The Romano Brothers Series

by Leslie North

  “If that’s true, you’re doing a great job of fooling Natalia. She loves you. It’s all over her face every time she looks at you.” It was true. Gianpierre would never have been able to guess that Natalia wasn’t Luciana’s own if he hadn’t already known. He would have only seen a beautiful mother with her beautiful daughter, and he knew that as Natalia grew and they moved through life together, that was exactly what the rest of the world would see when it looked at them. Whether she felt like it or not, Luciana was now Natalia’s mother. She was the little girl’s foundation. “You’re going to be okay,” he said and kissed the top of Luciana’s head. Her hair was silky and smelled like lilacs, and the curve of her hip beneath his hand made him want to pull her into his lap so that he could hold her tight and never let her go. You’ll ruin her, he reminded himself. A woman with a shattered life didn’t need a man to drift in and out of it, leaving her to pick up all the pieces before, during and after. He fixed buildings, not people.

  Luciana lifted her face to look at him. “Would you stay with us?”

  “What?” All the thoughts in Gianpierre’s head came to a screeching halt.

  “Would you stay with us, here, in the apartment? I mean, just until the job is done and you leave for Dubai? Sophia’s place sold this morning and they want us out soon, which means we’ll need to move in here sooner than I thought. I’d thought we’d be able to wait until you’d moved on. I don’t feel right kicking you out of your home.”

  A disorienting jolt hit Gianpierre as his eyes scanned the room. He’d had this bedroom set up for guests and used the third bedroom for his office. It finally sunk in; he was going to have to leave his home. He’d refused to think of the apartment as his home, but that’s exactly what it had been for ten years. During his travels, every time he found some antique map that he wanted to add to his collection, he’d had it mailed back here. Every time he’d envisioned where he’d put some newly found treasure, it had been here that his mind had gone.

  He thought of Natalia’s bed and how it was too tall for the room. Luciana had said that there was no way that she would make Natalia give it up. Since the bed didn’t fit, maybe Luciana would change her mind and continue her search for the perfect place somewhere else. Then, he could go back to Signora Rizzo with a clear conscience and buy the place after all.

  Instead, the words that came out of his mouth were, “Se, I can stay, but only if I pay rent.”

  “No.” Luciana shook her head. “I couldn’t ask that.”

  “I insist. It is the only way.” He waited for Luciana’s answer. She hesitated, and then nodded her head yes. Relief filled Gianpierre. He couldn’t bear the thought of being a squatter in what was now her home. He smiled and said, “And, if you want, I can make a modification to your niece’s bed. I can cut some of the height from the corner posts so that the canopy will fit the room.”

  Before he could stop her, Luciana stretched up to capture his lips in a kiss as she slid a hand behind his neck, but she broke the kiss just as fast, leaving him stunned and speechless. He wanted more. He needed the sweet ambrosia of her lips on his again but the sound of her phone buzzing pulled her away. She answered it, said her greetings, and then, “Yes, yes. I’m on my way,” as she climbed to her feet.

  Gianpierre watched her leave his home as easily as she’d walked into it, leaving him feeling shattered and incomplete, and he wondered how such a shift could have happened. He was the one with his life together and his path on course, and she was simply making things up as she went along, winging it.

  Yet it was him who was left undone by her.

  7

  Gianpierre

  Yes, Sir. I understand,” Gianpierre said loudly enough for his phone to pick up his voice. It was laying on his coffee table as he sat leaning forward in a chair. The latest copy of Architectural Digest lay next to his phone, and on its cover was a French and Spanish Colonial fusion home, a design by one of the hottest new up and coming designers. Being on the cover informed the uneducated masses that the architect was exceptional at his job. Otherwise, people didn’t know enough about design to recognize what was good versus what was magnificent. Making the cover made that clear for them.

  It didn’t matter, though. Gianpierre wasn’t going to make the cover of Architectural Digest if he didn’t make it to Dubai on time. He’d hoped they would give him an extension on when he’d need to report, but it wasn’t going well.

  But, he wasn’t ready to give up. He had been all but guaranteed the cover of the magazine at the conclusion of the build he was slated to oversee in Dubai, and it would provide world-wide recognition of his skill as the best medieval architect there was. The magazine would do that for him. And he really was the best, better than anybody else, regardless of the contenders that were close on his heels.

  “We simply cannot give you another six weeks to get here. If you cannot make it here in four, we will need to proceed with the project with another specialist. You were our first pick, Gianpierre, but we cannot put off all the others waiting for it to begin. We have other talented members of the team who will need to back out if we do not proceed soon. Can you be here within four weeks?”

  Gianpierre clenched his jaw and ground his teeth together as he closed his eyes in frustration. The project was a build of a lifetime. It was designing and building an extensive theme park emphasizing authentic medieval structures to be made using the same tools and processes of the time, and the results were guaranteed a place on the cover of Architectural Digest—a long held dream of Gianpierre’s. Making matters worse, Gianpierre was not just slated to be a part of the team, he was slated to lead the build team and the design team. But how amazing the opportunity was didn’t change anything. The answer was still no. In fact, finishing up with his part of the restoration of the Romano del Mare within six weeks would have been an improbability. Four weeks was an impossibility. Even with as good as Luciana was at making sure they had everything they needed when they needed it, not even her help could make it possible.

  Gianpierre opened his eyes and stared down at his phone with determination. “I’ll be there. Four weeks.”

  “Excellent! I will inform the teams.”

  The call ended and Gianpierre slouched back in his chair, angry with himself and angry with the world. To have his dream of leading the build team in Dubai, he was going to have to seal up the restoration efforts of the Romano del Mare and leave them until later… a lot later. The Dubai job was due to take a minimum of four years to finish, and the Romano del Mare’s fate would be long sealed by then. The honor of restoring his family’s legacy would be lost to him if he went to Dubai. His brothers would have to give his job to someone else. It would be a part of his life that would forever go unfinished.

  “Here!” Natalia exclaimed, holding against her chest a laptop that was nearly bigger than she was. She all but dropped it in Gianpierre’s lap before slapping the top of its hard shell with her open palm. “I want to watch videos about fairy castles.” She barked it out as well as any good drill sergeant would.

  Little Natalia and Luciana had moved in almost two weeks ago, and Gianpierre had already started to forget what it had been like to live in the apartment without them. He had thought that their constant presence would be an annoyance, but instead the three of them had fallen into a comfortable rhythm of daily life that felt natural—so natural that Luciana had managed to talk him into babysitting while she had a girl’s night out with his soon-to-be sister-in-law, Adeline. The two women had met on site at the Romano del Mare and had become instant friends.

  How Adeline had managed to talk his younger brother, Nicolo, into settling down, he had no idea. But to the man’s credit, Gianpierre had never seen Nicolo happier. He was going to be a father, and to the surprise of both of his brothers, his pending fatherhood suited him.

  Gianpierre evaluated the demanding Natalia as she stared him down with unblinking eyes, pouting lips and her arms crossed over her chest. “What did your Mama sa
y about you watching videos online?” While the little girl had called her birth mother Matri, Luciana had encouraged her to adopt Mama to refer to her. It made sense. Natalia was so young, and whether it was how they had wanted things to be or not, Luciana was now the little girl’s mother, and sometimes a name did matter. Calling her Mama instead of Aunt would have an emotional impact in the years to come as Natalia grew up into a young woman. It would lessen her sense of loss as she faced the many life benchmarks ahead of her, Gianpierre was sure of it.

  “She said I couldn’t,” she said in a world-class, defiant pout.

  “So why are you bringing me the computer?”

  “Because she didn’t say that you couldn’t watch the videos.”

  Gianpierre’s brows went up. Natalia’s argument was impeccable, yet he knew that it was a loophole Luciana would most likely not appreciate him helping Natalia exploit. As he stared at the girl and she stared right back at him, he appreciated how pure her want was. It was all very simple with no conflicting feelings one way or another. She wanted to see fairy castles. Period.

  “You are a very smart girl,” Gianpierre said, hoping to win her over to his side by starting out with a compliment, “but your Mama, she’s very stern. I don’t want her to yell at me if she finds out that I helped you watch videos about fairy castles online. You know that she doesn’t like you watching anything that she hasn’t reviewed first.”

  The little girl narrowed her eyes, apparently not pleased with the direction the conversation was going. Gianpierre could already hear her tantrum screams ringing in his head, and his mind raced to offer her an alternative that they could both be happy with. Latching onto the perfect solution, he grinned from ear to ear.

  “What if,” he said excitedly, “we make a fairy castle instead?” Making elaborate sand castles with his grandfather had been a favorite memory of his. In fact, constructing them together, seeing how important the foundation was and how all the parts needed to work together, was what had sparked Gianpierre’s love of medieval architecture. He couldn’t have been much older than Natalia at the time, and the thought of sharing a similar experience with her now suddenly flashed a spark of pure, unconflicted excitement in him—the first he’d felt in years, and he found himself holding his breath in hopes that Natalia liked the idea.

  Natalia’s gaze went from his face down to the computer, back up and then down again before finally settling on his face once more. He could see her struggling with her desire to see the fairy castle videos that she’d had her heart set on. Then she cocked her head sideways as if considering the situation from a new angle. “If we make a fairy castle, does that mean I’ll have a fairy castle?”

  Gianpierre smiled. He had her. “It does. Your very own. I’m very good at such things, you know. Some would even say that I’m one of the best people in the world at making fairy castles.”

  Natalia smiled then, and it was as if the sun started shining on a gloomy day. Suddenly, everything was brighter and Gianpierre’s worries slipped away. In comparison to her joy, everything else ceased to be very important.

  “Is that a yes?” he asked.

  “Yes!”

  Gianpierre laughed and then held out his hand. “Partners?”

  Natalia’s little hand curled around two of Gianpierre’s fingers in a surprisingly strong handshake and her answer was filled with unfiltered glee. “Partners!”

  8

  Luciana

  Luciana closed her eyes and moaned as she took a bite of eggplant parmesan. Its creamy texture made it feel as though the delicious morsel melted in her mouth.

  “You don’t moan like that around Gianpierre, do you?” Adeline asked with a laugh.

  Luciana’s cheeks heated in embarrassment but she couldn’t stop her smile. She hadn’t had a fun night out for herself in nearly three months, and she was determined to make this one count given that she had no idea how long it would be before she got another one. Never before had she had to think of someone other than herself before making every single little decision. It was exhausting. How all the other parents of the world did it, she had no idea. But she now understood why. When Luciana’s sister died, her niece became the most important person on the face of the planet, bar none. And while Luciana would have preferred to have her sister back, she now cherished her role as Natalia’s mother.

  “Don’t hold back,” Adeline continued to tease. “Is he as good in bed as he looks?”

  “It’s not like that,” Luciana said, laughing.

  “But do you want it to be like that?” There was no laughing this time as Adeline posed her question. Luciana was surprised at how fast the two of them had bonded and become good friends, and she had definitely needed a friend. Adeline had become a lifeline to her sanity when the whole world seemed to spin out of control.

  “I don’t know,” Luciana said, slowly twirling her glass with the tips of her fingers as she stared down at it. “Maybe? Yes?” Her smile broadened and she lifted her gaze to meet Adeline’s. “I could handle a little stress relief.”

  “Ha! The Romano boys are good at stress relief.” Adeline winked.

  Luciana shrugged and said with a note of sadness in her voice, “He doesn’t see me that way.”

  Adeline choked on her drink in response to Luciana’s answer. “What? The man’s kissed you how many times?”

  Luciana sucked in air, surprised that Adeline would know such an intimate detail about her life. She hadn’t told anyone. “Once…”

  “You mean twice…”

  “No, no. The second time I kissed him,” Luciana declared and then realized that she wasn’t succeeding in making any kind of argument about Gianpierre’s platonic-only interest in her.

  “Mmhmmm,” Adeline hummed with goodnatured satisfaction. “He doesn’t think you’re cute at all, and he just hates those mile-high legs of yours.”

  Luciana leaned forward and hiss whispered, “How do you know all of this?” And then, “He likes my legs?”

  “Those brothers are worse than a bunch of girls. They tell each other everything. You caused a cave in that nearly killed you and Gianpierre, so while he had you down on the ground, he figured it was as good a time as any to get in the kiss he’d been dying to give you since the moment you first met. You almost kill him… he kisses you… he figured it was a fair trade.” Adeline’s eyes twinkled as she teased.

  Luciana smiled as she sat back in her chair. Instead of feeling as though her privacy had been invaded, she felt relieved. She’d been holding back from talking with and telling Adeline everything since Adeline was engaged to Gianpierre’s brother, Nicolo. She hadn’t wanted to make things more awkward than they already were between them if word managed to get back to him that she’d been talking about him… and the way his lips had felt on hers.

  “He is such a good kisser,” Luciana gushed. “And the way he put his body over mine to protect me from all of that falling stone…” She sighed. “They don’t make men like that anymore.”

  “I heard that you saw him naked and that you’re living together now.”

  Luciana’s smile reached her eyes. “I guess we are doing things a little backwards,” she giggled. “When I asked him to stay instead of moving, I just blurted it out. I… I hadn’t even thought it through. It just felt right.”

  “Do you regret it?”

  “Oh no. Not at all. After I asked him, I stressed about it and was double guessing myself, but then everything went so well. Did you know that he moved most of his stuff into a storage unit and then hired movers to get us completely moved out of our place and into his place within one day? This army of people and trucks showed up, got us packed, got us moved and then got us unpacked and all of our furniture in place with the beds set up and made before dinner time. He had layout drawings taped to the wall in every room and took me around to each one so that I could make changes, then the movers set everything up to match those drawings of his.” She couldn’t help but shake her head in amazement even thou
gh that move had been four weeks ago. “Then he made us dinner—and it was good! Did you know he can cook?”

  Luciana laughed and shook her head. “No, but it doesn’t surprise me. All of the brothers, when they decide to learn something, it’s like they get this burning need to not only learn it but to conquer it. They want to best it. They don’t like not being in control of their world.”

  “I’m seeing that, which amazes me all the more that Gianpierre was willing to let us turn his world upside down by staying with us. I mean, when there’s a five year old little girl in the house, it’s fun for the adults to think that they’re in control, but it’s all an illusion.”

  “Are you liking motherhood?” Adeline asked gently.

  “I am. I really, really am. I love it.” Her eyes teared up but she didn’t let the tears fall. “I get it now. For a while after Sophia had Natalia, I felt as though I’d lost my sister because everything about her became about Natalia, but I get it now. She’s worth it. She’s amazing, and… I thought I loved her before, but that was nothing. She’s everything to me now.”

  Adeline’s thoughtful smile seemed to sink her thoughts inward.

  “How are you doing? Are you looking forward to the little one getting here?”

  Adeline put her hand on her still almost flat belly, and she smiled with a glow that came from within. “I am.” When her eyes teared up, she did let them fall, but it was clear that they were tears of joy.

  “And Nicolo? He’s happy too?”

  “The man’s a wreck.” Adeline laughed. “He wants everything to be perfect. But he’s so happy, too. Everywhere he goes, he fits it into the conversation that we’re going to have a baby. We went out to eat and he told the valet who was parking the car. He struck up a conversation with a gaggle of old women, and I know it was just so that he could tell them that he was going to be a brand new Papa.” She laughed. “You should have seen those women fawning over him. If he didn’t have a big head before, he does now. But,”—she sighed—“he’s scared, too. I see it in the quiet moments. So much in the world is changing, and he so wants her to have a beautiful life.”