Page 40 of Gin & Trouble

“More like a terminal case of embarrassment.” Julia plucked imaginary lint from her jeans. “I’m pretty sure your brother thinks I cut him on purpose.”

A sane man would have denied it to make her feel better, but having her in my apartment had me feeling a lot of things and sane wasn’t one of them. “Enzo’s always been eccentric.”

She perked up a bit. “What’s he like?”

“He’s a bit of a loner. Before he met Shanna, he was a serious pain in the ass. He still is sometimes, but she’s good for him.”

“Pain in the ass how? Is he…nice? I mean, is he a good guy?”

Her interest in my brother surprised me, and if I’m honest, it freaked me the hell out. Enzo had said she’d come on to him.Was he telling the truth?“Like I said, he’s eccentric. More artsy than the rest of us.”

She turned, giving me her full attention. “What does that mean? Give me an example.”

“Well, he’s the Michelangelo of food.”

“And the eccentric part?” Julia seemed to hang on my every word as if we were discussing a freaking rock star instead of Enzo.

“He’s convinced you not only stabbed him on purpose but kept one of the bloody bandages as a souvenir.” It was a total dick move to tell her that, but what can I say? I was straight up jealous.

Julia recoiled. Wrapping her arms around her middle, she nodded.

Smooth one, Marchionni.

“Hey.” I held her hand. “He’s only half serious. I think he was playing it up to get under my skin.”

“Because we’re friends?”

Because he knows I’m crazy about you. “Something like that.”

She grew quiet. Too quiet. I could practically hear the thoughts pinging around in her beautiful head.

Not ready for the conversation to end, I blurted out, “I’ve decided to resign from Marchionni Corporation.”

Her entire body tensed.

“Before you freak out, it makes business sense for me to start my own cyber security firm. Since my family…streamlined our operations, my workload has decreased.”Streamlinedwas a nice way of putting selling off any entity with ties to the Cosa Nostra.

“That’s great, Dante.” She pulled her hand free and brushed her hair from her face.

While I hadn’t expected her to throw herself into my arms and proclaim we could be together, I’d hoped for a bit more of a reaction.

Julia sighed. “It’s been a long day…”

Once again, the thought of her leaving gave me a case of verbal diarrhea. “The cop you’re afraid of…were you tracking him with my software?”

She looked away. “Yes.”

I’d approved her security clearance and granted her access to certain computer networks and programs, not including the one I’d caught her using. “You hacked your way in?”

“I did, but in my defense, I didn’t do it to steal your code or introduce a virus. I needed to know his whereabouts.”

“You mean your ex?”

Julia nodded without meeting my gaze. “Are you going to revoke my access?”

“Not a chance. We pay you to do exactly what you did.” I took her hand and brought it to my lips. “I know you’re tired, but would you show me how you got into my supposedly impenetrable program?”

She sat up and rubbed her hands on her thighs. “I’d love to show off my mad skills.”

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