Page 65 of The Fixer
“Are you sure?” she asks dubiously.
“Yes.” I move the needle in and out. “I asked Violette about it, and she assured me she has a plan.”
“I think that woman just says whatever she thinks you want to hear. I told her we had to have xôi g?c on the menu, and she didn’t even ask me what that was.”
It’s a good thing she can’t see me roll my eyes. “Violette lived in Hanoi for six months; she knows what it is.”
“I didn’t know that.” Sticky rice-needs sorted, she moves on to the next item. “Your gown looked tight on you.”
Serves me right for inviting her over to see it. “No, it didn’t. It fits perfectly.”
“You should be watching what you eat,” she continues, ignoring my words. It’s not as if I do thisfor a living or anything. “You’re not twenty-one anymore. You can’t eat cake all the time. You’ll put on weight, and then Leo won’t be interested in you.”
Leo walks into the room just as she says that, and he hears her. He strides up to my phone, his expression annoyed. “That’s never going to happen, Elaine,” he says, his voice clipped. “Rosa can eat all the cake she wants. Nothing’s going to change the way I feel about her. We need to go now; she’ll call you back.” He hangs up before she can react. “I probably shouldn’t have said that,” he says to me, though there’s no real regret in his voice.
“I’m not annoyed.” There’s a lump in my throat.Nothing’s going to change the way I feel about her.After days of tension between us, this simple sentence makes me want to burst into tears. “What’s up?”
He looks uncomfortable. “This is going to sound bad,” he says. “But I need to go to Casanova.”
My heart sinks. “The sex club?”
He raises an eyebrow. “You know it?”
I don’t think that’s the relevant question right now. “Are you going there for your bachelor party?”
He gives me an incredulous look. “You think I’d go to a sex club for my bachelor party? God, no. It’s a work thing. Max Guerra, a guy who works for Ciro Del Barba, wants to talk to me there.”
Max Guerra.I sit up. This is the guy Hugh mentioned, the one who started working for Rocco Santini. It was his investigation into the missing ten million euros that made Romeo panic and blow up Hugh’s car. If I remember right, he had some kind of superhero nickname. Oh, right. The Consultant.
How can I get Leo to tell me more about Guerra without setting off his suspicions?
“At Casanova?” I ask skeptically.
He sighs. “Guerra probably picked that location because recording devices aren’t allowed in the club. Or maybe he’s just being a jerk. Who knows? But he said it was urgent, so I should probably go see what it’s about.”
He’s going to a sex club. There will be women there, beautiful women who will flirt with him, laugh with him, touch him. . . Jealousy rears its ugly head and swallows me whole. “Okay,” I say tonelessly.
“Would you like to come with me?”
I jerk my head up. “Really?”
“You might enjoy it.” His lips tilt up in a smile. “I know I’ll have more fun with you there.”
My mood lifts. A warm glow goes through me. Leo could have just told me he was going out. He didn’t have to tell me where he was going, and hecertainly didn’t have to invite me. But he did. He wants me with him at the club.
And my heart—my crazily hopeful heart that looks for every sign that Leo cares for me—leaps with joy.
“I’d love to. What should I wear?” A sudden, alarming thought strikes me. “Wait, I don’t have to wander around naked, do I?”
“Hell, no,” Leo says emphatically. “Definitely not. But there is a floor show, and the performers will be wearing very little. Will you be shocked?”
His tone is teasing. This exchange between us feels like how it was before the nightmares—before I found out he’s been married once—andI’ve missed it.“I won’t be shocked,” I reply. “Maybe I’ll be turned on.”
“Will you?” His fingers slide down my cheek, and my body comes to life. “Turned on enough to play at the club?”
“With you?”
He fixes me with a fierce look. “Yes, with me. If you think I’m going to share you, principessa, you’re wrong. When it comes to you, I’m a possessive asshole.”