Page 40 of The Mafia's Surprise Gift

Why couldn’t he just leave me alone?

I dismissed the hostess with a wave and approached Rocco’s table.

“Have you no shame?” I snapped the moment I was within earshot. Dino’s head snapped upward at the sound of my voice, then his mouth parted into a small O while his gaze wandered slowly down my body. I lifted my chin and preened slightly, satisfied that he could see just how good I looked while knowing he would never touch me.

“Excuse me?” Rocco lifted his glass and took a sip, then he very slowly dragged his tongue over his full lower lip.

“You think I don’t know everything by now? Sending Jian to run into me so, what, you could keep more tabs on me by pretending he was just some normal guy?” I snapped. Out of the corner of my eye, Jian’s stance shifted slightly, but he didn’t speak.

“You think pretty highly of yourself,” Rocco replied, and his eyes narrowed a fraction. “As much as I’d love to play into that kind of self-obsessed fantasy, your meeting with Jian was pure chance.”

“Oh, really?” Heat prickled down my spine as a swift curl of uncertainty rushed through my gut.

“Yes. Really. He didn’t know who you were until we told him later. That really was all an accident.” Rocco’s head tilted to a forty-five-degree angle. “Would you have liked it if I'd put that much effort into it?”

“It would have been the most effort you ever put into anything,” I snapped, trying to ignore the warmth sweeping across my cheeks. I clutched my purse a little tighter. “Then again, it makes sense. I can’t ever imagine your committing that much to something.”

“Are you sure about that?” His hazel eyes flashed at me over the edge of his glass while he drank.

“Yes.” I straightened my shoulders. “Anyway, I’m here to remind you to leave me alone. All of you. I’m here to eat dinner, and I don’t need you thinking it’s an invitation.”

“That depends,” Rocco said. He lowered his glass and his fingertips danced across the edge. “Who are you eating dinner with?”

“What does it matter to you?” I snapped, not wanting to admit I was here alone.

“That’s private.”

“Who I eat dinner with is a private matter for you?” I scoffed sharply. “Don’t be so stupid.”

“You know, I’ll find out the moment he gets here.”

“Maybe it’s a woman.”

“Hot.”

“You’re gross,” I snapped. The longer he watched me with that unblinking gaze, the more trapped and exposed I felt. Like he could see right through my dress—right through my Spanx holding everything in place. I didn’t like how out of control that made me feel.

“If you entertain women in your bed now, I’m happy to give you some advice,” Rocco continued, and his stupid, handsome face melted into a sexy smirk. “You remember how good I am.”

“Actually, no,” I remarked sharply. “I don’t. You were barely a whisper in my exploits.”

“Of which there have been many, I’m sure.”

“So many. I mean, even since coming back here, I’ve snogged Dino and Jian and not given a thought to you. Jealous?”

Dino’s knuckles bled white around the tablet he was holding. He didn’t look away, either, acting like another line of rope keeping me in place.

“That you kissed my friends?” Rocco glanced up at Dino, then back at Jian. When he turned back to me, his smile was easy. “I don’t care. I trust them with my life, and no better men exist than them.”

Honestly, not the reaction I was expecting. I wanted him to be annoyed, to take some power back and wipe that smug look off his face. I hated that he acted like he knew me.

“Anyone else, however,” Rocco continued, “then, maybe I’d have a problem.”

“Even Zack’s father?” I shot out before I could stop myself. As if Rocco and Zack’s father weren’t one and the same.

Rocco’s entire demeanor shifted.

17

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