“No,” he told her simply. “I’ve been saving this place for someone special.”
Ugh. Maria wanted him to say dirty things to her, not sweet things that made her contemplate marrying him.
Taking another small bite of the bread, Maria nearly choked on it at the way he was staring at her in the candlelight. Teasingly, Maria leaned a bit forward. “If the food is as good as the bread, Mr. Luciano, you just might get lucky tonight.”
“Actually, there’s a bar on the lower level. I thought we could go get a few drinks and check it out, if you’d like?”
In other words, he was trying to stall and tire her out.
After the waiter came to take their orders then left, Maria gave the place another glance around. “Dominic, you know you didn’t have to go to all this trouble. I don’t have to have all these bells and whistles.” Yes, Maria might be a stuck-up, high-maintenance bitch, but she wasn’t interested in Dominic to get nice things or money. She had that stuff and didn’t want more of it. She was looking for something different.
“Something tells me McDonalds wouldn’t haven’t convinced you to marry me, princess.”
“This won’t either,” she admitted.
“I know,” Dominic revealed. “I just wanted to show you how nice of a time we could have together.”
Dom was sucking her under with a charm she’d had no idea he was capable of.
Reaching over the table, she traced over the letter C. “So, about those male leads in your old westerns ….”
There was a slight tug of his lips. “What would you like to know, princess?”
She traced over to the O now. “How did they treat their women?”
“Well, there’s John Wayne,” Dominic began, watching her trace the letters inked into his skin. “And he’s mostly the respectful type.”
“How romantic.” She went to the letter M.
“Then there’s Clint Eastwood …” Dominic’s voice dropped deathly quiet as his hazel eyes glowed in the candlelight. “And he isn’t so much.”
Finally, she went to the E. “And which one are you?”
“I guess you’ll either have to marry me or watch them with me to find out, princess.”
Maria countered, “I think that’s something a woman should know about a man before she agrees to marry him.”
Not that she was or anything.
A slow flash of his dimples told him he thought otherwise. “Then you better start watching them.”
“Actually,” Maria drawled in a breath, keeping him in suspense, “no.”
“Why not?” He laughed.
“Because, I have a feeling you won’t be the Netflix and chill type.” Maria sighed. “And plus, I already know you’re neither of them.”
Dominic raised a brow. “So, you know who John Wayne and Clint Eastwood are?”
She smiled. “Possibly.”
“How is that?” Not even Dominic took her as being able to sit through a western to know what characters they typically played.
Stopping her tracing, she pulled her hand away. “Well, that’s for me to know and you to find out.”
Dom stared at her, as if the answer was written on her forehead, but he couldn’t see the small writing.
Snatching her hand before she could drop it from the table, he held it in his. “Tell me.”
“What’s in it for me?” she purred.
Turning her palm over, he started his own light tracings. “What do you want?”
Maria’s eyes trailed down to his motion. “You spending the night at my place.”
“You trying to get me carried out in a body bag?”
Maria slowly shook her head. “You wouldn’t be any good to me dead.”
“I will”—Dominic sent shivers up her palm to her arm—“as you long as you understand I’m not going to have sex with you before we’re married.”
It was time to try a different tactic. “Do you know how many men would die if I made them that offer?”
“Tell me who they are, and I’ll make it happen, princess.”
Maria was shocked at his words. “You would let me sleep with them?”
“No.” He lifted his eyes from her palm to her hungry eyes. “I would help them die.”
“Oh …” Maria caught her breath. “Then that’s okay.”
Smiling, he gave the middle of her palm a little pinch. “You’re a vicious little thing.”
Maria hadn’t flinched, too enthralled at what he was doing. “It doesn’t bother you?”
“No.” He showed her the hunger in his own eyes. “It turns me on.”
“You turn me on,” Maria admitted eagerly. “Want to forget dinner and go fuck?”
Flipping her hand back over, he touched her ring finger. “Not until I put a wedding band here.”
“I’d rather have your dick in my—”
Maria broke off as their salads arrived.
“Behave,” Dominic said quietly once they were alone again.
Maria, however, wasn’t so quiet. “My dad would tell you I was never good at behaving.”
Picking up his fork, it was clear Maria wouldn’t have expected his answer. “Princess, you can be as bad as you want to be, and I won’t ever say no to you.”