Page 28 of Dante
Leo suddenly met her eyes, both of them sharing a knowing look. She could see the fact that he wanted to say something to Amo about his comment, but Nadia gave him a silent look not to.
She had never cared what people thought of her. Many people assumed she had been born with a silver spoon in her mouth, and if she had spent her life telling everyone she ever met that it had actually been plastic, Nadia would be exhausted.
However, her focus being on Leo made her miss the fact that Dante had noticed the strange exchange between her and his son.
Amo now looked on the verge of tears from hunger. “Now, why do they gotta ruin perfectly good fries with that shit?”
“It’s how they make fries fancy,” she told him, glad to move the conversation along.
“Fries are supposed to be fucking greasy, not fancy.” Amo shoved his sandwich into his mouth with defeat. His next words were almost unintelligible while he rolled his eyes. “Rich people.”
“They can’t be—” Leo took a fry to try. “Never mind.”
Seeing Leo wince, Nadia was honestly beginning to agree. The food was good, but it would be even better if the chef hadtaken their preferences into account. They didn’t have to add a special ingredient to everything just to “fancy” it up. Some foods—and yes, even greasy food—were perfect already.
“The fries are fine,” Dante practically scolded them with a cold voice when he tried them. “It’s simple. Eat them or don’t.”
“They’re just hungry,” Nadia spoke up. They couldn’t help it if they weren’t used to this food. “If they had one descent meal they like—”
“They’re not starving.”
Anger rising in her, she didn’t like how he was making her feel, like she was beingdramaticor something. He was the one who should fucking care—they were his family. Giving him a death glare, she showed him how dramatic she could be as she cut her chicken sandwich in half then proceeded to give one half to Leo before giving the other to Amo.
“Eat it,” she said, not allowing them any possibility to protest.
Leo got the message and was really appreciative. “Thanks, Nadia.”
“Yeah …” Amo might’ve said the words to her, but he looked at Dante while he said them, “Thanks, Nadia.”
Satisfied, she went back to her delicious drink and fries, propping up her book to continue reading while she did so.
“What are you reading over there?” Amo’s mouth was full when he talked.
“Oh.” Nadia gulped down her drink, thinking quickly. “It’s just a girlie book.”
“So, a romance book.” Amo winked, catching the drift.
If by romance, you mean erotic, then …“Yep.”
Slurping her drink brought up the gurgling sounds again since she had reached the end of her second drink.
“Would you like another?”
Seeing Max come out right on cue had to be a sign. “Yes, please.”
Dante stared at Nadia strangely behind his sunglasses as she downed her nowthirdrum runner of the day. Clearly, he had judged the so-called “uptight” woman too hard.
Nadia had no fucking problem telling him off. Her ass was lucky he knew she had good intentions behind it, because she wanted to make sure Leo was happy. If that weren’t the case, that ass would be swimming home.
Plus, there was no way she was that uptight with the way she was throwing back those drinks. Dante had had two of those suckers, and even he was beginning to feel them in the hot sun. Rum was one of those alcohols you had to be careful with. It was sneaky like that, and the way Max was pouring them, he doubted there was much else in the glass. Hell, he was shocked she hadn’t gone out of the sun to take a nap, like Amo and Leo had.
That book must be good because,how in the hell could she still read straight at this point?
“What are you reading?”
Those words, with his curious tone, told her she had just made a brutal mistake being too enthralled in her book. She hadn’t noticed Dante had been staring at her when she busted out in laughter from what one of the biker bitches in her book had just said.
“Like I said, just some girlie—”
