Page 143 of Shadow Of Sin

I grin. She didn’t ask his permission about that. She just put him there because she already figured out what took me twenty-four years to learn. Ronan leads. That’s not going to change. The best you can do is make sure he’s leading us all in the right direction.

I look at her, sitting on my couch in my apartment with her laptop and her wine and her feet in my lap and the future mapped out in a seating chart on her phone.

She’s here. And my brain has finally stopped running scenarios for a world where she isn’t.

That’s the only fact I need.

CHAPTER 36

EVA

Sal has been cooking since six o’clock this morning.

I know because he texted me a photo of his overloaded prep station at 6:04 AM with the caption “the eagle has landed,” which tells me just how seriously he’s taking this dinner.

By the time Wolfe and I walk into Rosario’s twelve hours later, the place smells so incredible, my mouth waters and my knees literally get weak. Sal has shut down the restaurant for the night. No customers. No Marco. Just a long table in the center of the dining room set for nine with the good plates he saves for holidays, and the cloth napkins and tablecloth our mother bought at a flea market in Sorrento twenty years ago.

“You brought out Mom’s napkins,” I say.

“It’s a big deal, E.” He’s behind the bar in a fresh white shirt, his hair actually combed. He’s nervous. Sal only combs his hair for weddings, funerals, and apparently for meeting the family of the man his sister is sleeping with.

“They’re just people, Sal,” I say with a smile.

His eyes pop open wide. “They are not just people. One of them runs the Irish mob in Boston, for Pete’s sake. This is serious stuff. Everything has to be perfect.” He rearranges a fork for the third time.

Wolfe leans against the bar. “They’re nervous, too.”

“I seriously doubt that,” Sal says with a roll of his eyes.

“Cillian called me twice to ask what kind of wine you like. Gavin asked every one of us what topics to avoid so he doesn’t make an ass of himself in the first five minutes.”

Sal’s faces relaxes the tiniest bit. He takes a breath, straightens his shirt, and nods. “Okay. We’re doing this.”

Cillian is the first one through the door. He’s got two bottles of wine in his hands, his grin already at full power. He makes a beeline for the bar and shakes Sal’s hand.

“Cillian Molloy. I run a bar here in the city, maybe you’ve heard of it? Venom.”

“Yeah, I know it. It’s a really awesome place from what I hear.” Sal grins. “I don’t get out much to have my own opinion, unfortunately.”

“I hear you, bro. The life of a business owner.” Cillian holds up the wine. “I brought a red and a white because I didn’t know what we’re eating, and I didn’t want to be the idiot who shows up with the wrong one.”

“Both work.” Sal takes the bottles and within thirty seconds they’re talking about his herb garden like two guys who’ve known each other for years. I watch from the end of the bar and think, yeah. I called that one. Bromance in the making.

Gavin shows up next and heads straight for the bread basket Sal put on the table. He shovels in two pieces before bothering to introduce himself.

“Gavin.” He shakes Sal’s hand while wiping away crumbs from his mouth with his other hand. “This bread is unreal. What is it?”

“Rosemary and oregano focaccia. I made it fresh this morning.”

“You made this.” Gavin holds up the piece like it’s evidence. “With your actual hands.”

“That’s how bread works, yeah.” Sal chuckles, but I can see the pride seeping through his pores right now.

“Bro. You’re never gonna get rid of me.”

Sal flushes, beaming like the freaking sun, completely in his element.

Lochlan walks in with Adriana next. He towers over her, dressed all in black, looking every bit like the protective husband. With one hand on the small of her back, he uses his other to shake Sal’s hand with a grip that probably registers on the Richter scale. “Good to meet you, Sal. We’ve heard a lot of great things about you.”