Page 27 of The Casella King

“Are you ready to go?” he asks, walking into the room.

“In a minute.” I hesitate, biting my bottom lip.

“What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

I take a deep breath and voice my concern. “What if they don’t like me?”

A smile curves into his lips, and all I can think about are his hands on me, my skin starting to itch in the places he has touched,

“I can save you some time and tell you right now they won’t.” His arm slides around my waist, his hand resting on my lowerback. “But I don’t give a fuck.” His other hand comes up to tuck a stray strand of hair behind my ear. “I wantedyoubecause I knew they wouldn’t approve.”

“But why?” I ask, looking into his delicious shadowy eyes.

“Because I am not one to do what I am told, sweetheart, unless it’s you begging for my cock.” He rakes his lips over mine, never truly kissing me, just teasing me. “Better put on your best show tonight.”

My chest squeezes at his words. That’s all this was. A show.

Why would I expect anything else? That’s what we agreed on, wasn’t it?

It was a short drive from Ezra’s place to his family’s house, but nevertheless, I spent every moment of it thinking about how to do exactly that, put on the best show of my life, and it didn’t help that I had close to no idea what I was about to walk into.

We pull into the drive, and Ezra helps me up the steps into the house. The house is magnificent—large, bright, and fancy. Fancier than any house I have stepped into, that’s for sure. I watch as a tall figure emerges from the stairs on the right side of the entry, a similar jawline, slightly lighter hair than Ezra’s, same dark eyes with full lips. I can see the similarity between them which leads me to think this is his younger brother, Nicholas.

“Welcome to the family, sis.” He winks at me, grabbing my hand, he brings it up to his lips as his eyes stare at Ezra, a small smirk on his lips. “How much did he pay you?” He drops my hand and looks me up and down, as if he’s trying to scan me for something I’m hiding.

“Don’t be a dick, Nico.” Ezra shoulders him as he walks through the door, pulling me alongside him. I watch as Nico laughs and bows sarcastically, motioning for me to go ahead. He walks close behind me. I can feel his breath on the back of my neck as he whispers.

“Good luck.”

If I wasn’t feeling nervous before this, I sure as fuck am now.

“Aries! Ah, you must be Aries!” I hear a woman say as we emerge from the doorway into a large dining and kitchen area. She makes her way to me, her heels clicking and clacking on the floor. She’s a little shorter than I am, but her dress probably costs more than my kidney, and the style she oozes is unmatched.

“Ciao, uh yes, I’m Aries.” I smile my best showmanship smile I can muster as she pulls me in for a hug. “You must be Ezra’s mama.”

“Please, call me Andrea.” She motions for us to take a seat at the table. Ezra pulls out my chair for me. As I sit, he takes a seat next to me. There’s a loud crowd of people talking which emerges from outside, slowly getting louder as they near the door. I watch as five people walk into the dining room, arguing about something, but I have no idea what they’re saying as they’re all speaking Italian.

“Prendete posto tutti!”Andrea yells what I assume means sit down, as they all begin taking their seats around the large dinner table. Nico takes a seat on the other side of me, leaning in to whisper in my ear again.

“These are all of our cousins.” He smiles. “Vincenzo, Leo, Matteo, Marco, and Carlo.” He points them out, but I’m sure I will forget their names in about a minute. “They’re all here to judge you and yourso-called engagementto Ezra.”

Fuck, what was his problem?

“So, Ezra, how’s the hunt coming along?” One of them asks, more like a challenge than a question.

“Always lovely to see you, Matteo. How’s the leg?” Ezra smirks as Matteo’s face falls instantly. Must be some sort of inside joke because I don’t get it.

Nico leans into my ear again. “Ezra shot Matteo for speaking out of turn, looks like he hasn’t learnt his lesson.” He chuckles.

Okay, I really need to take this up a notch, all these eyes are on me, and I need to make it known that Ezra is indeed my man, and we are in love. I snake my hand through his under the table, and he interlocks his fingers with mine, bringing my hand up to his lips, kissing my knuckles as his eyes never leave Matteo’s.

“So, Aries, what do you do for work?” another one of them asks, but he cuts me off before I can answer. “But I guess it doesn’t matter now, does it?” He smirks, thinking he’s funny.

“Actually, yes it does, you see, that’s how we met.” I look at Ezra, leaning in to give him a peck on the lips. “My dress got stuck on some metal at your cousin’s wedding.” Ezra’s hand leaves mine to rest on my thigh, lightly massaging it. “I didn’t want to rip the dress, so I was trying my best to get out of the snag without doing so, then Ezra came and had absolutely no regard for the dress whatsoever.” Matteo’s smirk slowly disappears as I tell the story. “Then he rips it and asks for a thank you.”

“I did help you.” He smirks as he lays one on me, and if his whole family wasn’t here right now, I would probably straddle him.

“You ripped my dress and made me look like a hooker.” I smile as one of his cousin’s whistles.

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