Chapter 13

CHAPTERTHIRTEEN

“TRY THIS.” DOM stabbed one of the balls of fresh mozzarella with a toothpick and handed it to Luca.

“Um.” Luca bit down on his lower lip and looked around the crowded marketplace. “Are we allowed to?”

“Does it matter?”

“Yes.”

“Luca.” Dom narrowed his eyes. “Eat the goddamn cheese.”

Luca only narrowed his eyes right back, showing the defiance that had been steadily making itself known.

“C’è qualche problema?”One of the women behind the booth appeared out of nowhere, a frown marring her brow. “Non Le piace la nostra mozzarella?”

Luca looked to Dom for translation. “She wants to know why the fuck you don’t like her mozzarella,” Dom said.

Luca’s mouth fell open. “She said that?”

“She did.”

“No, it’s not that I don’t like it, I just didn’t think we could—” He shook his head and then slid the cheese off the toothpick and into his mouth. As he chewed, his eyes practically rolled into the back of his head. “Oh my God. That’s amazing.”

“Che cosa ha detto?”the woman asked Dom.

“Ha detto che è meglio di un orgasmo.”Dom winked at the woman, who didn’t even flush at his crude remark. She clapped her hands together and gestured toward the other samples she had on the table.

After his first taste, Luca was only too happy to try it all, and with each moan of satisfaction, Dom found himself a little turned on. He also couldn’t help watching Luca’s mouth, the way his full lips wrapped sensually around each bite the same way they’d wrapped around Dom’s cock.

Jesus, you’d think he was hard up or something.

“This one,” Luca said, pointing to one of the samples. “We have to get some of this to take with us.”

“Why not get them all?”

“Is that an option?”

“Everything’s an option for a Rossetti.”

“Wow. That might be the most arrogant thing you’ve ever said.”

Dom snorted and pulled out his wallet. “I doubt that. Prendiamo uno di tutto quanto, per favore.”

Sheer delight crossed the woman’s face as she bagged up their items, and Dom handed the sack to Luca.

“I think I could live off this stuff,” Luca said. “Why doesn’t it taste as good back home?”

“Because you probably buy the shit in a jar. Here it’s fresh.”

“Well, there aren’t exactly homemade cheese stations on the corner in Connecticut.”

“Really. Shocking.” Dom led him over to another booth, this one showcasing a variety of fish.

Luca leaned in close to whisper, “We don’t have to sample these too, do we?”

“I don’t. You do.”

“What?”

Dom grinned, surprised to be enjoying himself. Here he was with a Fiore in Italy, shopping in one of the local street markets, and he’d barely given a thought to what was going on back in New York. At least not for the last half-hour.

“Buon pomeriggio,”Dom said to the man standing behind the booth. “Prendiamone quattro dell’ persico, per favore.”

The man nodded, and as he began to get their fish together, Luca said, “Do you know how to cook that?”

“No. Do you?”

“Uh, no.”

“Guess we’ll have to eat it raw.”

When Luca’s eyes widened, Dom laughed.

“What, not a sushi fan?”

“I mean…I guess I can try it?”

“You’ll have to or starve.” Dom side-eyed Luca and then shook his head. “I may not beat out Chef’s chorizos, but I can cook a fucking fish.”

“Signore?”

The man behind the counter held up the paper bundle, and Dom took it from him and handed it off to Luca. “Grazie,” the man said after Dom paid.

“So what’s next?” Luca asked, all but bouncing on his toes.

“Hmm.” Dom glanced around the markets he’d come to as a child, and his eyes fell on a familiar stand. “Do you have a sweet tooth?”

“Of course, doesn’t everyone?”

“Not always. My father isn’t a huge fan.”

Luca rolled his eyes. “Of course he isn’t. Why am I not surprised?”

Dom began to walk down the aisles of fresh fish toward the vegetables, and Luca jogged to keep up.

“What about you? Do you like sweets?”

Dom headed past several stands of fresh vegetables and stopped in front of a fruit stand, where a lady with a scarf wrapped around her hair smiled at him.

“Buon giorno,”Dom said with a smile.

“Buon giorno.Would you like to try some plums?”

“Yes, please, these are my favorites.”

“You must have one, then. One for you and one for your friend.”

Dom picked up one of the small black plums and inspected its dark skin. Then he turned to Luca, who was frowning.

“What’s that?”

“A prune plum.”

Luca screwed his nose up and shook his head, and the lady behind the counter gasped.

“Congratulations, you’ve now offended one of the elders here in Lake Como.”

Luca’s mouth began to flap as though he was trying to think of the words to apologize, but realizing he didn’t speak her language, he reached for one of the plums and brought it to his mouth.

Before he took a bite, though, he glanced at Dom and asked, “Does it uh, have the same side effects of a prune?”

“Meaning?”

“Are you being purposely obtuse?”

“If you’re asking me if you’re going to shit all over yourself, then the answer is no. Do you really think I’d be eating one if that was the case?”

“Well, it’s important to ask.” Luca glanced around the markets. “It’s not like I see any restrooms nearby.”

“Again with all the questions. Trust, Luca. Try having some.”

“Um, you do realize how crazy that sounds coming from you, right?”

Dom flashed a grin and then nodded to the fruit. “Just eat the damn plum.”

Luca took a bite of the sweet fruit and when the juices hit his tongue, he nodded and took another. “Wow, okay, this is really good.”

Dom looked to the little lady behind the stand still glaring daggers at Luca. “Prendiamone una dozzina. Ignorarlo, è Americano. Non sa niente del cibo.”

“Ah, adesso è chiaro.”

As she bagged up the fruit and handed it over, Luca said, “What was that about me being an American?”

“I just told her you were visiting.”

“You’re such a bad liar.”

Dom shrugged, and they continued through the aisles of fresh veggies and fruit, stopping every so often to sample and purchase another bag of produce. The crowds were bustling, the markets full, as everyone went about their morning routine so they could go home and start cooking for the rest of the day.

He’d missed this kind of lifestyle. This relaxed, easygoing living. There were no chain supermarkets where groceries sat for days. No wrapped fish or meat in Styrofoam containers with plastic wrapping. Here, everything was fresh. Everything was a day-to-day choice, and there was something so refreshing about that, something liberating about not being tied to a choice you made a week ago.

Well, wasn’t that an accurate metaphor for his life? Here Dom was in Italy with Luca because of a string of choices he’d made. Choices he’d been pressured to make to fulfill his father’s wishes. What would it be like to just live? Take life a day at a time with no thought of what might happen tomorrow?

“Qui! Qui! Vieni qui.”

“Wait, what?” Luca’s voice snapped Dom out of his thoughts and back to the present. “I don’t understand… Let me go, please.”

Dom turned to where Luca had been walking beside him a second ago to see a big, burly man with his hand wrapped around Luca’s elbow, tugging him off down one of the aisles.

Dom’s senses immediately went on high alert as Luca dropped one of the bags he held and several plums rolled away. Dom sprinted up the opposite aisle, his brain already mapping out his plan of attack. When he got within reach of the asshole manhandling Luca, he went for the knife in the holster at the waist of his pants. He pulled it free and within seconds had his arm around the man’s neck and the blade at his jugular.

The man froze as Dom’s forearm tightened. “Let him go, you motherfucker, and you’ll live to see the sunset tonight.”

Luca was immediately released. The man’s hands went up in the air.

“I’m sorry. My English no good.”

Dom trailed his eyes down Luca, checking for any injury, as he held his knife in place. “Why’d you grab him?”

“I…I want him to see my cart. My fruit. He is American. I have the best. He should taste.”

As the words penetrated the haze of possessive fury that had just overtaken Dom, his brain started to re-engage.

“Dom,” Luca said, rubbing at his arm. “I’m fine. Really. I think he just wanted us to come see his shop.”

The man gestured with a shaky hand to the cart of vegetables beside them. “I’ll give to you for free.”

Dom slowly began to relax as the words all started to make sense. He removed the knife from the man’s throat and released him, and the guy ran behind his cart. The fear in his eyes made Dom’s stomach twist, and he saw that the commotion had caused the entire market to freeze. He walked over to Luca and looked at his arm, checking that he was really okay. Once he was satisfied, Dom holstered his knife, walked over to the man’s cart, and held his hands up.

“I don’t want trouble,” the man said.

“I know,” Dom said, shame washing over him. This poor man had just been trying to get Luca’s attention, and instead had stepped into a world he knew nothing about. “I apologize,” he said, reverting to Italian. “Please, let me make it up to you. How much for the whole stand?”

“The whole stand?”

“Yes. Have it delivered to Via Besana Moltrasio.”

“Uh…” The man looked at the produce on display, then back to Dom and rattled off a number.

Dom nodded and handed over a wad of cash that had the man’s eyes growing wide as saucers, then he turned to Luca. “Let’s go.”

As they exited the market, Luca leaned in and said, “I don’t understand. What did you end up buying from him? You didn’t take anything.”

Dom’s jaw twitched as he tried to push aside the terror he’d inflicted on the small market just now.

“I took everything from him this morning. So that’s what I bought.”

Luca stopped in his tracks and took Dom’s arm. “Everything?”

“Yes.” Dom gave a clipped nod, wanting to get home now more than ever. “Now let’s go. We have a meal to cook.”