfounded as the boys were that she had just done that.

“Go on,” she spat after a few silent, awkward moments. “Eat up.”

All three men picked their forks back up and ate.

She felt as if she was testing the waters, seeing what she could and couldn’t get away with, with Dante, but she was almost certain it was the fact that Leo still held an almost hidden tilt to his lips that kept the big, bad mafioso silent.

“The rice is good,” Amo practically groaned in thankfulness that there was something he liked.

“It is …” Leo agreed quietly. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” She smiled over at the teen, suddenly grateful her attempted escape had been unsuccessful. Clearing her throat, she got her arising emotions under control. “Let’s hope you two will at least like the dessert.”

“Did someone say dessert!” Lila came back out, holding a pie.

Amo grumbled under his breath, “Oh Lord,” but quickly ate his words when she set it down in front of them with some plates.

“Key lime pie!”

Nadia’s mouth was already watering, “That looks wonderful. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Lila beamed, looking at her almost empty glass of wine. “Can I get you more wine?”

“No, thank you. I’m not much of a drinker.” As soon as she said the words, she regretted them as the Caruso soldier rolled his eyes again.

“Of course, you’re no—”

A kick from Dante’s direction had him stopping his words.

This time, however, Amo looked at his boss fiercely. “Ow.”

Playfully smirking, she hoped he had hit him in the same spot. She was pretty sure he had, as that one did appear to hurt.

“Would you care for a refill, Mr. Caruso?” Lila asked.

“Yes.” He wasted no time handing her the now empty glass, clearly needing it.

Lila took his glass to the bartender and was back with it in a simple moment.

“Thank you.” Dante didn’t even let the glass hit the table, downing half of the brown liquid immediately.

Finishing up their main dishes, neither Leo nor Amo could stomach another piece of tuna, while Dante and Nadia enjoyed theirs. Not able to stand them struggling any longer, she took her last bite then pushed her plate off to the side.

Grabbing the pie from the middle of the table, she took a clean spoon to taste test it first. “It’s good,” she announced to them, who clearly did not trust the chef to replace a simple ingredient for a fancy one.

You could practically see the relief on Amo’s face.

Taking the small plates, she cut a big helping of the key lime pie and handed it to Amo.

“Thanks,” he said, digging in.

Cutting off another huge piece, she handed the plate over to Leo with a sweet smile. Again, she swore his single deep blue eye became a little glossy.

“Thank you …” The teenager took the plate politely. “Nadia.”

“You’re welcome,” she said with a beam.

This time, she cut a perfect triangle piece that wasn’t nearly as big and held it out to Dante across the table.

He stared at the pie critically, not taking it. “Why do I get a smaller piece?”

Nadia was the one to roll her eyes this time. Men.

Setting that piece down in front of her, she took the last dessert plate and cut another piece, this time bigger than hers but still not quite as big as Leo’s and Amo’s had been. And she did so smugly, out of spite. Handing this piece to him, she could see his eyes had drifted over to Amo’s plate, noticing it was still smaller than his.

“Take it, or you won’t get any,” she warned him with an overly sweet tone.

Dante quickly took it while the boys’ eyes had grown slightly larger, but they didn’t dare say a single word.

That’s right. See if I cut you a piece of damn pie again.

About to pick up her spoon to eat her own piece, she couldn’t resist pissing the man off once more …