Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 49490 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 247(@200wpm)___ 198(@250wpm)___ 165(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49490 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 247(@200wpm)___ 198(@250wpm)___ 165(@300wpm)
Vanni and Jimmy shrugged and loped out of the kitchen, each armed with a tray of parmesan and red pepper flakes for the newly cleaned tables. Sal shot a meaningfully glance my way and returned to his sauce.
“I think it’s nice that you’re helping the neighbor.” Aunt Sylvie patted my cheek a smidge too hard. “Don’t help too much, though. We don’t want him to win, do we?”
She toddled toward the stove to give Sal a tip or two. I’d normally jump in to save him, but today, I figured he deserved some motherly meddling. I mean, c’mon…he knew me better than to think I’d share sacred recipes. He knew that I—
Oh. Shit.
Sal knew me. Which meant he’d probably put two and two together and realized I was more likely to forward a link to a competitor than to go to his house and give a personal cooking lesson. I bit the inside of my cheek hard, suddenly glad my mom and aunt had shown up before any real fireworks got started.
Except, my mother knew me too, and she had that “look” in her eye. The one that expertly called out my bullshit and reminded me that she wasn’t born yesterday.
I smiled tightly and spared another glance at the time. “I should open up.”
She remained silent, raking me over from head to toe.
“Yes,” she said, finally breaking the silence.
“Ma…whatever you’re thinking, you’re wrong.”
“Am I?”
“Yeah, I—”
“Shh. Come.” She motioned for me to kiss her cheek. I obeyed automatically, breathing in the scent of her familiar perfume. “You like him, I like him. But don’t give out my spices. Not yet.”
“Oh, my God,” I grumbled, grinding my molars in frustration.
“Invite him to dinner. This Sunday,” she insisted, fussing with the tie on my apron.
“Ma…”
“Who?” Aunt Sylvie asked.
“The young man next door. The football player.” Ma hooked a thumb in the general direction of the bagel shop.
My aunt blinked behind her leopard-print readers. “You and the football player? Oh, I like that!”
“No. We’re not—”
“He’s a nice man,” Aunt Sylvie continued, undeterred. “Good-looking too, isn’t he? And big, you know! Big all over probably…if you know what I mean.”
“Okay, that’s enough of that.” Sal clapped brusquely. “Love you both, but…arrivederci.”
Aunt Sylvie raised her hands in surrender. “No problem. I’m hungry for a bagel anyway. Therese?”
My mother squeezed my elbow on her way to the exit. “Me too.”
I met Sal’s gaze across the prep island. “Are the specials on the board?”
“Yeah. Now do you want to talk about what really happened with the bagel boy last night?”
“Nope. Not even a little bit.”
I kept my head down for the rest of the day and channeled my excess nervous energy into making sure our customers were extra satisfied.
“Need more anchovies, Mr. Galbraith? I’ll sneak a couple more on your ’za.”
“Can I refill your soda? Diet Coke, right? You got it. On the house.”
Anything to stay out of the kitchen and ideally, avoid popping next door to see what Rob was up to. I could yank his chain about his pizza bagels and ask how his sauce was coming along. But I didn’t trust myself around him after last night. Especially now that my family had an inkling that I was kind of sort of…you know…
Okay, fine. I liked him. A little.
And the fact that I couldn’t sit without being reminded of how freaking hot the sex had been made me nervous. I wanted him all over again. Thank God we’d agreed to get whatever this was out of our systems. However, we had to be careful with the Cavarettis. They’d could turn a simple fuck-buddy arrangement into a sideshow comedy skit. I had to warn Rob…and still play it cool.
Why did this suddenly feel complicated?
12
MATEO
It seemed less complicated when Rob kneeled at my feet later that evening, sucking me dry while I trembled through the aftershocks of a wicked orgasm. I stilled my hips and released my grip on his hair, panting like a fish out of water.
“Your turn,” Rob growled, shoving his jeans over his ass as he flopped onto his office chair.
I slipped to the floor between his legs and proceeded to blow his mind…through his cock. He had a funny habit of brushing the hair from my eyes as he was about to come. It was oddly sweet and an interesting contrast to his other hand holding me in place as fell he apart.
I swiped my hand across my mouth and gingerly rose, perching on the edge of the desk facing Rob. “Holy shit. That was…”
He hummed. “It was. How did that happen?”
“I don’t know. I think I asked if you had a permit to take the umbrellas out of the bistro tables out front.”
Rob barked a laugh. “You’re such a dickhead.”
“Hey, I should at least get points for originality.”
He pulled his boxer briefs and jeans up. “Poor Mateo. All that effort…just to get your cock sucked. Was it worth it?”