Speak Low (Speak Easy 2)

“Deal.” He shut his eyes again and sighed. “God, I love you. And I don’t want to go, but I promised to meet Angelo at ten. I should get you home.”

I couldn’t bring myself to release him yet. “How much will you owe him?”

He grimaced. “Probably about ten grand. I’ll have to run booze from Chicago to keep Sam’s nose out of it. Or maybe New York. But don’t worry about it.”

“Ha.”

He squeezed my hips once more. “Come on, let’s go. Better pull yourself together, though. I don’t need your dad after me at this point.”

Reluctantly I got to my feet, my knees aching a bit from the cement. “At this point, what would it matter?” I checked for holes in my stockings. “We’re getting married, aren’t we?”

Still on his back, he lifted his hips and pulled his pants up, a masculine maneuver that somehow made my belly tighten even after I’d already come three times in the last half hour. “Yeah, the sooner the better. Because I want to do this all the time now.”

Smiling, I buttoned my blouse and pulled on my skirt. “Me too. Any idea where my underwear went?”

Joey squinted into the shadows. “I think I see something white over there.” He walked over and picked them up. “These belong to you?” he asked, swinging them around on one finger.

When I grabbed for them, he held them out of my reach. “Now, hold on just a second. I once made some pretty good dough charging the boys to peek at your knickers. I might be able to afford a ring if you let me keep these.”

“Joey Lupo! You give me back my underwear this instant!” I jumped for them.

“Last time you threatened to tell my mother.” He held them way over my head.

“Don’t think I won’t, mister. Or better yet, I’ll punish you myself.”

He stopped moving and considered that before handing them to me.

“That’s what I thought.”

On the way back to my house, I asked Joey if he’d told his family about us planning to marry.

“Not yet. I thought we could do it together.” He took my hand and squeezed it. “Maybe dinner one night this week over at my apartment?”

His apartment? “So you’re going to keep it?”

“For now.” He glanced at me. “We can live there after we’re married. But I’d like a house eventually. Once I save up the money.”

“I’d love that. All of it.”

“Good.” He kissed my hand. “When do you want to get married?”

“As soon as possible.”

“Me too. Let’s go see the priest tomorrow, OK?”

“OK.” God, there was so much to do—I hadn’t even told Evelyn yet! “Where will we do it?”

“Well, if you don’t mind, I’d like to get married where my sisters did, at Holy Family.”

“That sounds nice.” Bridget had been married there too.

“And then maybe luncheon at the restaurant? We could close it for the day. Would you like that?”

“That’s perfect!” Inside my chest, my heart thumped a happy rhythm. “Hey, you know what? Drop me off at Evelyn’s—I want to tell her the good news if she’s home.”

“Sure.” He turned onto her street and chuckled a bit. “Hope Rosie doesn’t throw something at you. She was coming on pretty strong.”

“Yeah, I saw that. Looked like it was really tough on you.”