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“Why does that not surprise me?” Vespa muttered.
“Come on. What do you have to lose?”
“My dignity?” The damn straw was ruined. She folded it to the side and drained the rest of the ginger ale directly from the glass.
“That’s not an issue.” His smile had fallen again. “Vespa, I might not like you, but I respect the hell out of you. The Coronellas couldn’t have a better enforcer. I mean that.”
She hesitated. Antonio Di Salvo had a way of faking his emotions. Just because he looked so damn sincere meant nothing.
“Let me help,” he offered.
“Do I look like such a sad sack to you?” she asked, forcing another scowl. This one didn’t fit as well.
That serious expression was back on his face. His hand reached out, one finger stroking over her nose and making it tingle. “You always look a little sad, Vespa. That’s what your anger is hiding.”
She batted his hand away as her chest tightened. “And your smile is hiding your anger. It’s no different.”
The smile in question was back. “That’s accurate. I’d still like to help you leave here a little happier tonight.”
“Getting laid won’t make me any happier.” The truth of the sentiment had her shoulders slumping. Going to a bar had been a huge mistake.
“It really has been a while,” he remarked. “You’re wrong. I feel fantastic after I’ve come.”
“Eww. Just stop it, Di Salvo.”
“Help me out. What’s your type?” He was scanning the bar again. “The guy before was skinny and clean-shaven, but I would have thought bearded and beefy was more your style.”
She groaned. “Not you too! I do not have the hots for Montrell. We’re just friends.” The embarrassment of his wife catching her in his lap returned. That’s why she was here. One of the reasons anyway.
She would like to have sex more than once in her life, and with someone who wouldn’t attack her afterward. Was that too much to ask?
Antonio lifted an eyebrow. “I wasn’t the one who brought up Coronella.”
“Everyone assumes I’m having sex with him. Don’t act like you didn’t think the same.”
“I didn’t,” Antonio said. He didn’t look away when she met his gaze. “I can read people pretty well, Vespa. I know when people are hiding something.”
She swiveled toward him, her arm resting on the bar. “Really? What about me then?”
“You?” His lips looked softer when he wasn’t smiling. “You don’t hide things. Everything you think, all that you are, it’s all right out in the open.” His head tilted to the side as he studied her. “That’s a second thing I like about you.”
There was no reason him saying he liked her should have created bubbles in her stomach. The fact that it did pissed her off. “Stop trying to work me. I’m never going to like you, Di Salvo. Give it up.”
His eyes sparkled. “Oh, give a little. You definitely think I’m handsome.”
She shrugged. “Well, sure, what’s not to like in that regard? Snazzy suits accentuating that hot body of yours, and this hair.” She brushed it off his forehead. Fuck. The dark wave felt soft to the touch. “I totally get why most of the women in this bar want to see what you’re packing, but that doesn’t mean I want the same. You said it yourself. We’d be terrible together.”
“Hmm, so I’m your type physically. Got it.” He returned to scanning the bar. “That narrows your choices down a little.”
She snorted. “Don’t go thinking you’re God’s gift.”
“No, but my level of handsome isn’t a dime a dozen,” he murmured. “There are a few possibilities. You ready to let me do this?”
“Why?” Vespa asked.
Antonio’s gaze moved back to her face. “Why what?”
“Why push this? What’s in it for you?” Her suspicion rose.
