Seeing her slumped shoulders, hearing the dejected tone in her voice, I felt compelled to comfort her. “I don’t think he’s unhappy. In fact, I think he works as hard as he does in order to make you and Enzo happy.”
She smiled. “You’re very sweet, Lexi. I can see why he looks at you the way he does.”
I felt my cheeks flush as I tucked my hair behind my ear. “I think what you’re seeing is contempt. Not affection.”
She chuckled. “Like I said, you’re intelligent. I think you know better. All I know with certainty is that Nico treats you differently than any woman I’ve ever seen him with. Which tells me that you are different. In a good way.”
I turned so she wouldn’t see the way her words affected me. “Whether I am or not won’t make a difference in the grand scheme of things. Once Nico acquires the rest of my father’s shares in Kozlov Industries, he’ll terminate the marriage. He was never in this for the long haul.”
“Do you want him to be?”
I couldn’t answer. I didn’t want to lie to her, but I also didn’t know what the truth was.
“Are you, Lexi?” she pushed. “In it for the long haul?”
I peeked at her over my shoulder, shrugging. “I don’t think what I am or what I want will matter in the end. This marriage was arranged without my input, and I foresee it being terminated without my input.”
I flinched, regretting my words.
This was her son we were talking about. She probably didn’t want to hear of my resentment over the situation. Even if Val wouldn’t be my mother-in-law for much longer, I wanted her to like me. As pathetic as it was, she was the closest thing to a mother figure I’d ever had. And I hadn’t even known her a full two weeks.
“You’re wrong about that,” she said slyly. “This is your life, too, Lexi. You have every right to speak up and let Nico know how you feel. Just because the marriage was arranged doesn’t mean it has to define your whole relationship. The two of you have to make it whatever you want it to be. After all, I’ve sensed some affection coming from you, too.”
I’d sensed a hell of a lot more than that in the pool.
And in my bedroom.
There was a lot left unsaid hovering in the air around me and Nico.
I think Val was right. Even someone like Nico just needed to be loved at the end of the day, even if he wouldn’t admit it. When he’d pried all those confessions from me in the pool, he’d acted as if he couldn’t have gone another second without hearing that affirmation. That I wanted him, needed him.
But he hadn’t exactly reciprocated, had he?
He’d called me beautiful and had needed to hold me, but that was it.
So, I wasn’t going to get my hopes up about this thing with Nico going the distance. I was already starting to like the man. Given time, I could see it evolving into something more. But time wasn’t something we had a lot of. Our relationship was on a countdown, and we didn’t know when it was going to time out. My father could summon me back to Moscow at a moment’s notice, thereby severing any progress Nico and I had made.
Believing we could turn this faux marriage into a real relationship was a foolish notion.
A romantic, naïve dream.
I didn’t want to get this sweet woman’s hopes up either, so I didn’t respond to Val’s last comment. We cleaned up in silence for a few more minutes, my mind plagued with every “what if” scenario in the book.
“May I ask you a personal question?” she eventually said.
“Sure.” Although I wasn’t sure I’d want to answer it.
“You said you like to work with children.” Her face softened. “Does that mean you want some of your own one day?”
My chest constricted. Again, I didn’t want to disappoint her, but I also didn’t want to give her false hope. “I’ve always assumed that I’d eventually have children. When I found the right person and the time was right.” I waved my arm around, chuckling mirthlessly. “But I also didn’t expect my life to take this turn. Who knows if I’m even meant to be a mother.”
Val tilted her head, studying me. Wheels turned behind her deep brown eyes. “You are. I see a light in you, one of rare humility and generosity. In my opinion, people like that should be parents, because so many who have been blessed with children don’t have those qualities. I believe all of my children will make great parents.”
I raised an eyebrow. “And none of them have given you grandchildren yet. Is that what you’re trying to tell me, Val?”
“I said nothing of the sort. Though that is true. It’s also true that I’m not getting any younger, and my impatience grows by the day.”
I laughed. “Well, Cris and Jasmine are getting married soon. Maybe you’ll get lucky and they’ll want to start a family right away.”
I almost laughed again when her mouth formed a pout. “I think Jasmine wants a few more years to focus on her career. And who can blame her? She’s worked so hard for her success.”
I patted her on the back. “When it’s supposed to happen, it’ll happen.”
She scoffed. “That’s comforting.”
I might already be in love with this woman.
No wonder her husband and children looked at her like the sun shined out of her arse. She was warm and nurturing, soft-hearted and selfless, and had a keen perception. And that was after six children. Secretly, she was the type of mother I’d always dreamed of having for myself and of also becoming someday. Spending so much time with the children at the Red Gate orphanage, I’d admit, had me yearning for some my own.
Not to mention, I’d like to have a husband who looked at me that way. Children who depended on me that way.
Did Nico want children? Had he ever even thought about it?
Probably not.
I mean, the guy had yet to hang up his bachelor saddle and spurs when I met him. There was no way he’d ever given credence to the possibility of becoming a father. Despite his snarky, sometimes surly, nature, I actually thought he’d make a good parent. He had two great role models to look up to. He had a fierce protective streak in him. And, judging by his demeanor toward his family members, he had a huge capacity for love.
Thank God my phone chimed with a text and yanked me off that train of thought. Because I was starting to picture a mini version of Nico running circles around my feet.
Of course, his name popped up on the screen when I unlocked it. Like an idiot, I was smiling before I even knew what the message said. I just liked seeing his name.
Nico: Heads up, Jasmine’s bachelorette party got moved up. She’ll probably be calling soon to invite you.
Me: I look forward to it. When is it?
Nico: Tonight. Same with Cris’s bachelor party.
Tonight? Geez, what was the rush? I thought their wedding wasn’t for another two months or so.
Me: Guess I’ll have to go shopping for a new dress.
Nico: Need some help? I know a guy with great taste who’s a big fan of your body.
The urge to hand fan myself was almost uncontrollable. Had we officially entered into the casual flirting stage? The one with tons of sexual innuendo and partially veiled propositions?
And they say all that ends after marriage. Heh.
Me: I’m sure I’ll manage. Besides, I think if you came along, you’d only be a distraction.
Nico: Good to know I distract you, legs.
Buoyed by his final text, I stopped at a few stores after leaving the foundation. My favorite options were at the last store, where I closed myself inside a fitting room to try them all on. Getting a delicious idea, I snapped photos of myself in each dress in front of the full-length mirror and sent them off to Nico.
Feeling bold, the last one was of me in nothing but my dark purple demi bra and panty set.
Me: Okay, you said you had great taste. Which one?
His reply came almost instantly.
Nico: The last one. And speaking of great tastes, I want to eat that for dinner.
The i
mpulse to slip my fingers inside my panties nearly knocked me over.
So, I acted on it.
And snapped another photo.
Me: Eat what? This?
Nico: Christ, woman. If I wasn’t in a meeting right now, I’d track you down wherever the fuck you are and make you sorry for teasing me.
Me: Then you shouldn’t be on your phone. Get back to work, Mr. Rossetti.
Nico: You’ll pay for this later.
Me: Sounds like my punishment will have to wait. I’ve got a bachelorette party to go to. ;)
Nico: Say your prayers, little Lexi. Because I’ll be making you scream for your God tonight.
I almost fainted.
A tiny sliver of fear snaked through me. Not fear of the man. But fear of the man’s expectations.
What if I didn’t live up to them? What if I was nothing at all like the sexpot-type women he was used to bedding? The ones who were so confident in their skills that they made a man stand up and beg for what they had to offer. But he’d liked what he’d seen so far, right?
I guess there was no going back now.
Nico Rossetti just all but told me he was going to be inside me by the end of the night.
Naked tits and asses were being shoved in my face and I didn’t care.
Something was seriously fucking wrong with me.
For the first time in my life, I wanted a pair of creamy, teacup-sized breasts over the pair of DDs swinging around up onstage. Pasties couldn’t hide the gloriousness of them, but nothing stirred in my pants at the sight. Not like when Lexi sent me that picture of her wearing nothing but her bra and panties with her hand shoved inside the barely-there scrap of satin.
That image had gotten me granite-hard in half a second.
During a fucking business meeting.
I grinned into my glass of whiskey, burnishing the sight of Lexi’s proud smile in the picture onto the backs of my eyelids.
“Would you stop frowning, dude?” Luka yelled at Cris over the pounding bass of the music. “Jesus, it’s your bachelor party, not your execution.”
Cris turned the glare he’d been wearing ever since we first walked into the strip club on our brother. “Don’t try to pretend like you brought me here out of brotherly obligation or some ceremonial rite of passage. You knew Ace and I weren’t going to partake in this.”
Luka laughed loudly. “Hey, I said we’d go back to Nico’s for poker and pool, like you suggested. Just wanted to make a quick stop first.” He turned his inquiring eye on me. “But it looks like you two aren’t the only buzzkills. What bug crawled up your man bun?”
Rome snorted. “I’m guessing it’s the Kozlov bug. I hear they’re indigenous to Russia and are prone to cause bitchiness in the human male population.”
Everyone snickered.
Luka jabbed his thumb at his twin. “This one’s cracking jokes after only two beers”—he points at me—“and this one’s the one brooding into his drink. Is this some Freaky Friday shit or something?”
I rolled my eyes.
“So, what’s the story with that?” Bryce Connelly asked.
The detective might as well have been another brother of ours. He’d grown up with us and had been present for many Sunday lunches and holiday dinners. He also held the same principles as our family, and was always willing to help us out in a bind, so long as he didn’t betray his badge.
“With what?” I asked obtusely.
“Our new sister-in-law,” Ace threw out, using that term just to annoy me.
The guy had been staring at his phone all night—probably to avoid all the nipples and ass cheeks sauntering about—yet he decided to pay attention for this conversation?
“I’m curious, too,” he added, narrowing his eyes. “You haven’t pulled out a single dollar bill. Haven’t hit on a single dancer. And you sure as shit haven’t requested a private dance.” He smirked. “Lexi getting to you, man?”
I swallowed the rest of the Eagle Rare in my glass, savoring the burn as it lit up my throat. “Or maybe nothing here is catching my interest.”
“Not surprising,” Cris mused. “I think you’ve already slept with half the girls here.”
“Thanks for the reminder.”
It was true, though. I had. And three of those girls had already approached me, offering a repeat of our one night together. I’d shut each one of them down as nicely as I could. The worst part? I couldn’t remember fucking a single one of them. Their faces were vaguely familiar, but beyond that? I’d come up empty.
The shame that accompanied that realization was new for me.
But why was I feeling guilty about having casual sex? I’d been a single guy at the time, free and unattached. Why should it matter what I’d done in the past? Although I had to admit, there was no way I could ever forget fucking Lexi. Not in a million years.
Which told me that she mattered, and those other women hadn’t.
“I’m going to have to disagree with you about finding nothing here of interest,” Luka murmured as his eyes tracked something across the room. “Because I’m seeing some fresh faces that are capturing one hundred percent of my attention.”
Out of curiosity, I glanced in the direction he was staring. A fit, olive-skinned woman with a petite frame, full breasts, and long, shiny raven hair was serving a group of younger guys. Her toothy smile as she gathered their empty beer bottles and placed them on her tray was polite, rather than overly flirtatious. In her tiny hot pants and microscopic crop top, she was a sight, I’d give him that.
But she had nothing on Lexi’s long legs and svelte shape.
Luka hadn’t removed his intent gaze from her. Matter of fact, he watched her move about the room for several minutes, only averting his eyes after she disappeared through the door to the kitchen. He caught my questioning gaze across our booth and cleared his throat uncomfortably.
Someone just got his hand caught in the cookie jar.
Then he shrugged, smiling sheepishly. “What can I say? Best tits in the house.”
I rolled my eyes again, cracking my neck. I needed Lexi’s magic fingers back on that knot. I swear, she was the only person who had ever been able to really loosen those muscles and work out the ever-present tension. Even better, she saw how relaxed it made me, so she’d been doing it every chance she got. In return, I’d been warming her cold feet with my hands.
“So, you were able to keep the secret from Jaz?” I asked Cris.
Staring off into space, he slowly nodded. “She has no idea. Thinks I moved the bachelor and bachelorette parties up because of something coming up in my schedule. As far as she knows, we’re still getting married in two months.” He turned to his long-time friend, Kade Jennings, who sat next to him. “Sam didn’t say anything to her?”
Kade hadn’t said much all night, seeming lost in his own thoughts. Every time I looked over at him, he was fidgeting with his hands or tapping his toe against the floor, acting tense and irritable. Like he was seriously stressing about something.
Kade shook his head. “No. She told Jaz we had a story to cover up here, so the timing ‘worked out.’”
That’s what Cris had come to my house to discuss the other night.
A surprise wedding.
The wedding plans had been stressing Jasmine out like mad. She’d been crazy busy at work, preparing for Fall Fashion Week, as well as designing her winter line. And she’d only just finished her wedding dress—one she’d designed, of course. According to Cris, she had never wanted a giant wedding with all the fanfare, but had felt pressured to plan the wedding of the century since they were currently New York’s hottest couple. Cris being the financial mogul that he was and Jasmine setting fire to runways all over the five boroughs had Page Six abuzz with all the wedding planning hoopla.
Cris had finally said enough was enough.
He was sick of seeing his fiancé miserable. But the real tipping point had been Raphael’s kidnapping the other day. Something in my brother had snapped after that.
His words down in my basement that night still echoed in my ears.
“What if he comes after us again?” Cris asked, sounding the most distressed I’d ever heard him. “I promised Jasmine she was safe from that asshole, and now he’s out there.”
“But we don’t know he’s free,” I countered. “He could be getting tortured or killed even as we speak. It didn’t seem like he was besties with the men who took him.”
Besides, what really had me concerned was what one of them had yelled after the driver shot me. “What the fuck are you doing? You know we’re supposed to leave them all alive!”
Leave who alive? Certainly not the guards. They’d opened fire on all four of them without batting an eye. Which left…us. As in, the Rossettis. If the masked men had been instructed to leave everyone in my family alive, that meant someone had hired them. They were working for someone—but who?
It also meant that someone had a plan for us.
Something we all needed to be alive for.
And that was what had Cris sweating bullets.
“And what if we’re wrong?” he snapped. “What if the breakout was all a ruse? Or what if he was able to talk his way out of his own death?” He shook his head, rocking back and forth in his chair. “He’s got a score to settle with us, Nico. With me. I was there the night he got arrested. I killed his son. If he wants to come after me, fine. I fucking welcome it. But he’s not laying a finger on Jasmine.”
“You’re worrying about something that hasn’t even happened. Don’t assume the worst until we have more information about who these guys are and what they want.”
He ran both of his hands through his hair and down his wan face. “I can’t do this anymore. I’m sick of all this waiting bullshit. We don’t know Esposito’s next move. And I’m not wasting another goddamn day without Jasmine as my wife.”
The bad news was we still didn’t have any new information on Esposito’s possible kidnapping. Until we learned otherwise, we had to assume that’s exactly what it was, that he was in the hands of his enemies, and that someone had likely hired them to do it. Bryce had been leaning on his informants around the city, but nobody on the streets was talking. There was no ransom demand, no body had turned up. No news coming out of the five families about Raphael’s whereabouts or well-being.
Booze and Bullets (Brooklyn Brothers #3) Page 20