Dinner
Chapter 7
Dinner
Lorenzo Vitale had a problem.
A serious problem.
A dangerous problem.
A problem his men had noticed three weeks ago.
Unfortunately.
The problem's name was Dr. Amara Queen.
Specifically...
He couldn't stop thinking about her.
The realization irritated him.
Greatly.
The head of the Vitale Family had wars to manage.
Territory to expand.
Politicians to bribe.
Enemies to eliminate.
Yet somehow...
His brain kept wandering back to a five-foot-two surgeon with an attitude problem.
Unacceptable.
Completely unacceptable.
His phone rang.
One of his captains.
"Boss."
Lorenzo looked up from his office desk.
"What."
A pause.
Then:
"Did you hear anything I just said?"
Silence.
Immediate silence.
The betrayal.
The observant-employee betrayal.
Undefeated.
Lorenzo hung up.
Immediately.
The captain called back.
Immediately.
"Boss—"
Click.
The phone disconnected again.
The captain texted instead.
Coward.
Absolute coward.
Lorenzo ignored the message.
Mostly because another thought had entered his mind.
A terrible thought.
A dangerous thought.
A thought involving Amara.
Specifically...
The fact that she spent entirely too much time working.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
Twenty minutes later he found himself standing in the lobby of Queen Medical Center.
Again.
At this point he should've been paying rent.
The receptionist looked up.
Then sighed.
Immediately.
"Oh no."
Silence.
Lorenzo blinked.
"What?"
The woman pointed toward the elevator.
"She's already in a bad mood."
Interesting.
Very interesting.
"What happened?"
The receptionist looked personally offended.
"She skipped lunch."
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Lorenzo stared.
Then stared harder.
Because somehow...
That explained everything.
The woman was a surgeon.
A genius.
A perfectionist.
Which meant she'd absolutely work herself into the ground if nobody stopped her.
Dangerous.
Very dangerous.
Lorenzo entered her office without knocking.
A decision he regretted immediately.
Not because Amara looked angry.
Because she looked exhausted.
The difference mattered.
Dark circles beneath her eyes.
Hair slightly messier than usual.
Three empty coffee cups on her desk.
Paperwork everywhere.
The woman didn't even notice him at first.
She was too focused on her computer.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
Lorenzo walked forward.
Then quietly closed the laptop.
Immediately.
Amara froze.
Slowly looked up.
And narrowed her eyes.
Dangerously.
"What did you just do?"
Silence.
The room temperature dropped approximately twenty degrees.
Lorenzo remained calm.
Mostly because he valued his life.
"I saved you."
The surgeon blinked.
Once.
Slowly.
Then:
"Open it."
"No."
Silence.
Immediate silence.
The audacity.
The complete audacity.
Nobody told Dr. Amara Queen no.
Nobody.
Apparently Lorenzo hadn't received that memo.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
Amara stood.
The movement was slow.
Controlled.
Threatening.
Lorenzo found it adorable.
A potentially fatal opinion.
But adorable nonetheless.
"I have work."
"You haven't eaten."
"I don't have time."
"You do."
"I don't."
"You do."
Silence.
Absolute silence.
The argument continued for approximately three minutes.
Neither gained ground.
Neither surrendered.
Neither showed mercy.
Finally Amara crossed her arms.
"What exactly is your plan here?"
Lorenzo smiled.
Slowly.
Dangerously.
"Dinner."
Silence.
Immediate silence.
The surgeon stared.
Then laughed.
Actually laughed.
The sound hit him harder than expected.
Dangerous.
Very dangerous.
"Dinner."
She repeated it like he'd suggested robbing a bank.
"I'm busy."
"You skipped lunch."
"I'm working."
"You skipped breakfast too."
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Amara froze.
Immediately.
Because she hadn't told anyone that.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
Lorenzo smiled.
Victorious.
The worst kind of victorious.
"You had your assistant bring you coffee instead."
The realization dawned.
Slowly.
Dangerously.
"You investigated my eating habits?"
The mafia don considered the question.
Honestly.
"That sounds worse when you say it out loud."
The betrayal.
The self-aware-stalker betrayal.
Undefeated.
Amara should have thrown him out.
Immediately.
She should have called security.
Possibly the police.
Instead...
She found herself laughing again.
The traitor.
The complete traitor.
Lorenzo noticed.
Of course he did.
The man noticed everything.
His smile softened.
Just slightly.
Enough to matter.
"Come eat."
The words were quiet this time.
Not demanding.
Not commanding.
Simply asking.
And somehow...
That was worse.
Much worse.
Because she could've ignored arrogance.
She could've ignored confidence.
She could've ignored flirting.
But concern?
Genuine concern?
That was harder.
Dangerously harder.
Amara looked at the paperwork.
Then at Lorenzo.
Then at the paperwork again.
The files would still be there tomorrow.
Unfortunately.
The paperwork always survived.
Like cockroaches.
Or bad decisions.
The realization annoyed her.
Because Lorenzo was right.
Again.
The man was becoming entirely too right.
Entirely too often.
A serious problem.
Finally she sighed.
Immediately.
The universal sign of surrender.
"I hate you."
Lorenzo smiled.
Immediately.
The traitor.
The complete traitor.
"No you don't."
Amara grabbed her coat.
Because unfortunately...
He was probably right about that too.
And for the first time since opening the clinic...
Dr. Amara Queen left work before midnight.
A miracle.
A genuine miracle.
The city of Chicago should've declared a holiday.
End Chapter 7