by Amanda Usen
“I’m begging you. She’s in Venice. Or Vicenza. Something that starts with a V. Take her the papers. I don’t trust anyone else to get the job done right.”
Russo was too busy to go, but assumed Sean could leave at a moment’s notice? Actually, he probably could. He’d just wrapped up several cases and he hadn’t taken a vacation in…well, ever.
“Think about it and get back to me. Soon.” Russo hung up.
Sean dropped his phone in his pocket and finished his beer. Where was Olivia going? Verona? That started with a V.
Suddenly the idea of a vacation was a hell of a lot more appealing. He’d waited a long time for Olivia Marconi and going with her would give him a chance to explain why. No way was he going to let her declare it too late when they hadn’t had a proper chance together. He dug his phone out of his pocket and called Russo back.
***
Sean tucked his toothbrush, razor, and deodorant into his travel kit. His bag was packed and waiting in his bedroom where his little brother Colin was lounging on his bed, probably counting the minutes until Sean would be gone and he’d have the house to himself. He’d been delighted when Sean came home yesterday and told him he was leaving for Italy.
He picked up his bag and carried it into the bedroom. “You aren’t planning any wild parties, right?”
Colin snorted. “Dude, I’m almost twenty-two, not fourteen.”
“You threw wild parties when you were fourteen?” That had been the year Sean had left Norton for law school.
“I plead the fifth.”
Sean groaned. “Forget it. I’m not going.”
Colin rolled off the bed, took the travel kit out of his hand, and tucked it into his attaché case. God, when had he gotten so tall, so wide? It seemed like only yesterday Sean had held his brother’s small hand and half-led, half-dragged him into his preschool classroom for his first day of school.
Colin patted him on the shoulder, smirking. “Don’t try to pretend you didn’t sic Mom and Dave on me for the week. I bet she’ll be over here trying to pretend she’s a real mother. Cooking. Cleaning. Asking nosy questions.” He shuddered dramatically and picked up Sean’s bag, thrusting it at him. “You better get out of here or you’re going to miss your flight. I promise I won’t burn the house down while you’re gone.”
Reluctantly, Sean took the bag and threw the strap over his shoulder. He wanted to defend their mother, but he couldn’t. He had done everything he could to keep their lives together, but what did a twelve-year-old boy know about parenting? Not enough, apparently. Sometimes Sean wondered if a sixth sense had inspired him to go to law school because his brother would need his legal expertise.
Thankfully, it had been months since Colin had come home with a new tattoo or piercing, and nearly three years since the phone had rung in the middle of the night, forcing Sean out of his warm bed and down to the police station to collect him. Their nightmare was almost over—Colin’s final probation hearing was Wednesday. After that, Sean could stop waiting for the axe to fall.
Colin could make it until Wednesday without a big-brother babysitter…right? Sean knew it was ridiculous to be so worried. Colin was an adult now. But they were so close to being done with the whole disaster and one wrong move…
He dragged his hand through his hair and sighed. On the other hand, Mr. Russo was a major client who could shoot Sean to stardom with referrals. Or ruin his career.
And in other ways, the timing couldn’t be better. He’d been waiting for his chance with Olivia Marconi since high school. She’d offered herself on a platter just before officially asking for her divorce and it took every ounce of willpower Sean possessed to refuse. He would not take advantage of a vulnerable woman. He wanted her to want him, not just some guy who wasn’t her asshole of a husband. One way or another, he would convince her to give him another chance.
Two birds. One stone.
And Colin could survive without him.
Sean took a deep breath.
“Dude, you’re gonna be late,” Colin said.
“Oh, shut up. I’m going.” He picked up his bag.
Colin followed him downstairs.
Sean checked his pockets for his wallet, passport, cell phone, and keys—all where they should be. He headed for the front door, still shadowed by his brother. Sean turned around and gave him a stern look. “I mean it. Don’t do anything stupid. Six more days and you’re off probation.”
Colin rolled his eyes. “C’mon, bro. Would I do anything stupid?”
They both knew the answer to that, so Sean waited for his promise.
“No parties. No cops. No fun. Just work and no play, I swear. Have a good time, man.” Colin’s grin was little-boy sweet and made Sean nervous. Maybe he should stay for the hearing.
His brother opened the front door and made a shooing motion with his hand.
Sooner or later, Colin had to grow up, right? He wasn’t a kid anymore. Maybe standing alone would finally make him realize actions have consequences. Sean forced himself to walk out the door.
He tossed his bag into the backseat of his car. Now that he was on his way, his apprehension about leaving eased. Colin would be fine, and he was right—Sean had asked their mother to keep an eye on him this week.
Had he really never taken a vacation? There had never been the time, money, or freedom to go anywhere when they were little, and since then life had been filled with school, work, and, for Colin, community service. Except for one uncomfortable “family” trip to Mexico when their mother had gotten married, they hadn’t gone anywhere. The end of Colin’s probation would lift a huge weight from his shoulders—he deserved this break.
He didn’t think it was going to be difficult to find Mrs. Russo. With the pictures she kept sending her husband, it was clear she wanted to be found. As soon as he gave her the papers, he’d have plenty of time to spend with Olivia. Anticipation built inside him. For as long as he’d known Olivia, she’d never taken a vacation either. They could drink wine, soak up the sun, relax…he stopped that line of thought.
He couldn’t think about relaxing until he was on the plane to Italy. For all intents and purposes he was hijacking Olivia’s vacation and she hadn’t exactly been receptive to suggestion yesterday at Johnny’s. Sure, he’d built a career out of his ability to be persuasive, but he’d never used his skills to stage a seduction, at least not on this grand of a scale. He caught sight of himself in the rearview mirror and grinned. No turning back now.
***
Olivia pulled into her driveway. She had spent most of last night cleaning her house top to bottom, fueled by her irritation with Sean. This morning, she had canceled her newspaper, put a hold on her mail, left a set of house keys with the real estate agent, and tied up about a million other loose ends. As soon as she found someone to buy her car, her exodus from Norton would be complete, but she was going to hold off on that until the house sold, figuring she’d have to come back for the closing anyway.
Her cell phone rang. When she saw it was the restaurant, she let it go to voice mail. Chameleon didn’t need her and she was cutting it close on time, with only two hours to get home, pick up Nonna, and get to the airport for their flight. She probably shouldn’t have stopped for lunch, but hot wings were one thing she was going to miss.
She jumped out of the car and jogged up the path, surprised to find her front door locked. Why wasn’t it wide open with Nonna waiting impatiently in the hallway?
She unlocked the door and opened it. “Nonna?” she called.
“Upstairs.” Her grandmother’s voice drifted lazily down the stairs.
“You ready to go?” Olivia asked as she darted down the hall to her bedroom to grab her suitcase, already packed and waiting. She didn’t hear an answer. “Nonna?”
Silence.
The doorbell rang.
<
br /> She whirled to see Sean, smiling at her through the screen door. Her pulse jumped. Damn it. You’re mad at him, remember?
She pushed the screen door open. “Hi, Sean. Nonna Lucia and I are just getting ready to leave for the airport. Is there a problem?” She hoped there was nothing wrong with the forms she had stashed in the filing cabinet at the restaurant.
He shook his head, making the afternoon sun glint in his close-clipped blond hair. “Nope, no problems. I’m taking you to the airport,” he said cheerfully, pulling the heavy suitcase out of her hand. His fingers pressed against hers briefly and the warmth shot straight up her arm. He was wearing a suit again. Just not fair.
She shook her head. “I thought Big Daddy was taking us.”
He set the suitcase on the porch and stepped into the house. “Something came up,” he said easily. “Got any more luggage?” He brushed against her in the narrow hallway, and she caught a whiff of fresh laundry just begging to be rolled in.
For a minute, she couldn’t move. Then she left him there and dashed up the stairs. “Nonna is going to be crushed,” she called over her shoulder. “I don’t think she got to say good-bye to him. I’ll get her bags.” Sean didn’t need to haul Nonna’s suitcase down the stairs, especially since he’d already been pressed into service as their last-minute chauffeur. She wished someone had told her they needed a different driver. She would have preferred one of Big Daddy’s grandsons, or even a taxi, to Sean. She didn’t need the added stress of ignoring the awkwardness between them. The fact that he didn’t seem to feel it was even more annoying.
She found Nonna sitting on the bed in the guest room. A quick glance into the closet showed that her suitcase was in exactly the same place it had been this morning. Olivia lifted it. Empty. The fear that had been hovering at the edge of her mind since she reached her locked front door became reality.
“Cara, I am not going with you to Verona,” her grandmother confirmed softly.
Olivia tossed the suitcase onto the bed. “Nonna, I’ll pack for you. We can’t miss our plane. Please, hurry!”
“I told you I didn’t want to go, Olivia. You didn’t listen. I love Benito, and I’m staying here. I’ll use my ticket another time.”
Olivia put her hands on her hips. “You can’t marry Big Daddy, Nonna. He’s a mobster!”
“Bah! He’s not a mobster. He’s just misunderstood.”
Olivia counted to ten and silently cursed the timeless appeal of bad boys. Benito Capozzi, aka Big Daddy, was indeed a mobster, and her grandmother knew it. He ran the local casino as well as several other questionable businesses in town. He’d also sabotaged Chameleon at the beginning of the summer, which had a huge part in Olivia’s incipient meltdown. Big Daddy’s complete devotion to her grandmother was the only thing that had kept Olivia from hiding shrimp shells in his limo. Well, that and the fact that his chauffeur never fell asleep in the car.
Olivia tried again. “Mom is going to kill you.”
“Ah, your mamma. She doesn’t scare me.” Nonna straightened her slim shoulders.
Olivia groaned. Easy for her to say.
Her grandmother’s lips curved in a girlish smile. “And who said anything about getting married? That’s for young people. I’ll be perfectly happy living in sin.” The lilt in her soft voice stopped Olivia from pulling open the dresser drawers and stuffing Nonna’s clothes into her suitcase. Instead, she crossed to the bed and scrutinized her grandmother.
Nonna Lucia’s eyes shone with happiness, and it wasn’t her carefully applied makeup or her smart, pink suit that made her look radiant. Nonna glowed from within. She didn’t look a day over sixty-five. Oh, sweet Jesus, she really was in love.
Olivia sank down onto the bed and tried to ignore the panic she felt tightening around her lungs. “Nonna, I need a vacation.” And Sean was downstairs waiting. If they missed their flight, she wasn’t sure she could hold it together until the next one. “I’m exhausted.” And my marriage failed, and I’m a monster for resenting my best friends, and as it turns out, I’m not a great chef, so I can’t do the thing I was planning to do for the rest of my life. “Please? I need some time to myself. I just can’t—I need a break.” A permanent break.
“Olivia?” Sean’s deep voice echoed up the stairs.
“Be right down!” she called, forcing the tight words out of her throat. Now was not the time to start screaming or sobbing, although temptation welled up so hard it made her eyes water. She clamped her mouth shut and forced herself to focus on this problem, just this one.
“I’m taking your suitcase out to the car,” Sean yelled up from the foyer.
“You don’t have to do that. I’ll get it,” she yelled back. Olivia heard the screen door swing shut behind him.
Nonna Lucia patted her on the hand. “You go.”
“Nonna, I can’t leave you alone.”
“Olivia, cara, I’m a grown woman. I came to check on you, remember? I’m not ready to go home just yet. Take your vacation. And, mio Dio, give your mother enough to worry about so that she doesn’t come here looking for me. I need a break too.” Nonna’s chocolate brown eyes sparkled.
Olivia hadn’t considered that her mother called every day. Sometimes twice. If neither of them appeared at Villa Farfalla, her mother was sure to come looking for them.
Nonna gave her a gentle push. “I’ll move into your bedroom while you’re gone if you don’t mind. I don’t like the stairs.” Nonna looked thoughtful. “Benito and I will come next week for la Sagra dell’Uva. It’s been a long time since our last gala. It’s time. Go, cara. Your man is waiting.”
“He’s not my man,” Olivia said automatically.
Her grandmother snorted. “You forget who you are talking to. I saw him walk by the restaurant twice a day, every day, for four years when you two were in school together. What happened?”
Olivia ignored the question and leaned to hug her, breathing in her lemony scent. “Ciao, Nonna.”
Her grandmother laughed softly.
Olivia grabbed the keys to her house and car and handed them to Nonna, knowing she’d have to warn her. “I’ve put the house on the market. The real estate agent’s name is Tricia Banner. I’ll make sure she knows to call before bringing anyone over.”
Her grandmother arched her delicate eyebrows. “Why are you selling your house, cara?”
Olivia looked away. “It’s time for a change.” She heard Sean open the front door, so she stood up. “Don’t worry, the market isn’t very good right now. I’ll make sure you can stay as long as you want. Unless you plan to shack up with Big Daddy?”
Nonna laughed, but she didn’t deny it. “Ti voglio bene, Olivia. Travel safely. I love you.”
“I love you too.” Olivia dipped to kiss her grandmother’s soft cheek, then strode out of the bedroom carrying the scent of Nonna’s lemons in her hair and the ever-present echo of a frustrated shriek in the back of her skull.
***
“Why are you carrying your briefcase?” Olivia asked. Rather than leave her at the departure curb, Sean had insisted on escorting her into the airport.
“I can’t leave these files in the car,” he explained, slinging his large leather bag over his shoulder. He rolled her suitcase behind him, forcing her to trail after him with her carry-on.
“You really didn’t have to park, Sean. I’m quite capable of getting myself on an airplane.”
In fact, she was glad to be traveling alone now. It had been ages since she felt this free from responsibility—no orders to call in, no delivery slips to sign, no schedules to write, no mistakes to explain to anyone. The pressure had been paralyzing. It had been getting harder and harder to choose a task, to make a decision. There had been too many people depending on her to do the right thing every second of the day, until all she wanted to do was crawl into the office and hid
e under the desk. Getting away from everything was just what she needed.
Sean tugged her driver’s license and passport out of her hand, and she let him—more evidence of the passivity that had overtaken her formerly authoritative self. He handed her documents to the skycap. Woodenly, Olivia answered his questions. Yes, she’d packed her bags herself. Yes, they had been in her presence the entire time. She turned her back while she jammed her documents back into her purse so Sean wouldn’t see the sudden tears in her eyes. A dull roar filled her ears and she walked a few feet and sat down on a bench.
When had the moment occurred? The actual moment when she surrendered, succumbed to personal inertia and professional paralysis? Had there been a moment? Or had it happened gradually?
Both, she thought, standing up and following Sean as he rolled her bag into the terminal, no longer resenting his company quite as much. It was nice of him to be here for her, especially when he had to be in court. At least, she assumed he had to be in court because he was wearing a dark suit that made his gray eyes look silver. His white shirt was starched and his fashionable tie was knotted perfectly, as per usual. He walked toward security with the air of a man who knew exactly where he was going.
He motioned her in front of him and handed her tickets to the uniformed guard. Sean slipped out of his shoes and put them in a plastic bin.
She stopped taking off her own shoes and turned to him. “What are you doing? You can’t go to the gate unless you have a ticket.”
His steady gray eyes gleamed. “I do have a ticket. I’m going with you.”
Chapter 2
“No, you are not.” Olivia’s eyes blazed.
He’d been expecting resistance. “Now that hurts my feelings. I have business in Italy. Come on, we need to keep the line moving.”
She stepped to the side. “I don’t care about the line. I want to know why you’re following me.”
Other passengers shot him irritated glances as he doubled back to join her. “Don’t you want company?” he asked.
“No, Sean, I don’t want company. I want space.”