I held my breath and summoned my courage, having just admitted I had it bad for Officer Vinnie. But that was only half of what I wanted to say. What I had been building myself up for. Thankfully, he had given me the perfect opening.

“You need to know what you’re getting into, too,” I told him softly. “If you take me up on my offer, I expect it to mean something.”

He blinked, momentarily obscuring the desire in those dark, intense eyes. “What offer?”

Oh, I must have forgotten to mention that part. That kiss must have addled my brain.

“I want to spend the night with you.” There. I’d said it.

I held my breath again and let him search my eyes for the truth.

“You do?”

“Yes. I think we’re both beyond believing that this—whatever this is between is—is just going to fizzle out anytime soon.” Great. I sounded like an ad for soda pop. “You do it for me, Vincent Cerasino, and if you give me a chance, I’d like to do it for you, too.”

His lips quirked. “You would, huh? What exactly is it you’d like to do?”

Oh, I liked that wicked gleam in his eye.

I opened my mouth to tell him exactly what I wanted to do, but a timely throat-clearing had us both looking over at his brother.

“Maybe you can save that discussion for later,” Nick said, nodding toward the two customers who had just walked in with several young kids between them.

“Good idea,” I agreed and stepped back.

Vinnie squeezed my hips. “But that is a discussion I am really looking forward to. Tonight. After my shift.”

“You’re on,” I said.

The rest of the afternoon was busy, but not busy enough to keep Vinnie off my mind or keep me from fantasizing about what the night would bring. I still had a concern about Joel, however.

I was more than ready to take the next step forward, but was it better to invite Vinnie to stay at my place, or stay at Vinnie’s and leave Joel in the apartment alone? Neither was ideal. Granted, Joel was almost eighteen and had dealt with a lot more questionable behavior from his crack-addict mother. Still, I wanted to set a good example. He’d had more than enough of the bad kind.

Thankfully, fate, or more likely Vinnie, lit the path for me when Joel came into the bookstore that afternoon super excited. It had become a habit for him to pop in after school and get some homework done until I finished. That gave us some time together before he left for the dinner-to-closing shift at Mama C’s.

“Haven!”

“Hey. You look happy. Good day at school?”

“Guess what? Dom scored tickets to the all-day rock festival tomorrow. He said he’d take me and Ramona up tonight after the restaurant closes. He’s already booked a room near the venue and everything. Can I?”

Joel had been talking about the stellar line-up of bands for the past month, so I knew he wanted to go ... badly. But the concert had sold out within minutes of the tickets going on sale. It seemed pretty convenient that Dom just happened to “score tickets” to a sold-out show and had managed to get accommodations.

I looked over at Nick, who was trying very hard to appear as if he wasn’t listening, but his smile gave him away. I suspected collusion. Usually that sort of thing bothered me, but in this case, I was totally okay with it.

“All right. As long as you pay him back for the tickets and your share of the room.”

He nodded solemnly. “I will. Thanks, Haven!” He kissed me on the cheek then pulled out his phone. “I’m just going to let him know ...”

When Joel walked away, I looked at Nick. “Really? How did Dom pull that off?”

His grin grew. “What can I say? Our uncle Vito is one of the tour promoters. Wait until they find out they’re staying in the same hotel as some of the bands.”

I could only imagine. Joel was going to be in seventh heaven.

“Thank you,” I said to Nick. “That’s not something I could ever have given him.”

“Hey, you’re famiglia now.”

I suddenly wanted to cry, because I really was beginning to feel as if Joel and I were part of this big, wonderful, nosy, helpful family. Thankfully, I kept the waterworks at bay. Instead, I finished up and went home with Joel. Dom came to pick him up, and I thanked him, too. He grinned and said pretty much the same thing Nick had, except he added, “You’re good for him, Haven.”

“I think he’s pretty good for me, too,” I answered.

Once they were gone, I got to work. I had about five hours before Vinnie showed up, and I was going to need every minute to prepare.