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I snorted out a laugh. “No, it’s not. You’re terrible, fussing at that man like that.”

Gino’s face split into a grin. “You’re laughing.”

“Because you’re ridiculous.”

He shrugged. “Long as you keep smilin’, I’ma keep doin’ it.”

I tried my best not to smile after that, if nothing else than to save the server from the longest night of his life.

“Did you rent this place out so nobody would see us?” I had to ask. I wanted to know where his mind was at. Not that I would complain. I didn’t have to worry about prying eyes, which was definitely something I had been worried about.

“No.”

I cocked my head. “Then why?”

He sighed dramatically. “How many times I gotta tell you I don’t like people?”

“So you rent out entire restaurants anytime you want to eat out?”

“Yes.”

I gawked at him. “Okay . . . Uh, Gino? What exactly do you do for work?” It wasn’t until that moment that I realized I knew next to nothing about this man, yet I had such deep feelings for him. None of it made sense.

He smirked. “Now you askin’ the right questions, Yaya. Once we get our damn wine, I’ll tell you everything you need to know and want to know.”

He kind of shouted the part about our wine, and seconds later, the server appeared with the wine, looking flustered. Gino stared the poor man down while he uncorked the bottle and poured into our glasses. It wasn’t until he was gone that Gino finally looked at me again.

I squirmed before I took a sip of the wine. Normally, I tried not to really drink because of my Crohn’s, but I sometimes made an exception, and I thought this was definitely one of those times.

After taking a big gulp, I said, “Well?”

He chuckled. “I make you nervous?”

I shook my head, and that wasn’t a lie. He didn’t make me nervous at all. I now saw how he intimidated other people, but he’d never intimidated me. My nerves came from everything else.

“This situation makes me nervous. Can you please tell me what’s going on?”

He nodded slowly as he peered at me. “Everything I’m ’bout to tell you is honest, but it’s also confidential. There will be some things you may have questions about, but to protect you and myself, I ain’t gonna be able to answer. If after I tell you everything, you don’t want to see me again, I won’t understand, and you gonna just have to get used to seein’ me around, understand?”

I giggled. “I don’t think that’s how it works.” He stared at me, and I squirmed before reaching for my glass of wine again. After another swig, I nodded. “I understand, but if I don’t want to see you, I can assure you I won’t see you.” I meant that. I could be really stubborn when I wanted to, but I also highly doubted that whatever Gino had to say would make me not want to see him again. In my opinion, that would be hard to do.

“That’s why you my fave. You different from other women. You ain’t thirsty, and you got a mind of ya own.”

My cheeks warmed at the compliment. “Tell me why I’m your fave and why I should believe a married man is serious about me.”

Gino leaned back in his chair. “My marriage will be over tomorrow.”

My eyes widened. “Tomorrow?”

He nodded. “Really, it’s been over for over a year now, but officially, tomorrow it’s over. Everything is set in motion, and I’m ready to move on wit’ my life.”

“Can you tell me what happened?”

I didn’t know what I expected Gino to say, but it definitely wasn’t this.

“That’s why we’re here. I can’t ask you to make permanent decisions about me when you don’t understand the truth.

“I guess I should start at the beginning. I met Aniya in high school. We fell in love and got married pretty quickly after high school. She was my best friend for a long time. I ain’t gonna divulge what I do for a living, but let’s just say I’ve made a lot of money from a young age, and goin’ forward, I plan to open up somethin’ else for the upper levels of that building.