Page 47 of Mine to Tease

“Well, he may have lost but that doesn’t mean you didn’t win. Take this moment to be happy and celebrate. You deserve it and so does she.” Gio nods in Ana’s direction and I turn to find her walking toward me.

I open my arms wide for her. Nuzzling underneath the crook of my armpit, she looks up at me with a smile on her face and I take the opportunity to kiss her soft lips. I say, “So now that your brother knows about us, is it too soon to discuss your monthly budget? Whatever Aidan supplied you with, I want to make sure I match it.”

Ana lets out a soft laugh. It’s the most beautiful sound in the entire world, so much so I make it my personal mission to make her laugh more and more each day. “Budget? I’m not familiar with that word.” I roll my eyes as a smile spreads across my lips. “But no, I think thinking about our future is just the thing I need right now. I thought thinking about it would just be a distraction from my pain, and maybe it is. But it’s also an effort in hope. And that’s what I want to feel more of.”

“Well, then, consider me all ears. We’ll get the magazines, the Pinterest boards, all the?—”

“Excuse me, everyone.” It’s then that Gio draws everyone’s attention. He stands next to the fountain with a glass of bourbon raised in his hand. Zane comes up beside us and hands Anastasia one. She takes it even though she despises the amber drink, and we both return our gaze to Gio as he says, “It’s customary for the best man to toast the bride and groom.”

“What makes you think you’re the best man?” Zane asks jokingly. Gio rolls his eyes, knowing he need not explain himself.

“So today, I’d like to do just that,” he continues. “But I’d also like to toast all of us for making it through what has been an incredibly rough six months. And yet, here we are, standing in one room as one—one family. So here is to the resilience it took to get here, the peace we promise each other, to family, and to love.”

Gio’s eyes meet mine as he finishes his toast. I raise my glass in thanks and then look to Ana. “To love,” we both say in unison.

48

Three Months Later

I sit on the couch drinking my morning coffee as Ana gets ready for the day. Brinkley hops up to lie beside me. I gave him a few well-earned pets. Since moving in with Ana, he truly has become my little buddy. I wake up early to take him on a walk while Ana sleeps in. We play every night and I’ve even taught him some new tricks. Ana was sure he’d never learn, because performing for treats is beneath him. But, turns out, the little ham is just as much a dog as the next one despite his outfits and Chanel bed. I roll my eyes and shift my attention from him to the windows to my right.

Ever since Gio, Aidan, and I got on the same page, things have been peaceful in the Quarter. Gio has stepped in as a consigliere of sorts to help Aidan rule, and he’s also been put in charge of all relations with capos, both those part of the Cross regime and those who’ve chosen to abstain from it. This keeps Aidan from pissing off the wrong people and has given him more time to focus on cleaning up his own house. It seems his men were right. Some of his own had betrayed him. While the main ones were taken out the night we rescued him and Ana, Aidan took measures to uncover others and gave them a choice—return to Boston with well wishes or die. Needless to say, they took the first option. He suffered some losses on ground forces, but Josephine has slowly been replenishing his ranks with people she’s sure want to be here. Those measures, accompanied with the reduced percentage of profits the mob takes from its Italian affiliates and the show of unity we presented at Aidan’s State of the Union, was enough to tip the scales toward peace. Gio and I joined Aidan as he addressed both the Irish and Italian guests to show our commitment to this alliance. Even Sophia came to give her stamp of approval. The cherry on top was when we announced Anastasia and my plans to marry.

Three months of peace and two months of wedded bliss—well, it’s been as blissful as one could expect of two hotheads living under the same room. It’s then that Ana yells from the bedroom. It’s something about my shit being all over the floor and it isn’t the first or last time I’ll hear about it. As she stomps through the kitchen wearing a flouncy pink lace skirt and oversize gray sweater, I instantly smile and take another swig of my coffee. Her cheeks are bright red and her curls are messy. Her little tantrums have only gotten cuter.

“It’s not funny,” she says then, throwing a pair of black boots at me. I flinch as if she’s hurt me. “I’ve stubbed my toe on these every day for the past week.”

I let out a little snicker. “You think you’d remember where they are by now.”

Ana opens her mouth in disbelief. Her ginger brows rise. “It’s not about remembering. It’s about where they are, which is where they shouldn’t be. I don’t want to have to say this again, Damon.” At that, I set my coffee on the table in front of me and quickly pull her onto my lap before she storms off to finish getting ready. Brinkley moves out of the way and she lets out a huff, rolling her eyes. But despite her facial expressions, I can tell the moment her body connects with mine that her anger subsides and the tension in her muscles eases.

The past three months haven’t been easy to navigate with both of us healing from different traumas, but they’ve been good for us. I think I’ve finally let go of the guilt associated with my parents, and slowly but surely, Ana is stepping out of the shadow of that dark night. She’s able to spend some time alone now, though I don’t give her much. She’s back working at her shop and loves it. And our physical intimacy is almost back to where it used to be. I haven’t tried anything rough with her or anything that may trigger her. But I can tell there’s a difference in her—a light, a thrill—that wasn’t there for a long time. She’s warming back up. But in the interim, it’s truly been our hearts that have warmed. These months have only brought us closer to one another on every level. Which is why I know the only thing that could tear us apart is this house.

I bring my hand to her thigh and gently rub my other up and down her back. “What are you trying to do?” she asks me, her voice soft.

“I’m trying to tell you to relax, because I hear you and I have a solution to our problem.”

“Oh, really?” She raises her brow. “And what is that?”

“Are you familiar with what a duplex is?”

“Not really.” I can tell her patience is running thin, so I quickly get to the point.

“Well, this is a duplex, meaning everything you see here is duplicated on the other side of that wall. It’s obvious this space is too small for us, but it’s home. And it’s perfectly located next to the Compound.”

“And close to our shops,” Ana offers up.

“Yes, so, I bought the other half—for us. We have a meeting with a contractor next week to discuss connecting the two spaces and making the necessary changes so that this place will work for both of us and all of our junk.”

“Really?” Her lips spread into a smile and her cheeks glow.

“Yes, my love. Really.” At that, she slings her arms around my neck and kisses me.

“Thank you, husband,” she whispers. That word tugs on something inside me that makes me both melt for her and want to devour her.

“Mmm, you know I love it when you call me that.” I slowly move my hand from her back to her bottom.

“I do, just like I love it when you call me wife,” she says.

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