“Happens to the best of us,” he offers.
“Until Ben’s funeral, I didn’t realize the extent of it. Then he had, like… an army of soldiers with him. Then I realized he must be pretty important.”
“Yeah, you looked pretty isolated over there.”
Blinking at him, I ask, “You were there?”
He cocks an eyebrow. “At the funeral? Of course I was there. I served under Ben for six years; you think I wouldn’t go to his funeral?”
That surprises me. The way he says it like that’s unimaginable, when I’ve only ever heard terrible things about Benito Morelli. “Did you like him? Everyone I’ve talked to didn’t like him.”
Sin shrugs, like it doesn’t much matter. “He was all right. He ran things right, that’s what counts. You’ve only talked to the Chicago side of the family, so I’m not surprised no one liked him. Ben’s brother ran Chicago, and now his nephew. They all hated each other. There’s a reason they kept half a country between them.”
“Well, Rafe was in Chicago, so he must be on good enough terms with them.”
“Now he is,” Sin agrees. “That’s a recent development. None of us liked the Chicago Morellis, but then your brother-in-law brought Mateo’s wife out here and all hell broke loose.”
My brow furrows. I know highlights about my brother-in-law’s life prior to meeting Carly, but the full story remains a bit of a mystery to me. “Vince? You mean when he and Mia were together? Like, they lived out here or something?”
Sin shakes his head. “They weren’t together. She wore Mateo’s ring. I guess Vince didn’t take the break-up so well, decided to kidnap her and bring her the one place Mateo couldn’t step foot.”
My sister’s husband kidnapped the woman whose Easter dinner we went to? What? “I am so confused.”
Apparently explaining this to me is more than he wants to deal with. “Don’t worry about it. We didn’t like each other, now we do. End of story.”
“My sister is married to a kidnapper?” I demand. This seems like it warrants more than a glossing over. I understand he’s a bad-guy-for-pay, but I’m a college student, dammit; I don’t know how to process this information. “Does she know that?”
“Kidnapping is essentially one of the stages of courtship in this family,” he says, like I’m overreacting. “Nothing to get all upset about.”
I can only stare at him, eyes wide, mouth agape. “This is not normal.”
“We aren’t normal,” he states.
I notice even though Rafe told me Sin was not technically a Morelli, Sin refers to himself like he’s one of them. Given he thinks kidnapping is a socially acceptable way of courting a woman, and the hours I spent tied to his bed last night, I can’t help being curious. “Do you exercise similar methods of expressing your attraction to a woman?”
Shooting me a strange look, he remarks, “That’s a weird way to ask if I want to fuck you.”
“I wasn’t asking if you wanted to—” Cutting myself off, now I glance around. The restaurant is pretty empty and there’s no one seated anywhere near us. Clearing my throat, I take a sip of water. “That isn’t what I was asking. Obviously since you’re Rafe’s friend, my automatic assumption is that you don’t want to sleep with me.”
“Already slept with you,” he points out. “Just didn’t fuck you.”
Subtly pressing a palm against my warm cheek, I curse myself for not putting foundation in my purse. If ever there was a time I needed it, this would be the day.
“And why would my being his friend mean that?” he adds.
I look up at him. “I don’t know. Loyalty?”
“I’ve seen him treat professional hookers with more respect than he showed you last night,” Sin states. “After that performance, I wouldn’t feel bad about fucking you. Frankly, I would think he deserved it.”
“Can we stop talking about this?” I request. “I know I brought it up, but…”
Apparently unconcerned, Sin shrugs and pops a piece of fried zucchini into his mouth. “Tell me about this pregnancy.”
“What more is there to tell?” I ask.
“You’re sure it’s Rafe’s?”
I can’t help feeling mildly irritated by the question after last night. “Yes, I am positive it’s Rafe’s. I haven’t had sex with anyone else since him. Barring the second coming, it’s his.”