by Andria Large
"Right, okay then, never mind," Ace mutters, stepping back and clapping his hands together.
Before I could tell him to stop being rude, my mom, Elena, comes out of the kitchen, drying her hands on a dishtowel. She smiles at me, tossing the towel over her shoulder and starts toward me, her arms out.
"My baby," she coos – again, in Italian - giving me a kiss on each cheek before hugging me.
"Ciao mamma," I say.
I introduce her to Ace and Alex. She smiles sweetly and shakes both of their hands. She looks back at me, gestures with her hands, and says “Big boys” in Italian. I grin slightly and nod.
"Hungry, sì?" my mom asks them.
Ace and Alex both smile and nod. Ace even says "Sì," which gets an approving look from my mother. Yay! You go Ace! I give his arm a squeeze and he sends me a lopsided grin.
"Come, come," my mom urges, ushering us into the dining room. She wants us to sit so she can put the food on the table. "Gaetano, Gina!" she calls to my dad and sister before slipping back into the kitchen.
My dad grumbles in Italian on his way over to the table. I catch a few choice words that have me clenching my fists. Just make it through dinner, and then we can leave. Come on, Nicole, you can do it. I give myself a pep talk before going and sitting with Ace on one side of the table. Alex sits with Gina across from us and my dad sits at the end closest to Gina and me, in his usual seat.
Ace elbows me. When I look over at him, he nods his head toward Gina. I turn to look at her and find that she is seriously checking Alex out. I stifle a laugh. Ace is snickering next to me. Alex isn't paying any attention to her, so he has no idea; although, I don't know how he doesn't feel her eyes running all over him. It's not like she's being subtle about it either.
"Forget it, he's thirty-six," I tell her in Italian to keep Alex and Ace from understanding what I’m saying.
Her eyes flip to mine. "So?"
My sister, Gina, is super pretty and knows it. She has a little bit of a problem with keeping her legs closed, though. I'm pretty sure that she's slept with more guys than I have, and I've had a five-year head start. She is picky, though, I'll give her that; the guy has to be a stud or she's not interested. Alex is definitely a stud and Gina wants in his pants. I know it's not gonna happen. Alex won't leave Ace to fuck some random chick. It'll be fun to see her try, though, especially in front of my dad.
Alex raises an eyebrow as if he understood our little exchange and looks down at Gina. She gives him a flirty smile. The grin he gives her in return has Alex looking seriously sexy. He leans down and whispers something in her ear. I've never seen Gina blush, but whatever he says to her has her turning bright red. Ace is biting his lip to stop from laughing. I can't even begin to imagine what he's saying to her. I'll find out later.
My mom brings out a large bowl of spaghetti and meatballs just as Alex straightens back up. She sets it in the middle of the table and my dad reaches for the spoon. My mother snaps at him and slaps his hand away. They bicker for a moment but my mom eventually wins the little argument. She wants the guests to serve themselves first. With my dad in full brooding mode, my mother motions for Ace to fill his plate.
"Si mangia," she says, which means, “you eat."
"Oh, okay," he says hesitantly, glancing at my dad before grabbing the spaghetti spoon.
Ace then surprises me by taking my plate and filling it up first. I slip a glance at my mother who is in the process of sitting down; she is watching Ace with an approving smile. My tension eases slightly. If I can get my mother to be okay with this, then she might be able to convince my father.
"Gina," Ace says, holding out his hand for her plate.
Gina smiles and hands her plate over. "Thank you, Ace."
After he finishes with Gina, he turns to my mom and smiles. "Mrs. Gionelli?"
"Grazie," she says sweetly and hands him her plate. "You may call me, Elena," she says in her thick Italian accent.
Ace gives her a rakish smile and winks at her as he hands back her plate. "Okay."
My mother blushes slightly and giggles. Well, shit. Ace won my mother over in a matter of minutes. I stare at him in awe as he fills his plate. When he's finished, he hands the spoon over to my dad, who practically snatches it out of his hand. I ignore it because I'm still in the middle of adoring Ace at the moment. He looks over at me and grins, his blue eyes gleaming in amusement. He leans over and gives me a peck on the cheek before turning back to his food.
He digs in and immediately groans and closes his eyes. My mom frowns in concern and looks at me. I smirk and lean over to Ace.
"My mom thinks you don't like it," I whisper, knowing that's it the opposite and he's in food heaven.
Ace swallows and looks at me. "This is the best sauce that I've ever tasted. How do I say delicious in Italian?" he whispers back.
I tell him. Ace straightens up, looks at my mom and declares, "Delizioso!"
My mom gives him a pleased smile and says thank you.
Both Ace and Alex have seconds, eating everything off their plates, doing everything but lick their plates clean. It pleases my mom to no end. My dad, on the other hand, is silent throughout the whole dinner. Silent and eyeing Ace up like he is the scum of the earth. I made Ace wear a long sleeved shirt so that his tattoos were covered because my dad loathes tattoos. I felt bad asking him to cover himself up, but I knew it would be best. I can't imagine the looks he would be getting if he had worn short sleeves. I'm just waiting for my dad to explode. I know it's coming. I can see it in his eyes. He's gearing up for the argument of all arguments. God help us when he finally blows.
~Ace~
After dinner, all of the women get up from the table, grab plates and silverware, and file into the kitchen. I lean back in my chair and rub my overly stuffed stomach. Goddamn, that was one of the best meals I've ever had. And Nicole said there is still dessert. I could really use a smoke, but I'm gonna have to suck it up and wait until we leave. I can feel Nicole's dad's eyes on me, so I look over at him.
"Your wife is an amazing cook," I say, hoping to get on his good side. Nothing has seemed to work so far.
"Why you with my daughter?" he asks in his thick accent, completely ignoring what I said. "You plan to marry her?"
I blink stupidly at him for a moment. "I...ah...not at the moment..."
"Then you have no business with her," he snaps.
"But I like her. I like being around her..."
"I no care," he barks, slashing angrily at the air. "You end this now. You no good for my daughter."
I narrow my eyes at the older man. Now I can see why Nicole was worried. He's being an asshole. He doesn't care if Nicole has feelings for me or not, he just wants things his way, and that's not cool in my book.
"And why not?" I ask defiantly.
"I know your kind. You use women and toss them away. I see your picture, covered in disgusting tattoos, and I smell the cigarettes on you. You bad influence. I no want you near my daughter."
"That's not really your choice, sir. Nicole is an adult and she is the one who gets to choose who she's with," I sneer. I'm really not liking her father right now.
"Does your family approve of…" He motions at me. "...all this?"
"My grandparents raised me and they are very proud of me and what I've accomplished," I say with pride.
Guy shakes his head in disgust. "If you do not plan to marry my Nicole, then you need to go so she can find a nice Italian boy."
"Why does she have to marry an Italian guy? What difference does it make?" I ask.
"She needs to be with a man I can trust, a man who has values, who was brought up the same way as she was," he says firmly.
"Just because a guy is Italian doesn't mean he has values," I scoff and cross my arms over my chest.
"He is still better than you!" Guy yells angrily and bangs his fist on the table.
Nicole appears in the kitchen doorway. She looks angry and embarrassed. She snaps at her father in Italian and th
ey start arguing heatedly. Arms are flying as they yell at each other and I lose count of how many times I get pointed at by both of them. I can't help but notice how Nicole is hot as hell when she's pissed off and yelling in another language, though. Her mom and sister emerge from the kitchen and start in on the argument. This is not going well at all. I glance across the table at Alex to find him covering his ears.
I'm to the point where I just can't take it anymore. I stand up and yell, "ENOUGH!"
The four of them abruptly stop talking and turn to look at me.
"Nicole, I think we should leave and let your dad cool off," I suggest.
Nicole nods slowly. "Yeah, you're probably right," she says softly.
She says a quick goodbye to her mother and sister before going into the living room to grab her purse. Alex and I say thank you to Elena for dinner before following Nicole into the other room. She storms out of the front door and hastily heads for Alex's Hummer, leaving us in her dust. The ride back to Nicole's apartment is silent. She is sitting by herself in the backseat and I swear I can feel the tension rolling off her. I really thought it would have gone better than that, but she was right, it was a disaster.
I don't even know what to say to her. I feel like this is all my fault. Once back at her apartment, she takes off down the hallway and shuts herself in her room. I sigh and glance at Alex. He's frowning.
"That really sucked," he murmurs.
I rake a frustrated hand through my hair. "You ain't kiddin'," I huff.
"You should go talk to her," Alex says softly.
"She probably hates me right now," I mutter, shaking my head.
I flop down onto the couch and drop my face into my hands.
"I highly doubt that." He snorts, dropping down next to me. "If she hates anyone right now, it's her father."
"I just don't understand his reasoning," I say in confusion.
"Man, he's old school; it's engrained in his bones. He doesn't believe in change and expects things to go a certain way, and when they don't, he's hates it," he answers.
I nod. "Yeah, I guess that's true."
"Go talk to her," Alex urges.
I nod again and stand up. I stop in front of her bedroom door and knock softly. She doesn't answer, so I try the knob. It's open. I crack the door and stick my head in.
"Nicole?" I ask quietly.
"Hmm?" she responds softly.
The room is dark, except for the glow of the clock on the nightstand, because her curtains are closed, but I can see the outline of her body laid out on her bed. I think she's on her stomach.
"Can I come in?"
"I guess," she murmurs, her voice muffled by what I'm assuming is a pillow.
I enter the room and shut the door behind me. I give my eyes a second to adjust before I make my way over to the bed. I kick my shoes off and crawl up onto it. I feel my way over to her. My hand grazes over her ass, letting me know that she's definitely lying on her stomach. I snuggle up to her side. I lay my hand on her back and rub gentle circles.
"I'm sorry," I murmur.
She shifts slightly and turns her head in my direction. Through the darkness, I can see that her hair is covering her face. I bring my hand up and brush it back so that I can see her better. Her eyes are closed, so I take the chance to study her face. She's so beautiful with her high cheekbones and her pouty lips. I continue to smooth my hand over her silky hair. What is this girl doing to me?
"I'm so embarrassed," she whispers.
"Baby, don't be, there's nothing to be embarrassed about," I reply quietly.
Her eyes flip open and she pushes up to her elbows. "Are you kidding me? I've known you for all of two weeks and my dad freaks out on you, insults you. I mean, you don't even know half of the shit that he was saying in Italian about you," she huffs angrily.
"It doesn't matter, Nikki. What bothers me the most is that he upset you," I blurt. Okay Ace, good way to hide your feelings.
Nicole rolls her eyes at me. "Like you really care how I feel," she laughs bitterly.
I frown at her. "Of course I care how you feel; otherwise, I wouldn't be here," I snap. It actually hurt to find out that she thinks that I don't care about her, which also freaks me out a bit because now I have to admit that I do care about her. A lot.
She sighs and hangs her head. "You're right, I'm sorry."
"Listen, I know this is stressing you out, but we only have to put up this front for another month or two and then you can make your dad happy by telling him that you dumped my ass."
Nicole snickers and lifts her head back up. "Is that how the story for the tabloids is gonna go, too?"
I nod. "Absolutely," I smirk.
She smiles and it makes my heart do a little happy jig. This is not good. This thing I have for her keeps deepening each time she smiles at me. My grandmother always told me that when I found that one person meant for me that I would do anything to make her happy, no matter what it costs me. As of right now, I would take the hit for this whole situation. Nicole can publicly dump my sorry ass if that would make her happy. Is this what my grandmother meant?
"Thanks, Ace," she says softly.
I nod. "Anytime."
She sighs and lies back down, this time turning on her side to face me. I reach over and pull her closer so I can hug her. She chuckles and wraps her arms around me. I tangle my legs around hers as I nuzzle my face into the crook of her neck. She giggles and squirms.
"Ace, your goatee is tickling me." She laughs.
"Oh, you think that is tickling you?" I say, my voice muffled by her neck.
"Don't you dare!" she squeals.
But it's too late. I start tickling her sides. She screams and squirms and fights to get away. I tickle her until she's gasping for breath. I realize then that I'm on top of her with my cock – which is hard, by the way - wedged snuggly between her legs. Who knew tickling a woman could be such a turn on? She's panting beneath me, her hands are clutching my sides. I grind against her, testing the waters. Her eyes flip up to mine. I can see that she wants me, but she's hesitant.
Before she can do or say anything, I swoop down and capture her lips. She moans softly and parts her lips for me. I take what she is offering and deepen the kiss, tangling my hands in her hair and rocking my hips. I want to be inside of her again, badly. Nicole's hands glide up my back to clutch my shoulders, her legs winding around the backs of my thighs. I drag my mouth down to her neck as I glide one hand down from her hair to her breast. Her boobs are not huge but they're not small either. They are perfect.
"Ace, we really shouldn't," she breathes halfheartedly.
"Why not? Everyone thinks we are anyway," I mutter against her neck.
I find her mouth again, this time teasing her by nipping at her bottom lip before soothing it with my tongue. Her breath catches and her back arches up. She wants me. There's no doubt about that. I rear back and yank her shirt over her head then make quick work of her bra. Damn, she's gorgeous. I don't remember her being this beautiful, but that's probably because I was hammered.
I skim my hands up her sides to her tits. I cup them both before bending over and pulling one nipple into my mouth. Nicole gasps and whimpers as I suck hard on her little bud. I switch to the other one, doing the same. She pants and claws at the sheets.
"Ace," she whines.
I lift just my eyes. "Yes?"
"Don't tease me," she rasps.
"But it's so fun," I growl, biting down lightly on her nipple.
She cries out, her head coming up to glare at me. I chuckle. She then shoves me off her and climbs on top of me, straddling my hips. She tears my shirt off and tosses it over her shoulder, raking her nails down over my chest, her nails catching on the barbells in my nipples. I hiss as they tug.
"I didn't realize your nipples were pierced," she says in shock.
"You were kinda plastered the last time we were together." I snicker.
"Shut up." She grunts, plucking a barbell.
I growl. My
nipples have always been sensitive, that's why I got them pierced; the barbells just make them all the more sensitive. I absolutely love when women use their mouths on them. A devilish grin curls Nicole's lips. Yes! Fucking do it!
She bends over and flicks her tongue over one nipple and I suck in a sharp breath as pleasure shoots through me. Nicole shifts so that she's lying on me instead of sitting. Her lips close over one barbell and I groan. I can feel her luscious breasts pressed against my stomach. I want to take control again, but I want her playing with my nipples some more first. She bites down gently and I almost shoot off the bed. I let out a vicious curse.