Page 58 of Matteo

“Did you happen to see who was out there when we got here?”

“Pinky, I don’t know anyone in the city. So no, I did not happen to see who was out there when we got here.”

Izzy pulls me up, and I almost trip over the six-inch black heels Liana brought. They’re a tad bit too big for me, so it’ll be a miracle if I make it through the rest of the night without eating shit at some point.

Dragging me to the curtains shielding us from the club, she points to a table in the front with three men relaxed in the loungers. “Thatis Giuseppe Silvestri.”

Giuseppe Silvestri.

“He’s the one in the middle, Mauricio is the one to his left, and then the one on his right is. . .” I turn to see what’s caused her to stop in the middle of her sentence.

She’s still focused on the table of men, but her dropped jaw and wide eyes have me questioning what’s going on in that head of hers. Shaking her shoulder, I ask, “Are you okay?”

As if she’s been pulled out of a trance, Izzy quickly averts her gaze to mine. “Yeah, sorry, I totally spaced out there for a second. Um, the other one, next to Giuseppe, that’s his son, Niccolò Silvestri. But forget about that. Amateur night starts any minute now, and I bribed the guy to put you on first.”

“You did what now?”

I glance back at Mauricio and notice he’s being taken by one of the strippers somewhere.

The private room.

That means Matteo should be distracted with Mauricio for however long it takes for the stripper to do her thing back there.

“The faster you get on that stage, the quicker you get off it and onto the floor.”

Right. Because I need to get on the floor to get close enough to the guys to talk. “Okay. I can do this,” I say, talking myself up.

“Yes you can,” Izzy cheers me on. “Now this might not be the best time to bring this up, but do you haveanykind ofdancing experience?” I can tell by her expression that she’s expecting me to say no.

“Yes, I know how to work a stripper pole, Pinky.”

Izzy’s mouth falls open.

“What? Shocked?”

“Um, yes, absolutely.”

“My mom introduced me to pole dancing class a few years ago. It’s just this thing we do, and the only reason I’m in the shape I’m in.”

Izzy checks me out and nods. “That makes sense because your bodyisphenomenal. Short but still banging,” she adds with a giggle.

I playfully shove her arm. “I’ll be fine out there, but what about you? What’re you going to do?”

She waves me off and purses her lips. “Oh, girl. You didn’t think you were the only one who’s taken pole dancing classes, did you?”

“Seriously?”

“Oh yeah. We even have a pole in the gym at our house. It’s the greatest workout of all time.”

“I’m pretty sure you might be my spirit animal.”

“Thanks,” she says with a flattered smile. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“Blondie! Blondie! Has anyone seen Blondie?” a woman shouts from the hair and makeup room.

Izzy shakes my shoulders, reminding me. “That’s you,Blondie.”

Oh shit.