Page 16 of Corso DeLuca

I can’t keep my eyes from savoring her. “Curves are beautiful, and yours need care and feeding, princess. Your body can bring men to their knees.”

Behind lowered lashes, she gives me a look that screams, just fuck me already.

“Well damn. I wish you’d been in my neighborhood when I was known as the fat twin with a gap in my teeth.”

“There’s two of you?”

“Yeah,” she smiles, chasing a slippery fingerling across her plate with a fork. “Identical down to our toothy grin. She’s the oldest by six and a half minutes.”

“Hmm, six degrees of separation.” Using my knife and fork, I subdue the wayward potato, spearing the steamy, soft middle on a tine.

She frowns. “No,” she whispers. “My sister has been gone a long time. Her and my mom.”

Her expression is pained.

“My mother was taken from me at a young age,” I confide. I tense, shocked that I shared such a painful time in my life. Jessie sensing my venture away from my comfort zone, covers my hand with hers.

“The pain dulls, but it never fades,” she whispers.

“No, it doesn’t, but we adapt,” I say, preferring not to mention how her presence has eased my numbness, the return of sensation, and sexual anticipation.

She nods. “I suppose.”

“Open.” I place my offering just out of reach, wanting her to work for it. She hesitates a beat, and then obeys. I reward her with a slice of beef.

“Yum,” she sighs.

“Good?”

She nods. “That might be the best meat I’ve ever tasted. Can I ask you a question?”

“Nope.” I wink.

“How did you know it was me in the lobby?”

Greg trained her well. I wondered when she’d circle back to the interrogation. She’s unrelenting in her pursuit of truth. Will she be disappointed with mine?

“Gregorio showed me your picture once.” I admit to being a tad bit jealous that he’d been the one to find Jessie first. Funny how I was the oldest, but he won people over, even our father doted on him.

Angling her head, Jessie watches me. “Why?”

“Because I asked him to. You look good in red heels, by the way.” Gregorio’s conversation piqued my interest about the new woman who’d entered his life. Ours was a unique relationship. Me the heir to the DeLuca fortune, him the son of my father’s mistress. Jessie deems me unworthy based on the deadly branches in my family tree. Would Greg still be her Mr. Perfect if she knew the truth?”

A blush steals across her cheeks.

“I remember that night. Greg took me dancing. Are you saying I grabbed your attention way back then?”

“You did,” I admit. She’s beautiful like this. Relaxed, with the weight of the next piece of evidence drawing her brows up in suspicion.

“Did Greg know you were thirsty for his girl?”

A note of irritation stirs in my chest, but I bury it. “I think he did.”

Is that the true reason you sent her to me, brother? Knowing I’d protect her at all costs? My chest tightens. It’s a question I will never have an answer to.

“Hey,” Jessie smiles, “you okay?”

“Yeah.” I slice through the lobster, swallowing a piece before offering her the same. Flavor burst on my tongue, and I imagine Jessie’s tasting sweeter, yet just as addictive. “Try.”