“Signorina, buonasera,”his brother says, meeting me at the bottom of the stairs. “You’ve stunned this pack of wolves into silence.” Despite his scary reputation, Dante is polite around me. Maybe he takes pity on orphan girls.
I step off the bottom stair. “May I take your arm?”
“Are you going to keep it?”
I smirk at his teasing. “I will faint from the nerves soon if you don’t let me.”
“The nerves? Nanny Knuckles is nervous?”
“Nanny Knuckles?” I repeat. Dante makes a fist and nods toward Paola and her friends. Understanding him, I laugh harder than I have in a long time.
“You’re monopolizing the guest of honor, Dante,” a crisp voice drawls – Nico.
“Since when are you opposed to monopolies, brother?”
I’ve avoided Nico since he caught me eavesdropping in a closet, but that warm woodsy scent he wears is messing with my mind. Trying to regain my composure, I cheekily play with their words. “I know that game. Boardwalk. Park Place.”
Dante roars with maniacal laughter over my silly joke.
Nico’s lips twitch for half a heartbeat.
Neither man is a good idea. A boy like Primo would be a far safer choice. So why must Nico be the one to make my pulse gallop this way?
“May I have your first dance, Matilde?” Nico asks, taking me by surprise.
Stunned, I nod, but my composure flutters away like a feather in a tempest when his hand takes mine. Warm, rough, strong. This is the first time I’ve seen him without his wedding band. In a strange way, I’m relieved as though it would’ve felt wrong to dance with him if he was still wearing it.
He leads me toward the open space where couples are dancing, but as we wade through dozens of balloons, I feel an intense urge to scratch my throat even though I know they don’t affect me this quickly.
“What’s wrong? Other than dancing with a partner you don’t want?” he clips, sourly.
“Why say that? You are the Capo. It is an honor.”
His eyes narrow, like he’s trying to pry inside my head. “You looked uncomfortable,” he mutters at last.
Iamuncomfortable in a way, but I don’t want him to know that. “The balloons. How do you say…lattice?”
“You have a latex allergy?” He seems pleased by my nod, and he calls a passing server over. “Every last one of these balloons needs to be removed from the house at once. Get others to help you.”
With a quick ‘yes sir,’ the server does as he’s told, and Nico turns back toward me, extending his hand again. “Come.”
My breath stutters when he takes me into his arms. I have to concentrate on the steps as we begin to move. His jacket opens enough for me to see a leather holster and his gun. If I closed my fingers over his muscular forearm, I know one of his knives would be strapped there. A deadly man. A sexy man. I must remember to breathe.
Considering what I endured, I did not expect a man’s touch to be welcome, but I like this. I’m nearly a foot shorter than him, and I feel like he could shield me from any harm. That embarrassing sensation low in my belly expands and bubbles and threatens to overwhelm me. What might it be like if I were in his arms and we were naked?
“You’re blushing,” he states, curiously.
Do not ask me why!I can’t lie well enough for that.
Thankfully, I miss a step just then when I hear laughter – Paola and her friends. “This is my first dance… with a man.” Nico goes very still with my admittance. “I am not a good dancer, and now everyone knows it.”
Still tense, he subtly nods in their direction. “Have they been unkind again?”
I shake my head. “We ignore each other now.”
“Okay. A mistake on the dancefloor costs you nothing but a bit of pride, Matilde. We keep moving. Eyes off your feet. Look at me. I’ll lead. You follow. One, two, three…”
One, two, three.