Relentless: A Bad Boy Romance (Bertoli Crime Family #1) (50 page)

However, Tomasso Bertoli wasn’t a man that I could just play with. He wasn’t a man that I could just use to fill that particular need. Sure, he was sexy, but I needed to maintain at least a polite relationship with him in order to increase the chances of our families working together.

I saw that there was a message on my phone when I pulled it out, and that it was from him. He sent me a message at noon, saying he'd be by the convention center whenever I was ready. I hit the dial button and waited.

"Hello?" Tomasso said when he picked up, and I couldn't help but smile at the sound of his voice, even as I tried to fight it. "Luisa?"

"Yes Tomasso, it’s me. I got your message, are you in the area?"

"Yes, I was just doing a little shopping at a store nearby. Are you on break?" he said, sounding less cocky than he had the night before. "If so, I can meet you in about ten minutes."

"That sounds fine. I'll be in the north side of the building. Can you meet me there?"

"That would be great. I'll see you in less than ten."

He hung up, and I had to admit that his tone of anticipation bled over onto me. I was looking forward to seeing him. I started heading toward the north exit slowly, pausing to check out a few booths and dropping off my business card.

I waited by the north entrance, and was surprised when he walked up. Instead of the slicked back, buttoned down wise guy I'd expected from the day before, he'd gone more casual, with a pair of jeans and a shirt. "Hello."

He stopped, looking at me. "Wow. You look... beautiful. I mean, not that you didn’t last night.”

His honest compliment stirred me, and I couldn't help it, I smiled. "You look much more relaxed than last night. Shall we?"

He nodded, and we started back towards the parking lot. "If you don't mind, there's a little cafe just around the corner," Tomasso said. "I've never been there, but they've got a big picture of apple pie out front, and to be honest, I could use some."

I thought about it, and nodded. “Sounds great. I didn’t have much for lunch other than some samples from the convention."

We walked, my feet only slightly aching as I'd been on my feet all morning in high heels. "This is a part of Seattle I haven't missed the past four years,” Tomasso said looking up at the sky.

I chuckled and agreed. “It’s definitely not something to inspire great works of art. On the other hand, I assume that means you value the good weather days all that much more."

"I suppose," Tomasso said. "To be honest, I don't get as much of a chance to look up at the sky. I've been on the night shift this past week."

"You're out now," I noted. "Is this your day off or something?"

He shook his head, chuckling. "Hardly. Monday's one of my busiest. A lot of the businesses that I’m supposed to pick up from I stop by on Mondays. It does tend to end early, so I used the early start and knowing I was going to be down here to get out and do some shopping."

I nodded in understanding. We made our way to the cafe, where I ordered an espresso along with a small slice of chocolate cake. "So I gather that you are just getting back into the family business," I said, taking a bite. It wasn't too bad. "How’s that working out?”

He sipped at his cappuccino and sighed. "It's been harder than I thought it would be. Not so much the job itself, so far I'm not doing anything a reasonably trained beagle couldn't do. It's the mental stress."

"Heavy is the head that wears the crown," I noted, causing him to nod. "You're not the only one who’s in such a position."

"What's it like for you?" he asked, open and honest. His face softened, and I could see the cute guy under there, not the cocky jerk vibe I’d gotten from him the night before. "I mean, you said your father wants you out of the dirty side of things."

“That’s true, but my family has a lot of things that aren’t dirty, but aren’t exactly on the up and up either. Like you, I have a lot of expectations to live up to, and a lot of pressure. Being the oldest daughter, and the one that's supposed to be the leader of all of them — it's a lot to deal with when I haven't even had my twenty-second birthday yet."

Tomasso looked surprise. "You're twenty-one? I thought you were older than me. Not that you look it, just you're mature, you act . . . ah hell, I'm screwing this up — you know what I mean. I'm twenty-two, birthday's next month."

"Me too," I said, chuckling as he tripped over his words. "What day?"

"August seventh," Tomasso said, "and you?"

I laughed hard. "Me too. It seems we are exactly one year apart in age." I sat back, sipping my coffee and enjoying my cake. He also relaxed, enjoying his drink, a sort of companionable silence growing between us. It lasted until I finished my cake, and most of my coffee.

"So, a brown belt, huh?" He commented as he took his last sip and breaking the silence. "What about the rest of your family?"

I nodded. ”My older brother’s also a brown, and one of my younger brothers is a purple. It’s kind of a family thing for my brothers, but I got into it because of a friend. Look, I’m glad we did this, but the afternoon session is starting and I’d like to make another connection before the day is finished. Thank you, Tomasso."

We started back to the convention center, friendlier than I'd expected after the night before, and more than once we laughed as we approached the center. “Do you have some spare time?" I asked as we neared the door. "Your family has business interests in restaurants, food, shipping, things like that, right?”

"Some, but mostly in the pizza industry. My friend Jake would be better suited for something like this. I’m not really involved with that stuff, regardless of my education,” Tomasso said before shaking his head. "But I can at least get some business cards for him I suppose. Besides, I'd have to be an idiot to turn down an offer from a beautiful woman to spend some more time with her. And I’m no idiot."

"I don't know about that," I teased back, not even realizing I was flirting with him until the words were out of my mouth. I shook my head in disbelief and opened the door to the center, when suddenly a man in a hooded sweatshirt collided with us, sending me sprawling to the sidewalk. "Hey!
Que porra?"

The man went tumbling down with me, and I yelped as his knee caught me in the thigh. I got a good look at him, and he had the most remarkable face, a scar that ran from his hairline to the middle of his left cheek, nearly bisecting his eye — his left eye was brown, while his right eye was blue. Scrambling to his feet, he took off running. "
Puta!
Get back here! You can at least apologize!"

Tomasso, who'd also been knocked down, got to his feet and chased the man for a few feet before seeing that I was still on the ground. Coming over, he knelt down next to me. "Are you okay?"

I nodded, looking down at my suit, which had a tear in the skirt that pissed me off. "My suit took more damage than I did. He caught me in the thigh with a good knee though."

"Ouch," Tomasso said, offering me his hand. I took it, surprised at how effortlessly he helped me to my feet. Those muscles weren't just beach muscles, I could tell. I took a step and winced, as a high heel that I hadn't realized I'd broken gave way and my ankle twisted, causing me to stumble again. This time though Tomasso caught me, even if he did have to swing me around to stop my momentum. "I think you need some new shoes."

I realized that we were just inches apart, his hands on my waist and back, his expressive, sensuous lips close to mine, and I felt my breath catch for a moment. "Thank y . . .”

My words were cut off as an explosion ripped behind me, the blast throwing both of us to the ground. I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head, and then the world went black.

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