Page 65 of John + Siena: The Complete Duet

He said it anyway.

“Well, to have good vibes between our families, and this new arrangement with you and Darren, I think you should come over and have dinner.”

John stilled. “I beg your pardon?”

“Dinner,” Matteo repeated. “At my home with my family. It’s the proper thing to do. Deals are best made over good food, John.”

Not in the Marcello family.

Business was not had at the dinner table. Still, the rules his life were governed by banged around in his head.

Never shun a boss. Never, John. Even if he is not your boss.

John swallowed his pride, and the disgust weighing heavily on his tongue. Now, it just weighed down his stomach. “Sure, dinner. You let me know when, boss.”

Matteo clapped John on the shoulder, and then moved on.

It was a strange encounter for more reasons than one, but mostly because John knew bosses didn’t have their hands directly in the pot of business. They oversaw a lot, and directed people as to the business. They didn’t, however, step right in.

It was almost like Matteo had been waiting for him.

John glanced at the beefy, tall Calabrese Don as he headed for the bar of the restaurant. Then, he turned back to leave the place.

He needed to get out of there.

The sight of someone far more beautiful coming in through the doors stopped him straight up. She was lost in the tablet she held in one hand, and the earbuds in her ears. Her hair was a bit longer, and darker like she might have gotten it tinted a bit. The knee-length dress and ankle-high boots she wore were far more conservative than the clothes he had taken off her that night.

Fuck.

He could still kind of taste the salt of her skin on the back of his tongue when he looked at her. He could hear those pretty little sounds she made in bed when she was underneath him, and begging for more.

Like music, really.

John slipped up because sex was supposed to be a no-go until his therapist gave the okay, but damn, Siena had been worth that. He was still a little bit tripped up on her considering he still hadn’t found any female worth looking at since the day he saw her on the bus.

Fuck his life for being like this.

And then, Siena looked up—sea-blue gaze and still perfect.

John stared back.