Page 115 of Forbidden

My breath hitches at the heat in his rich brown eyes, and I swallow.

“That’s a plan I can get on board with,” Doug says, leaning in on my other side.

I turn to him, my eyebrows raised, but he just smiles and looks away, striking up a conversation with the man next to him.

Aldo kisses me on the cheek, and I exhale fully for perhaps the first time since we arrived. He’s right. Whatever happens will happen, I can’t control it.

Smiling at Aldo, I pick up my wine glass and take a sip. I just need to focus on tonight—on having fun.

ALDO

“Holy crap,” Avena hisses in my ear. “You lucky bastard.”

I swell with pride, grinning at my eldest sister’s wide eyes as she looks over at our table. Lucky doesn’t begin to cover it. Lane and Doug look beyond delicious, and Joy looks distractingly stunning. I spent an embarrassing amount of the ceremony trying not to think about peeling her out of that dress.

I should be at our family table, but because there are so many of us, it’s more of a cluster, and Ana was happy to put me with my . . . partners? . . . instead. But there’s family here that I haven’t seen in ages, so I keep flitting between tables, making sure I spend time with everyone.

“You’re not exactly unlucky,” I say, nodding at where her husband is chatting with one of our aunts, my niece dozing on his lap while my nephew appears to be eating butter straight from the dish.Ew.

Avena huffs. “Yeah. Cameron is hot, but you havetwo. And Joy is ridiculously gorgeous.”

“Yeah,” I agree. “I’m not arguing. I’m lucky as hell.”

She leans closer, her smile fading. “Is it serious? I mean, bringing them to meet the family, I’m assuming it is. Are you all moving to the City after graduation?”

My stomach dips and I swallow. “We haven’t really discussed that yet.”

How can we when we’re not even sure if Doug is in this? I know Joy is heading to California for sure, but she’ll probably want to be in LA, which is fine, but it’s still long distance. And Lane . . . His job is in Oregon. He’d have to quit to keep us together. I think long distance can work, but a three-way long distance? Even I’m not that optimistic.

“Sorry,” Avena says. “I didn’t mean to bring the heavy. I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”

I nod, giving her a reassuring smile. “I know. It’s still kind of new. We’ll figure it out.”

“I’m sure you will,” she says, wrapping her arm around my waist and giving me a side hug. “You should talk to Cameron.”

I glance over at where her husband is now trying to juggle two sleepy children. His brother, Carter, is in a polyamorous relationship, but I don’t know much about it. It’s not really something to bring up without context, which I guess I have now.

“Sure,” I say. “I’ll try and catch him later. You’d better go get Frankie and Bella down before the dancing starts.”

She smiles and gives me another squeeze before going and lifting my nephew off her husband’s lap, leaving me with my thoughts. The pensive silence lasts only a second before my mom appears at my side, linking her arm with mine. I smile down at her, placing my hand over hers. She looks as stylish as ever, her gray streaked black-brown hair twisted up into a sleek mass of pinned curls, the dark red flowers matching her designer wrap dress.

“Are you enjoying yourself, Mama?”

Before she can answer, Dan, my sister’s new husband, taps on the microphone on the raised platform in front of the dance floor.

“Good evening, everyone,” he says, fiddling nervously with his tie. “Thank you again for coming to celebrate with me and my beautiful wife, Abriana.”

Everyone cheers, and my mom squeezes my arm tight, her face lit with happiness.

“I’d like to welcome you all to join us on the dance floor for our first dance. Ana?” He holds out his hand, passing the microphone to the band, and my sister steps forward allowing him to lead her onto the dance floor.

Ana looks incredible, her dress fanning out as Dan spins her, gaining a round of applause. Even though I know her dress has been altered to hide the small bump, you’d never know she was four months pregnant. She beams as Dan holds her and my heart swells with happiness.

“Dance with me?” Mama asks.

I smile down at her. “Certo, Mama.”

We join the others on the dance floor, and as I take her hand and start to move to the music, I scan the faces of the swaying couples, trying to peer through the crowd to our table.

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