Page 42 of Till Death Do Us Part

I inhaled. “First, thank you for talking to me and not treating me as if I’m too dense to understand.”

Aléjandro nodded.

I went on, “Dante is behind the alliance. He told me that when I found out about our wedding. He even said at first, he was skeptical. If he said something to the lieutenant, my guess is that whatever it was that he mentioned bothers him. The famiglia has concerns too. Both organizations reflect on the other. Dante probably doesn’t want whatever he mentioned to reflect poorly on the famiglia. The alliance needs to work for both sides.”

As Aléjandro opened the door to the garage, he seemed to let my words sink in. “Let me get the suitcases. Rei will stay here at the house until I get back. We have guards outside, but I’m not willing to have any of them in here with you until Silas arrives.”

My forehead furrowed. “Where are you going?”

“To Wanderland. I need to deal with Nicolas face-to-face.Mi padreis still near, but if Nicolas is going to respect me, I should be the one to handle this.”

“Is it safe?”

Aléjandro’s lips twitched. “Too early to be a widow again?”

“Please don’t say that.” I stepped down into the garage seeing not only the Porsche, but also a black Mercedes and a large black SUV. Over to the side, I also saw a Ducati motorcycle. “No furniture, but plenty of vehicles.”

Aléjandro went to the Porsche and hit a key fob button. The hood opened.

“That’s odd, being in front,” I said.

“The engine takes up the rear half of the car. You’ll appreciate the speed if you decide to drive.”

“I don’t know how to drive.” When Aléjandro’s eyes opened wider and his forehead furrowed, I added, “My father didn’t think it was necessary and Rocco agreed.”

Lifting the suitcases out of the car, my husband shook his head. When his gaze met mine there was a gleam in his eyes. “I can teach you more than to like sex. I’ll teach you how to drive.”

Ignoring the comment about sex. I concentrated on the second part of his statement. “You will?” I asked incredulously. “What about Silas?”

“I don’t want you off by yourself, but it seems unsafe not to know how. There may be a time when you might need to jump in one of these and drive away.”

Turning back to the Ducati, I asked, “Will you teach me to drive that?”

Aléjandro’s laugh echoed through the garage. “Let’s start with four wheels.” He wheeled both suitcases back into the kitchen.

“I can take them both upstairs.” Reaching for the handles, I stopped. “Are you sure you shouldn’t take Rei with you? I’ll be fine in the house.”

“I trust Em and Nick to be with me. Rei won’t bother you. I’ll tell him to stay downstairs.”

I looked around at the empty rooms. “And do what?”

“Wi-Fi is up and running. He can stay busy.”

“Stay safe.”

Aléjandro splayed his fingers on each side of my waist and leaned close. Our noses were almost touching. “Kisses. I get those.”

I nodded before shutting my eyes and leaning in, closing the gap. There was nothing to hate about Aléjandro’s kisses. They could even become addicting. When we pulled away, we both had smiles. “Please let me know you’re all right.”

“I entered my number in your phone last night. Call me if you need anything.” He looked at the suitcases. “I can take them upstairs.”

“I’m good.”

As I carried the two small pieces of luggage up the stairs, I wondered if I was as I’d just said—good. Just maybe I was. Soon, I was lost in the job of unpacking. There were things I hadn’t seen since I’d packed them away after Rocco’s death. As I hung up and put away my clothes, I thought about Aléjandro’s offer to decorate. If he was okay with my buying large items, maybe he wouldn’t mind if I did an upgrade to my wardrobe. SoCal was a bit trendier than Missouri. Or at least, I imagined it was.

I hadn’t even noticed the time or the movement of the sun toward the horizon until the thunder of pounding footsteps caused me to turn toward the open door to our bedroom. In the dimming sunlight, Rei appeared in the doorway. His face was flushed as if he’d raced up the staircase.

“Mia,” he panted, holding tight to the doorframe. “We have to go.”

---