Page 56 of Luca
If I thought that’d surprise Nonno, I was dead wrong.
He cleared his throat and leaned back in his chair. He locked eyes with Luca and murmured something in Italian.
“No.” Luca answered, then added more words in Italian.
“So all this talking in Italian is super sexy, but maybe you could switch to English,” I remarked sweetly. “I want to know what you’re saying. It obviously involves me.”
There was something sly about the look they both gave me. Jesus, the way they crossed their legs and smiled, it was the picture of Luca in his old age. An odd thump of my heart was the answer to the image.
There was something about growing old with him. To share all the good and bad with a person you could rely on. Could I rely on Luca?
“They weren’t good enough for you,” Luca finally said.
My brows furrowed. “You didn’t even know them,” I remarked with a scoff. “Heck, I barely knew their names.”
Nonno slammed the cane down. “Nobody cares for our children but us. Famiglia. DiMauro famiglia.”
I swallowed. Did Luca already lie to Nonno and tell him the baby growing in my belly was his?
Luca gave me a calm look, holding my gaze as he said the next words.
“Which is the reason I eliminated those men, Nonno.” My eyes widened, unsure whether I should go along with it, question his sanity, or possibly mine. He had to be bluffing. Right? He was just doing it to convince Nonno that the baby was his.
“Bene,” Nonno grinned. “Any man who thinks he can mess with our family will be a dead man.”
Uncertainty flickered through me. I grew up in a family where criminal activities were part of everyday life. I knew the risk that came through it. Though at this moment I wondered whether I was just exchanging the Irish mafia for the Sicilian one.
Of course you are, dolt.
Then why wasn’t I running?
The answer sat right next to me. He sat back, rested his arm behind my chair and his legs slightly parted. His gaze warmed the side of my face and my heart fluttered awkwardly, stealing my breath.
My body burned. My skin blushed, buzzing with an unexplainable thrill. Suddenly, the thoughts of murdered fiancés no longer relevant. I fought the urge to lean over and brush my body against his. To feel his heat.
“Now, let’s talk about the wedding,” Nonno declared.
ChapterTwenty-Four
LUCA
She belonged here.
It had only been a few days since she moved into Nonno’s villa, and it was as if she was born here. She moved around the house as if she knew every corner of it. Either that, or my grandfather had told her stories of all the secret spaces Cassio and I had discovered through the years.
My grandfather and Margaret got along better than I could have ever hoped for. I was convinced Nonno was in love with my woman. If he wasn’t family, my grandfather, and at his advanced age, I’d have to consider ending him.
I was well aware my jealousy was irrational.
Yet, the cure was still unavailable to me. When it came to this woman, all my feelings were enhanced tenfold.
I watched Margaret as she read to Nonno in her soft voice, all the while rubbing her belly. The change in her was pronounced and not because she was pregnant. It was inside her. It was like all her demons and hate stayed back in New York.
Here she was a completely different person. Maybe this was the woman she was meant to be all along. Away from the past sins that our parents committed. Away from the Callahans. Although I knew she missed her brothers. A lot. I caught her pulling up a few articles about them. They were old, but she’d sit there and stare at the pictures.
So I resolved to have them here for our wedding. For her.
The line rang as it connected us across the ocean to her oldest brother.
