20. Dario #2
“So are you two doing some father-and-son-in-law bonding?” He asks the question while a lazy grin spreads across his face, one arm hanging from the side of the chair so he can keep petting Chort and the other resting on his thigh, looking perfectly relaxed despite the dried blood I see on his knuckles.
“We have,” I say, laughing at the look Lev shoots me. “Your dad gave me his blessing, so I’m going to be marrying your sister very soon.”
“Do it here,” he says, waving an arm out towards the sea. “Mia loves it here, and you know she’d rather jump off a cliff than have a big church wedding. We can fly everyone in.”
I look over at Lev. “You think that would work? How fast could they get here?”
“I mean, immediately as far as I know, but it’ll be a quick trip for most of them, especially with Mira being so little and Yel and Talia being so pregnant. They’ll want to be here to see Mia get married, though. None of them would want to miss that.”
“I’ll let Dominic know,” I say, taking one last drink before setting the bottle back on the table and standing. “I should probably propose and ask Mia if she’s okay with this before we start making plans.”
“Smart move,” Lev says, and then he grins at Sasha. “Maybe she’ll come to her senses. ”
I know he’s teasing, so I don’t let it get to me.
I smack him on the back and nod at Sasha, refusing to make eye contact with his rabid dog in case he sees it as an invitation to attack, and start to walk back inside.
Before I step into the house, Lev says, “Whatever you do, get that fucking rock off her finger before she tries to punch someone and breaks it.”
I groan, because I’m apparently never going to live down the fact that I tried to get Mia to wear a beautiful diamond ring.
Once I’m in our room, I look over at Mia.
She’s sprawled out, face down in the middle of the king-size bed, covers a mess, naked body flung out like she doesn’t have a care in the world.
So many emotions hit me at once—love, lust, and relief that she’s healed enough to start kicking the covers without the movement causing her to wake up in pain.
Her tight little ass is enough to make my cock thicken in my sweats, and when my eyes run up her back, that dragon tattoo finishes the job of making me rock-fucking-hard in record time.
Shedding my clothes, I climb into bed next to her, and unable to resist, I press my lips to her spine, kissing my way up the dragon that marks her skin.
She moans when I run my tongue along the dragon’s wing and then nip at her shoulder. When she whispers my name, I grin and kiss her again.
“Marry me, streghetta mia .” I murmur the words against her skin. “Marry me and be my wife.”
“Is that a question?”
I smile at her thick, sleepy voice and kiss her again.
“Will you please marry me, amore mio ? Let me be your husband, let me love you and take care of you, and let me spend the rest of my life making you scream my name.” I laugh and nip at her skin.
“Mostly in pleasure but probably sometimes in anger.”
She turns her head so she can see me, and when she whispers a simple “yes,” I lean over and kiss her, hoping she can feel how much I love her, wanting her to understand how goddamn important she is to me .
There are a million things I want to do to her, but I know she needs to rest, so I lay down next to her and pull her body in close to mine. With her head on my chest and her leg draped over mine, I run my fingers through her hair and kiss her forehead.
“Will you marry me in a few days?” I ask her, and she huffs out a soft laugh against my chest.
“Someone’s eager,” she teases while she runs her fingers over my skin, stopping to give my nipple a pinch. When I groan and she feels my hard cock twitch, she laughs and says, “Maybe you need a nipple piercing, too.”
I laugh and smack her ass. “Not a chance in hell, little viper. You can get as many piercings as you want, but I’m strictly a tattoo man.
No one is going to shove a needle through my nipple or dick.
” I cringe at the thought of it, and if it wasn’t for her body pressed snugly against mine, I would’ve lost my erection.
“I’ll marry you whenever you want,” she says, while continuing to tease me with her fingers. “You want to do it here?”
“If you’re okay with it. I’d love to marry you in front of the sea.”
“Can it be small?”
I grin and play with the pink highlights in her hair. “It has to be. Everyone around here already thinks we’re married.”
“True enough,” she says, and then she lifts her hand to wiggle her fingers. “What about this huge rock?”
“Don’t worry, amore . I’ll take care of it.”
“It is a beautiful ring,” she whispers, and I grin and kiss her head again.
“I knew you liked it.”
She laughs and kisses my chest. “Don’t tell anyone I admitted that.”
“Never, amore . Your secret is safe with me. Now, get some sleep. We need to plan a wedding tomorrow.”
It ends up being a week before I can marry Mia.
We’ve quietly flown her entire family in, and the villa is packed with Melnikovs.
My dad is taking it better than expected, even going so far as to bring up his best bottles of wine from his private collection in the cellar, and my mom is unable to hide her excitement at having so many kids around.
She may have a spine of steel, but the woman’s greatest weakness is children.
We’ve hired extra cooks, but I still catch her making sweets for them.
Vitaly’s decided she’s his new bestie, and he even learned a bit of Italian to get on her good side so she’d make him some homemade tiramisu.
“You ready for this?” Sandro asks while he grins at me, watching me adjust my cufflinks and then straighten my tux jacket. “It seems like just yesterday that you were telling me all about your plan to fuck Mia out of your system.”
He and Dominic share a laugh at my expense, but I’m too busy being happy to care. I’d been wrong, and I’ll be the first to admit it. Mia was always going to be a lifetime thing. One time would’ve never been enough. I knew it then, too. I just wasn’t ready to admit it.
My hand feels bare without the wedding ring I’ve been wearing, but I took it off so Mia could put it back on again.
I didn’t want to get a new one. The second I’d slipped that band on my finger, I’d felt married to Mia, and I want to keep it.
I did buy a new band for her, though, and she’ll be able to throw as many punches as her little heart desires.
“Ready?” Dominic asks.
“More than,” I tell him, grinning when he pins a rose to my lapel.
“Okay, let’s go get you married to an eighteen-year-old,” Sandro says, making us all laugh again.
The house is filled with flowers and food, but no one outside this villa knows what’s happening today.
Mia wanted it small and quiet, and that’s what we’re doing.
I have no idea what she’s chosen to wear, and a part of me won’t be even slightly surprised if I walk out and she’s in jeans and a hoodie.
I don’t care if she’s in her favorite pair of flannel pajamas.
I’d still marry that woman in a heartbeat.
We’ve chosen to have the ceremony at the edge of the olive grove in a patch of grass that overlooks the Ionian Sea and is covered in wildflowers.
We’ve set up enough chairs for her family and mine, and we’ve each chosen one person to stand with us.
Natalya for her, and Sandro for me. The priest was a compromise.
Mia and I aren’t religious, but it’s the one thing my mom asked of us.
Neither one of us had the heart to tell her no.
Father Francesco has been my family’s priest since before I was born, and he was willing to overlook the fact that we don’t want a long Catholic ceremony and that Mia isn’t even remotely Catholic.
I’m not sure how my mom talked him into it, but I’m not at all surprised that she managed it.
When I walk out with my brother and cousin, everyone turns to look at us. I walk towards the front, stopping to give Isabella a hug when she runs up to me before Dominic scoops her up and sits down next to my mom and dad. Nat is already up front, and when she sees me, she gives me a big hug.
“I’m so happy you’re marrying my sister,” she tells me.
“Me, too,” I say, making her laugh. Nat’s become like a sister to me, so it feels natural to now have her as my sister-in-law.
When I hear the crowd stir, I stand next to Sandro and look past everyone, unable to take my eyes off my bride.
Her white gown is strapless, keeping her shoulders and upper back bare, and the satin fabric fits snuggly around her chest but then billows out softly.
I don’t know what the style is called, but it leaves my heart racing and my body desperate to be close to hers.
It’s feminine and elegant without all the frills that Mia despises so much. It’s beautiful and so perfectly her.
Lev walks beside her, looking every bit like the emotional father who’s about to start crying at the idea of giving away yet another daughter.
Mia’s arm is wrapped through his, and her eyes stay locked on mine as he guides her closer.
When they’re in front of me, Lev hesitates before leaning down to kiss his daughter’s cheek, and then he’s putting her hand in mine in what must take monumental effort on his part.
Stepping back, he takes his place in the front row next to Jolene, who’s already crying as she smiles up at us.