Page 1 of The Mafia's Surprise Gift

1

MAE

“We’ve graduated, bitches!”

A champagne cork popped somewhere, followed by a tinkle of glass and loud laughter amid the cheers that rose in response to those words.

We finally did it. Graduation. Months of slogging through classes on bookkeeping and melting my brain through countless hours of accounting classes. My diploma was safe in my hand, and in a few weeks, I would be moving to New York City to start my fantastic new life.

“Isn’t this amazing?” A girl with pink hair and droopy eyes threw her arm around my shoulders and pulled me close as if we were the best of friends.

I laughed along with her, balancing my drink carefully as she swayed me with the music.

“Can you believe we’re completely done with this? No more studying, no more eight a.m. lectures, no more having to give up all of our free time to make some stuffy old asshole professor happy!” Her smile was wide, and just as I opened my mouth to reply, she released me and headed deeper into the crowd.

Oh, well.

I had lost track of the girls I came with a few hours ago, but it was a blessing, really. Out of all the things I had done at college, there was still one thing that I hadn’t had the guts to do.

I had a crush.

Rocco Adami was hands down the most gorgeous, sexiest man I had ever laid my eyes on. We’d taken the same business class, although I wasn’t sure what his major was. It was the one place where our paths crossed each week since he was a few years older than me and on a different course, the one place where my schoolgirl crush had blown into a full heart-wrenching, aching determination to be acknowledged by him on a romantic level.

The problem with Rocco, however, was that he was nice to everyone. Which meant he was always surrounded by people who were vying to be his friend or get his number. In class, he always had a smile for me, and toward the end of the course, he’d saved me a seat in his section. That could have just been because we were all cramming together and I had a pretty decent handle on what we were learning, but my aching romantic heart filled in the gap with other desires.

Then I saw him.

Like fate, the crowd parted and Rocco stood at the other end of the room next to his best friend, Dino. Beers in hand, they looked to be in deep conversation, and it was the first time I had ever seen him without countless people surrounding him. Rocco was cut from a different cloth. He was drop-dead gorgeous, with a sexy smile and golden hazel eyes that glinted in the sunlight. Meanwhile, I was a little more bookish and had a close-knit friend group rather than the masses he entertained.

I sipped my drink and imagined several scenarios for approaching him. This would likely be the last time we saw each other, and I didn’t want to go to New York without taking this last leap to let him know how I felt.

Suddenly, Dino laughed loudly and turned, then he walked away, leaving Rocco standing by himself at the wall.

He was alone. No one else was around him.

This was the perfect opportunity.

I drained the last of my cocktail and tossed the plastic cup into a nearby trash bag. Taking a deep breath, I smoothed my hands down the little black dress I’d chosen for tonight and strode toward him with my head held high.

Rocco remained alone, and by the time I reached him, I realized I’d been hoping someone else would interrupt so that I wouldn’t have to face the hurt of rejection.

“Mary!” Rocco’s gorgeous, warm eyes locked onto me, and a side-sloping smile crept over his handsome face. “Look at you!”

Nerves fluttered about my belly like butterflies, and warmth crept over my cheeks. “You like it?” I asked, fueled by the liquid courage I’d been drinking all night.

“I’ve never seen you in a dress,” he said, his attention drifting slowly down my body. “Always the shirts with the flowers and jeans. You look good.”

Something about how he noticed the tiny flower details on the shirts I wore sent excitement worming through my gut, and I couldn’t keep the smile from my face.

“Well, if you’d asked me out, then you would have seen me in a dress,” I said without thinking, though I quickly realized what I said. “I mean, out for drinks—I mean, outside of college, y’know. Outside of class.”

Rocco’s eyes slid back to mine and his adorable side smile widened. “Well, isn’t it just lucky you decided to come to…” He paused and glanced around. “Whose house is this, anyway?”

“I have no idea.” I laugh, nervously tucking some of my long hair behind my ear. “My friend got the details. I just came along.”

“Same.” Rocco took a large mouthful of his beer, and the same drunken haziness I felt around the edge of my senses was visible in the glint of his eyes. “Dino organizes things. I just go where I’m told.”

“Really?” I arched one brow and settled one hand on my cocked hip. “You always looked like the trouble maker. Rule maker… you know what I mean.”

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