Page 56 of The Need to Know

Ezekiel wasn’t shy about grabbing the fork on the plate and trying the pasta. He ate it with a smile before turning and letting me try it.

This was so unreal.

The gnocchi and pesto were a perfect blend of olive oil, cream, and herbs. One thing that really made Dellucci’s popular was their homemade authentic Italian pastas. And now I knew why.

I covered my mouth as I chewed. “Oh, that’s so good!”

“Please, eat up,” Giorgio insisted.

“Hey!” A loud voice entered the room from the kitchen’s exit. In walked a young man dressed in a fine suit with his dark hair slicked back. He approached us with a faux look of anger on his tan face. “Hey, Gino, don’t fill ’em up before we charge ’em!”

Giorgio laughed a big and loud laugh before going back to work.

The man and Ezekiel exchanged hugs and pats to the back before the man went to plant a big kiss on Ezekiel’s cheek. With me, he cooled his approach, locking eyes with me as he took my hand and kissed the back of it.

“Nastasia, this is Carmine Dellucci, and Carmine, this is Nastasia,” Ezekiel introduced us.

“Pleasure to meet you, Nastasia.” Carmine’s warm and soft hands kept mine in his grasp. “Welcome.”

Oh wow. This was really happening. Ezekiel knew a member of the Dellucci family.

All I could do was look to him with amazement as Carmine showed us out to a private table set off from the main floor of the restaurant. In a quiet alcove was a table for two. On it was a framed black and white photo of an older Italian couple. As we were seated, I even spotted a curtain available for privacy.

Holy shit.

“Thanks for doing this,” Ezekiel said to Carmine.

“Always for you, E.” Carmine brushed it off as if it were nothing. He couldn’t have been that much older than me. He leaned down and shook my hand once again. “Hope you enjoy. Your server will be with you shortly.”

And then he was going, breezing into the blur of people in the lower half of the restaurant.

Dellucci’s was one of those esteemed establishments where patrons had to dress up to come and eat. Ezekiel’s business style made him far more appropriate than my loose overalls and white tee.

I looked at Ezekiel and he gave me this bashful smile. “How the hell did you pull this off?”

“Carmine wanted into VIP one night and I threw him a bone and he tossed me back a solid.” Ezekiel shrugged as if it were that simple. “He’s the grandson of the founding members of the place. This table is usually reserved for his parents, or family only. I mostly come here alone because this is a good spot for privacy, but since you’ve never had them, I figured I had to let you experience Dellucci’s.”

First the picnic, now this?

I was ten seconds from pulling the curtain shut for privacy so I could mount him.

But this wasn’t the time or place.

“Thank you, Ezekiel,” I said softly.

“It’s never a problem. Now, he gets me in the door, but he doesn’t go easy on the price, so you better not order no chicken fingers,” Ezekiel teased as he placed his cloth on his lap.

“I’ll pay for mine.”

He furrowed his brows. “No.”

“Really, it’s not a big deal.”

He chuckled. “I respect women and all that, but I’m not a man if I take a woman out and make her pay for anything.”

There was no fighting on the subject, I could tell. In a way, he was old school, and I had a feeling his upbringing had a lot to do with it. I didn’t even know his parents, but I admired the manners they instilled in their son.

I grabbed the leather-bound menu and scoured its pages. My stomach already ached to eat each and every thing Dellucci’s had to offer. “It all looks so good.”