Page 118 of She Belongs to Me

“I don’t know what it means, but I don’t care. We need to do another lesson.”

“Not tonight or the rest of this week, sister of mine.” Nico finally moved closer, turning around to face the house like I was.

Isabella had followed me out, determined to get more work out of me, including planning all the holiday festivities that Nico had ordained as necessary this year.

Including ten huge Christmas trees we’d all been required to help decorate. I adored decorating for Christmas, but by the end of ten twelve-foot trees, I’d never wanted to see another red, gold, or silver ornament again.

What I had loved was seeing the homemade decorations their mother had insisted on bringing out from when the kids had been young. She’d had a story about every one of them.

Much to the siblings’ chagrin.

Isabella planted her hands on her hips. “You are incorrigible. Both of you.” As she stormed toward the house, slamming the door behind her, we both managed to hold off from laughing.

But we couldn’t help ourselves.

“Don’t mind her. She’s just excited that the family is expanding.”

He placed his arms around me, holding me close.

“Family, huh? Does that mean I’m stuck here forever?”

“Oh, yes. You are, little flower. If you ever try and escape, I will hunt you down and you know I’m quite capable of doing so.”

Yes, he was.

As he pulled me onto my toes, I realized I’d walked out without a coat on. It was freezing, my breath turning into fog. It would seem the weather gods didn’t get the message it wasn’t supposed to dip lower than forty-eight degrees Fahrenheit.

But it was more Christmasy.

“Why don’t you ask me to stay?” I couldn’t help teasing him. I picked at his shirt on purpose before running my fingers across his full beard. God, I did love a man in a beard.

“Hmmm… I can see you’re going to need your Christmas spanking early. You are staying. That is final.”

As he captured my mouth, holding our lips in place, I closed my eyes and for the last time thought about everything we’d been through. My aunt was safe, happy as could be in a higher paying job. My cousin had finally decided to get her ass into college. While only community college, it was a good start.

The bad Greek boys had been rounded up, the news from the United States keeping everyone on edge for weeks.

Nico had told me he still had a little black book that he was keeping, but not using. Was it an incentive of some kind for other kids in the sandbox to play nice? One of the best there was.

The five families were now four, the Italians attempting to work together to keep peace in their beautiful country.

I’d gotten closer with his entire family, enjoying spending time with their mother.

And I could ride horses, which I did as often as I could. Sassy and I were very tight, the beautiful horse everything I’d ever wanted. The crops would take a little while coming back, but that hadn’t stopped the production or the building efforts.

The new stable was even more state of the art.

I was happy. And the best part about what had occurred over the last several months was the change in Nico.

After he’d shared with me about the woman who’d blamed him for the miscarriage of their child, he’d slowly started opening up. Their argument had been brutal, but I’d helped him understand it hadn’t been his fault. Now he could smile and laugh more often, enjoying simple things.

The holidays had been brought back to life in a splashy and amazing way.

And I had his love. I felt it. I sensed it. I couldn’t walk into a room where he was standing without knowing his eyes were following me everywhere.

I loved this man.

Period.

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