Page 93 of Convenient Mafia Vows

“V?”

All eyes are on Victoria, but she only has eyes for me. “I-I don’t know how I feel about this way of life, but I do know that when I’m with Caleb, I feel safe, and beautiful, and desirable. I feel like anything is possible and that he will always be there to catch me when I fall. And if this way of life is the price I have to pay for falling in love, I’d pay it a million times over.”

I must be grinning. Victoria comes to me, stands on tiptoes, and kisses me on the lips, and I find myself whispering, “I love you too, mo chroi,” without even thinking about how those words will change my life. I should’ve told her sooner. I had the opportunity on the Byway, and I let it slip through my fingers. Maybe if I’d grown a pair of balls and acknowledged how she’d flipped my world on its axis, we wouldn’t be here now, but wedon’t dwell on maybes. We forge our own paths, and we don’t look back.

“Please, just give me a chance,” Kyle says. “That’s all I’m asking. A chance to prove to you that I’m not an asshole in a dumb wig and costume.”

“Yeah, that was all my idea too.” I wrap an arm around Victoria’s shoulders and hold her against me. It’s where she belongs. It’s where she’s going to spend the rest of her life, if she’ll have me. “I was Danny Zuko, and Kyle was Kenickie. I thought it would be fun to be someone else for a night. Incognito. Just two regular guys who wouldn’t be recognized.”

Only, I hadn’t counted on bumping into Sandy. Not that it matters now that I’ve found Victoria. For the first time, I can think about it without even wondering what Sandy is up to anymore.

Victoria unfolds my arm from around her shoulders and peers up at me. “Say that again,” she whispers.

“Which part?”

“The part about being Danny Zuko.”

“I knew it!” We both turn around and stare at Sienna. “Black wig, leather jacket. I knew you looked familiar. Danny Zuko, meet Sandy. Sandy, meet Danny Zuko.”

27

VICTORIA

The ballroomin the Titan is exactly how I pictured it. There’s a raised platform in the center of the room, the fountain spilling gold water into a pond filled with golden fish. The walls are decorated with floor-to-ceiling white and gold feathers, the tables laden with food in gold tureens, and at the far end, on a platform draped in shimmering gold curtains is the band. It’s opulent and glamorous and glitzy, and I stand inside the doorway, hardly daring to believe that this is happening to me.

A few days earlier, Caleb and I were married in a small, private ceremony in the gardens of Moira and Terry’s property on Staten Island. It was everything I’d ever dreamed of. We made our vows beneath a white rose covered arbor, surrounded by our close family and friends, with Abigail as our flower girl.

There were no photographers. There were no mafia family representatives. The bodyguards maintained a discreet distance.

We took selfies on our phones of happy, smiling faces, laughter, and love. Sienna went around snapping photographs on her camera of us all when we were not watching. Natural photos. Images of me and Caleb dancing around the garden with flowersin my hair, and a rose tucked behind Caleb’s ear. Abigail being pushed on the garden swing by Bash. Mason popping an olive into his mouth looking more relaxed than I can ever recall seeing him. Moira and Terry snuggled together on the decking sofa.

Sienna and Kyle… The kind of hurt Sienna experienced after the wreck doesn’t vanish overnight. Kyle is patient, and I believe him when he says that making Sienna happy is his life’s mission, but I’m worried that her scars run too deep to ever be repaired.

Caleb sneaks up on me from behind in the ballroom and nibbles my earlobe, his hands snaking inside the plunging neckline of my dress. He pinches my nipple, and I bat his arm away as I turn to face him. “The guests will be arriving any moment now.”

He pulls me close and wraps his arms around me. “I could lock the doors. I can picture you now, naked behind one of those gigantic feathers.” He smiles.

I can feel the bulge in his pants pressing against my abdomen. “Not exactly the outfit I had in mind for tonight.”

Caleb wrinkles his nose. “Trust me, it would be for my eyes only. You’re mine, remember.?Gach mianach.”

I peer into his eyes. “You never did tell me what that means.”

“It means that you’re all mine. Gach mianach. And don’t you ever forget it.”

“How could I?”

Caleb picks me up and, with my legs wrapped around his waist, turns three-sixty, kissing me until I feel giddy and a little bit queasy. “Put me down.” I can’t help laughing though.

Moira and Terry come in with Abigail, who runs over to me and squeals, “I’ve got a bunny rabbit.”

“A bunny rabbit?” I glance at Moira above Abigail’s head.

Moira shrugs. “We couldn’t resist when we saw her in the pet store, could we, Abigail?”

“Her name is Snowy because she’s all white.”

I crouch in front of Abigail. “Snowy. I love it.”

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