Page 40 of The Fixer
“Yes, yes,” Elaine says, making shooing motions at us. “Go meet her. Have you set a date yet?”
I exchange a glance with Rosa. “Next month,” she responds after a beat.
“Next month?” Her mother’s mouth falls open. “Rosa, are you preg?—”
“No,” my fiancée cuts her off, her voice harsh. “I’m not. We just didn’t want to wait, that’s all.”
Oh. For the first time, it occurs to me to wonder if Rosa wants children. If she does, that’s another thing she’s giving up by marrying me. I feel awful. Fuck. It’s a testament to her inherent sweetness that she doesn’t hate me.
“But the details,” Elaine says, her hands fluttering. I’m her soon-to-be son-in-law, and she’s too polite to tell me that this idea is insane, but her unhappiness at the rush is obvious. “The planning. How will we even find a venue in time? What about a dress? Invitations have to be sent out, a caterer found. . . You can’t do all of that in a month.”
“Violette is very good at her job,” I say calmly, getting to my feet and holding out my hand to Rosa. “She’ll handle all the details. All you’ll need to do is be there.”
Rosa laces her finger in mine. “Tell Hugh to call me tonight,” she says, her expression stressed. “I need to talk to him.”
While Rosa is sayinggoodbye to her parents, I head outside and call Ciro Del Barba. As usual, he picks up on the first ring. The man must spend his life glued to his phone. He picks it up in the middle of sex, for all I know. “Cesari,” he says. “I didn’t expect to hear from you. It can’t be something Guerra did. He’s heading back to Lecce for the next couple of weeks.”
He is? “This isn’t about Guerra. I need a favor.”
Come into my parlor. . .“Of course,” Ciro says smoothly. “What can I do for you?”
“Rosa applied to show at Milan Fashion Week,” I reply. “She hasn’t heard back from the committee yet, but if she’s not on the shortlist?—”
“You want me to make it happen. Okay.”
“What will it cost me?”
“The usual. You’ll owe me a favor in the future.”
“Nothing that will compromise my loyalty to the Padrino.”
“Agreed.” His voice turns amused. “You seem very protective of your wife, Leo. I’m not surprised. Isaw you dance at Dante’s wedding, and it was obvious how you felt about her.”
Not Del Barba, too. Next, I’ll find out he’s participating in the office pool. And knowing Del Barba, he’ll win it. I hang up on him without comment just as Rosa comes out. “Where are we meeting the wedding planner?”
She still looks stressed. Hopefully, hearing about Milan will take some of that away. “Lido.”
“Lido? We’re going to the beach?”
“There’re other reasons to go to Lido, principessa,” I tease. “But yes, we’re going to the beach. We’ll meet Violette, and then I thought we could spend the rest of the afternoon soaking up the sun. And don’t tell me you don’t have time; I know you cleared your schedule so that you could help your mother clean.”
“But—”
“I’ll take you back home if that’s what you really want. But when was the last time you went to the beach?”
“In Venice? It’s been years. It’s so close by, and yet somehow there’s never time.” I can see her struggle with temptation. “I don’t have a swimsuit.”
“Buy one there.” I picture Rosa in a dressing room, trying on bikini after bikini, twirling in frontof me and asking me which one is my favorite, and my cock hardens.Fuck.I must love to torture myself.
“Therearea couple of boutiques in Lido that I want to visit. . .”
“Spying on the competition? I like it.” I help her into my boat. “Come on, principessa. Take the afternoon off. You know you want to.”
She bites her lip thoughtfully, and then she makes up her mind. “Okay,” she says, giving me a heart-stoppingly wide smile. “Let’s do it.”
Violette Maes cameto Venice fifteen years ago on vacation, fell in love with the city, and never left. Her father is Belgian, her mother is American, she speaks seven languages fluently, and she’s the most well-connected woman in Venice. If she ever decided to use her powers for evil, she could give Ciro Del Barba a run for his money.
We meet her in the lobby of the Excelsior. Violette greets Rosa with kisses on both cheeks. “Rosa, I haven’t seen you since Valentina’s wedding. When Leo told me the two of you were gettingmarried, you could have knocked me down with a feather.”