Page 11 of Sexy AF
“Mom, Dad, we’re here.”
She had tears in her eyes as she cupped my face. “You look happy.”
I cried too. She was so happy.
As my mom ended our hug, Benny held out his hand. “Nice to see you again, Mrs. Maragani.”
She hugged him too. “You’re now my son, Benny. Call me Mom or Maria, whatever you feel comfortable with, and call Carrie’s dad Stefano.”
He smiled. “Thanks for this dinner, Maria. It looks delicious.”
We headed to the buffet, but Renzo, Benny’s younger brother, stopped him. I picked up my plate and put one serving of spaghetti on it. My mother then took the serving spoon and added a second. “Carrie, take more. We can’t have you going all skinny now that you married the only man you ever loved.”
My gaze shot to Benny, who was talking to Enrico, his youngest brother, and I said, “Mom!”
She waved off my objections and shook her head as she handed me a meatball for my plate. “What? It’s true.”
Benny wrapped his arm around me. “This smells great.”
My mother then fixed him his plate, like he couldn’t serve himself, as she said to me, “We’re happy you’re moving into Benny’s house, as that’s so much closer to us.” She handed him a full plate.
I ignored how my gut twisted. “Well, that part is nice. There weren’t that many apartments in this area.”
More of his family came in. He handed me his plate, as if putting me in charge of it, and greeted his mother.
My mother walked me to a table in the middle of the restaurant with bride-and-groom decorations on it. “I won’t worry about you so much.”
I hadn’t meant for anyone to worry. I watched Benny in conversation with his mother and father, and I took my mom’s arm. “Likewise. Mom, what happened that Dad needed to marry me off this fast?”
She poured wine into the glasses on the table. “Your father made a bad decision. The Daweses had a means of correcting it, and now that we’re family, it will be taken care of.”
Whatever he had done was nothing that would cross my desk as work. I ignored how my heart raced. “That’s it? It’s about money?”
She smiled. “I’d have objected if I thought you were against the plan.”
Yet Isabella had said earlier that she was ready to cut a deal—not that my sister was always the epitome of an honest person. But if I asked too many questions, I’d get myself involved more, so to stay out of the loop, I said, “I… look, thanks for letting me know. Let’s start digging in, as it seems all the Daweses are here now.”
Benny’s brother Johnny had moved across the country, so he was the only brother absent from our dinner. Benny finished his discussion and winked at me as he came over to me. My heart fluttered.
My mother laughed and stepped back. “Your man is staring at you like he wants you too.”
I pivoted and told the sweetest woman I’d ever meet, “He wants dinner, Mom.”
She shook her head. “He wants you, honey, but first, we eat.”
Benny held my chair for me. “Let’s eat so we can get back home. Next time, no one interrupts us.”
Or we never do anything again.
