by Gina LaManna
“I asked your father, your grandfather, your grandmother, your cousin and your…uh, your Meg for permission. It was a long line to get to you, sugar.” Anthony gave a nervous laugh. “But here I am. I want to ask you a question, Lacey.”
I clasped a hand over my mouth. I couldn’t speak.
“I love you, Lacey Luzzi. I don’t want to ever be away from you again. I want to work with you, live with you, have a family with you. When life is hard and you feel like crumbling, I want you to fall into my arms. I want your lips to be the only ones I ever kiss again.” Anthony paused and withdrew something from his pocket. A box; a very, very big box. “Lacey, I know it hasn’t been all that long since we’ve started dating, but I’m sure of one thing. I can’t live without you.”
Anthony’s hand shook, and his eyes shone clear and black in the night, the moonlight softening those dangerous eyes into an expression filled with happiness. “Lacey Luzzi, will you marry me?”
I fell onto Anthony then, kissing his neck and saying yes over and over again, my lips pressed to his skin. We hugged, kissed, rolled around on the ground a little bit, a mixture of laughter and tears mixing with the snow, under the stars. When he finally managed to peel my arms from around his neck for one brief second, he smiled a grin so broad I’d never seen anything like it before.
“You didn’t accept the ring,” Anthony said. “Here.”
We resumed our position, Anthony on his knee and me standing up, my cheeks wet with happy tears.
“This was the most fitting ring I could find for my girl.” Anthony popped open the box, and a huge bubble of laughter burst from inside my chest. I laughed and laughed and laughed until I sat on his knee again and extended my finger, allowing him to slip the enormous thing onto my finger.
“A Ring Pop,” I said, scanning the huge blue lollipop attached to a plastic ring. “If this isn’t the sweetest thing.”
After our laughter died down and I’d taken a few licks of the gigantic blue lollipop on my finger, Anthony pulled one more box from his pocket.
“Here’s the real thing,” he said, opening the much smaller box.
I stifled a gasp. “That’s gorgeous.”
He cleared his throat. “It’s not a huge diamond, but I hope it’ll mean something to you.” Anthony removed the band, a small, diamond-studded ring with the palest of pink gems in the center. “Your father bought it for your mom. He kept it all these years, and when I went to him asking for permission to marry you, he gave me this.”
I couldn’t speak, so Anthony continued.
“Meg contributed, too. She had a single, tiny gem soldered on right here.” He pointed to a sparkly little thing. “She said it was the only way she’d give me permission to ask for your hand in marriage. That way, a part of her will always be with you. If you don’t like it, or if it’s too old fashioned, we’ll get you something different.”
I swallowed, giving the smallest of head shakes. I struggled to find the words to tell him that this was perfect; that the ring itself couldn’t be more beautiful, and the fact that it’d been bought with my mother in mind made it priceless.
Thankfully, Anthony seemed to understand. He slipped the ring onto my finger. “I guess this means you’re my fiancé now.”
My lips fluttered into a smile. “Guess so.”
He leaned in then, and our lips met in the gentlest of kisses. How long we stayed that way, I will never know. I could have stayed that way forever.
But according to the Laws of Luzzis, nothing perfect stayed that way for long, and in the next second, a stream of cold water hit me in one ear.
I stepped back, shivering, as I looked towards the source of the water.
At first, I couldn’t see anything in the darkness, and then…
“Surprise!” Lights flashed, champagne popped, music blared, our front door burst open and Luzzi members from all sides of the family poured out. Carlos held up Nora, who looked like she’d passed out in a dead faint. Lizabeth, Bartholomew, and Poopsie followed soon after, along with Nicky, Adriana and the girls. Mack, Mr. Stunt Driver from my Hollywood assignment, hid slightly off to the side, giving my family a bit of a wide berth, though I couldn’t blame him. We were loud.
Vivian and Joey emerged seconds later, Vivian giving the whistle to end all whistles with her talon-like nails, and even Ira Bliss, yogi master, did a somersault out of the front door. Anastasia appeared with two cats by her side, and Lorelei from the Tonka diner smiled from a distance. Many of the guards swarmed from the rear of the house, and Harold ushered them all into place. I looked closer, and saw my father hovering around the edges. I smiled at him, and he bowed his head and smiled back.
But I was missing two people…
“Gotcha!” Meg and Clay jumped out from a hiding place behind Anthony’s car. Meg waved a super soaker in her hands like a machine gun. “How’d you like my surprise?”
“Why did you spray me with a squirt gun?” I asked, tilting my head sideways to clear the water from my ear. “It’s freezing outside.”
“One of the items on your list was to kiss a bad boy in the rain. It’s too cold to rain anytime soon, so I thought I’d help you with the spray.” Meg waltzed forward. “Congrats to the future Mr. and Mrs. Mysterious.”
“This wouldn’t have been possible without all of them,” Anthony said, wrapping me in his arms and folding his hands across my stomach, as we took in the beginnings of the biggest Luzzi family party I’d ever seen. “They all love you, Lace.”
“Us,” I clarified. “They love us.”
** **
The party went all night long. The day of the unicorn faded into a night to remember. Nora had completed Anthony’s birthday meal and transformed it into an engagement ceremony, complete with a Dairy Queen cake featuring both mine and Anthony’s names. The rest of the family had decorated the inside of our home with an extravagant combination of streamers, sequins, balloons, and presents – the Valentine’s Day gel-clings were nothing compared to this mess.
As the night of the unicorn faded into March 1st, the sun peeking over the horizon in the distance, we bid the last guests goodbye.
I sighed with relief, turning back to face my boyfriend. My fiancé.
“About that bucket list item…” Anthony said.
I raised my eyebrow. “I’ll race you.”
We tumbled into bed together, alone at last.
Although, there was one little issue. That night, we didn’t complete the last bucket list item. Number seven specifically said to Sleep Naked.
Well, we decided to skip sleeping.
** **
A few hours later, cuddled under the blanket, we watched the orange rays of the sun sprinkle light across the ground.
I took a few licks of the blueberry Ring Pop before rolling over to face my fiancé. He licked the sugar right off with a kiss, and I laughed as his tongue turned a brilliant shade of blue. Leaning up on one elbow, I studied him closely. And I smiled. “I wish Unicorn Day happened every year.”
“You can’t always have the best day, or else none of them would be special. If unicorns ran wild all over the place, we’d call them horses.”
“I disagree.” I raised my eyebrows. “A wise man once said, ‘any day spent with you is my favorite day.’ So, today is my new favorite day.”
Anthony kissed my forehead. “Was that wise man called Winnie the Pooh?”
“He’s a wise bear.”
“Then today, Miss Lacey, is my new favorite day.”
THE END
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NEXT RELEASES
Hex on the Beach – April 2016!
One Little Wish (Book 2) – early summer 2016!
Lacey’s next adventure is due late summer 2016.
Release dates TBD, but they will all be announced soon via my newsletter at www.ginalamanna.com.
** **
Now for a thank you…
To all my readers, especially those of you who have stuck with me from the beginn
ing of Lacey’s story.
By now, I’m sure you all know how important reviews are for Indie authors, so if you have a moment and enjoyed the story, please consider leaving an honest review on Amazon or Goodreads. I know you are all very busy people and writing a review takes time out of your day – but just know that I appreciate every single one I receive. Reviews help make promotions possible, help with visibility on large retailers and most importantly, help other potential readers decide if they would like to try the book.
I wouldn’t be here without all of you, so once again – thank you.
Thanks again for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the story!
To continue with the Luzzi Family…
See other books by Gina here:
List of Gina's Books!
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For a FREE Advanced Reading Copy of the next Lacey Luzzi Mafia Mystery, please sign up for my newsletter at www.ginalamanna.com and send me a link ([email protected]) to a review of your favorite Lacey book.
Table of Contents
Spiced
Synopsis
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Epilogue
The End
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Next Releases