Page 555 of The Tempted

“Baby, no, no, no,” Pipe cried, throwing his head into his hands.

“It’s how you do cheers in America, no?” Oksana questioned, drawing her eyebrows together in confusion as she pointed her thumb over her shoulder at Wolf. “Mr. Wolf does it,” she countered.

Lace snatched her hand away from mine, lifting it to cover her mouth as she laughed. The sound was intoxicating, and I was drawn to her like a moth to a flame. I felt my lips quirk slightly as she brought her free hand to her stomach and continued to laugh.

God, she was beautiful.

Really fucking beautiful.

I thought seeing her smile was the best but watching her laugh was even better.

Her head turned and her eyes widened as she stared at me.

“Is that a smile?” she whispered.

I winked at her before biting the inside of my cheek to keep from grinning fully. I peeled my eyes away from her and concentrated on the food in front of me, catching Jack’s suspicious stare from the corner of my eye.

“Oksana, what part of the Ukraine are you from?” Reina asked, clearing her throat as she stared across the table at Jack.

“The Ukraine is much big,” Oksana offered.

“Got yourself a real bright bulb there, Pipe,” Jack muttered.

“The food is delicious, Reina,” I said, swallowing. “I stand by my statement when I told you, you should wife her,” I told Jack.

“That’s the plan,” he said, looking back at her.

“Are you going to have a big wedding?” Lacey questioned.

“No, something simple,” Reina stated. “Right?” she asked Jack.

“Just tell me when and where, Sunshine, I’ll be there,” he said, winking at her.

A chime sounded beside me and Lace lifted her hips to pull her phone from her pocket. Her fingers worked ferociously on the tiny screen and continued to chime. Her teeth sank into her lower lip as she placed her phone on the table and continued eating, picking the olives out of her salad and placing them onto a napkin.

I leaned over, snatched one of the olives from her napkin and popped it into my mouth before leaning against the back of my chair and stretching my arm over the back of hers. She glanced at me out of the corner of her eye, trying to hide her smile as she picked more olives and placing them into my dish.

“Riggs will be sorry he missed this, Prez. I vote we plan another one of these shindigs,” Pipe said, looking at Jack who was glaring at my dish.

I met Jack’s gaze.

“I expected Bianci to be here,” I said, stabbing an olive with my fork and popping it into my mouth.

“Did you tell him what those crazy Italians did when we were off saving his ass?” Wolf asked with his mouthful.

Jack ran his hand over his face, holding back a chuckle as he shook his head.

“His mother and Pastore’s wife turned the fucking clubhouse into a fucking trattoria,” Pipe chimed in.

“Oh come on, I thought that was nice,” Lacey argued as her phone went off three times in a row.

“You become a surgeon and forget to tell your old man?” Jack questioned, pointing his fork towards her phone. “What the hell is so urgent?”

Lacey lifted her eyes from the screen and met Jack’s gaze.

“Very funny,” she said sarcastically. “I have to go.”

“Where are you going?” I questioned.

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