Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 76456 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76456 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
“Why do you have to keep referring to him as mafia-this-and-that?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted with a little smirk. “I guess it makes it feel more real. It feels like something out of a TV show otherwise, doesn’t it?”
“It kind of does. But last night…” I said, letting the memories hang in the air.
“Yeah,” she agreed. “Maybe… oh, there we go,” she said with a smile when there was a knock at the door. “Well well well, what do we have…” she started as she opened the door.
Glancing up, I saw a smile tug at her lips at whatever she was seeing.
“Oh, you’re good. You are good,” she said, shaking her head as Cesare walked in.
Then I saw what she was referring to.
He’d come with an enormous bouquet. Only, it wasn’t just one bouquet, because as I watched, he pulled it apart to reveal two, still quite large, bouquets.
But each was very unique.
One absolutely screamed Vega with its bright orange lilies, red peonies, and a few precious, exotic birds of paradise flowers.
The look on Vega’s face was pure shock, then joy.
Vega dated a lot. All different sorts of men. Very few ever sent flowers. None ever sent ones that suited her so well.
“Wow, you have an eye for this,” she said, reaching for her bouquet with gimmie fingers.
“Actually, Gav put that together for you,” he said, giving her a playful smirk. “Turns out he’s got an eye for this type of shit,” he said, then turned his attention toward me.
The playful, boyish look slipped away as his gaze fell on me, replaced with something softer, sweeter.
“Fucking missed you today,” he said, walking toward me. “Sounds stupid, since I just saw you this morning.”
“I missed you too,” I told him, since it was the truth. “You should have woken me up when you got up,” I told him, wiping my hands, then reaching for my own bouquet.
He’d gone all with white for this one.
White roses, lilies, carnations, and for a pop of uniqueness, white snapdragons. They were framed in the calming green of eucalyptus.
It was gorgeous.
“Gav?” I asked, smiling.
“Nah. This one was me,” he told me. “Did I do good?”
“You did amazing,” I told him. “Snapdragons are very under-appreciated.”
“I figured you’d like the unusual shit,” he said, taking the flowers from me, and tossing them on the counter.
I resisted the urge to move them further away from the food I was prepping.
But when Cesare’s arms went around me, I forgot I was even making dinner.
I could feel myself melting into him, needing to be as close as possible to him.
Suddenly, I knew Vega was right.
I had to try.
Even if it scared me.
Even if it would take some adjusting.
“Did you get some sleep?” he asked after pressing his lips to mine.
“Yes. But I would have preferred to wake up with you.”
“Plenty of time for that,” he said. “Speaking of. I wanted to know if you’d be interesting in coming—“
“Yes,” I cut him off.
I didn’t expect the devilish little smirk that toyed with his lips then. Or the light in his eyes.
“As much as I love the enthusiasm, sweetheart, I wasn’t talking about that kind of coming.”
A strange, strangled sound escaped me at that. “That’s not what I meant either,” I said, then watched as his brows rose. “That’s not all I meant,” I conceded.
“That’s my girl,” he said, letting one of his hands drift down to give my butt a squeeze.
“I meant… if you were asking me if I wanted to come to the city for your meeting…”
“Ah, Vega was doing some talking, I see.”
“Always,” Vega said, walking past the kitchen on her way to her bedroom, smiling down at her flowers.
“But, yes. I have to go have a talk with my cousin. And I was wondering if you wanted to come to the city with me for a while. Don’t worry,” he rushed on. “I have the shop set up. And Gav is staying behind to make sure things are running well and Vega is doing alright. If she doesn’t follow you to the city, that is.”
“You know her well too,” I said, smiling. “We were going to go to the city in the spring for a vacation. Looks like it is just being moved up.”
“Did you have plans?”
“Typical tourist things,” I told him. “Museums. Broadway. And Vega wanted to tour some of the bars because… Vega,” I said, smiling.
“Sounds like fun. And if you want a guide…” he said, leaning his forehead to mine.
“When do you need to leave?”
“We,” he corrected. “And tomorrow. Late morning, if that isn’t too soon. I know you need to… get things together.”
“That’s plenty of time,” I assured him.
I had to pack, but I had all the lists written. The house was clean, save for the dinner clean-up. All I would have to do was a load of linens.