Mafia's Final Play (Mafia's Obsession #3) - Summer Cooper Page 0,23

to any enemies, a loyal employee, and a man to be feared by his other employees. But whenever he was near Marie he turned into a shy man that might be taken for a simpleton. For some reason, that really pleased Marie and he found her amusement amusing. “Good morning, Anton. Sleep yet?”

“Yes, boss.” Anton flashed his eyes up at Matteo just long enough for their eyes to meet before they skittered back down to the plate. “I’ve cleared the car out, and the road looks clear. We can head out after breakfast if you’d like.”

“Sounds good to me. How about you, Marie?” Matteo sat down at the table and filled his plate. He saw her eagerly nod her head as he did so and hid a smile.

“That sounds heavenly to me.” She agreed as she picked up her last bite of food. She nodded again as she chewed.

She was so ready to get out into the world that she ran up the stairs to change her clothes, and by the time he finished his food she had on her snow boots and a thick black wool coat. A gray infinity scarf was looped over her head to protect her from the cold and she had on matching gloves. She sat in a chair tapping her foot by the door. Anton was nowhere in sight.

“Eager, aren’t we?” He grinned as he teased her, her excitement infecting him.

“I am! Usually, I save that eagerness for you, but I get to be out in the world for a little while, and to see more of the little town we didn’t stop long in.”

“It’s not a big city, a little bigger than your hometown back in Louisiana, but I think there will be plenty to see.” He looped a scarf around his neck, put on a wool coat of his own, and slipped on some gloves. “Has Anton gone out to start the car?”

“Yeah, he has.” She stood up once he had a pair of insulated winter boots on and grinned widely. “Ready?”

“Yes, my little bunny.” He laughed as she literally began to bounce in place. “Stop or you’ll hurt yourself.”

“My incision has healed, the doctor cleared me a couple of weeks ago.” Matteo had paid dearly for her to have the care of her doctor at their home and he knew she’d been cleared, but he still worried. The incision had been large and she’d had a lot of internal damage from the bullet that had found its mark in her abdomen. “Besides, I need the exercise, come on.”

She grabbed her bag, opened the door, and almost skipped out onto the porch. Matteo saw plumes from the exhaust on the black SUV Anton occupied. By the time Matteo took the front seat and Marie had settled into the back, the interior of the car had warmed up. “Everything alright out here?”

“Yep, you ready?”

“We are!” Marie chimed in from the back and Anton smiled. She couldn’t see him but Matteo could. He knew it was respect and shyness that made the big man so timid around Marie, so it was nice to see him smile because of her. That told Matteo that Anton liked her at least.

Anton drove them carefully into the town at the bottom of the mountain and before long they were all busy looking around the many shops and stores.

“Oh, there are quite a few restaurants that look nice here,” Marie said and pointed out an Indian restaurant, a few fast-food restaurants, and another that served Chinese cuisine. “There’s a lot of shops too, lots more than I expected.”

Anton had parked in the parking lot of a strip mall that had a nail salon, a grocery store, a jewelry store, and a small clothing shop. On the other side of the busy street was a large department store that had many more shops attached. There were brightly lit signs all around them and what they’d initially taken to be a small town they could now see was a very large town.

It wasn’t a city like New Orleans and definitely not New York, but it was a big town that boasted bars and a theater, as well as quite a few other entertainment places for young and old. Matteo watched Marie look around as Anton headed into the grocery store with a list they’d all prepared. “Do you want to have a look in the shops?”

“Sure, I’d like to go into the grocery store too, but yeah, let's look around?” The