Ties That Bind Us

by Nicole Knight

  Was I actually coming around to this idea? No, there was no way.

  Chapter 9

  Nick

  Ava turned away from me and walked into her parents’ house, waiting for me to follow. I watched awestruck for a minute, the sight of her walking away was something that would never lose its appeal. She was so goddamn beautiful. The slight sway in her hips and the way her shorts hung loosely on them made me hard instantly. Her hair was messy, just like it had been on our first night together. Get a hold of yourself, Nick, I said to myself, shaking my head. There was no way I could fuck her in her parents’ house. I had promised her I would be on my best behavior today, but it was already clear that she was going to make that a challenge.

  I followed her inside and shut the door behind me. “Your house is beautiful.”

  “Thank you. I’ll tell my mom you think so.” She smiled. “Why don’t we—”

  “Ava, can you please talk some sense into your brother?” a high-pitched voice came from the kitchen.

  Ava rolled her eyes as her brother and sister came into the foyer.

  “Oh!” Her sister looked at me, surprised.

  “Bella, Vince, this is Nick. Nick, this is my brother, Vince, and my sister, Bella,” Ava said quickly.

  I could tell by the look on her face that she had wanted to avoid this little meeting entirely. Honestly, I had as well. I would have changed my tactics if I’d known Vince was there. Vince and I had a tumultuous history. He blamed me for Andrew’s death, and while he wasn’t entirely wrong, there was much more to the story than he knew. He had been angry with me for a long time, thinking I had murdered Andrew in cold blood, which couldn’t be further from the truth. After Andrew died, I had tried to meet Vince several times to explain what happened. He was having none of it, though, and there wasn’t much I could say to diffuse or change the situation. Now, we tended to avoid each other when we ran into each other in public, but here, that was a little more difficult to do. Not to mention that fact I wasn’t sure he’d be thrilled about the idea of me taking over the Moretti organization as well. That spot was rightfully his, but my marriage to Ava would take it away. The last thing I needed was an altercation with her brother when I was trying to convince Ava that this marriage could be a good thing.

  “What the fuck is he doing here?” Vince snarled. So much for hoping he’d let this go easily.

  “Vince!” Bella smacked him in the stomach. “What my incredibly barbaric older brother is trying to say is that it’s really nice to meet you, Nick.” I liked her already.

  “Nice to meet you as well, Bella. And nice to see you again, Vince.” I smiled politely, ignoring Vince’s menacing glare. He didn’t want me here, and that was pretty evident.

  “You two know each other?” Ava frowned in confusion.

  “We’ve worked together a little bit in the past,” I said, hoping Vince didn’t want to air all of our dirty laundry right now. Thankfully, he just scoffed and turned his head.

  “Nick and I are . . . dating.” Ava had an awkward edge to her voice, and I had to stifle a laugh. Apparently, the rest of the Moretti family hadn’t been enlightened about our arrangement.

  “What?!” Bella shrieked, glaring at Ava. “What about the guy from the . . . oh.” The realization hit her all at once. Ava had told her about our evening at the hotel. It seemed she hadn’t forgotten about me as easily as she claimed if she was telling her sister about me. I couldn’t wipe the smirk off of my face no matter how badly I wanted to.

  “One of my siblings wasn’t enough for you, huh, Caponelli?” Vince gritted his teeth. His voice was low so only I would hear. “Had to go for another one?” He stepped toward me as if he wanted to fight. I was never one to back down from a challenge like the one Vince was presenting, but that wasn’t the way I wanted to impress my new fiancé—by knocking her brother out cold in her parents’ foyer.

  Ava hadn’t heard what he said but she turned just in time to see us squaring off. “Vince, don’t you have a something better to do than harass my boyfriend?”

  “Boyfriend? Does Dad know about this?” Vince asked, never taking his eyes off of me.

  “Yes, he does. He’s all for it. In fact, he’s the one who arranged it. So if you don’t mind, Nick and I have things to do.” Ava turned flippantly and headed toward the stairs.

  “Nice to meet you both,” I said quickly and followed her. Luckily, Vince stayed put and didn’t push the issue any further. I needed to find out what Ava knew about the situation with Andrew, and if she didn’t know the truth, I needed to find a way to tell her before someone else did. If she found out that I shot her twin brother before I could explain what happened, our marriage would be over before it even started.

  “So you told your sister about me?” I teased, following her down the winding hall until we finally reached the last possible door we could get to.

  Ava rolled her eyes as she opened her bedroom door. “Don’t flatter yourself. She caught me sneaking in the next morning.”

  I smirked at the thought of her walk of shame from my hotel room. Makeup smeared and hair a mess, hopefully so damn sore she couldn’t walk straight. “You know, if you had stayed, that wouldn’t have been an issue.”

  “Is this the part where I’m supposed to say something nauseatingly romantic like Thank goodness fate brought us together again?” She brushed against me as she walked into her room.

  “Fate is a great way to describe it.” I chuckled, knowing it wasn’t the response she was looking for. Ava was unlike any other girl I had met and I was going to have to jump through some serious hoops to make this work. I was determined to, though. I wanted to become Don. I wanted to show my family how dedicated and capable I was. And I wanted to come home to Ava every night for the rest of my life.

  “This isn’t fate, Nick. This is some archaic Mafia tradition that should have been abolished years ago.” She gave me a sideways smile, almost like she was teasing me. I welcomed the change—it meant she was loosening up, letting her true self shine through.

  “Why must you be so pessimistic?” I followed her into her bedroom and took a seat on her bed.

  She shrugged playfully. “I’m not pessimistic, I’m rational. One of us has to be.” She leaned down and kissed my cheek unexpectedly. “Give me a few minutes and I’ll be ready to go.” She disappeared into the bathroom, leaving me sitting on her bed, speechless.

  It took all my strength to not break down the damn door and throw her onto the bed. That was the first time she had initiated any kind of physical contact between us since that night, and it was driving me wild. If her brother wasn’t waiting downstairs already likely to rip my throat out, I would claim her right here in her childhood room. What the fuck did this girl do to me?

  Twenty minutes went by and Ava still hadn’t emerged. I was getting restless.

  “You know, when I said I wanted to take you on a date, I meant today,” I called, glancing at my watch. We were running out of sunlight here.

  The door opened and Ava came out absolutely glowing. God, I was a lucky man.

  “Sorry, if I had known you were coming over, I could have been ready.” She smiled, then grabbed her purse before slipping on a pair of shoes.

  “Give me your number and the next time I come, I’ll call.” I smiled, my palm finding the small of her back and guiding her out of the room.

  “You’re kidding, right? You can’t do a little research and find it out for yourself?” She grinned, throwing my words right back at me.

  She was spicy this morning, and I was enjoying every second of it. “Well, of course, I can, I’d just prefer you give it to me willingly.”

  “Don’t get ahead of yourself there, lover boy. Let’s just see how today goes.”

  I opened the door for Ava and she got inside the car. I had a surprise for her this afternoon, and I had a sneaking suspicion it might be just the thing to get her to let her walls down completely.

 
We made small talk as we drove, arguing about my taste in music and who had the best pizza in New York. It only scratched the surface of the things I wanted to know about her. She was still guarded, but hopefully not for long. About an hour and half into our drive toward Montauk, I turned into a long, tree-lined driveway, and watched as she looked out at the sprawling meadows in wonder. I didn’t think I would ever get tired of that light in her eyes.

  “Where are we?” she asked, keeping her gaze locked on the scenery.

  A small smile crept across my face knowing that she was enjoying this already. “You’ll see.”

  A little ways up the road the barn came into view. Its large wooden doors were open so we could get a small glimpse inside. The closer we got, the more of the grounds we could see. Endless white fences and lush, green pastures rolled around us. Some horses grazed on the grass while others were being ridden in the huge outdoor arena. The ring inside was state of the art, but when the weather was nice on days like today, the outdoor arena was most popular. Then the training track appeared.

  When we stepped out of the car, the unmistakable aroma of horse poop hit us. That was the only downside of this place.

  “What is this place?” Ava looked around, soaking everything in.

  “My family’s stables. One of my father’s big moneymakers is horse racing. He’s got some of the best athletes in the sport here,” I explained, leading her inside the barn.

  “This is amazing. I love horses!” Her excitement was contagious.

  “Good, because we’re going for a little ride.” I smiled, completely thrilled with myself.

  “Seriously? We get to ride them?” Her eyes opened wide and she looked at me like I had just offered her the keys to the kingdom.

  “Once Dad’s horses retire from racing, they become leisure horses. There are ten of them here just for days like today, when one of us can get out and ride. Come on, I’ll show you.” I grasped her hand and led her down the row of stalls. A few horses peeked their heads out.

  “This is Onyx. He’s one of the top horses right now. He’s young, but in a year he’ll be nearly impossible to beat.” I pointed inside one of the stalls, where a tall, white horse stood eating some hay out of a feeder.

  “He’s beautiful.” Ava’s entire face lit up as she reached to rub his nose. Onyx ate up every bit of her attention.

  We made our way down a little farther.

  “This is Pain, and this is Panic. The two we’ll take out today.” I ruffled the mane of Panic, who had been my horse for several years now.

  “Interesting names.” Ava smirked, petting Pain.

  “Have you ever seen Hercules? My brother and I named them.” I chuckled.

  “I didn’t take you for a Disney fan,” she teased, the tension she normally carried melting right off her.

  “I was seven, give me a break.” I defended myself, then moved closer to her. “Have you ever ridden before?”

  She nodded. “My mom’s sister has a ranch out in Colorado.”

  “Great.” I smiled. “I’m going to go get our saddles and I’ll be right back.”

  I left Ava standing in front of the stalls, in awe of the horses around her, and went to grab all the tack we would need. When I returned, she had moved down the row a little bit and was peering into the stall of Cassio.

  “Careful with that one,” I warned. “He’s meaner than a junkyard dog. Fast as lightning, but nearly impossible to get a saddle on. The guy who rides him is about the only one in the world who can touch him.”

  “Maybe he’s just misunderstood,” she suggested, a glint of sarcasm in her eyes.

  “Try to pet him,” I suggested, knowing full well how this was going to end. It was cute she thought she had the magic touch with him, but Cassio was a different kind of horse. He didn’t like interaction in the slightest. His poor jockey had to fight tooth and nail just to get him ready for a race.

  Ava stuck her hand through the bars slowly, trying to give him time to warm up. Instead, he reared back, shrieking and neighing like someone was trying to kill him. Ava jumped backward, startled, and bumped right into me.

  My expression said I told you so without actually saying the words. Ava seemed content, and we walked back to the front of the barn to get Pain and Panic ready for our ride.

  “Have you ever tacked a horse up before?” I asked, slinging a saddle over Pain’s back.

  Ava shook her head. “I’m surprised you do. Don’t you have stable hands to do this kind of thing?”

  I chuckled. “We do, but my dad always insisted that if you’re going to ride the animal you should know how to take care of it. And that includes getting them ready.”

  “Well, I guess I better pay close attention then.” She smirked, stepping closer to me. Damn her tempting personality and no touch rules.

  I did my best to ignore the way her body grazed mine as I showed her how to tighten the straps and then put on the bridle. We flew through the process so that I could keep my cool. Within just a few minutes, we were on our way. The scenery was exquisite, sandy beaches to one side of us and a thick forest on the other. It was all part of my dad’s property, and just off in the distance, you could see some beach houses in the Hamptons. We rode for about a half an hour before I led her into a clearing.

  “This is so beautiful,” she said, looking around as I secured the horses to a tree.

  “Beautiful place, beautiful girl.” I smiled, walking farther into the clearing. Wildflowers grew all around us and the aspen trees made an almost perfect circle around the perimeter. This place was like something out of a painting.

  Ava blushed, following me farther into the clearing. I had brought a blanket with me and spread it out in the grass for us to sit on.

  “How did you find it?” she asked.

  “Well, my brother Leo and I used to come here to get away from everything at home when we were younger. This was kind of our peace in the storm, something only for us. You tend to see a lot of tough stuff when you grow up in the Mafia. I guess you know how that goes, though,” I said, leaning back on my elbows.

  Ava sat only a few inches from me, her knees slightly bent, still gaping at everything around us.

  “Actually, I don’t. My dad always kept my sisters and me as far away from it as he could. You’d be surprised how little I actually know about the business.” She shrugged.

  I hated Moretti’s philosophy. It was the complete opposite of ours. I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt and say he had the right intentions by keeping them safe, but it almost put them in more danger. They had no idea what to expect, who to trust—he was basically setting them up as sitting ducks. It was a wonder nothing had happened to his daughters growing up. And knowing Alessandro, it was more for his own power and convenience than their safety anyway.

  I couldn’t help but wonder if Ava even knew how to defend herself. He should have at least taught her that, but I highly doubted he had. For Alessandro, it was about power. He treated his wife and daughters like second-class citizens, ordering them around and dictating everything about their lives. Ava begrudgingly going through law school was a prime example of that. In some twisted way, she must have thought that would prove her worth to him, but guys like Moretti never changed. Women in his world weren’t important enough to know or understand the inner workings of the business; they weren’t important enough to make decisions or be involved at all. Things were much different in our family.

  “Ava, I have something for you,” I said reaching into my pocket and pulling out a small box.

  “You didn’t need to get me anything, this entire day is already amazing.” She smiled genuinely, a sight I could look at for the rest of my life.

  “I know this is a lot to adjust to, and probably not how you pictured getting engaged, but I hope you’ll give it a chance.” I straightened a little bit, opening the box and pulling out the ring I had picked out for her. “Ava, I want to ask you to marry me. I
know this entire situation is pretty screwed up, but I want to make this as normal as possible for you.”

  Ava stared at me, stunned into silence. I took her hand and she let me put the ring on her finger. It was a perfect fit, like it was made for her. The diamond sparkled in the sunlight and was absolutely spectacular. I had gotten the best money could buy, and looking at it glistening on her finger right now proved it was all worth it. I knew what a horrible situation this was for her, and despite the fact we would be married regardless, I wanted it to be on her terms as much as possible. I wanted to at least give her the illusion of control.

  “I know you didn’t have a choice in the matter, but I hope that you won’t ever regret this. Someday, when I have earned your love and trust, I’ll ask you for real and I hope your answer will be yes. But until then, this”—I held her hand to my lips and kissed the ring—“is my promise to you that I will spend every day working on this with you, making the most out of our situation, and giving you everything you deserve. That I’ll never force you to do anything you don’t want to do, and that I won’t ever take you for granted. So with all that being said, Ava, do you accept this arranged marriage?”

  “Nick, I . . .” she started, and then bit her lip, searching for words.

  “You don’t have to answer me now. Let’s just see how things go.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Of course.” I squeezed her hand. “Now how about some champagne?”

  I pulled a bottle from the small basket and poured us each a glass.

  “You’ve really thought of everything, haven’t you?” She smiled, putting the glass up to her lips.

  “I like to be prepared for anything that arises. I’ve even got a spot picked out to have sex in case the mood swings that way.” I smirked at her, keeping my voice low even though we were the only people for miles.