“Acting.” Pitch’s baritone octave held a lost little boy quality then.
“You can admit it,” she made herself go on, “I know you found me too forward the other day I-” frustration made her sigh heavily. “I know I’m outspoken and...well...most guys don’t have patience for girls who... assert themselves.”
Awareness trickled into his expression. “You think I’m a guy like that?”
She appeared helpless then as well. “I’d be surprised if you weren’t-”
“Well I’m not.”
“Vic, I-” she couldn’t miss the heat clinging to his denial and knew she had offended him. “I’m sorry, I-”
He advanced steadily and without warning. Candace despised herself for retreating in her own living room, but couldn’t help the reaction.
“If I was a guy like that, I would’ve fucked you the other day in your kitchen and again this afternoon when I got here to find you wearing this piece of nothing I haven’t been able to stop watching you bounce around in all night.”
Candace bumped to a stop against the back of the sofa. No room left the retreat.
“You deserve better than to have our first date end with you on your back for me. Let me give you what you deserve, my way. Alright?”
She only nodded, outspokenness having thoroughly deserted her.
“I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”
Again, she nodded and gasped when his hand gently cupped her throat. He kissed her, a seeking demanding kiss that coaxed her participation within a second. Too soon, he was leaving her with a peck to her jaw, one below her ear and then he was gone.
~35~
“But they do not intend to live as playboys forever, do they Athena?”
“Ah...you know young men, Delia.”
“Si, si...and when they are young men such as yours...Que bellos!”
Athena’s laughter was a mix of motherly pride and the satisfaction of knowing her sons occupied the top spots for husbandly prospects among most people she knew and many others she didn’t. That is, if what she read in the New York society columns were anything to go by.
“I’m sure my boys will choose wisely,” she sighed then and smiled mischievously. “I hope your fine prospect will have just as fine a pool to choose from when the time comes.”
Delia Campagnone beamed. “I suppose I can speak for myself by saying yes. My Rosella is a truly angelic prospect.”
“Ah yes,” Athena’s expression captured a concerned flair. “Are you sure you want your only girl sentenced to a life as a Tesano wife, though? Tell me, have you and Rubius had more than five meals together this year? Between him sitting on the Tesano board and you flying hither and yon whenever I hear of new weavers and fabric dealers- that’s a lot to ask of a marriage.”
Delia eyed her boss with high regard. “You run your own business, Athena. How many women can say that today?”
Athena’s violet eyes shimmered with pride. She took a cursory scan of her office located in the garment district side of the first Tesano Textiles factory.
“The business is under the control of my husband's company-not exactly my own domain.”
“Closer to your own than any woman I know,” Delia reasoned. “Definitely closer than any woman I know from the Old Country. You practically built the company with Liam. It wasn't just inherited or handed to you like a Christmas gift. My Rosi would be blessed to know you and to learn from you.”
Pride all but consumed Athena and she felt her cheeks burn. “You’re too kind, De,” she said to the woman who had started as an employee and later became something of a friend-the first Athena believed she’d ever had. That a true lady like Delia Campagnone saw her as someone she wanted her daughter to emulate, was a thing Athena would never have thought possible. If you could see me now, Papa, she thought.
“Oh my!” Delia gave a start, having looked at the wall clock. “You don’t want to be late to your meeting with the Clemmons boutique people, they’re eight blocks away.” Delia rushed to action, zipping Athena’s notes for the meeting into a brown portfolio. “You should make it with time to spare, if you hurry.”
Athena got her sweater and handbag that were perched on the corner of the light oak desk. She smiled, reaching for the portfolio. “I’d like to discuss things further, De. I’d be honored to have Rosi for a daughter-in-law.”
Delia Campagnone looked close to tears and clutched the hand Athena used to squeeze her arm.
“I may be back late. Why don’t you head home after lunch?” Athena blew a kiss to the woman and then rushed from her office.
~~~
She debated hailing a cab even though her car was parked along the side of the building. A cab could do a far better job of cutting through mid-day traffic in the heart of New York, than she could.
In the end, she decided on the car and made her way to the side of the building. She could go right home after the meeting. Perhaps she’d arrange for a quiet dinner, just her and Liam. They could discuss which of their sons would make a perfect match for-
“Thea?”
She turned, still smiling about the hoped for talk with her husband. That smile froze when her uncommon gaze flared with horrified recognition. She backed away from the man who had called out to her with such familiarity. He too was...familiar, but he was...dead.
“Giaimo?” Her voice half cracked on the name she hadn’t uttered in a lifetime.
Giaimo Tesano lifted a big hand in a gesture of calm. “Don’t be afraid, Thea-”
“You’re dead.”
Her blurted response brought that sinful, devilish grin to his face. “Scusi, bellissima but I’m not.”
Athena backed away until she was stumbling against the passenger door of her red Chevelle. “W-what is this?” she shuddered.
