Page 127 of Thin Lines (Donati Bloodlines 2)

The men knew, anyway.

The rest was semantics.

“Well?” Calisto demanded when everyone stayed quiet.“What was the question?”

“Easter is coming up,” Ray said. “They were wonderingif you were going to take over the planning for the dinner that Affonso usuallythrows.”

Shit.

Calisto cleared his throat, choosing his next wordscarefully. “Of course.”

“Where will we have it?” a Capo in the back asked.

“Where we usually do,” Calisto answered. “At theDonati home. Affonso’s daughters will still be coming home for vacation. Idon’t want them feeling out of place, and none of you should make them feelthat way, either. The same goes for the man’s wife.”

“Yes, boss,” came the collective response.

Calisto loathed how easy this was, and how simple themen made it. If it were a different time, if he were a different man, he mightactually want this. But it wasn’t different—he wasn’t.

Unfortunately, the choice was not his to make.

Someone had already made it for him.

Calisto

“Close your eyes,” Calisto said from inside thehallway.

Emma huffed in the kitchen. “Calisto, come on.”

“Do it, or you’ll ruin the surprise.”

“Fine.”

“Are your eyes closed?”

“No,” Emma muttered.

“Emmy, you’re ruining this for me.”

Emma laughed under her breath, saying, “Fine, my eyesare closed. You’re still being ridiculous.”

No, he wasn’t.

“All right, I’m coming into the kitchen. Keep youreyes closed, or else.”

Walking around the corner into the kitchen entryway,Calisto caught the sight of Emma’s smirk. Thankfully, her eyes were closed. Itwas one thing in his favor today.

He held the small shoebox-sized gift in his hands,trying to keep it steady. He didn’t want to shake the contents up. It wouldn’tbe good when he opened the top for Emma to see what was inside.

“I don’t know why you’re doing this,” Emma said, stillkeeping her eyes closed. “I told you that I didn’t want anything for mybirthday.”

“I know,” Calisto replied. “And I didn’t buy you athing, Emmy. I happened upon this when I was doing some paperwork up at theclub. One of the servers found him out back.”

Emma’s brow puckered in the cutest way. “Him—what?”

Calisto smiled. “Open your eyes.”

He was standing right in front of her. She opened hereyes, and her gaze landed on the box he was holding. It was wrapped in shinyblue paper with a big red bow on the top. He had poked a few holes in the side,just to be safe.