40 #5
Thankfully the taxi was warm; she’d been shivering until it had arrived but that was probably more to do with her emotions rather than the icy temperature.
She glanced at the clock. It was eleven twenty.
She’d be home in thirty minutes, just in time to see the New Year in, all alone.
Dani sniffed remembering the last five New Year’s Eves she’d had.
Every one of them had been at the bar and every one of them she had seen in, with her kissing Jez at the stroke of midnight.
She wondered who he’d be kissing this year.
Dani clenched her eyes shut holding back her tears.
It wasn’t that she wanted to be the one who he would be kissing tonight but more the idea of having that special someone.
Dani missed having a partner. Though Jez and her relationship wasn’t by any means perfect, his cheating being the biggest red flag, she longed for someone to share her life with.
Share moments like tonight’s debacle, have someone to support her as much as she supported them.
Someone to love, cherish and someone who would be that person for her.
Her mind then shifted to Jerome. Just the thought of him made her heart thump harder.
What was she thinking, really? She really didn’t know what to make of it all.
Sitting up straight she replayed what had happened.
Was he just caught up in the moment, seeing her vulnerable?
Or was it more? She knew how she felt about him and there was obviously chemistry between them, but she just thought it was her reading too much into everything.
He was married for goodness sake! She shook her head.
Whatever it was, she knew she liked it. She liked it a lot and that made it a hundred times worse.
Dani clasped her forehead in an attempt to soothe her mind of all these disturbing thoughts.
Well tomorrow was going to be awkward. She just hoped they were busy and she wouldn’t be spending so much time in his vicinity.
She pulled his jacket around her and slipped her arms into the armholes and nuzzled the collar. It smelled amazing, it smelled of him.
Her attention was drawn to her phone that was vibrating in her bag.
She quickly pulled it out and stared down at the name that flashed.
It was Jerome. Oh crap! She really couldn’t deal with this, not right now anyway.
He was probably worried she’d make things difficult.
She silenced it and dropped it in her bag again, scared of what he might say; putting off the inevitable.
In an ideal world he’d be single. In an ideal world he would want her as much as she now realised she wanted him, more than anything. He was perfect, perfect in every way. Except for that small detail… he was married. So, maybe not that perfect after all and her world was actually far from ideal.
Dani realised she had little choice but to quash any growing feelings she had, for her sake as much as Jerome’s.
She’d just behave as if nothing had happened, so he’d realise she wasn’t going to stir anything up.
It wouldn’t be easy but there was far too much at stake.
It was more than obvious his marriage was shaky, the argument she’d witnessed with Gia confirmed that.
He was probably feeling vulnerable, as vulnerable as she was.
It was this time of the year. New Year’s Eve always made people do stupid things, made them reflect on their life, their mistakes.
Wasn’t that why resolutions were made? Correct the past and move into a new year with new goals.
The taxi pulled up outside the house pulling Dani away from her introspective thoughts and she clambered out and glanced at her watch.
It was ten to midnight. Adam and Chloe would be back soon.
She quickly let herself in and flicked on the lights.
She headed to the lounge and straight to the bar, poured herself a large brandy tossing it back, glad for the heat it radiated.
She felt alone and her emotions were scattered into a million directions.
Tired and raw she headed to her room. She needed to sleep and deal with whatever she had to face tomorrow.
Dani turned on her light in her room, then went over to her bed and flicked on her Snow-White bedside lamp, then padded to her bathroom to remove her smudged make-up.
Holy hell she looked like a car wreck! Her lipstick was smudged.
Mmm, that’d be the kissing, she thought wistfully and her heart stuttered again as she ran her fingers over her lips, remembering how he felt.
Her eyes were bloodshot and her eyeliner was bleeding into her top lid and under her eyes.
Panda-eyes would have been a compliment!
She quickly cleansed her face and patted it dry, then stripped off out of her dress, shoes and underwear and slipped on her sleep shorts and vest. As she slid into her cool covers her phone vibrated.
She reached over to it and checked to see who it was.
Outside she could hear people in the nearby houses cheering as the New Year came in.
She had two messages. She opened the first. It was from Jez.
Happy New Year Dani.
I miss you. Pls call me x
Why wouldn’t he leave her alone? She quickly checked the second. It was from Chloe.
Happy New Year sis.
This year is definitely your year!
Love you xxx
Dani smiled weakly down at her phone. Chloe always knew what to say.
Thank God she had her and Adam. Dani switched off her phone and turned out the light curling into the covers.
What an end to a crappy year, she thought to herself, snuggling into her pillow.
Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire!
Dani let out a deep sigh trying to control her emotions hoping that her sister was right.
Last year hadn’t been one of her best and in all honesty for the last few years she’d been kidding herself that her life was what she wanted.
New year, new beginnings. It was time to forget about the past and look to what the future would bring her.
Dani touched her lips and shook her head thinking back to Jerome.
She was going to have to be very careful where he was concerned, she couldn’t be messing around with her boss, been there done that and look where it had gotten her, broken hearted, jobless and homeless! And on top of that, he was married.
Dani clenched her eyes tightly and willed herself to sleep trying to rid herself of the image of Jerome’s face as he’d looked down at her, how his magnificent eyes bore straight into her.
Shit, she was in trouble, real trouble. But regardless of how she felt about him, whatever happened tomorrow, she was going to clear the air, say it was a mistake, that she was emotional, no hard feelings.
They were adults after all. No one knew anything, so no harm done.
The last thing she wanted was to ruin what she’d achieved at La Casa.
It felt right being there, like she truly belonged.
It had just started to feel like home and she wasn’t going to let a kiss, a stupid emotionally fuelled, albeit glorious kiss, ruin everything now.
Tomorrow was a new day, a new year, her year and whatever she and Jerome had for those few minutes was just poor judgement.
Dani plumped up her pillow and settled her weary head into it, feeling a little more determined, but decidedly more resigned, and for the first time in a long while slightly more hopeful of what her future might hold.
In the distance Dani could hear the party goers and revellers sing ‘Auld Lang’s Syne’ from the nearby houses.
She closed her tired eyes and willed herself to sleep, trying hard to eradicate the memory of those hexagonal bright blue eyes that flashed unbidden through her muddled mind and she knew it was wishful thinking.
If you enjoyed La Casa d’Italia - For Starters, Dani’s journey continues in:
La Casa d’Italia – Heavenly Fare
The second book in the La Casa d’Italia Trilogy.
Step into La Casa d’Italia — a place where new beginnings can change everything.
As a new year begins, Dani Knox moves into the second floor of the restaurant that has already changed her life.
La Casa d’Italia is no longer just where she works — it has become her home, her refuge and the centre of a powerful family whose lives are far more complicated than they appear.
But behind the warmth of the restaurant and the strength of the Ferretti empire, secrets are beginning to surface.
As deception, betrayal and unexpected danger begin to close in around the family, Dani finds herself drawn deeper into a world where loyalties are tested and trust becomes dangerously fragile.
And at the centre of it all stands Jerome Ferretti.
Powerful. Charismatic. Unattainable.
A man Dani knows she should never want.
Because Jerome is married.
Yet the connection between them refuses to fade — even as the risks around them grow more serious and the consequences of their choices become impossible to ignore.
Because sometimes the one person you should never want… is the one you can’t resist.