Ciao Bella (Gray Wolf Security #15)

CHAPTER ONE

Early December

“How many times have we had this conversation with them?” frowned Alexandra.

“Dozens. No, hundreds,” frowned Faith.

“Thousands,” said Erin. “It started when Lauren and I were pregnant. Nine and Trak both promised they would slow down, spend more time at home, help with the kids, blah, blah, blah.”

The women giggled at their fearless leader, shaking their heads. It was true. All of it. They weren’t saying that the men were terrible husbands and fathers. They were amazing. Remarkable, in fact. But the one promise they’d broken over and over again was the promise to slow down and take them on more getaways, more vacations. Just the senior team and their spouses.

“Maybe we start dropping hints for Christmas,” said Grace. All eyes turned to their friend. “Each of us could do things to hint toward a vacation of some sort.”

“Do we even all want to go to the same place?” asked Faith.

“Does it matter?” frowned Lena. “The last trip we went on was to Australia, and they ended up helping the guys with the case involving Matilda.”

“Aw, Matilda,” smiled Kari.

“You’re getting off track,” laughed Lauren. “The point is, even when we say this is a vacation, no guns, no bad guys, no missions, we end up in the middle of something, or they end up in the middle of something. We get sent home, poor helpless females who can’t be risked or placed in danger.”

“But it’s who they are,” said Ella. “I don’t want to change Antoine. It’s why I fell in love with him. Well, that and the sex.” The women all nodded, giggling.

“I think we can all agree with that,” said Faith. “We fell in love with them because they’re remarkable men. But that doesn’t mean that we agreed to never go anywhere. Ever!”

“So, what do we do?” asked Alexandra.

“I think you have the right idea with hints,” said Mary. “They can’t be too complicated, or they won’t get them. I mean, I love Angel, but that man does not understand hints at all. Maybe we buy a few travel books or watch movies about travel. They’re usually pretty agreeable to that.”

“That’s a good start,” smiled Kat. “I guess the question is, do we want to all go together or separate?”

The women stared at one another, slowly each reaching for the person’s hand beside them. Lena squeezed Sara’s hand, who did the same with Marie, then Lissa, and so on. It was a big circle of the most beautiful, strongest, kindest, and most intelligent women in the world. Yet they recognized that they needed one another.

“I don’t want to go without all of you,” said Lissa. “I know it seems silly, but I’ve come to rely on you guys. We’ve been through so much together, shared so many experiences, it feels silly to not go on vacation together.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” smiled Marie. “Our women’s circle is different than what most women would experience. We cheer one another on. We don’t tear one another down. We support one another. We’re never jealous. If something wonderful or awful happens in my life, you are the first people I run to.”

“Couldn’t agree more with that one,” said Erin. “I do wonder, though, if we are off property for too long, what about the effects of the pond and whatever else your mother has done with all of us?”

“What do you mean?” frowned Lena.

“I mean, will we suddenly begin to look our age? Will we start to have aches and pains that weren’t there before? I just worry,” she said, nibbling her bottom lip.

“Look, I don’t know everything,” said Claudette, “but what I do know is that the pond’s effects are long-lasting. We’re talking decades.”

“How do you know that?” asked Marie. As the oldest sister, Marie should have been the one chosen by Irene. She wasn’t upset about her sister being chosen, in fact in many ways she was relieved it was Claudette and not her. But she was often curious about the secrets shared and the knowledge passed along about Belle Fleur.

“I know that because Pawpaw Robicheaux lived to be one hundred and thirty-eight after he moved to Florida.” Everyone opened and closed their mouths, unsure of what to say. “When he left here, he was almost one hundred and ten. Everyone there thought he was in his seventies. He never corrected them.”

“Okay, good to know. We have a thirty-year time limit,” smiled Lena. “But we haven’t answered the question of where we want to go.”

“I think anywhere would be wonderful,” said Mary. “Although, I suppose I should be careful about that. We might end up in a third-world country fighting drug dealers.”

The women all laughed, nodding at one another.

“I’ve always dreamed of going to Paris,” said Robin.

“In fairness to the men, we did go to Paris once, but that didn’t end very well,” frowned Rachelle.

“What happened?” asked Morgan.

“It’s kind of a long story,” said Ella, “but Ryan had been struggling with depression, alcohol, drug, and gambling addictions. He was targeted because of all of us, and they wanted information on our technologies. We were very lucky that he had enough of all of us in him that he refused.”

“Is that how he lost his arm?” she asked.

“It is. I’m forever grateful that our medical team and G.R.I.P. were able to give him a prosthetic that looks and feels like the real thing to him.”

“I’m sorry, Ella. I had no idea.”

“No worries. It’s in the past. Ryan has completely turned his life around and found the love of his life in Paige. He’s an amazing husband and father,” she smiled.

“Okay, so maybe not Paris.”

“Paris would be wonderful, but we could do Greece, Italy, Spain, anything in that region,” said Alexandra.

“I think we just drop as many hints as we possibly can and see what sticks,” said Lauren. “I’m going to start streaming a movie or television series about Italy, maybe bake something from that region.”

“Same,” nodded Faith. Erin smiled at her girl squad, nodding at their unified approach to the issue.

“Alright, ladies. We’ve got a few weeks. Let’s see what sticks.”

December 26 th

“Well, that was a lovely holiday,” frowned Erin, curling her feet beneath her as she took a seat with a glass of wine in hand.

“Yes. Lovely,” agreed Faith. She handed a glass of wine to Grace, who sat between Lena and Lauren.

“Lovely,” nodded Lauren.

“Oh, who the hell are we kidding,” said Lena. “We dropped so many hints that if they’d been stones on a ship, we would have sunk them all. Talk about dense!”

The room of women giggled, nodding their heads.

“It was pretty sad, you guys. I made sure that Pierre saw three travel books I had on the table. I lost count of the movies we watched, usually resulting in him falling asleep, the wines I bought, it was all for nothing.”

“Maybe we’re being too subtle,” frowned Tory. “I mean, these guys are great with criminals, drugs, and terrorists, but they’ve never been perfectly attuned to feelings and emotions.”

“She might be right,” said Sophia. “I love Ivan, but sometimes subtlety just doesn’t work for him at all. I kept making Italian food for dinner, pasta, lasagna, pizza. You know what he bought me for Christmas? A book on Italy. A photo book. Not a travel guide, not a hotel guide, a photo book.”

“Well,” snickered Ally, “he was at least going in the right direction.”

“Most of us got jewelry, as always,” said Erin. “I love my jewelry from Nine, but I have so many pieces that are almost identical I think he forgets what he gave me the year before. I need to tell Mama Irene to not let the jeweler back on the property without speaking to us directly.”

“The way I see it,” said Sara, “is we have two choices. We can either continue to bitch about it and keep dropping subtle hints, or we can be as direct as possible and tell them what we want.” Faith looked up to see the men walking toward them.

“It looks like we might get our chance, ladies.”