be ready to go tomorrow.”
She gaped at him. “Tomorrow? Wow.”
He rose. “This is my business, Dani. If a suggestion is good, there is no point waiting forever. I get things done. Go home. I will see you tomorrow.”
She walked to the door, and he headed for the kitchen where he could watch her leave from the window above the sink, making sure nothing happened to her. No matter how hard he tried to stop it, disappointment rose up in him. At the very least, it would have been nice to finish a glass of wine with her.
But he couldn’t.
* * *
Dani ran to her car, her blood simmering, her nerve endings taut. They might have had a normal conversation about his menu. She might have even left him believing she was okay with everything he’d said and they were back to normal. But she couldn’t forget his declaration that he was bad. It should have scared her silly. Instead, it tempted her. She’d never been attracted to a man who was clearly all wrong for her, a man with whom she couldn’t have a future. Everything she did was geared toward security. Everything about him spelled danger.
So why was he so tempting?
Walking into the kitchen of Louisa’s run-down villa, she found her friend sitting at the table with a cup of tea.
Louisa smiled as she entered. “Can I get you a cup?”
She squeezed her eyes shut. “I don’t know.”
Louisa rose. “What’s wrong? You’re shaking.”
She dropped to one of the chairs at the round table. “Rafe and I had a little chat after everyone was gone.”
“Did he fire you?”
“I think I might have welcomed that.”
Louisa laughed. “You need a cup of tea.” She walked to the cupboard, retrieved the tin she’d bought in the village, along with enough groceries for the two of them, and ran water into the kettle. “So what did he say?”
“He told me to be careful where I took our conversations.”
“Are you insulting him again?”
“He danced around it a bit, but he thinks I’m flirting with him.”
Eyes wide, Louisa turned from the stove. “Are you?”
Dani pressed her lips together before she met Louisa’s gaze. “Not intentionally. You know I have a fiancé.”
“Sounds like you’re going to have to change the way you act around Rafe, then. Treat him the way he wants to be treated, like a boss you respect. Mingle with the waitstaff. Enjoy your job. But stay away from him.”
* * *
The next day, Rafe stacked twenty-five black leather folders containing the new menus on the podium for Dani to distribute when she seated customers.
An hour later, she entered the kitchen, carrying them. Her smile as radiant as the noonday sun, she said, “These look great.”
Rafe nodded, moving away from her, reminding himself that she was engaged to another man. “As I told you last night, this is a business. Good ideas are always welcome.”
Emory peeked around Rafe. “And, please, if you have any more ideas, don’t hesitate to offer them.”
Rafe said, “Bah,” and walked away. But he saw his old, bald friend wink at Dani as if they were two conspirators. At first, he was comforted that Emory had also succumbed to Dani’s charms, but he knew that was incorrect. Emory liked Dani as a person. While Rafe wanted to sleep with her. But as long as he reminded himself his desires were wrong, he could control them.
Customer response to the lunch menu was astounding. Dani took no credit for the new offerings and referred comments and compliments to him. Still, she was in the spotlight everywhere he went. Customers loved her. The waitstaff deferred to her. Her smile lit the dining room. Her laughter floated on the air. And he was glad when she said goodbye at the end of the day, if only so he could get some peace.
Monday morning, he arrived at the restaurant and breathed in the scent of the business he called home. Today would be a good day because Dani was off. For two glorious days he would not have to watch his words, watch where his eyes went or control hormones he didn’t understand. Plus, her having two days off was a great way to transition his thoughts away from her as a person and to her as an employee.
And who knew? Maybe Allegra would work so well as a hostess that he could actually cut Dani’s hours even more. Not in self-preservation over his unwanted attraction, but because this was a business. He was the boss. And the atmosphere of the restaurant would go back to normal.
As Emory supervised the kitchen, Rafe interviewed two older gentlemen for Dani’s job. Neither was suitable, but he comforted himself with the knowledge that this was only his first attempt at finding her replacement. He had other interviews scheduled for that afternoon and the next day. He would replace her.
Allegra arrived on time to open for lunch. Because they were enjoying an unexpected warm spell, he opened the windows and let the breeze spill in. The scents of rich Tuscan foods drifted from the kitchen. And just as Rafe expected, suddenly, all became right with the world.
Until an hour later when he heard a clang and a clatter from the dining room. He set down his knife and stormed out. Gio had dropped a tray of food when Allegra had knocked into her.
“What is this?” he asked, his hands raised in confusion. “You navigate around each other every day. Now, today, you didn’t see her?”
Allegra stooped to help Gio pick up the broken dishes. “I’m sorry. It’s just nerves. I was turned away, talking to the customer and didn’t watch where I was going.”
“Bah! Nerves. Get your head on straight!”
Allegra nodded quickly and Rafe returned to the kitchen. He summoned the two busboys to the dining room to clean up the mess and everything went back to normal.
Except customers didn’t take to Allegra. She was sweet, but she wasn’t fun. She wasn’t chatty. A lifelong resident, she didn’t see Italy through the eyes of someone who loved it with the passion and intensity of a newcomer as Dani did.
One customer even asked for her. Rafe smiled and said she had a day off. The customer asked for the next shift she’d be working so he could return and tell her of his trip to Venice.
“She’ll be back on Wednesday,” Rafe said. He tried to pretend he didn’t feel the little rise in his heart at the thought of her return, but he’d felt it. After only a few hours, he missed her.
AND SHE MISSED HIM.
The scribbled notes of things she remembered her foster mother telling her about her Italian relatives hadn’t helped her to find them. But Dani discovered stepping stones to people who knew people who knew people who would ultimately get her
