22 #2
Dani fumbled her way through the crowds back to where everyone was seated.
Her head pulsed with erratic thoughts. What was Jerome doing?
Was he interested in her? She just couldn’t work it out.
Thank goodness her head was clear of alcohol.
There was no way she’d have reined in that highly charged conversation had she had a couple of drinks.
She was going to have to keep her wits about her around him.
She slumped into an empty seat and twisted a tendril of hair that had worked itself loose.
Crap. She thought. She really liked him, a lot, and her natural instinct was to flirt back at him.
She was really going to have to watch her step.
Dani sat for a while lost in her thoughts until the sound of her colleagues greeting someone caused Dani to shift her troubled focus.
She leaned to the side so she could see around Kuch’s large frame at who had arrived and was surprised to see Jenny.
Dani caught her eye. She beamed back at her and waved.
Behind her stood Joseph along with the two new recruits he’d been dining with earlier.
“Hey, this is a surprise.” Jenny had squeezed past Kuch and her slim frame stood in front of Dani.
“Hi. Yes it is. Come and sit down.” Dani shuffled to the side making room for her. She liked Jenny, she was warm and always friendly. “Is this your first time here?”
“Yeah. It’s really something.” She gazed around the club wide-eyed, her cheeks flushed. “We were out having drinks and Joseph suggested we finish off the night here.”
“We come here most Sundays.”
“Really? Well it’s a great club. Your boss certainly has the whole entertainment thing going on,” Jenny smirked.
She jerked her head towards the direction she’d walked from and Dani looked up.
Jerome was standing by the nearby bar leaning against it while talking with Joseph.
He looked effortlessly handsome, his strong profile silhouetted by the backlight of the bar.
Joseph said something to amuse him and he tilted his head back and laughed.
Even in the dim light he looked absolutely breathtaking.
“He’s a really good looking guy.“ Jenny’s unguarded comment jolted Dani and she shifted to look at her. Jenny had her eyes focused on Jerome, blatantly admiring him.
“Yeah. Married though.” Dani leaned closer so Jenny could hear her over the music.
“The best ones usually are,” huffed Jenny.
“I thought that maybe you and Joseph…”
Jenny shook her head. “No, no. We are just good at working together. Joseph’s a great guy but I met him when we were working and I was getting over a big break up.
He’s just a buddy and to be honest it’s not a good idea to mess around with your boss, unless you end up marrying him.
” She raised her eyebrows and smirked. Dani chuckled and nodded. “I’m not his type anyway,” Jenny added.
“What? Leggy, pretty, blonde who’s good with her hands. That’s every guys dream isn’t?”
Jenny gave a throaty laugh. “Yeah, I know right? No joking aside he tends to like curvy brunettes. Anyway he’s not my type. I like dark broody Mediterranean men, a bit more like your man over there.“ Her eyes focused back on Jerome.
“Ah, well if he was single you’d probably be his type. His wife is leggy and blonde.”
Jenny clicked her fingers indicating she’d missed out. “Too late for me, then,” she chuckled. “At least you get to drool over him every day eh?”
Dani shrugged trying to be as non committal as possible. “He has a very attractive younger brother though…”
“Really? Do tell.” Jenny edged closer.
Dani laughed, “He’s a renowned playboy and flirt though.”
“Sounds perfect!” Jenny giggled.
“My staff are seriously impressed with this place. So am I.” Joseph took a sip from his drink and then placed it on the bar. He scanned the club taking in every detail.
“Thanks. It certainly keeps me busy. How’s the hotel coming along? Sorry, I was supposed to get in touch but I’ve had rather a lot on my plate.”
“Now I’ve seen this place, I think I can understand. You’ve certainly tapped into the pleasure market. You’ve done really well for yourself.”
Jerome shrugged at Joseph’s remark, unsure of how to respond.
“Well the hotel’s getting there, a few bumps but we’ll be open just on schedule. We had lunch at the restaurant today.” Joseph’s eyes wandered around the club, clearly searching for someone.
“Oh? I hope everything was okay.”
“It was perfect.” His roving eyes locked on to the person he’d been trying to locate. Jerome followed his gaze and saw Dani and Jenny sitting on a sofa talking. Joseph turned back to Jerome and continued. “Anyway. I left some invites to the opening. I hope you can make it.”
“I’ll make sure of it.”
“Good. I also reserved the private room for my parents ruby wedding anniversary. Peter took all the details.”
“Oh, wow. Ruby wedding eh? That’s forty years?”
“Yeah. That’s something isn’t it?”
Jerome nodded. “Well I’ll personally take care of the arrangements.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it. So your staff come here a lot, then?” Jerome took in a sharp breath at his observation. He knew he wasn’t interested in his staff, he was only interested in one specific member of his staff. Dani.
“Yeah. They come here to let off steam every so often,” Jerome answered, purposely omitting the fact they were here practically every Sunday.
“Hmm, that’s nice. Well I’ll let you get on with whatever you do in this place and I’ll go and socialise a bit. It was really good to see you.”
“Same here.”
Joseph reached over and gave Jerome a hug, then immediately headed straight to where Jenny and Dani were sitting, his obvious eagerness causing Jerome to tense. His discomfort intensified as Jenny vacated her seat and Joseph slipped leisurely into her place.
“BUONGIORNO, DANI.”
“Buongiorno. Come stai?”
“Bene, bene.“ Gia’s eyes lit up. “I see Matteo is teaching you well.”
Dani laughed softly. “Well I know roughly twenty words which is about as many days as I’ve been working at La Casa. I’m hoping to speed up the process though,” Dani chuckled.
“Really?” Gia replied, genuinely interested.
She guided Dani through to the lounge area of her spacious apartment and gestured to the sumptuous cream sofa.
The fire was glowing and again Dani marvelled at the stylish decor as her eyes travelled around the room before resting on its equally stylish owner.
Even though it was their day off, Gia was dressed impeccably in a dark blue knitted sweater dress and matching knee high suede boots.
The solid colour broken up with a cream, red and blue scarf tied loosely around her neck.
“Yes. I think I’d like to learn more, a lot more. I really want to visit Italy, Venice actually, to start with anyway.”
“Venice? You mean for a holiday?”
“Si,“ Dani replied, causing Gia to grin widely. “I think I need to enrol into a class, or get some CDs to learn.”
Gia sat down opposite Dani and furrowed her flawless brow. “How about I teach you? If you’re going to teach me computers, I can repay you by teaching you Italian.”
“You’d do that? I mean I don’t want to put you out.”
“Nonsense. It’ll be fun.” Gia waved her hand dismissively. “Just conversation though.”
“Definitely, I’m not so interested in learning anything less, well not yet anyway.”
“The best way to learn is just by hearing the language a lot. That’s how I taught myself English.
When I came over from Italia with Alessandro, he used to speak to me in English for a couple of hours every day.
I’d watch TV, listened to the radio, that kind of thing.
And then after about six months it just clicked.
“ Gia snapped her fingers, emphasizing the point.
After three espressos and just over an hour Gia leaned back on her chair sighing hard.
“My brain hurts, Dani.”
Dani grinned at Gia. “It wasn’t so bad.”
“Ha, that’s easy for you to say. Right click, left click, double click, drag, copy, ouff, I’m dizzy.”
“You did very well, Gia. You just need to practise and don’t be scared.”
Gia looked at her watch and Dani shifted feeling that maybe she’d outstayed her welcome. She’d been their almost two hours.
“Well I’d better go.” Dani rose from her chair and gathered up her coffee cup ready to take it into the kitchen. “I’m sure you’ve got a lot to do.”
Gia nodded. “I do actually. I’m supposed to decorate the restaurant today. I’m already late. I was supposed to do it last week and to be honest I really haven’t the energy.”
“You mean for Christmas?”
Gia pushed to her feet and nodded her reply.
“On your own?”
“Si.“ Gia took the cup Dani was holding.
“Would you like some help? I don’t mind.”
“Dani it’s your day off, I’ve already taken up your morning with the computer.”
“I haven’t got anything else to do today, Gia. Really, if you need some help I’ll stay and give you a hand.”
Relief flickered momentarily over Gia’s face, “I’d appreciate it.
” She’d been feeling decidedly tetchy these past few days and her lack of sleep was wearing her down.
She was worrying about Jerome, something wasn’t right with him and she knew it was his home life.
He had far too much stress with his businesses and now he had the added problems of re-staffing Level One.
Gia scowled to herself. He was being pulled in to too many directions and Liz was only fuelling his stress.
Her demands on him and her modelling career were only going to increase his already overloaded work schedule.
Gia softly squeezed Dani’s arm, “Grazie, Daniella.”
“ARE YOU BUSY?”
“Um, well nothing that can’t wait. Is there a problem?”
“The reports.”
“What about them.”
“There’s nothing unusual.”
“It’s only been three days Jerome.” Seni scrubbed his hand over his face, trying hard to keep the exasperation out of his voice. He knew Jerome was impatient but what worried him more was that he was already fighting with his conscience. He was looking for any excuse to call off the investigator.