decided to buy it.” A coffee mug tapped against the counter, like he was sipping it then setting it down again. “I’ll be back later today.” After a long pause, he turned cold. “I know, Bates. You’ve made your opinion perfectly clear.”
I opened one of his drawers and found a pile of fresh t-shirts. I grabbed the gray one on top and pulled it over my body. It was baggy around the arms and extended past my knees. It fit like a blanket more than a piece of clothing. I walked into the other room and found Cato sitting at the dining table, looking out the window. A mug of coffee sat in front of him, the steam drifting toward the ceiling, his phone beside it. He was in a new t-shirt and jeans, his dark hair styled after his shower. He didn’t turn around to look at me. “Coffee?”
“Please.”
He walked into the kitchen and poured me a cup.
I took a seat in the chair across from his. The sunlight came through the large window and filled the chair with summer heat. It would be a warm and humid day, but summer in Italy was always beautiful. Some people couldn’t stand it. But I loved it. It was the winter months I despised. The heating system in my house wasn’t great, and the fireplace wasn’t powerful enough to chase away the cold.
He placed the mug in front of me then sat across from me. His light beard was gone, and his tanned complexion practically glowed in the afternoon sun. He hunched forward and cupped the mug with both hands as he stared at me.
I took a drink as I kept my eyes focused on him. A more beautiful man I’d never seen. He wasn’t just pretty to the eyes, but rugged and masculine like a cowboy. His criminal roots showed in his cold exterior, but no matter how many crimes he committed or lives he took, nothing could stomp out the light in his eyes. There was still a soul in there, a loneliness that was so deep it was impossible to miss. “Who were you talking to?”
He drank his coffee, his expression betraying annoyance at my question.
“Not asking to be nosy. Just trying to make conversation.”
“Then ask how I’m doing.”
I let the hostile rebuff slide. “I already know how you’re doing. When are we returning to Florence?”
“Whenever you’re ready.”
“I just need an hour to shower and get ready.”
“Then that’s when we’ll leave.”
I cupped the mug with both hands to feel the warmth against my fingertips. A part of me wanted to go back to bed and spend the rest of the afternoon screwing. Cato had invigorated me with a new sexuality. I never knew sex could be that good, could be so simple and wonderful. I’d been more intimate with him than I had with anyone else, and while that should have made me feel guilty, it didn’t because I enjoyed it so much.
He didn’t take his blue eyes off me once. “I was talking to Bates.”
“I thought it was none of my business.”
“It’s not. Now I’m telling you because I want to tell you.”
“Or because you knew you were being a dick.”
Instead of flashing me a hateful look, a hint of playfulness entered his gaze. “You got me.”
“Every time I see you interact with your brother, it seems tense.”
“We’re focused men.”
And Cato was the most intense man on the planet. “Are you two close?”
“He’s the only person in the world I trust implicitly.”
“What about your mother?”
“She doesn’t count. Different kind of relationship.” He took a drink of his coffee. “My mother will be gone in a few years. Bates and I will be side by side for decades to come. He’s my blood and my business partner. I will never have a wife or children, so he’s the only family I’ll ever have.”
That was the most depressing thing I’d ever heard. “Let me ask you something. Do you not want a family because you just don’t want one? Or because you think it’s not an option?”
He drank his coffee again and didn’t answer the question.
I didn’t press him on it. It was stupid to antagonize a bear that was already irritated. “If Bates is just like you, I don’t see how you get anything done. That’s a lot of stubborn testosterone for one room.”
“We’re both assholes. That’s why we get along so well.”
My brother and I weren’t that close, probably because we were so different. But right now,