Page 121 of 7+Us Makes Nine

“He’s the same as always. All about the money.”

Maria shook her head. “Well, son, you know—time is money,” she said, her expression growing stern as she mocked my father.

I laughed, almost choking on my beer. Even though it had been a while since I’d last seen her, my cousin Maria was the same as I always remembered her—loud and silly. She and I had been close growing up, and she had practically been like the sister I never had.

“So, what else is going on with you besides work?” she asked. “I know the infamous Giovanni Romano can’t be entirely all work and no play these days.”

I shook my head. “No, I wouldn’t say that.”

“Well, spill it then! I need to hear about something extravagant. My life has been far too boring lately. I need some excitement—or to at least hear about some.”

I raised my eyebrows. “You? Boring. Never! There has to be some tall, dark, handsome and unsuspecting poor fellow in your life, right?”

“Ha!” Maria said. “Sure, but they don’t last long. You know how that goes.”

I laughed. “Yeah, you can say that again.”

“So, I take it things have been pretty much the same for you too in that department, huh? Still jumping from one girl to the next?”

I smiled, shook my head, and reached for my beer.

Maria narrowed her eyes. “Wait—what? Did you just shake your head? What does that mean?”

I smirked. “It means I can’t quite agree with that statement. That I’m still just jumping from one girl to the next.”

Maria’s eyebrows show up, she leaned back in her seat and clutched her chest. She shook her head. “Oh…my…goodness. What are you telling me, Gio? Really? Are you honestly telling me that some woman out there has managed to do the impossible? Someone has put a stop to your old ways? How? How is that even possible? I seriously didn’t think you would ever be capable of being a one-woman man.”

I laughed. “It’s a long story. And goodness, cousin—you don’t have to sound so surprised. You just had no faith in me, huh? Like I’m the family whore or something.”

“Your words, not mine,” Maria said, laughing heartily. “And I want to hear this so-called long story. I’ve got time, and I’ve got a drink.” She raised her glass in the air. “I’m all ears.”

“Fair enough,” I said with a chuckle. “All right. Well, like I said, my father is all about business as usual, so he’s been wanting to get into the Marino family for quite some time now. Have you heard of them?”

Maria slowly nodded. “Marino—yeah, that rings a bell. They’re loaded, right?”

“You can say that again,” I said. “So obviously, you understand why my father was so anxious to get in good with them.”

“Yep. That certainly sounds classic like Uncle Luca.”

“Right. So naturally,” I continued, “he figured the perfect opportunity to get into the Marino family was through linking me to the Marino daughter…”

“Woah…wait…are we talking about an arranged marriage?”

I nodded.

Maria’s eyes widened. “And you actually agreed to it?”

I nodded again. “Yeah, I did. And it initially didn’t take me long to regret it either. The very night I made the agreement, I came here to drink myself into a stupor over what I had just committed myself to. But then I met her…here.”

“You met her here?”

“Yep. And I had no idea it was her.” I laughed. “Apparently, she was out celebrating her last official night as a single woman. I just happened to randomly spot her when I saw some sloppy drunk guy harassing her. I jumped in to break it up, and afterward, we just hit it off. I mean really hit it off. Then the next morning, my Dad calls waking me up at the crack of dawn telling me to hurry up and get ready because I’d be meeting my future wife soon. My folks had invited her and her family over for dinner. I can’t even describe how shocked I was when she walked into the living room that evening. It was crazy. I just kept thinking about how she had been right there, in my bed, when my Dad was telling me to hurry up and come over to get ready for the evening.”

Maria shook her head and burst into a fit of laughter. “That’s what you call stranger than fiction. So, how did she take it when she saw that she was being set up with you later that day?”

“Not good!” I shook my head. “She absolutely hated me in the beginning. Even though we were getting along pretty damn good at the club—not to mention later on at my apartment—she was pissed when I had essentially kicked her out that morning. I didn’t mean to be rude, but it came off that way to her. You see, she’s led a pretty sheltered and pure life, so she felt sorry for what had happened between us, to begin with.”

Maria raised an eyebrow. “So, you corrupted that poor girl’s virtue, and then she found out the following day she had to marry you. Yeah, I can see how that would mess with a girl’s head!”

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