Everything to Lose (Moonlight Dating Series #2) (8 page)

“You’ll catch your death like this.”

“No way. If I died I couldn’t do this.”

He caught her at the waist and pulled her into him for a hard kiss that turned into a lingering, deep one that left them both breathless.

“I would die only if you weren’t there,” he rasped when he straightened and saw the desire in her eyes.

His self-control snapped. Catching her at the back and under the knees, he hauled her in his arms and carried her to the bedroom. She shrieked in delight.

Dinner could wait.

***

When she was sound asleep he slipped out to a nearby restaurant and bought two pizzas
Capricciosa
to go – the last order of the evening as they were about to close. He wasn’t sure if Lissy would wake up to eat, but if she didn’t he was hungry enough to eat both their portions.

He did eat both and fell back into bed, his belly full but not like lead. This pizza was light and airy, nothing like the heavy dough
they used in some places
back home.

They slept until morning, past the sunrise. When he opened his eyes and saw Lissy
,
it was past eight.

She had already taken her shower and dressed. She smiled at him as she put on an earring.

“Morning lazybones.”

“Who you callin’ lazybones? May I just stress that it takes a lot of energy to satisf
y a demanding woman such as you?
”

She threw a shirt at him. “Ah, you conceited man. Time to get up. I have some more
demands
in store,” she laughed.

The old spirit was back. The banter. The laughs. Just like the happy days.

“Sounds good to me.”

Something on the floor caught his eye – a suitcase and travel bag. She’d transferred her luggage to his room.

Feeling buoyant, he swung out of the bed and
made
for the
bathroom
.
He squeezed toothpaste on his toothbrush.

“Where we goin’?” he asked
around the
brushing.

“Breakfast first, then… I have a meeting. You… can come if you wish.”

Her voice had an edge to it, and why the hesitation?

He shrugged it off and rinsed his mouth. They were in Italy, for God’s sake. And, he figured after what happened last night, Hell was a long way away from here.

“Fine by me.” He finished up, fast shower and shave, in four minutes.

Ten minutes later
,
they left the room
and went to the small hotel bistro
. After quickly consuming
a
meal
of bread, butter and cheese
that seemed to pass for breakfast in this place
and enjoying a
nice
conversation
, they descended the stairs to the main door.

The chains around his heart were slowly coming loose, setting him free.

“We have some time. Let’s do a bit of sightseeing. I could do with another coffee,” she announced as she grabbed his arm and started at a brisk pace.

Yet
,
despite her lightheartedness, he sensed some tension bubbling underneath. Perhaps she needed time to adjust herself to things. Their lives lately had gone through the wringer.

They strolled together like new lovers to the nearby
Piazza del Popolo,
the city’s main square. The moderate December climate attracted a flurry of people who milled about, carrying a mountain
of
shopping bags.

Many took a break in one of the cafés strewn around the wide square. They walked into the first one on the left and grabbed a seat. He was so intent on watching Lissy’s face that he didn’t even check the name of the place.

She hid it fast but the sudden flash of panic had definitely been there a moment ago. He decided not to press her for now, even when she sneaked repeated glances at her watch and kept tapping on the marble surface of the table.

He reached across
it
and put his hand on hers. “Don’t be nervous, you’ll ace it.”

“What?” she said blankly.

“Your meeting. Your boss will be proud.”

“Oh, thanks.” Blushing, she lowered her gaze to their hands as she stated the obvious. “This is my first trip for such an important assignment.” She turned her hand and linked her fingers with his, regarding him through the curtain of her eyelashes. He squeezed her hand in reassurance.

After the espressos, they meandered back up the street, past the theater
Vendidio Basso
to the very end, until the road forked three-ways. They took the right onto Via Vidacilio, a narrow road not much wider than an alley, to a restaurant curiously named in English –
Rhapsody
. Some construction was taking place across the street, but there were no workers at this time. The restaurant door was ajar; it was too early to open for lunch.

Lisbeth pushed it open and they went inside. They found themselves in another ancient palazzo with high vaulted ceilings and restored brickwork.

“Hello?” Lisbeth called, sounding like a too-taut violin string. “Anyone here?”

“Hey lady, you guys made it a tad early I see.” 

He heard the American’s voice before seeing the average height, rotund man it belonged to. Just as well because the sight of those blue eyes and fat cheeks made him want to run to the nearest airport and go home. He looked just like…

He threw a questioning look at Lisbeth and gritted his teeth. “What’s this about?” 

“You need to talk, and then you need to tell me about it,” she said with stubbornness.

Of the two of them, some thought he was the rebellious, determined one. They were wrong. Give Lisbeth a cause and you have no chance in hell of gaining an edge with her.

They both had a lot to answer for in regards to the end of their marriage. He was a closed book she couldn’t pry open, plagued with pride and secrets. She had her own perceptions of how things should be. She liked to organize things, make plans, and he went with them. That’s why she didn’t take kindly to him uprooting their lives so often. She lost control, and she wouldn’t adapt. Then he wouldn’t give in.

Pride and Prejudice wasn’t a book. It was their life.

The uncomfortable expression on the man’s face tugged at his heartstrings.

Taking pity on him, he extended a hand. “Long time no see, Uncle Fred.”

Fred returned the shake. “You recognize me.”

“Yeah. It’s been a long time but you don’t look much different, except that Italian food seems to agree with you.”

“It’s that blasted olive oil, buddy! Nothing like it.” He patted Dane’s shoulder and motioned to a table. “Come have a sit down, son. We have to play catch up. This pretty place here belongs to a friend of mine. He’s letting me use it until they open at noon. Between you guys and me,” he winked at them conspiratorially, “I come here sometimes when I’m sick of my own food.”

After he sat down, Lissy put her hand on his shoulder. “I’ll leave you guys to it
,
then.”

Dane gripped her hand to prevent her from leaving. “Please stay,” he asked.

“I think you guys have a lot to discuss. There’s a lot to keep me busy here. Be back in an hour, okay? I’ll be outside just a ways down at the intersection,” she said, gently prying her hand away and stepping out.

Dane heard the door swing closed then hesitated and looked around. “There won’t be any more ghosts from the past dropping in here, will there?”

His uncle’s eyes filled with pity. “No
,
son, there ain’t. Your daddy’s long gone now.”

A mirthless smile escaped him. “Where? Living it up in the tropics?” Dane said sarcastically.

“Gone as in
dead
gone, son.”

Dane felt the blood drain from his face.

Fred took the chair
to his right
.

“It’s been twenty-three years now.”

He made a mental calculation.
Twenty-three
years means I was f
our
teen – the last year I saw him.

“Mom said he left us. He didn’t want us.”

“Your mother was a woman scorned, Dane. Your father died doin’ the wrong damn thing. He was fixin’ ta have a bit of fun with some hussy he met at one of them beef production companies he worked with.” 

“That’s impossible. My father didn’t condone adultery.”

Uncle Fred grabbed his wrist and hooked his gaze. “Yer dad was a man, son. He had a heart attack in the motel room. He was butt-naked. The girl panicked and called management. Management called the ambulance but it was too late. Then the police came. It was a cluster fuck like you never wanna see. Your mother couldn’t take it
, God rest her soul
.”

Dane blinked. “So she made up that he’d abandoned us to continue to hate him, to make me hate him.” He swallowed the bile that rose to his throat. Memories came back – Mom selling the ranch afterward and moving them from Smiley, Texas
,
to Birmingham, Alabama where her sisters lived. His stomach clenched and rolled and he had to beat that wave down so he could speak. “She ruined my life.”

“Let that go, boy,” he said sternly. “She’s dead
,
too
,
now and she can’t defend herself. You will respect her and you will respect your father. Everyone makes mistakes
in this crazy world
.”

Uncle Fred had moved to Houston a few months after his dad… died. He had to get used to thinking that. His mother died four years later, leaving him enough money to finish c
ollege and get the hell out of D
odge. He’d never seen his other family since then – his three surviving aunts, his cousins and their children. He’d lost a whole family through hate and regret and practically messed up his own life, too.

His mother had felt something else apart from resentment – the humiliation of knowing her husband died while
having sex with
another woman.

“How did I never find out?”

“They hushed it up, like they often do with these things.”

“And my mother made sure I’d never look for him. By the time she died
,
I hated the bastard.”

Uncle Fred’s fist came down hard on the table. His eyes glittered with rage; his face turned an even brighter purple than it naturally was.

“Don’t you
ever
call your father that again or I’ll tar and feather you, ya hear?” he roared as he pointed a finger at him.

Dane flushed with embarrassment and lowered his eyes. “Yes, sir. I’m sorry,” He felt every bit the scolded kid.

“I don’t care how much you went through, it’s never good to dirty your folks’ name like that.”

“Agreed, sir.” He hadn’t seen his uncle for over two decades but that feeling of deference remained. Uncle Fred was his dad’s older brother, always considered a bit of an oddball because he never followed the leader. Dane had always secretly admired him. He was more like him than his own father.

“So what got you here? I mean, Italy is a long way off from our neck of the woods.”

“Says the kettle to the pot. Son, I heard you been all over the place.”

“Seriously,” Dane laughed.

“Well, I met this lady in Houston. Her father invested in a hotel chain and she joined him there for a while after her husband died. She’d been married sixteen years and he left her this place. She hated the thought of selling it, so I offered to help that pretty thing,” he said with a grin. “And the crazy woman accepted my offer. Been married a long time now.”

“Any kids?”

“You betcha. Triplets, two boys and a girl. One of the boys and the girl are in college in Rome and the other one wants to dee-jay.” He sighed but his voice rang with fatherly pride. “Only God knows how I did it without losing it upstairs.”

Dane asked the question that had been nagging at him. “Why didn’t you try to contact me?”

“Oh boy, I was so much into my life back then. I guess I needed to grow up, even though I was a man in age, I wasn’t in my head, ya know. My wife
,
Simona
,
had her work cut out for her, then the kids came, running my place… I thought yer mama cared for you well, and as much as I hate to say it
,
my brother and I were never that close.”

They continued to speak until the hour had passed. Uncle Fred told him about his life in Italy, how he adjusted to a lifestyle that was so different from what he was accustomed to. Dane talked about his work and marriage and how he was working on turning things around.

“You must bring yer wife to my place tonight, son. Our specialty is lamb and it’s a winner.”