Once he paid and had his bags in hand, he met her by the door. “Ready?”
She lifted a chin to his haul. “What did you get?”
“You’ll see.” He snickered.
They decided to go to the restaurant and change in the bathrooms there before ordering. Both in the mood for Italian, they drove to Vincenzo’s and carried their bags inside.
The restaurant was run by Vincenzo’s three daughters, each distantly related to Giovanni through the marriage of one of his McCullough cousins.
“Hey, Giovanni! I heard you were back in town.”
“Hey, Nikki. You remember Erin.”
The second the waitress recognized Erin, she did a double take but said nothing. She took their drink order and dropped two menus on the table. “I’ll grab your drinks then give you some time to decide.”
Once they were alone, he grinned at Erin. “Shall we?”
Now that they were in public, she was having doubts. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Are you kidding? I’ve never been more ready in my life.”
“Okay, but you have to do it, too.”
He chuckled. “You can’t scare me. I love being the center of attention and I live for laughter. This is going to be hysterical.”
They traded bags and disappeared into the restrooms. Once locked inside, Erin opened the bag and burst out laughing. “I’m going to kill him.”
Nikki returned with their drinks and stopped in her tracks at the sight of him. “Um…What the hell are you wearing?”
Giovanni grinned proudly, loving Erin’s selections. “It’s a long story.”
“You look like Elton John and Liberace’s love child—if he were an extra on the Sopranos.”
His grin doubled. “I know. It’s fabulous.”
“You’re…proud of this look?” She slid the drinks onto the table.
“Hell yeah. Erin picked it out.”
“About that—” Nikki’s words cut off as the door to the women’s restroom opened.
Giovanni forgot the waitress as Erin’s scintillating presence demanded every ounce of his attention. His stare traveled from her platform glitter boots, to the teal, windbreaker track pants tucked inside, over the thick, snakeskin belt to the fitted emerald green body suit with a plunging neckline. When he met her stare, she wore the hottest blush he’d ever seen and she could hardly contain her laughter.
“What the…?” Nikki stared as well.
“Wait for it,” Giovanni warned, practically licking his lips in anticipation.
Erin lifted the bulky, tiger print, faux-fur coat with a collar big enough to make all the pimps of the world jealous, and swung it over her shoulders with appropriate flair. She then cocked the lace fascinator on her head and sauntered to their table, not flinching or sparing the slightest concern for how Nikki and the other patrons gawked.
“I believe you’ve been waiting for me,” she said as if this were a planned rendezvous.
The words all my life filled his head but he swallowed them back. “You’re...” Words failed him. Brilliant. Exceptional. Stunning. Everything he always wanted… “Enchanting,” he finally said.
“I’ll pass your praise to my personal shopper.” She gasped and brushed a hand over his sleeve. “Why, is that genuine Muppet fur you’re wearing?”
He glanced down at his ensemble and rubbed the shag of his sweater between his fingers. “It is. Very exotic and very expensive,” he informed her in his snootiest voice.
“May I sit down?”
He waved a hand. “I’d feel robbed if you didn’t. I’m afraid I missed your name.”
Without skipping a beat, she lowered into the chair, holding out a hand that displayed the doorknob shaped ruby ring he grabbed from the register display at the thrift store. “Madame Jezebel McHuffinpuff the third, panderer of flesh and connoisseur of men.”
He took her offered hand and kissed her fingers. “The pleasure is mine, Madame.”
“And you are?”
“Lord Luther Van Tiger Duke, great, great, great grandson of Beau Brummell, the English dandy and fashion leader of the regency—break-dancer extraordinaire.”
She snorted, unable to hold a straight face a moment longer.
“I’ll, uh, be back for your orders,” Nikki said, her brow pinched in confusion.
She backed away from their table as if fearful she might catch the crazies. He and Erin laughed for several minutes, unable to contain themselves long enough to finish a single sentence.
“We look ridiculous,” Erin finally admitted, yet somehow, with her cheeks rosy from laughter and her eyes glistening with tears of joy, she’d never looked prettier.
“I can’t wait to get you into bed tonight.”
Her laughter cut off and her smile transformed into something shy and fragile. Then her blush deepened.
He was slowly coming to understand the qualities she didn’t openly share. Glimpses of vulnerability slipped out whenever her guard came down, and he loved puzzling all her personality traits together. She was nothing like the girl everyone assumed she was.
“You just want to get me out of this ridiculous outfit.”
“That ridiculous outfit is stirring a serious response in my psychedelic pants, Madame.”
She batted her eyes and waved a ruby-laden finger at him. “Careful, my lord. I charge by the hour and I’m very expensive.”