I wish she hadn’t asked. Matteo is so off limits right now, I can’t even talk to my mother about him. For a while, we go quiet, watching the miles unfold in the beam of the headlights.

“Your turn,” I finally say, in a blatant bid to keep the silence from getting too oppressive. “Big family, or a tidy two-point-three children?”

Her smile is wistful. “Just me. When I was a kid, I went back and forth between enjoying the lack of competition and wishing I had someone to play with all the time.”

“And now?”

“I wish I’d had at least one sibling. I know they’ve done studies, and solo children grow up to be more successful and all that, but I don’t think I would have been shortchanged by having to share.”

I can’t really respond to that without steering us back toward my brother, so I switch topics again. “Did you grow up in the city?”

“Born and raised. You?”

“I grew up in a town north of here; we’ll go through it on our way. I enlisted after high school and when I got back, I moved up into the mountains.”

I feel the weight of her gaze, but Sasha’s good at sensing when I don’t want to talk about something. Instead of asking about my time in uniform, she says, “What do you do up there?”

“I run a restaurant.”

“Italian?”

“That would be a fair guess,” I allow. “Adamos love their food, and several of us have restaurants, including ones that specialize in Italian food. But mine is fine dining, more broadly defined. Steaks, seafood, pasta.”

“Pardon me while I wipe the drool from my chin.”

I laugh again. It’s a good thing she’s not afraid to admit she likes food; I’ll have to cook something for her, maybe try out a new dish.

Which is yet another reminder that I’m ignoring all my own rules when it comes to Sasha. I never cook for women -- not the ones I’m sleeping with. That’s strictly for family, or my restaurant.

“You never told me your last name,” I say.

“Delacroix.”

I shoot her a glance. “As in Alain?”

“Yeah, that’s my dad. You know him?”

“Not personally, but I know of him. He does business with my cousin Antonio.”

Alain Delacroix has a thriving import/export business. He may not be a billionaire like Tonio, but he’s pretty damn wealthy. Which means his daughter is used to the finer things in life.

“Small world,” she says.

“Yeah, well, it’s pretty hard in this state to find anyone of note who isn’t connected to an Adamo one way or another.”

She makes a contemplative sound. “I never thought about it when I knew Abri and Delfina. They didn’t act like they were a big deal.”

“We try to keep a low profile. Our parents taught us to make our own way, you know? Not trade on the family name to get ahead.”

“That’s cool. But is it weird? Having your family be so prominent.”

I shrug. “It’s just how it is. It’s not like we’re a political dynasty or anything, or a family full of movie stars. We didn’t grow up in the spotlight with cameras always aimed at us.”

“Just a bunch of nosy mamas.”

“And aunts, and grandmothers,” I agree. “You either get really good at being sneaky, or you resign yourself to having everyone in the family know your business.”

“Which were you?”

From the teasing note in her voice, she already knows the answer. “Matteo and I got into plenty of trouble as kids. We were your stereotypical rough-and-tumble boys who wanted to test our limits.”

“And all the Adamo girls were little angels?”

I let out a hoot of laughter. “Not even. I mean, some of them, sure. My cousin Dani is your classic nerd, with her nose always buried in a book. She grew up to be an architect. But then she hooked up with the leader of a motorcycle club, so you never know.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Nope.”

“By hooked up, you mean …”

“They’re engaged now.”

“Wow. That’s …” From the corner of my eye, I see her shake her head, but she’s smiling. “You have a really interesting family.”

I can’t disagree. “We have our moments, like any family, when we’re mad at each other. But for the most part, there’s … a lot of love. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

As I exit the freeway, it strikes me how easy Sasha is to talk to. She’s more thoughtful, insightful, than I would have expected. And there’s no hint of an agenda, no sense on my part that I need to shield my family from any schemes her brain is cooking up.

It makes me look forward even more to the time we’re going to spend between the sheets. She’ll be a drama-free playmate, and I plan to give her more pleasure than she knows what to do with.