Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 68628 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68628 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
He pauses.
"I don't want you just to marry her. We're gonna make a big show of it. Your pictures will be plastered all over the Internet. Nobody's gonna be able to question her and nobody's gonna be able to question you. Give it six months. Just six months, that's all I ask you to do. By then we’ll have our in with the cartel."
Fine. Six months. I can do that.
I open my mouth to respond to him when the door flies open. The little hellfire stands in front of me with her eyes blazing.
"For real. For real? What the hell do you think you're doing? First, you try to pull a gun on me, and now you think that it's smart…"
I reach for her. With one tug I yank her to me. I lift my hand to cover her mouth so she doesn't say anything that’ll get her in trouble. We're not in a private place. She fumes at me, but I don't let her go. Sergio has the nerve to look amused.
Footsteps sound nearby and all of us turn to see Nonna, everyone's Italian grandmother, waddle into the room. She's barely five feet tall and roly-poly as hell. Everybody loves her.
"No fight my house. Come. Mangia, mangia. Eat.”
"She still thinks she can solve everything with food,” Sergio mutters.
"I guess feeding people is probably smart,” I say in what I think is a pragmatic tone.
My almost—God, wife—gives me a withering look.
"Is that what you think?"
Oh, she'll learn to quell that temper quickly. I release her long enough to grasp her chin and hold her gaze to mine.
"Behave yourself, sweetheart."
Nonna looks at me and her eyes begin to twinkle. "Adriano," she says with a smile, opening her arms to me so I can give her a hug. Quinn's eyes scorch me, obviously not happy that Nonna loves me. What she doesn't know is there was a time when Nonna and I were very close, back when she lived in Italy. She took me under her wing, and I wouldn't be surprised if she had something to do with me signing on with the Montavio Brotherhood.
I bend and kiss her paper-thin cheeks, one after the other.
“I would love some food.”
Quinn watches us, a bit bemused, until Eden tugs her into the dining room.
A few minutes later we're seated at the table. Sergio sits next to Tosca, Nonna across from her. Eden sits next to Quinn, and I sit alone at the end of the table. Nonna takes one look at me, shakes her head, and pats the seat next to her.
“Come, come. Sit.”
I do what she says and take the seat next to her, even though that puts me in uncomfortably close proximity to Quinn.
"OK," Quinn says, chomping on the largest bite of Alfredo I’ve ever seen in my life. "You're right. Pasta is making me feel better. I have no idea how anybody eating a low-carb diet wouldn't kill their neighbors."
As soon as she says the words, she covers her mouth with her hand and stares at me.
"Why don't you speak a little louder?" I give her another look. "I don't think they heard you back at the club."
“And why don't you be a little politer?" she says, glaring at me. "I don't think my ovaries heard you."
Her ovaries? What the actual fuck?
Instead of responding I shove another bite of Alfredo in my mouth.
"Sergio tells me you'll be married," Tosca says pleasantly.
"Yes,” I say at the very exact time Quinn shakes her head and drops her fork on the table.
"No. I am not marrying anybody. I don't care if he's Prince Charming himself that knows how to perform magic tricks with his magical—"
She doesn't finish the sentence. She was gonna say dick, I know she was gonna say dick. And then she thought better of it because Nonna’s here. As if Nonna cares anyway.
"You are,” Sergio says calmly. "And you know why. We'll settle the arrangements later."
Eden looks at her plate while she continues to eat.
"If the pasta didn't do the trick, perhaps the tiramisu might."
Tosca intervenes. "We’ll have the justice of the peace tomorrow, the photographer, and as many local cousins and family and friends as we can get here. Quinn, I have a few gowns for you to try on."
Quinn’s still shaking her head.
"I don't know why it seems like you guys aren't listening to me. I said, I am not marrying him."
I throw my hands in the air.
“Yes, you are. I will carry you over the threshold of the goddamn church if I have to. I may not be your first choice, but it’s better than the alternative.”
Quinn tips her head to the side.
"Charming."
I wonder if she'll still think I'm this charming when I've got her over my knee.
“We don't need to play at anything,” Sergio says. He looks at Tosca. "Quinn was an accidental eyewitness to a punishable offense. You know what that means.”