“Sure.” I nodded, determined to try my best.
“That’s my girl.” Nick smiled, then wrapped his arms around me and drew his lips to my neck like a magnet. “How about we renegotiate that saving yourself for marriage thing?”
He relaxed a little bit, but I could tell Alek and his family were weighing heavily on his mind also. It was like a cloud looming over us, and though we’d both do our best to ignore it, I couldn’t help but feel like a train was barreling down the tracks toward us and we had no way of stopping it.
Chapter 11
Ava
Over the next few weeks, the reality of my engagement to Nick sank in. It was starting to feel less suffocating and more like a real relationship than I ever could have imagined. I felt giddy talking to him, and sometimes I found myself looking for an excuse to bring him up. Luckily for me, there was no shortage of opportunities to talk about the situation when I was spending the afternoon with my sisters.
“I can’t believe you’re actually considering any of this.” Bella shook her head exasperatedly at me. She sat a few feet away, her feet dangling in the pool.
“It’s not like I have much choice, Bells.” I defended myself for what seemed like the millionth time. “I’m trying to make the best of all of this.”
“Well, I for one am really proud of you,” Angie said as she bounced Jax on her lap. His little swim trunks were too damn cute. “And from what it sounds like, you hit the jackpot with Nick. He sounds wonderful, I’ve never heard of a man from the Mafia letting the woman have any kind of choice once a deal like this was done.”
“Right, because you know so much about the Mafia,” Bella scoffed, rolling her eyes. She was taking my complacency really hard and had been trying to get me to run away basically since she’d found out. “Although, I will say he’s got good taste in jewelry.” She held my hand up and inspected the ring. It really was spectacular. I hadn’t expected all that much, but it was just another example of Nick going out of his way to put me at ease.
“When do we get to meet him?” Angie asked.
“I already have.” Bella shrugged nonchalantly. “And believe me, he’s every bit as attractive as he is charming. Which I guess explains why you’re being so compliant with all of this.”
“Okay, that’s not fair. I want to meet him too!” Angie pouted.
“I’m not really sure, Dad said something about a dinner in a few weeks so everyone could. And I know Nick wants to have an engagement party.” I smiled, still admiring the ring on my hand. I ignored Bella’s comment about being compliant. She didn’t understand the position I was in, and no matter what I said, she never would. And why was it any business of hers if I was going along with this? I was the one who had to make the most of it.
“It’s adorable how excited he is,” Angie continued. “Mike wanted nothing to do with any of it after he gave me the ring. I was basically on my own until I met him at the altar.”
Bella shot her a condescending glare. “Ang, you had three wedding planners. I would hardly say you were on your own.”
“What is your problem today?” Angie glared back at her.
“My only problem is that I think this is all a little fishy. Ava screws a guy in a hotel, and two months later he shows up on our doorstep demanding an arranged marriage.” She flashed us both a dirty look. “No one finds that odd?”
“He didn’t demand anything, this was Dad’s idea,” I reminded her.
“Right. That’s what he’s telling you, at least. You know nothing about him, Ava. You’ve been on, what, five dates with the guy? And what happened to the girl who had a serious phobia about anything past the third date?” Bella shot me a look that said she couldn’t believe how naïve I was being. My phone rang before I could respond.
“Hello?” I answered, recognizing Nick’s number, thankful for the interruption.
“Hey, beautiful, are you at home?” I loved hearing the excitement in his voice. When I told him I was, he said, “I’m picking you up in five minutes. We have lunch plans.”
“Don’t you think you should ask me first?” I asked, only half joking.
“No, you’re my fiancé now. If I want to take you out and spoil you, I’m going to.”
“I guess I could make time for that,” I teased. “I’ll probably need more than five minutes, though, unless it’s the kind of place I can go in my swimsuit.”
Nick didn’t answer for a minute.
“Nick?”
“Sorry,” he said quickly. “I was just distracted by the visual of you sitting across the table from me wearing a skimpy bikini. As sexy as that sounds, I don’t want anyone looking at that body of yours, especially my brothers.”
I nearly choked. “Your brothers?”
“Yeah,” he clarified nonchalantly. “I think it’s time you meet them.”
Meeting his family was somewhat of a formality at this point, but it didn’t make it any less intimidating. “Okay,” I stuttered.
“I’ll see you soon, babe.” He hung up before I had time to protest. I tried to compose myself, an uneasy feeling in my stomach. I suddenly felt desperate to impress them. His family was so different from mine.
“Who was that?” Bella eyed me suspiciously.
“Nick,” I said. “He’s coming to take me to lunch. We’ll have to continue this discussion another time.”
“You better not leave without bringing him out here to meet me,” Angie warned. Jax shrieked as if echoing her demand.
“Yeah, yeah,” I called over my shoulder.
I had barely slipped on a blue sundress when the doorbell rang. I shook my hair out with my fingers and put a quick coat of lipstick on. By the time I got down the stairs again, Bella and Angie were already standing at the front door, no doubt grilling Nick. Angie had even passed off the baby to him. He was making funny faces at my nephew, and bouncing him in the air as Jax dissolved into giggles. He was an absolute natural with babies. It was almost enough to make me want some of my own. Almost.
“Don’t you two have something better to do than scare my boyfriend off?”
“Fiancé, actually,” Nick corrected with a wide grin. “We were just getting to know each other.”
“Yeah.” Angie grinned evilly. “He certainly is just as hot and charming as you let on.”
My cheeks immediately turned crimson with embarrassment, but Nick ate up their attention. “We should get going,” I insisted, grabbing Nick’s hand.
“I’m having a good time.” He smirked, snaking his arm around my waist possessively.
“So, Nick, what are you doing with our little sister this afternoon?” Bella said, trying to appear tough. The girl didn’t have an intimidating bone in her body.
“We’re meeting my brothers for lunch. I’ll have her back by dinner, I promise.” Nick gave them a charming smile.
“Oh, you can keep her longer. We don’t care, we just want to make sure she’s having a good time.” Bella giggled to herself.
“Oh my God.” I covered my eyes with my hand. “You two are ridiculous. We’re leaving.”
“It was nice to see you guys!” Nick smiled as I led him out the door.
“You two have fun now!” Bella waved as we made our way out to Nick’s Corvette.
“Use protection!” Angie snickered.
They were mortifying.
Nick
“I thought I told you to wear something that my brothers couldn’t check you out in,” I teased, trapping Ava with my hips against the passenger door to my car. She was so damn sexy it would be near impossible to get through this lunch without sneaking a quickie in somehow. We hadn’t had sex since that night in the hotel room; I was still trying to respect her boundaries, but a man had needs. And this man needed a good fuck with his fiancé.
She blushed, looking at the ground as a smile spread across her lips. “You didn’t give me much notice.” Her hands found their way to my belt buckle and she tugged j
ust enough to ignite a fire within me. Her hands even being in proximity to my crotch made me instantly hard. “You know, we could go upstairs and you could help me pick something else out if you want . . .” she purred seductively against my ear, batting those long lashes at me. It made me so fucking weak when she looked at me that way. And she was doing it while we were standing in the middle of the street no less. Such a tease.
“If we go upstairs, we might not make it to lunch.” I grazed her thigh with my fingers and fiddled with the hem of her dress, raising it slightly. At least the car was shielding us from her sisters, who were still standing at the door watching us. I was about to make her regret starting something she couldn’t finish according to her own rules. It felt incredible to know that she was craving me just as much as I was craving her.
“Nick . . .” I loved the way she moaned my name. Each time she did it gave me flashbacks of our first night together.
I dragged my fingers up painfully slowly. “On second thought, keep the dress. I like the easy access.” I winked and removed my hand from her skin. “Come on, we’re going to be late.”
Ava blushed and I started to drive into the city. She sat with her legs crossed, angling her body away from me. It was cute how she thought that would stop me. I whipped the car into the valet lane and tossed my keys to the guy on duty.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Caponelli. How are you today?” he greeted me quickly.
I walked around the side of the car and offered my hand to Ava. “I’m well. Is my brother here?”
“Yes, both of them. They’re waiting at a booth in the back.”
“Great.” I slipped him a twenty and led Ava into the restaurant.
“This is . . .” She looked around, coming to the realization of where we were.
“The place we met.” I smirked. “Should we sneak into the office for old times’ sake?”
“Are you going to behave yourself through lunch? I seriously doubt your brothers will appreciate your snide comments.”
“You think my comments are snide?” I chuckled a little.
“I think you like making me uncomfortable,” she retorted. That statement wasn’t entirely false.
I smiled in response as I wove her through the tables to where my brothers were sitting in the back.
Leo saw us immediately and stood up, straightening his buttons. He was working today and was dressed casually in jeans and a maroon button-down. Frankie was less presentable and looked like he had just barely rolled out of bed. It looked like Zane was joining us as well.
“Nick!” Leo greeted me, shaking my hand and pulling me into a hug.
“Good to see you, man.” I hugged him back. “This is Ava. Ava, this is my brother, Leo. My other brother, Frankie.” I nodded at Frankie slumped in the corner of the booth. “And this is Zane, he’s practically my brother.”
Ava hardly seemed phased by the men in front of her. She smiled confidently and stuck her hand out to Leo. “It’s so nice to finally meet you guys. Nick has told me so much about you.” I loved how at ease she was. If there was anything good that bastard Moretti had done for her, it was to make her such a people person. She hardly ever appeared flustered and came across as completely calm and collected, working every corner of the room.
“Everything he said was a lie . . . unless, of course, it was good.” Zane smirked, standing up to greet her as well.
“Definitely good.” She smiled as we slid into the booth.
“It’s nice to finally meet you too. Nick has been completely infatuated with you since he met you. He’s hardly talked about anything else,” Leo teased, shooting me a grin. I guess it was my turn to take a turn at being embarrassed by siblings.
“Yeah, he even had me try to stalk you for a few weeks. You’re a tough woman to find,” Zane echoed.
Ava giggled and smiled at me.
“All right, all right. Enough with that.” I tried to stop the madness. Everyone settled down eventually and I kept my hand securely on Ava’s thigh as we chatted. I was proud to show her off and happy that they were finally getting to meet each other. Throughout the conversation, I snuck my hand farther up her thigh. It had her completely flustered, and the best part was, I was the only one who knew.
“When is the wedding?” Frankie piped up. He had been relatively quiet this entire time.
“We haven’t really talked about it,” Ava answered, trying to squirm out of my grasp. It was a futile attempt.
A smirk spread across my face. “It’ll probably be in the spring.” Only a few short months away.
“Not gonna let her run away again, are you?” Zane teased.
“Nah, I’ve got her exactly where I want her.” I chuckled, amused with myself and the double meaning of my statement. I had her as my fiancé of course, but I also had her hot and bothered in the middle of a restaurant. Exactly where I wanted her.
I gave her a reprieve and took my hand away. She sighed with relief and relaxed a little. We ordered lunch and Ava thoroughly charmed them all. At the very least, she was showing them why I had been so obsessed with finding her. Every moment we were together, I was even more assured of the feelings I had developing for her.
“Well, it was wonderful to finally put a face with the name. We’re excited to have you in the family, Ava,” Leo said, hugging her as we were leaving.
“It was nice to meet you guys too. Hopefully, we’ll be seeing more of each other.”
“I just can’t get over how much you look like your brother,” Frankie marveled. The blood in my veins turned to ice. Why was he picking now to talk to her after he had pretty much been mute all of lunch? And why was he bringing up Andrew at a time like this?
“Oh.” Ava flinched a little, unsure how to respond. “Vince?”
“No, Andrew,” Frankie responded.
Ava’s eyes went wide. “You . . . you knew Andrew?” She turned to me slowly and I completely panicked.
“Yeah,” I said. Hopefully I wasn’t visibly as anxious as I felt. We hadn’t had a chance to have a conversation about Andrew yet, and this wasn’t the time or place. “I’ve told you that, haven’t I?”
“No.”
I froze, every opportunity I’d had to talk with her about this flashing before my eyes. I could only hope it wouldn’t come out now and unravel everything.
“We knew Andrew briefly. Just from our families working together,” Leo jumped in quickly. “He was a good guy. We were so sorry for your loss.”
Ava was quiet for a second, but then loosened up. “Thank you.” She smiled. “I’m sorry, it’s been a long time but it’s still hard for me to talk about.”
“Of course it is.” Leo nodded.
I grasped her hand and gave it a small squeeze. “We should get going.”
“Yeah.” She sighed with a smile. “It was nice to meet you guys.”
We finished our good-byes and went outside to get the car. I was still nervous but she seemed to be softening. She only knew the surface of my friendship with her brother; what would happen when she knew the whole story? Would she ever forgive me?
“Are you okay?” I asked, wrapping my arm around her shoulders.
She smiled softly. “Mhm.” I tried to ignore the distance and chalk it up to her being lost in her own thoughts.
We needed to have this conversation sooner rather than later.
Chapter 12
Nick
“To a job well done!” Alessandro held his glass of Scotch up as we sat at a table, celebrating the success of our first official deal together.
“And to a future of many more,” my dad agreed, nodding and clinking his glass against Alessandro’s.
I joined them in the toast, but I was ready to get home. It had been a long few days and I was ready to see Ava. It was strange how strongly I had missed her. She occupied my every spare thought, and I ached to get my hands on her. Maybe a few days would be the final catalyst she needed to fully submit. We had
hooked up plenty, but she was still holding out on having sex with me. It was her one attempt to have some control in our relationship, and I couldn’t blame her no matter how badly I wanted to be between her legs. I just had to get through another dinner with Alessandro and my father, and then I could see her.
We were on our way home from St. Louis, where we’d been dealing with a weapons dealer the last few days. Finally, we’d agreed on the terms, and hopefully this deal would bolster our arsenal enough to be ready for anything the Russians threw at us.
“Anxious to get home, Alessandro?” my dad asked, making small talk.
Alessandro chuckled and leaned back in his seat. “Traveling is like pure bliss for me. I’m telling you, you lucked out having all sons. I love my girls, but they are so much harder than the boys ever were. Guess you’ll get a taste of that soon enough, Nick. By the way, how are things going with Ava? She seems to be coming around.”
I grimaced, feeling oddly defensive of her, even from her own father. “Things are great. We’re getting to know each other and she’s wonderful.”
“Give her time.” He chuckled. “She’s the most trouble out of all my three. You’ll need to keep a close reign on her. Feisty, that one.”
My brow furrowed. I hated the condescending tone in his voice when he spoke about Ava. It was so old-school Mafia, like women and girls were just annoyances, like he was in some way superior to them. Ava was lively all right, but it was one of the things I loved most about her. It was a wonder she turned out the way she did, under Alessandro’s thumb.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you, it doesn’t seem like she knows the whole story about Andrew. She was surprised that I knew him at all.” I finished what was left of my glass. I didn’t actually like the taste of Scotch, but my dad taught me early on that you drink whatever the person you want something from drinks. That way you already have a connection.
Alessandro stiffened at the mention of his younger son. It seemed like anything to do with Andrew was off limits in that family.
“She doesn’t. Sonya and I decided it was best to tell the girls as little as possible. They think he killed himself, but they don’t know the finer details—end of story.”
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