“Way you made things easy on Manny today, more proof added to a pile you’ve been givin’ me that you did too, Frankie Concetti,” he whispered back.
“Yeah, but I like the way you did it.”
At that, he gave me surprised satisfaction before his eyes went dark in a way that made my heart race. His hand at my neck pulled me even closer, this time while his head bent to mine.
Then he kissed me. Not a sweep of the tongue, not a hot make out session where I ended up pressed to a wall. But it was deep, it was wet, it was long, and it was amazing.
He lifted his head and looked into my eyes. “Would kill to take that further, but I gotta get to work.”
Yes.
He grew up.
And I liked the way he did.
“You got someone comin’ to keep you company?” he asked.
“Yeah. My girl, Jamie.”
“Good. You two need dinner, call my cell. I’ll send one of the kids with a pie or some rigatoni casserole or whatever.”
The Bianchi rigatoni casserole. Second best to a Bianchi pizza pie, and there were some who (wrongly) would argue it was better.
Jamie needed some of that.
So did I.
“Thanks, Ben,” I whispered.
“Anytime, baby,” he whispered back.
It was me who went up to my toes to touch my mouth to his.
When I rocked back to my heels, he was grinning.
I returned it.
He took that in, his eyes dropping to my mouth to do it, before they came back to mine and he remarked, “I take it you didn’t test the password.”
I shook my head.
His hand swayed me slightly toward the living room when he ordered, “Get on that, honey. I gotta go, but if I gotta talk to Tony, I gotta go.”
“Right,” I murmured and broke from his hold to go to the living room.
The password written on the paper was one digit off the one Benny gave to me. It didn’t end in BB but in BAB, all of his initials. Benito Alessandro Bianchi.
And it worked.
* * * * *
I felt arms tighten around me and the haze of sleep lifted, slightly.
When it did, I felt a whole lot more, that being Benny’s body shifting into mine as he shifted mine to his.
I tilted my head back, opening my eyes, and through the dark I saw Benny.
Half asleep, my belly still did a dip.
“Go back to sleep, baby,” he whispered.
“The night good?” I muttered sleepily.
“The usual insane. Now it’s over. Go back to sleep.”
“Thanks for sending the casserole. Jamie loved it,” I told him, my voice fading.
“You need food anytime, I’ll feed you. Now go back to sleep, honey.”
I dipped my chin, pressed my face into his throat, and mumbled, “Okay, Benny.”
He gave me a squeeze.
I moved to drape an arm over his waist and I gave him one back.
Then I did as told and went back to sleep.
Chapter Nine
You Aren’t Easy
My hands on the steering wheel of my Z, I was aiming her toward Vinnie and Benny’s Pizzeria.
And I was freaking out.
It was the first time I was behind the wheel of my car since I’d driven it to Hart’s house, following the car Hart’s goons had Vi in.
But that wasn’t the reason I was freaking out.
It had been three days since the first day Benny and me tried on the idea of Benny and me to see how it fit.
Since it fit really well, the last three days had been good.
I was definitely healing. I was getting around more, getting exhausted less, and the pain had gone from occasionally sharp and sometimes aching to randomly nagging.
This meant that I’d managed to get a lot done the last three days. Cleaning up my email and making arrangements with my clients to move them to new representatives. Gabbing with friends to let them know I was good and getting caught up with them.
And the last two mornings I went out with Mrs. Zambino on her power walks, which she took the “power” out of in deference to me, but still, the walks felt good. Getting out, moving, getting fresh air in my lungs, and getting a kick out of Mrs. Zambino, who was good company in a crotchety, know-it-all, old lady kind of way.
And the night before, I’d treated Asheeka to one of Benny’s pies at the pizzeria—another obstacle conquered, the first time I’d been there since we lost Vinnie. I’d asked Benny for Sela’s number and called her, asking her to join us, and she’d said yes.
The only weird part was seeing the sign with Benny’s name on it, and the weird part about that was that seeing it felt good. Like I was proud of him and what he was doing but also proud to be the woman who was with him, walking into a restaurant that had his name over the door. Something tangible. Real. Benny didn’t create that pizzeria, but I knew he took over the kitchen what was now years ago and it had lost none of its popularity. Therefore, it was Benny who kept it going.
No, kept it thriving.
So I was proud of him and proud to have a man who could do that want to be with me. And that pride came with a strange sense of peace.
It would have been easy to twist that, to think back to my time with Vinnie, who made all the wrong moves in life and paid for it in an ugly way in the end.
But I didn’t twist it. I walked with the girls into that restaurant with my head held high, knowing my man would wow them with his pie, and knowing if I kept my shit together and didn’t twist things that didn’t need to be twisted, the real wow behind that man was all for me.
The girls and I’d had fun, and with Benny working in the kitchen and not playing watchdog over me, I’d been able to down a couple of glasses of Chianti, which didn’t suck.
Man, who worked the front of the house—sometimes with Theresa, sometimes she’d take the night off—came to our table often, mostly because Sela was there and it was cute how they’d been together for a while and he still took as much time as he could get with her.
Vinnie Senior, like Theresa, had “retired,” but the retirement part was a loose interpretation of the word. Ben told me he came around, stuck his nose in, even worked in the kitchen, helping Ben, or came in so he could have the night off. But he mostly left it to Benny.
Theresa, not one to kick back at night and watch games or cop shows, or kick back at all, had also retired loosely. This meant her form of retirement was still showing at the restaurant more than occasionally to work.
Theresa wasn’t on last night, but with his girl there, Man found his times to come to our table to entertain us.
Ben had also showed once to give me a kiss, the girls a welcome, and to ask Asheeka if she enjoyed the pie.