The Sexy Enemy: A Fake Relationship Romance (Italian Nights Series Book 3)

31. Alessandro

Ican’t believe I’m going to the Fiorenzos’ for Sunday lunch. I’ve lost my damn mind or falling for Natalia Fiorenzo has made me lose my mind. That night, when she found me in my office after hearing the vile things my father said about her, she comforted me, telling me she wanted more than this stupid fake marriage, that she didn’t care about what our families think, and that she only wanted me. And I only want her. She’s got me hook, line, and sinker. I’m hers.

“It’s sweet you bought my mother flowers and my father his favorite wine,” Natalia says, walking down the stairs from our room. She’s dressed in a gorgeous blue and white floral dress that cups her breasts perfectly as it molds to her curves. She looks like a sexy milkmaid, and I’m here for it. Her glossy chocolate hair cascades around her bronzed shoulders. Her makeup is natural and she’s wearing flats for the first time.

“Meeting the in-laws for the first time, I have to make a good impression,” I tease.

“Well, it’s off to a good start.” She grins.

“Pretty sure my baseline is in the gutter,” I joke.

She turns and chuckles. “True. I’m going to apologize right now for anything my family says or does today. My brothers are going to be assholes, I can assure you of that. I’m not sure about Allegra, she could go either way, and my parents, honestly, I don’t know. My sisters-in-law will be fine, and you’ve got me. Just say the word and we can leave,” she tells me.

“I think I can handle lunch with your family. I’m a big boy,” I say, wiggling my brows at her.

“Yes, you are, and if you are a good boy that big boy can have his fun with kitty.” She grins, grabbing her bag and her mother’s flowers from me as we head to the door.

We eventually make it to Natalia’s home without incident. Some of the paparazzi followed us, but thankfully, they can’t accost us as once we are through those gates we can drive underground.

“You ready?” she asks as I park the car.

“As I’ll ever be.” Walking into enemy territory.

“Alessandro,” she says, my name halting me. “Thank you for today. You didn’t have to come.”

“When will I ever get another chance inside the enemy’s domain.” I grin, giving her a wink.

“You’re going to play nice, aren’t you?” she asks, looking concerned.

“As long as your brothers do,” I say. She sends a prayer to heaven as we step out.

“One last thing, Sunday lunch is chaos. I don’t know what it’s like at your place, but it’s loud,” she warns me. My family doesn’t even do Sunday lunch, I don’t think my father has ever willingly hung out with us.

Natalia leads the way, and as soon as the door is open, I can hear someone singing, people happily chatting, and sounds of family which is a foreign sound to me. Just before we turn the corner, Natalia shoves the flowers and wine into my hands.

“You should be the one to give it to them,” she says before rounding the corner.

“Natalia, you made it and on time,” her father says, greeting her happily as he kisses her. “Oh,” he says, looking at me with surprise. Did he not know I was coming?

“Alessandro, it is so nice to meet you,” Natalia’s mother greets me.

“These are for you,” I say, giving her the flowers.

“Oh, aren’t you nice? These look beautiful, thank you.” She grins, taking the flowers from my arms willingly, then moves over to a cupboard and pulls out a vase for them.

“This is for you, sir,” I say, handing the bottle of wine to Francesco Fiorenzo.

“This isn’t poisoned?” He chuckles, taking the bottle from me, which makes me laugh.

“I’m not my father,” I joke.

“Good to know.” He grins. “Come, you are welcome in my home, Alessandro. It will be nice to get to know you outside of your father.”

“Are you fucking serious? Who the hell invited him?” Luca says, walking into the living room.

“Language,” a pregnant woman grumbles as she walks in with a cute little boy attached to her hip.

“Are you ducking serious,” the little boy says, copying Luca.

“Great, now Leo knows a new word.” She moans, rolling her eyes.

Luca glares at me as if this is all my fault. “Leo, you can’t say that,” he tells him.

“Ducking, ducking, ducking,” the little boy mumbles. The woman puts him down before he dances off around the room as most of the adults try not to crack a smile.

“What’s ducking?” Giorgio asks as he strides in with his fiancée. “No fucking way. What is he doing here?”

“Ducking, ducking, ducking,” the boy continues to sing.

“Gio,” Luca groans.

“Why don’t you come with Nona, Leo, and play cars,” Mrs. Fiorenzo suggests, pulling the little guy from the chaos.

“You have a lot of nerve coming here,” Gio says, storming toward me. I hold my ground, there’s nothing that he can do to me that my father hasn’t done before, if not worse.

“Hey, stop that,” Natalia says, stepping between the two of us.

Her brother looks down at her and glares. “You don’t need to pretend to protect this asshole, Nat. There are no fucking cameras here,” he says angrily.

“You can’t talk to your sister like that,” I tell him. I don’t like the way her brothers treat her because of me.

“Excuse me?” Gio sneers at me.

“They’re just surprised. I’m guessing Mamma forgot to tell everyone you were coming today,” Natalia explains.

“Guessing she did,” Gio adds.

Ignoring the seething Fiorenzo, I cup Natalia’s face and warn her and them. “Your brothers can hate me all they want, but I won’t let them take their anger about me out on you,” I tell her. Natalia’s eyes widen at me as do her father’s, who I notice is standing and watching everything.

“Oh, are we interrupting something?” Allegra Fiorenzo asks, assessing the tense standoff.

“I think we are, babe,” says Giada Rossi, Italy’s former television sweetheart, and Natalia’s brother’s ex-fiancée, who is now engaged to her sister—and they think Contis are twisted. “Alessandro, it’s been too long,” Giada says, breaking up the tension as she comes over and greets me warmly. “What the hell are you doing in the lion’s den?” she whispers.

“You know I like to live life on the edge,” I tell her, which makes her laugh. I’ve known Giada for years, moving around in the same circles, but since joining the Fiorenzo family, she’s kept her distance because of the feud.

“I’m Allegra, I don’t think I’ve ever introduced myself to you,” she says, holding out her hand to me.

“Understandable,” I say, shaking her hand before she walks over and hugs her sister.

“Hi, I’m Lilly, Luca’s wife.” The pregnant woman waves at me. “And that little thing running around swearing is our son, Leo.”

“Babe, you don’t have to be nice to him,” Luca says.

“And you don’t have to be rude,” she bites back. Luca throws his hands up and grumbles about getting a drink. Giorgio does the same, and the two of them leave the room, their father accompanying them.

“I’m Paige, Gio’s fiancée, we’ve met once before,” she says, shaking my hand.

“Nice to see you again. I understand this isn’t ideal, but I promise I won’t cause any problems for your family today,” I try to reassure the ladies.

Their faces all soften at my words. That might be good. “All we ask is you treat Natalia with respect till this stupid deal is done,” Allegra says.

I look over at Natalia who is quietly watching everything. “I can do that,” I reassure her.

“Good, then, welcome to the family.” She smirks and everyone bursts out laughing.

“I might leave you ladies to talk. I’m going to see if I can break the ice with your brothers,” I tell them. Natalia gives me a concerned look. “I’ll be fine,” I tell her before kissing her cheek and walking into the next room.

The three of them are standing around, whispering at the bar, but as soon as they notice me, they all fall silent.

“What do you want?” Gio asks.

“Nothing. The ladies wanted to chat so I thought I would leave them to it,” I say, placing my hands in my pockets.

“Would you like a drink, son?” Mr. Fiorenzo asks.

“Thanks, just a scotch on the rocks, sir,” I answer. He nods and gets to work pouring me a drink.

“You have some nerve coming into our home,” Luca says, glaring at me.

“He was invited,” Mr. Fiorenzo states. Luca and Gio don’t look happy with their father. “Your mother thought it would be a nice idea if we got to know Natalia’s husband.”

“It’s not a real marriage,” Gio states.

“We don’t have to play happy families,” Luca adds.

“Natalia doesn’t seem to have a problem with him,” Mr. Fiorenzo says, handing me my drink.

“She’s na?ve,” Gio explains.

“See, that’s where you’re wrong. Your sister is a super-intelligent woman. Do you have any idea how much she commands as an influencer? How well respected she is in her career? Your sister works extremely hard trying to make everyone happy around her, and you don’t seem to even notice.” The room is silent as her brothers glare at me. “I get it, I have to remind myself that my brother Romeo isn’t the young boy I remember growing up with. Sometimes it’s hard seeing your younger sibling as anything other than that,” I tell them.

Gio and Luca look at me, dumbfounded, and Mr. Fiorenzo grins as he sips his drink.

“How dare you think you know our sister better than we do,” Luca argues.

“It’s not that I know her better than you do, it’s that I see her from a different angle, she’s surprised me. She’s not who I thought she was,” I tell them honestly.

Gio’s eyes narrow on me. “If you play with her emotions, I’ll kill you.”

“Consider me warned,” I tell him, then sip my drink.

“You know we have this deal in the bag,” Luca states arrogantly.

“He hasn’t signed the paperwork yet,” I say.

Luca shrugs. “Only a matter of time. Such a shame you had to leave the meeting early, but it worked in our favor.” He smirks.

My hand tightens around the glass, and I’m worried that it might shatter under my tension. “If you were happy with that man insulting your sister …” I say with a shrug.

“What did you say?” Mr. Fiorenzo asks.

“He’s making up bullshit,” Giorgio states.

“Your sister didn’t think so. She was uncomfortable sitting there at the table with that man, so much so she faked being sick.”

The three of them stare at me, speechless.

“Is this true?” Mr. Fiorenzo turns to his sons and asks as little Leo comes running in and wraps his arms around Luca’s legs. The little boy’s face is so happy seeing his father, as is Luca’s as he picks him up and cuddles him.

“I can’t believe you didn’t stand up for your sister,” Lilly says, storming in.

“How could you?” Paige says, pointing at Gio.

Both men stare at their partners scared.

“Luca, Gio?” Mr. Fiorenzo says angrily.

“We didn’t realize at the time because we were so focused on taking him down, that we weren’t listening to what Elek was saying. We’re sorry, Papà,” Gio says, looking very apologetic.

“I did not raise you to not protect your sisters or your wives,” he says, yelling at them.

“We know, we know, we’re sorry. It was his fault,” Luca says, pointing at me.

“What the hell?” I stand there in shock.

“I should be thanking him. He’s the only one who seems to be protecting Natalia. A Conti,” he says, throwing his hands up into the air.

Gio and Luca glare daggers at me.

“Boys, lunch is served,” Mrs. Fiorenzo calls out, her eyes narrowing on the situation before shaking her head and disappearing again.