That's Amore! - Janelle Denison [80]
"I'm hungry," he explained as the phone began to ring. "Pepperoni and green pepper okay?"
She nodded. "But only if it's on me."
"You gotta be kidding. You don't really think my parents charge me, do you?"
Her eyes narrowed. "Then we'll order Chinese."
"You think my mama's not gonna find out from my brother Joe if I order Chinese carry-out when I'm four doors up from the restaurant? I don't know about you, but I don't particularly want to be on the receiving end of one of her lectures." He shuddered. "Or worse, her martyred silent treatment."
Her chuckle made her blue eyes sparkle in the late-day sun slanting through the front windows of the shop. "Okay. Pizza. But only if you'll let me run next door to buy the six-pack of beer to go with it."
"Deal," he agreed, knowing Santori's didn't deliver beer. Then, before she could leave to go to the liquor store next door, he said, "But better make it a twelve-pack. I have the feeling once the word gets out that I'm up here doing something involving tools and grunt work, we're going to draw a crowd."
RACHEL BOUGHT a case of beer. And it was a good thing. Because within an hour of Luke's arrival, his father, two of his brothers, one of his sisters-in-law, and his sister were crowded into her small shop. She had to wonder who was holding down the fort back at the restaurant, and assumed Luke's mother and one of the cousins who worked in the kitchen were covering for a while.
As usual, the Santoris were loud. Good-natured. Rowdy. The brothers gave Luke unending grief about his lack of prowess with a drill. In return, he told them he was going to make sure they got called for jury duty. Their father stayed out of the fray, for the most part, watching with an indulgent smile, occasionally muttering something in Italian under his breath.
Never having had any siblings, Rachel found herself fascinated by the interplay between them all. Tony, the oldest, walked with a swagger and tried to take over. But Joe, who owned a construction company, would have none of that. He became foreman, with thick, stocky Tony doing a lot of the lifting. Luke gave advice, read the directions and was pretty much in the way except for the heavy lifting.
With those muscles, he was more than capable of helping out in that department.
Rachel, Meg and Lottie stood watching and chatting while the brothers manhandled all the components of the desk into the back room. The men took occasional breaks to enjoy the pizza and beer, then proceeded to put everything together. But even as she enjoyed spending time with the women of the family, she found her attention returning again and again to Lucas.
He was different tonight than she'd ever seen him, either when they'd first met at the restaurant, or here in the shop last night. Seeming content to help with the muscle work, he then sat back and handed his brothers whatever tools they pointed at. He laughed a lot, flashing a dimple in one cheek, one she'd never even noticed before. His smile made his eyes crinkle at the corners, and, for the first time, she saw he had tiny laugh lines there.
This was the man she'd heard talk about. The charmer, the joker. The flirt who'd given Meg a loud, smacking kiss right in front of her husband, just to get a rise out of Joe when he'd arrived. The man who'd been conspicuously absent the first few times Rachel had met him.
Moody and snappish, he'd still been incredibly attractive. Flirtatious and smiling, the man was downright deadly.
"You'd think they went out and chopped down the tree for the wood to make this damn desk," Lottie said, sounding both disgusted and amused as she helped herself to a second bottle of beer. "They're so proud of themselves."
Meg had been drinking milk. "Give them their glory. Joe's been complaining that he does nothing but paperwork these days. He likes getting his hands dirty."
Hands. Strong hands. Masculine hands. Competent hands. Rachel couldn't stop staring at them.
Apparently Meg was having the same reaction. "My God, we should've sold tickets," she murmured