Page 46 of Taming Nikki

As I stepped outside, I glanced back at her once. She looked stunned, her gaze unfocused, her food still untouched. It was almost funny if the look wasn’t accompanied by pain. Like what I said hurt her. As the door slipped shut behind me, I saw her gaze drop to the counter, her brows furrowed. I almost turned around and apologized, though I couldn’t figure out why. Instead, I warned Mikey and Frankie about Nicole’s rules, sent a text to her papa on where she was and took off before I could second guess myself.

ChapterTwenty-One

NIKKI

“Why doyou look like someone killed your puppy?”

Frankie’s voice brought me out of my stunned stupor. Leo had gone all psychoanalyst on me and thrown me for a loop. I was so shocked, I barely even registered him leaving and I didn’t notice his cousins walking through the door until they were seated at the island next to me. I blinked several times and shook my head.

“It’s nothing… I’m guessing you two are my babysitters?”

Frankie chuckled as he snagged a noodle off my plate. He held it above his face and tried to aim it in his open mouth while it wiggled and swung around. Leo went full blown Italian and made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. I still hadn’t tried any. I was too distracted by his not-so-veiled remarks to focus on it. I rolled the noodles around my fork, slapping Frankie’s hand when he reached for more.

“There’s plenty on the stove. Keep your mitts off my plate. Who knows where they’ve been.”

Leo’s other cousin snorted as he pushed to his feet to make himself a plate. “Probably down his pants. I would give him your plate and get another if I were you.”

I grimaced and pushed the plate towards Frankie. He scowled at me.

“Why are my cousins all assholes?”

The other cousin handed me a new plate while smirking at Frankie. “You’re just mad because Leo doesn’t trust you to watch her on your own.”

Frankie looked upset, so I patted him on the back and gave him a small smile. “Yeah, about that. Sorry. I feel bad. I needed to get out, and you were in the way.”

It settled him a bit, and he relaxed, inhaling his food without actually taking a breath. I ate slower and tried not to admit to myself that Leo wasn’t a bad cook. Okay, that was an understatement. The food was delicious. The meatballs weren’t dry, the sauce was homemade, and he used plenty of spices, so there was a lot of flavor. We all ate in comfortable silence and I felt myself cool off a bit.

“So, I know Frankie. Who the hell are you?”

He chuckled and wiped his mouth with a napkin. Thrusting his hand forward, he shook mine with a grin. “Mikey. Pleasure to meet the woman tossing my cousin’s world on its ass. He needed to be shaken up a bit.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Why’s that?”

He shrugged. “Felt like he was going to work himself to death. Now it looks like the fury will kill him instead,” he snickered.

I pursed my lips against a smile. “That’s what he gets for trying to force me to marry him. He can’t catch a woman on his own?”

Frankie scoffed. “Yeah, I don’t think that’s his problem.”

Something green and ugly slid across my middle. I didnotwant to know about Leo’s dating life. I didn’t want to know about his life at all. I finished my plate and put it in the sink. I thought about cleaning it, his kitchen was kept almost pristine, but I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction and act like a housewife.

“So, how much for you two to take me home?”

Mikey shook his head with a grin. “You’re trouble. We aren’t taking you anywhere. You’re grounded.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m not six. Come on, everyone’s got a price. I just got a big payday. I can make it worth your while.”

Frankie was making himself another plate, and he shook his head. “Might as well get comfortable. You might pay well, but Leo will actually murder us, cousins or not.”

Mikey dropped onto the couch and flicked on the television. At least he was decent enough to put on baseball and not something awful. I sat next to him with a scowl, my arms crossed, but I flinched when I accidentally rested them on my new tattoo. Mikey frowned at me.

“You hurt or something?”

I shook my head. “Just got a tattoo this afternoon. Forgot about it for a second.”

“Oh yeah, how’d that go? Leo looked like he wanted to murder you,” Frankie queried through a mouthful of food. I frowned at him.

“That’s gross. Swallow your food before you speak.”

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