Page 9 of Broken

“It was great. How was yours?”

“My day is a hellava lot better now,” he placed a hand on my bare knee.

“So where are we going?”

He smirked at me like he had a secret he wouldn’t tell. He turned his attention back to the traffic in front of us while his other hand remained on my knee. My heart quickened and I realized how hard I could fall for him. It would be easy. But was this the real Damon? And I didn’t want to lose myself in the process.

Damon pulled up to the restaurant and handed his keys to the valet. “Easy with her,” he instructed sternly.

With a hand on the small of my back, we approached the hostess. “Two under Alessio.”

The hostess smiled. “Right this way.”

We didn’t even make it to the table before a gentleman called Damon’s name as he wore a huge smile on his face, holding his hand out. “Samuel Donato!” Damon smiled as he greeted the man. He wore a white chef’s coat and kissed each of Damon’s cheeks.

“Who is this lovely lady?” He was already holding my hand in both of his.

“This is Kara.”

“Kara Ricci,” I answered.

Samuel kissed the back of my hand. “You two enjoy your dinner. I know you can afford it, but dessert is on me.”

“How do you know him?” I asked as we sat at the little table for two.

“I invested in this restaurant when he was having financial troubles. His wife was suffering from cancer and the hospital bills were more than he could afford. He refused to let me pay the bills, so I invested in his restaurant.”

“So, you do have a heart?” I joked.

“Yes. As a matter of fact, I do.”

“I know you do. I was joking. I mean, you have a shelter for those women and that showed me right there how much you care about people.”

The waitress came by and we ordered drinks.

“Speaking of the women, I would like to go visit them tomorrow. Would that be okay?”

“Yes. Of course. You don’t have to ask. You should go buy a bunch of clothes and take them some new toiletries. Here’s my black card. I can get Jacinda to send you all the sizes of everyone.”

He handed me his black card.

“Oh my gosh. Are you sure?”

“Yes. Absolutely.” He chuckled.

I slid his card into my clutch.

“I’m sure they will appreciate this.”

“It’s not a problem.”

The waitress dropped off our wine and took our dinner order.

I took a sip of my wine and savored the taste while locking eyes with Damon.

“I have some great news.”

He smiled. “What’s that?”

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