10. Chapter 9
Arianna
One thing I missed about Crestwood was informal dinners.
At my father’s estate, dinner was always a family affair and we were expected to dress up for it.
I mean, we didn’t have to wear formal wear or anything, but if I showed up in sweats and my hair in a messy bun, like I frequently did at the Givenchy’s, he would have lost his shit.
Zephyr and Ashley always had the family eat together, but sometimes they ate in the living room in front of the TV watching a movie together. Sometimes they ate out back on the patio. Never did they require anyone to dress up. Leyla showed up in boxers and a sports bra sometimes.
When Tuck and I had kids, I wanted us to follow that tradition instead of the one I’d been raised in. I didn’t want them to dread dinner for the formality of it, like I had.
Tonight, my father had been absent, but the expectations were the same. It had been a long few days of wedding planning with my mother, and Tucker had been a little more withdrawn. He didn’t tell me what he’d had to do, but I could tell it was something that bothered him to his core.
That’s why, I’d planned some time for us to relax and escape the mansion.
As we exited the dining room, I grabbed ahold of his hand, bringing him to a stop and he turned to look at me. “Can we hang out tonight?” He’d been spending a lot of time with Sandro and his friends, which I understood, but we hadn’t had much time lately, so I didn’t feel bad asking.
Wasn’t that something? I was never needy and hated women that felt the need to always have their man's attention, but I missed the man I was falling in love with, so sue me.
A smile crossed his face and he pulled me into his arms, placing a kiss on my temple. “Yeah. Got anything special in mind?”
“The estate has some good walking trails. I thought we could go for a walk as soon as we change out of these clothes.” No way was I going for a walk in a sun dress, nor was I doing what I’d planned as a surprise for him in this. I wanted leggings and a t-shirt.
His smile grew. “I love that idea. I’ll pick you up at your room as soon as I change.”
I rolled my eyes. “You don’t have to do that. I can meet you down here.”
“Yeah, you could. But we haven’t had the chance to go on any dates lately, so this will make it feel more like one.”
Tucker was a romantic, and I hated to admit how much I loved it. Don’t get me wrong, I was a badass bitch, but it was nice to have my man show me how much he cared. “If you insist.”
With a light kiss to my lips, he took off towards his wing and I headed to my room. I’d just gotten my hair up in the bun when there was a knock on my door. Slipping my feet into my sneakers, I headed out of the room.
Tucker looked hot in anything, but I had to admit, I loved when he wore casual clothes. There was something sexy about a guy in basketball shorts.
“Damn, Vita Mia.” His eyes trailed up and down my body. “You look hot like that.”
“You don’t look so bad yourself, Amore.”
We headed out arm in arm, heading for the trail that would lead us to the surprise I had set up for him. “I can’t believe in all this time I’ve spent here, I’ve never gone on any of these trails.”
“Sandro goes for runs on them, but other than that they don’t get much use. I used to come out here a lot to get away from the chaos of my family, but I haven’t really needed to in the last few years.”
We had shadows, Sean and Vinny not leaving us alone, but I wasn’t worried about it. I wasn’t doing anything sneaky, so having someone watching us, one that would report back to my father if asked, didn’t bother me.
“I almost forgot to tell you. My mom called earlier and said that the real estate agent agreed to meet us tomorrow to show us some homes. We need to leave here at five if we want to have plenty of time to look at houses and make any notes on renovations and get back here by dinner.”
“Ugh. Five is so freaking early.” But he was right. We’d have to be back by dinner because there was no way my father would give us a pass when we were technically on his time. I was honestly a little surprised that he was going to let us go at all.
Tucker chuckled. “Yeah. I just hope we find something this time.”
We’d looked at houses before leaving Crestwood to come here, but none of them felt right to us. “What, you don’t want to be a newlywed living with your parents?”
“God no. I want to be able to appreciate my wife and not have to worry about Leyla walking in or my mother hearing us.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at that. Leyla had come close to walking in on us before, but we’d never been brave enough to try something when Ashley was home. She seemed to have super hearing. Probably had to with how mischievous her kids were. Or, well, one of her kids.
We approached the firepit that sat at the part of the trail that looped back up towards the house. I’d brought out a cooler with my supplies earlier, not wanting to risk the chocolate melting in the heat.
Tucker noticed it and his eyebrows lifted. “Did you set this up?”
I smiled and pulled him over to the two seater cushioned seat. “I know that one of your favorite things to do in the summer is make smores with Percy and Silver, and since we’re spending the summer here, you’re missing out on that, so I thought I’d bring the smores to New York.”
When I turned the knob on the firepit, it roared to life. I pulled out all of the supplies and sat them on the table beside me before handing Tucker a roasting stick and the bag of marshmallows.
His smile grew. “I see you remembered the most important part.”
I rolled my eyes. “Duh. Smores are so much better with cinnamon graham crackers.” It was a tradition in his Aunt Sterling’s family and one he’d grown to love.
As we stuck our marshmallows over the fire, he leaned in and pressed a chaste kiss to my lips. “Thank you for this. I needed it. I love you, Ari.”
“Love you too, Tuck.”
Ashley and Leyla pulled up to the first house right behind us. Leyla stumbled out of the car in pajama pants, a messy bun, a shirt that I’m pretty sure she stole from a guy, and big sunglasses. “This is too damn early to be up on summer break.”
Tucker rolled his eyes. “You didn’t have to come.”
She scoffed. “Of course I did. My bestie needed me, so here I am.”
“I’m glad you’re here, Ley.”
“See?” Leyla stuck her tongue out at Tucker.
“Good morning, Givenchy family!” The realtor walked out of the house in front of us.
It already had a leg up on the others we’d looked at.
The property was gated, which was something Zephyr had said was a requirement.
It also had a beautiful circle drive and if I remembered correctly, a five car garage that you couldn’t see from the front.
“Good morning. Thanks for seeing us today.” Ashley reached out and shook her hand. “I’m excited to see the ones you’ve picked out. This one is lovely.”
It really was. This home was a Tudor style with a turret that was covered in vines.
The agent led us to the front door, already starting her pitch. “While the exterior has old world charm, the interior has been updated.”
We walked into the home that had what looked like white marble floors, but it had a sparkle to it that you didn’t usually see in marble. There was a double grand staircase that had black iron railings. Topping that all off was a huge sparkly chandelier.
“This is beautiful.” I could imagine this being my home.
The agent smiled and led us to the left, where there was a formal living room with a large fireplace and a huge bay window letting in a lot of natural light. “The flooring is the same throughout the home and was recently updated.”
We continued the tour, seeing a kitchen that would be a chef’s dream but would definitely be wasted on me. I wasn’t very good at cooking, though I wanted to change that. While it would be nice to have someone cook for us, one day I wanted to be able to cook for my kids, much like Ashley did.
The master suite was on the first level, which was nice. The soaker tub was to die for, and the his and her walk in closets were a dream come true. Honestly, I could probably have lived in that closet.
Tucker put an arm around my waist and pulled me in close as he pressed a kiss to my temple. “You like it?”
“I love it.”
Every room we walked into made me more and more sure that this was the house I wanted. There were five bedrooms upstairs and Leyla laid claim to one, saying that until we had enough kids to fill the place up, that room would be hers for whenever she wanted to crash here.
Tucker rolled his eyes, but we both knew he’d set it up for her and she’d come over all the damn time.
“The backyard is one of my favorite parts of this house. There are fountains you can turn on that shoot into the pool, and color changing LED lights in the pool that give it a resort feel.”
As soon as we walked out back, Leyla squealed.
There was a huge pool that had an area you could put your sunloungers in while tanning, or little kids once we started having babies, that was separated from the rest. The main pool was a walk-in pool that you walked gradually into instead of going down stairs or a ladder.
“Think of the pool parties we can have here this year, Ari. Senior year is about to be lit.”
“Ummm… you have a pool at home and have never once had a pool party.” Ashley raised an eyebrow at her daughter, but Leyla just waved her off.
“There are adults there. No one wants to go to a party where your parents are home.”
“Yeah, no.” I don’t know how Leyla forgot that Tucker’s basically been an adult his whole life. “There will be no parties here. You wanna have a few friends over to hang out, sure. But ragers will not happen at my house.”
I didn’t want that either. After all, it would be my stuff getting broken and my home getting destroyed. But Ley was my ride or die so I couldn’t tell her no. That’s why I just shrugged my shoulders when she looked at me.
We toured three other houses that day, but none of them felt as right as the first one.
We circled back to it, Zephyr meeting us there to make sure it met all of the security standards, then he made an offer and he and Tucker talked about getting the security set up while Leyla, Ashley, and I talked about decorating.
Since I wouldn’t get to come back until after the honeymoon, they were going to be the ones getting it all set up and ready for us.
Thankfully, I could trust that they’d do as I asked. If it was my mom in charge, she would have completely disregarded my wants for her own.