As he worked unscrewing the cork, Leo cocked his head at me. “You don’t feel any resentment towards her considering Maeve is her sister-in-law?”
I snorted. “Like she can help what her brother does with his dick.”
Leo threw back his head with a laugh. “Good point.”
With the cork free, Leo poured two ample glasses. Holding his up, he said, “To Famiglia.”
I clinked my glass with his. “To Famiglia.”
After taking a small sip, I set my glass down and grabbed a fork. I swirled the pasta around the silver tines before scooping a bite of salmon. The instant the food entered my mouth, I moaned in delight. “Fucking delicious.”
Leo chuckled. “I told you I could cook.”
“While I didn’t doubt you could do the act, I was a little concerned about the execution.”
“Once again, you shouldn’t underestimate me.”
“In the future, I won’t.”
“What are you studying in college?”
“Art.”
He furrowed his brows. “Like painting?”
“Sort of.”
At my hesitation, Leo’s bite of salmon froze midway to his mouth. “Do you not want to talk about college?”
Heat rose in my cheeks. “Oh, I just imagined you were making polite conversation and really didn’t care about my major.”
“Of course I care. I want to know everything about you.” He seemed to think twice about his comment because he added, “You know, because you’re going to be my sister-in-law and mom to my nieces and nephews.”
“I do love to sketch and paint, but my degree is really more so I can manage a gallery. It’s sort of a double major between Art History and studying art.
“Let me guess. You picked out the art pieces in the living room of your house.”
My eyes bulged. “You saw those?”
“I did.”
“Since I’ve always had an eye for paintings, Father actually took me with him to several auctions.” I speared my salmon forcefully at the memory. “At the time, I was too naive and didn’t realize it was part of money laundering.”
“Ah, yes, the classic money laundering through art scheme,” I mused.
“Does your family do that?”
“In the past. Not so much anymore.”
Eyeing him curiously, I asked, “If you hadn’t been a Neretti, what would you have done with your life?”
Leo chewed thoughtfully before responding. “It’s hard to answer that because I don’t know a life outside of being a Neretti.”
“Surely there was something you wanted to be growing up besides the second in command to an underworld kingdom.”
“Let me guess. You’re hoping I’ll say something noble like I wanted to be a doctor or cop to help people, or an architect who designs gorgeous cities.”
I grinned. “I might not know you well, but I highly doubt even in childhood, you were thinking of noble pursuits.”