What Happens In Italy..._A BWWM Billionaire Romance

by Kendra Riley

  “Can I walk you out?” she asked, smiling at him conspiratorially.

  “Yes, but first I want to say good night to our son,” he said, unable to believe those words had truly come out of his mouth. A day ago, if someone had told him he would have a son and a fiancé so soon, he would have called them mad.

  He walked over to the bassinet where the baby had drifted off to sleep and whispered, “Good night my son. I will be back tomorrow and I will be by your side all the days of your life.” With that, he took Savannah’s hand and they walked out on to the porch and on towards their future home.

  “I cannot believe everything that has happened,” she said, looking at him as though she wasn't at all sure he was really there.

  “Me either but I'm so glad that it has,” he said as he wrapped his arm around her waist.

  “I wish we didn't have to be apart for even a moment,” she sighed as she leaned against him.

  “It's going to take every bit of restraint that I have not to crawl through your window tonight,” he said, not at all kidding.

  “I wouldn't mind a bit,” she said, stopping in her tracks and pulling him down to kiss him there in the middle of the street where anyone could see them.

  “I think you family would,” he teased.

  “That went well. They didn't even seem to mind how pale you're,” she said with a wink.

  “It did,” he agreed. “Still, I think that your brother will be guarding your house tonight with his gun to make sure I don't try any funny business,” he said, only half joking.

  “He might,” she admitted. “He can be very protective. He will come around, though. I think you will both be the best of friends on day.”

  “I don't mind a bit. I'm glad that he loves you so much. Having someone else in the world who worries about you as much as I do is a good thing,” he said, taking her hand in his and starting to walk again. It felt so exhilarating to be with her where anyone could see. When they had last roamed the streets of the town, it had been under the cover of darkness. Now, their love was as out in the light of day, for everyone to see.

  Chapter14

  The very next day, Sam accompanied them down to the courthouse to apply for their marriage license. Though she knew that her brother would rather have been anywhere else, she was so grateful that he was willing to work with them to help start their future.

  Though Jake looked particularly nervous, Savannah had no doubt that the process would go smoothly. After all, she had known Jane, the courthouse secretary, all her life. The old woman had been dear friends with her grandmother.

  Jake was just as nervous, if not more, that Savannah thought that he was, but it wasn't because he worried that her brother disliked him or that the process would take longer than expected. It was because, as a newly reformed bank robber, places like this were the last place he wanted to be. Savannah smiled at him encouragingly, but he couldn't help but think that this trip was a recipe for disaster.

  “Don't fret. My brother can smell fear,” she teased as she kissed him playfully on the cheek.

  “Believe me, I'm trying,” he said with a nervous laugh. He was just beginning to believe that the process might be just as harmless as she told him it would be when they passed a wall of wanted posters outside of the office of the Sheriff. There, in black and white, were sketches of he and his brothers along with a list of the crimes they were wanted for, though he proudly noticed there were quite a few jobs that they had not yet linked to them.

  “You look like you have seen a ghost,” she whispered, looking at him with real concern.

  “It 's nothing. I just don't care for such official places. They make me nervous,” he answered, keeping his promise to never lie to her.

  “You have no need to be nervous. Besides, I will protect you,” she said with a wink.

  “I'm going to hold you to that promise,” he said as she wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her against his side.

  “You both know that I can hear you, right?” asked her brother who was briskly walking ten paces in front of them.

  “Yes Samuel,” she said with an indulgent sigh. Her brother might be supporting her plan to marry Jake, but he had made it clear that he planned to do everything he could to keep them apart physically before the wedding. He had simply told her that one baby conceived before marriage was enough when he had ushered her in to the front seat of his car that morning and banished Jake to the back seat.

  Jake turned to block her view of the poster and her brothers. Grant it, it wasn't the best likeness of him, but it might be enough to start their minds wondering. She had vowed that she wouldn't ask him about his past if he didn't lie to her. He decided in the moment that shielding her from it wasn't a lie, so he angled his body to keep her focused on him and not the wall behind him. It was then that the door to the office swung open. At first, Jake was glad for the distraction. It wasn't until he saw the icy look that Savannah gave the handsome man who emerged from the door that his guard went up. Instinctively, he pulled her close and angled his body so that he was between her and the man in front of them.

  “Who is this?” the man asked, his voice dripping with venom.

  “It isn't your business, Tony,” Savannah snapped, going up on her tip toes to glare at him over Jake’s muscular shoulders.

  “Tony,” her brother said, nodding at him but not relaxing his stance. Clearly, he also thought Savannah might need his protection.

  “Sam, there is no need to look at me like a criminal. I would never hurt her,” he said, glaring at his former friend with unveiled resentment.

  “Oh, I know that,” her brother said coldly, his tone implying that he wouldn't allow him to hurt his sister, not that he believed he had no intention to cause her pain.

  “I'm the only person in this world who loves her as much as you do. Don't think for a second that anyone else could make her happy,” he growled, practically yelling.

  “Perhaps you did love her once, but if you loved her still you would respect her choices,” he said, his tone a clear warning.

  “I will not let anyone hurt her, even herself,” he snapped as he took another step towards them.

  “I'm standing right here. There is no need to talk about me as though you cannot see me. I'm a grown woman and I will choose the course of my life,” she said as she reached out and took Jake’s hand in hers.

  “What a flighty creature you are,” he said in mock amazement. “Months ago you were telling me that the father of your baby was the only man for you and now you're crawling all over this stranger,” he sneered.

  “Tony, I would like you to meet Jake,” she said with her head held high and her gaze full of fury. “He is my husband to be and he is Brian’s father.” After she spoke, the look of satisfaction on her face was enough to inspire Jake to move mountains for her while it seemed to affect Tony in a different way. Jake couldn't ignore the rage boiling within the other man and the fact that it was aimed at Savannah had his protective instincts going into overdrive.

  “You?” the other man demanded, staring at Jake as though he was sure it had to be a lie. “This, Savannah, is the man you gave your heart and your body to after just one day together? This is the man that you threw away our years of love for? What a fool you are,” he raged, moving aggressively towards her in a way that Jake could no longer tolerate.

  “I think you owe the lady an apology,” he said, doing his best to keep his voice calm. It wouldn't do to begin his new life with Savannah by assaulting someone in the courthouse. Still, he couldn't allow anyone to disrespect the woman that he loved and the mother of his child.

  “Don't get in the middle of this. You have done enough,” Tony said, turning all of his anger towards Jake.

  “With that kind of a temper, she is better off without you,” Jake said, his own anger rising to the level of Tony’s. He then took a step to place himself fully between here and Tony for her own protection and the movement sent the other man in to a fit of rag
e.

  “You think you can keep her safe? You think you can make her happy?” he screamed at Jake. “If she couldn't love me, she will never really love you. You're just new and shiny at the moment. She will grow bored with you and she will resent you. You will never make her happy,” he yelled, his face bright red with anger.

  It was then that his yelling drew a group of armed deputies from the office of the sheriff. They all looked baffled at the scene before them but they didn't hesitate to swoop in and hold Tony back. None of them moved towards Jake. After all, he had done nothing to act as the aggressor.

  “Sam, you're making a fool of yourself,” one of the deputies hissed at him.

  “Calm down,” commanded another who was struggling to keep his grip on the enraged man.

  “Yes Tony, don't embarrass yourself further,” Sam said as he looked at his friend with pity.

  “Embarrass myself?” he cried. “She is the one who is going to be embarrassed. If she does not get tired of him, it does not matter. She will never be happy. You know it's true. He left her once and he will leave her again. He did it once. He will never stay with her and the baby. I would have taken care of them,” he yelled losing all control as he shook with anger.

  “Why did you even bring them here?” one of the deputies asked as they tried to drag Tony back in to the office to calm him down.

  “It's your day off, Sam. What are you all doing here?” another echoed.

  “I brought them here is help speed up some paperwork,” he said, avoiding answering the question specifically.

  “What paperwork?” Tony cried, clawing at the door in an attempt to stay in the hallway. When Sam didn't answer him, he screamed again “What paperwork?” so loud that he voice broke in mid-sentence.

  “Marriage license?” one of the deputies said, looking in disbelief at Savannah, whom he had known since she was a little girl.

  “Marriage? You're going to let him marry her?” Tony shrieked. “You were supposed to be on my side. You know how much I love her,” he yelled as he fought hard to be free of the men holding him back.

  “We have things under control here, Sam,” one of the deputies said calmly. “Go on down and get them their license. We will keep Tony with us until he cools off.”

  “How do you plan to do that?” Savannah asked, unable to keep her voice from shaking. The whole ordeal had been an emotional one for her. As grateful as she was to the rest of her brother’s friends for holding Tony back, she wasn't sure how much faith she had that they could keep him under control.

  “He will calm down or I will lock him in a cell,” one of the others laughed, trying to make light of the tense situation.

  With that, Jake looped his arm around her waist and pulled her away. Sam followed closely behind them, his attention still focused on the commotion behind them as though he was preparing to defend them all from his former best friend. Once they got a good enough distance away, Savannah could see both Jake and her brother visibly relax.

  “So, that was Tony,” Jake said, studying Savannah to ensure that she wasn't still upset from the encounter.

  “Yes, that is Tony,” she said with an apologetic smile. The last thing that she wanted to happen on the way to get their marriage license was such an ugly encounter. The understanding smile on Jake’s face gave her all the confidence that she needed to know that everything was alright between them.

  “Angry fellow, isn’t he?” Jake asked, shaking his head in amazement at the man’s violent reaction.

  “I would never have thought him capable of such behavior,” Sam said, his expression betraying the fact that he was beyond angry at his former friend.

  “After he stole my letters, I knew that there was nothing that he wouldn't due to show me his anger,” Savannah said, though in honesty such a disgusting display of anger and jealousy had not even crossed her mind.

  “What do you mean when you say that he stole your letters?” Jake asked, looking at her questioningly.

  “He told the post office I was receiving letters from a stalker and he confiscated them as they arrived,” she said, her eyes bright with anger as she remembered his actions months before.

  “He did what?” Jake asked, his voice eerily calm as he tried desperately to control the rage rising within him. Every impulse within him wanted to turn around and tear Tony apart for causing Savannah a moment of pain. What made it even worse was that he had made her think that it was Jake who was hurting her, leaving her behind and stopping the one connection that they had to each other.

  “I was going a bit mad. I knew that you had not abandoned me,” she said, sensing the thoughts that were tumbling around in his brain. “What I feared was that something terrible had happened to you. It wasn't as though I had someone that I could ask. I had no way of knowing that you were alright.” As she spoke, tears formed in her eyes.

  “I'm so sorry that you suffered through that. There will never come a day in my life where I will cause you such pain again. You and that baby are my whole world. We will never be separated for long enough again to give you such fear. I will stay by your side no matter what comes. I promise you that,” he said, hugging her close, not caring that her brother and all the rest of the courthouse could see them.

  “I know that. You don't have to prove anything to me. I know how you feel about me and the baby. I feel it. Even when you're not by my side, I still feel it and I know that Brian does to,” she said as she wrapped her arms around his neck and went up on her tip toes to kiss him.

  “It isn't you that I need to prove it to. It's myself and everyone else in our lives. I need to prove that I'm a man who is worthy of your love and I will prove it. I will spend the rest of my life proving it,” he said as he laid his cheek on top of her head and inhaled the sweet scent of her.

  “I know the man that you're. You're the man I love and the only man I would want to be my son’s father,” she said as she turned her head up to kiss him gently. “I'm going to go to the restroom and freshen up before we go in to fill out the paperwork. The one thing that I will not do is go into any part of our marriage with a tear-stained face. I will be back soon,” she said as she kissed him again playfully and skipped off down the hallway.

  He watched her go, his heart full of love for her. It was then that he turned to face her brother. They had not been alone together for a moment and he wasn't entirely sure what to expect from her protective older brother.

  “Thank you for all that you have done for Savannah and my son,” he said, his head held high.

  “She is my sister and he is my nephew. There's nothing in this world that I wouldn't do for either of them. I didn't do it for your benefit. Still, I appreciate your gratitude,” he added, looking him up and down.

  “I also appreciate you defending her back there. I have never seen a man so angry at a woman before,” Jake said, still working to keep his temper in check.

  “Well, Savannah has a curious effect on people. She is very easy to love. Everyone thinks that because they love her so deeply that she owes them the same feeling in return. She has no idea the number of hearts that she had broken around this town,” he said with the proud smile of an older brother.

  “She is very easy to love,” Jake agreed, smiling fondly at the thought of a trail of broken hearts following in Savannah’s wake.

  “You do truly love her, don’t you?” Sam said, a look of amazement on his face.

  “Of course I do. How could I not?” he asked, not at all surprised that her brother doubted him. He couldn't blame him, but he also couldn't force him to understand the love that he shared with his sister. It was something that he could only show him with time.

  “I have to admit, I have hated the idea of you for a year now. I mean, a stranger rolls in to town and seduces my baby sister. I have thought of what I would do to you if you ever rolled back in to her life many times and it never ended well for you. Now, though, I cannot help but suspect that you're exactly who she said you were,” her b
rother said, looking as though he couldn't quite believe that the words had come out of his mouth.

  “I have loved her since our first moments together,” he answered honestly.

  “I might believe you, but that does not mean that I trust you. She is vulnerable and trusting enough for us all,” he warned.

  “I understand that,” he said, unable to deny her brother his suspicions.

  “You know, I got the impression from your letters that you have not led the most honest life up until now,” he said, looking every inch the cop as he spoke.

  “She let you read my letters?” Jake asked in amazement.

  “I think that ‘let’ may be the wrong word. She has never been the best at lying or keeping secrets. It's an endearing quality but it also makes her very easy for anyone to read,” he said unapologetically.

  “She has also had the same hiding places for things since she was a kid. I could tell when something changed in her and it didn't take much investigating to figure out that she was getting letters from you.

  Mom and Dad were oblivious because they never knew you existed, at least not until the baby was on the way. I, on the other hand, have been watching her closely. Every now and then I stop by while she is working or in class to check in and make sure that your letters were nothing that was causing her any harm.

  They kept her in love with you, of course, but that was essentially harmless. Mostly I wanted to see if you told her a date you planned to come back for her. I had planned to intercept you and make sure that you couldn't hurt her anymore,” he explained.

  “I cannot fault you for doing that. I had planned to stay away for her own good. I just couldn’t. When I found out about the baby, there was no way I could leave her again. I'm no sure that I could have left even without Brian. I decided to become the man she deserves. I will never put her or the baby in danger,” he explained as best he could, still trying to keep the details of his past hidden. He had no intentions of explaining it to her brother before he explained it to Savannah.