“Guilty as charged, but”—Cain looked toward the door—“you don’t find visions like that one on the sale rack.”
Emma stood in the doorway and waited. She’d slicked her hair back and pulled it up in a sophisticated swirl. Her new shoes were comfortable but still made her calf muscles stand out a little. However, the dress stilled anything else from coming out of Cain’s mouth for such a long time that Emma thought something was wrong.
“Do I look okay?” She rested her hands on her stomach as she tried to calm her nerves.
She hadn’t even thought of wearing a dress like this for a long time and hoped she still looked decent enough to pull it off. The strapless top of the silk sheath wrapped around her body showed just a hint of cleavage, and the bottom stopped at midthigh, barely hiding her thigh-high stockings.
“I would have to answer that question with a big no,” Cain said as she rose from her seat.
“I could change.”
“Let me finish, lass. You don’t look okay. You look absolutely stunning.”
Emma smoothed down the short dress before looking up at Cain. “Really?”
“I wouldn’t lie to you, love. You look so good it’s going to be hard to concentrate on business, but that might not be so bad. Let Bracato sweat out what we’re up to while I spend the evening staring at you. Just promise me one thing.”
Emma took the hand that Cain was offering and smiled as she soaked up the praise. “Whatever you want.”
“You take me shopping sometime and introduce me to Kevin. This guy deserves his own store if this is one of his selections, though you’d look good in a gunnysack.”
“Have I told you lately how much I missed you?”
“Just a little while ago, actually. But as good as it is to be missed, it’s even better to be found.” She pulled Emma forward and kissed her like no one else was in the room. In a sense there wasn’t, since both Merrick and Katlin considerately stepped out.
“Let’s call the kids before we head out,” Emma said when they pulled apart. “Maddie should be putting Hannah down in a little while, and I don’t want to miss talking to both of them.”
“That’s why our reservations aren’t for another hour.” Cain sat back down on the sofa and picked up the phone. After getting a report from Maddie, she talked to Hayden. “Make sure you’re making yourself useful while you’re up there. I don’t want the Raths thinking we raised you to be afraid of work.”
“Don’t worry, I’m earning my keep.”
She had to pull the phone away from her ear when Hayden put Hannah on the phone because the excited girl was so loud. Both Caseys took turns catching up on the first day the kids had been without them. Emma finished by checking in with Maddie.
“Are you ready?” Cain asked before she initiated another kiss.
“Kiss me like that again and my answer will be yes, but not if the question is out to dinner.” Emma handed Cain the dress’s matching jacket and shivered when Cain helped her with it, then slid knowing hands down her sides and pulled her close. “I love you, Cain.”
“And I you, sweetling. Let’s go set the city on fire.”
For once since meeting Cain, Emma was grateful for their entourage of guards. The memory of Cain’s chest darkening with blood was still fresh, and if they had to travel with this much company to prevent a repeat performance, so be it. Whatever kept Cain whole and alive.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Giovanni Bracato sat with his eldest son Gino and daughter-in-law Eris in the corner of Eleven 79, named for its address in the warehouse district. As the hostess seated the Caseys almost in the center of the room, both men stared at them, seething, but Eris appeared almost dazed.
“The wine list, Ms. Casey.” The waiter handed Cain a thick leather-bound menu. “If you like I can make a few recommendations.”
“What are you in the mood for, love—red or white?”
“Red, I think.”
After Cain ordered wine, she returned the menu and glimpsed Giovanni and Gino whispering furiously. “Well, part of our party’s here,” Cain remarked as she picked up Emma’s hand and kissed her palm. “Where do you suppose the rest of the players are?”
Emma leaned forward, giving Cain an excellent view of the tops of her breasts, and brushed a strand of hair behind Cain’s ear. As Emma kissed the exposed ear a moment later she whispered, “Table near the entrance to the kitchen, three guys. Seems you rate over the FBI, honey, if that’s the best table they could get.”
“And they say crime doesn’t pay,” Cain joked. “Good job, Emma.”
She pulled slightly back from Emma when a man dressed all in white approached their table and waited to be addressed. “Yes?” Cain asked.
“I’m sorry to disturb you, Ms. Casey. Mrs. Casey.” He bowed his head to them. “I’m Ralph, and my partner Kevin told me you’d be joining us tonight. I wanted to welcome you and treat you to dinner.”
“Thank you, Ralph, but that really isn’t necessary.”
“Then may I serve the menu I devised just for the two of you? I really do owe you a great deal. Mrs. Casey helped Kevin move into management at the store, which helped me get through school without owing a small fortune.”
Emma dropped her hand to Cain’s thigh, treating it to a slow massage. “Please, Ralph, call me Emma, and this is Cain. We love to be fed, so begin whenever you like.”
Sitting by the kitchen, agents Joe, Lionel, and Anthony were enjoying their appetizers and talking into their sleeves every so often to Shelby and another agent in the van next door. Agent Claire Lansing, a computer-surveillance expert, had been assigned to the team per Shelby and Joe’s request. They planned to phase Tony out soon, afraid that his hatred of Cain would cloud his judgment.
At the other end of the room, Giovanni and Gino could barely fit in their booth. Giovanni hadn’t touched his food yet, unlike his son Gino, who was holding his fork like a shovel and stuffing his mouth with veal. Next to him his wife Eris limited her movements to taking healthy sips from her drink. Her husband grabbed the plate of pasta sitting before her and replaced it with his empty dish.
“Fucking Christ, how much of that shit did you snort before we left the house?” Gino asked Eris. The circles under her eyes were as black as her shoes, and she looked anemic from the lack of food after the drugs and alcohol had stolen her appetite.
“Leave me alone, asshole.” Eris slurred her words. “I didn’t want to be here tonight, so who gives a goddamn how much blow I had before we got here.”
Her father-in-law looked at her with disgust.
“What’s the matter, old man? Don’t care for what you see?”
“Gino, you better deal with this problem, and soon. We have enough to keep us busy for the rest of the fucking decade.” He downed his glass of wine in one gulp. “I can’t believe that Casey bitch lived. Look at her with that little blond slut, acting like she doesn’t have a care in the world.”
“Don’t worry about it, Papa. It’s under control.” Gino’s fork was loaded with pasta, and some of the sauce dribbled on the napkin under his chin.
Chewing with his mouth full, he waved over one of his men from the bar. “Take her home, and no stops along the way.” He pointed to Eris. “Get something to eat and go to bed, and when I get home, we’ll discuss your behavior.” He dropped his fork and squeezed her arm until she whimpered. “Get out of my sight.”
“I see that Gino needs some lessons in manners when it comes to treating his wife with respect. I wonder if she stayed off that shit long enough so baby Gino won’t have any lasting problems.” Cain made the observation as she fed Emma a bite of her appetizer.
“I might be hooked on drugs myself if I had to live with that animal,” Emma answered. “I held that little baby not that long ago, during that infamous kidnapping episode that started this whole mess, and he seemed responsive. Maybe she had a shred of maternal instinct left when she found out she was pregnant.”