1. Dom
1
dom
PRESENT DAY
“So, this year, I want to do the calendar shoot at the local animal shelter,” my cousin Lucia announced at our Sunday family dinner.
I groaned, along with several other male members of our famiglia . Lucia had been roping us into doing a photo calendar for charity for years. To be fair, the calendars did raise a lot of money for worthwhile causes.
“Count me out,” said my brother Nick immediately.
No surprise there. Nicky had always been a quiet guy, but now that he was a successful author, he was even more averse to drawing attention to himself than he’d been before he joined the Marines.
My brother Paulie immediately seconded Nicky’s decline—also not a surprise—claiming that he had a reputation to maintain. I guessed I could see his reasoning. He ran his own law firm in town, specializing in family services. Professional image was important.
At least I could count on Vinnie to do this with me. My cop brother was a perennial favorite as Mr. October.
“Don’t look at me,” Vinnie said, shaking his head.
I glared at him. “Why not?”
“I’m a married man.”
“So?”
“So, I’m not going to do that to Haven.”
Nick and Paulie nodded in solidarity while Haven practically melted in adoration beside Vinnie.
“If I remember correctly,” I said, pointing a breadstick at Vinnie, “being in that calendar was what got your wife to notice you in the first place.”
“Yeah, but things are different now.” He shook his head. “You wouldn’t understand.”
I took the jab. He was right. I didn’t know what it was like to be so into someone that I’d change my whole life. I wanted to though. I was tired of the superficial. I wanted to find a soul-deep connection of my own like my five siblings had. I was the only one who had yet to find my one . Not that I was going to share that with him or anyone else.
“You guys are no fun since you got married,” Lucia said, pouting. She turned to my sisters’ husbands with hopeful eyes. “What about you guys?”
Sofia put her hand up before her husband could answer. “Not a chance.”
Her husband, Grant, smirked.
Everyone looked at Grant’s twin, Gray, who also happened to be my youngest sister, Gina’s, rock-star husband. Like, a literal rock star. They had homes in both New York City and Malibu and toured for several months a year. The only time we saw them was when his band was on hiatus.
He shrugged. “Sorry. Photo shoots have to go through my agent. It’s a contract thing.”
“ Merda ,” Lucia said with a heavy sigh. “Well, at least I know I can count on Dom and his hot firefighter friends.”
“Maybe,” I said, feeling offended that my participation was a sure thing.
Lucia waved a hand at me, unconcerned. “Please. You know you’re going to do it. You love the female attention.”
I frowned. That might’ve been true at one time. Okay, it had absolutely been true at one time. Now, not so much. I was officially in my thirties. My siblings—even the younger ones—were happily married. I was the lone holdout. Looking at them now, sharing secret smiles and touches around the table, made my chest ache.
Hard to believe, I knew. The only explanation I could come up with was that seeing my five siblings find true happiness with their persons must have mellowed me and turned me into a wistful romantic.
I wanted what they had. A real connection with someone. Something more than fun times and great sex. Don’t get me wrong; I was a big fan of fun times and great sex, but it wasn’t enough anymore. Unfortunately, il destino had yet to place the right woman in my path. Trust me, I’d been looking. Discreetly, of course.
“You-a go,” my nonno said without looking up from his plate. “Maybe you find il tuo vero amore .” Maybe you’ll find your true love.
The old man said the words casually, but he might as well have dropped a bomb on his plate of parmigiana. Inhalations could be heard around the table as conversations ceased. Forks in hands hung in mid-air. Mouths fell open, as if a great truth had been revealed.
My grandfather was a notorious matchmaker, and when he spoke of amore , everyone listened. As far as I knew, he had never been wrong.
After a moment, those intense gazes turned to me to see my reaction. My mother’s eyes were hopeful. My sisters’ and cousins’, encouraging. My brothers offered smirks and barely concealed amusement, as if they were going to get a front-row seat to watch as karma finally caught up with me and brought me to my knees.
The thought shouldn’t have been as appealing as it was.
Did I believe I’d find my true love by doing my cousin’s charity calendar? Not really. But I also wasn’t willing to take the chance that Nonno’s vague prediction was wrong.
“Fine, I’ll do it,” I muttered. “When and where?”
Lucia smiled triumphantly and shared the date and time. “Tell your buddies. That goes for you too, Vin. Even if you’re tapping out, spread the word. The more, the merrier.”
According to Lucia, “protector” types had the biggest pull with women, and women were the ones most likely to fork out money for a charity calendar.
“No one hangs a paper calendar on the wall anymore unless there’s something worth looking at.”
She had a point.
“What about a digital version?” my graphic-designing sister Gina suggested.
Her social media skills were a part of the reason our family-owned businesses did so well. Nonno’s bookstore. Nick’s author site. Paulie’s legal firm. Not to mention the entrepreneurial ventures of our aunts, uncles, and cousins. Even the fire company benefited from Gina’s mad skills. Donations were up twenty percent since she’d revamped our website. The vibrant Donate button with licking flames drew the eye.
“How would that work?” Lucia asked.
Gina was on it. “I can create a downloadable template for a custom calendar app. We can even allow buyers to customize their calendars by picking their favorite images for each month.”
Lucia clapped her hands together, her eyes bright. “I love it! Let’s do it.”
As I glanced around at the men assembled for Lucia’s photo shoot, my first thought was, I don’t need to be here .
Lucia had plenty of top-shelf grade-A beef to objectify without me. My firefighter brothers were there, as were a handful of Cecilton’s finest, thanks to my brother Vinnie. Lucia must have appealed to my sister Sofia again as well because I saw some familiar faces from the hospital—residents and interns with stethoscopes over bare chests and low-slung scrub bottoms.
All single. All in great shape. Most of them younger than me.
Not that I was a slouch. Between the job training and my aggressive workout schedule, I was in peak physical condition. But there was a noticeable difference between a twenty-three-year-old male in his prime and a thirty-three-year-old male in his prime. I was confident, not delusional.
We were standing around, letting Lucia and her assistants do their thing. Rubbing us with oil. Smudging us with dirt. Messing up our hair. Removing and adjusting clothing, just enough to make us desirable while keeping the calendar family friendly.
Some of my squad mates were eating up the attention. I rolled my eyes when I saw Chas flexing his pecs as my cousin Corina greased him up. Smirked when I saw Henry’s face go beet red as my cousin Valentina fixed his hair, her chest hovering inches in front of his face while she did so.
Yeah, there was a lot of flirting and peacocking going on. I smiled and played along, but my heart wasn’t in it. The more I thought about Nonno’s words, the more I realized he hadn’t actually said I would meet someone here, only that I might . Nonno wasn’t usually so vague. Maybe Lucia had buttered him up by sneaking him gelato before dinner, knowing that having him plant the seed of possibility in my head would increase my chances of participation.
I mean, it was for a good cause. The animal shelter depended on donations to stay in business and remain a no-kill facility. Adoption programs, promotion, housing, and medical care weren’t cheap.
I guessed that the unfamiliar casual observers hovering around the periphery were from said shelter. Lucia usually kept these shoots private—and for good reason. All I could say about that was, some women thought that because we posed for these calendars, we liked being pawed and grabbed by people we didn’t know.
Spoiler alert: we didn’t.
Well, not most of us anyway. Chas was a man-whore.
My eyes scanned the edge of the lot, checking out the unknowns while I waited for Lucia’s instruction. A few males. More females, brimming with possibility and looking around with barely concealed interest. I passed over them without a trace of temptation—until I saw her .
My casual perusal stopped immediately. Glossy, dark hair, barely long enough to brush her shoulders. Delicate lines on the most perfectly sculpted face I’d ever seen. Something deep inside my chest shifted, and for a moment, I forgot to breathe.
She was beautiful . Striking. A vision in animal-print scrubs and comfortable shoes.
I blinked and shifted to keep her in sight as she moved about the periphery. Unlike her coworkers, her attention was focused on the animals brought in for the shoot, not the two-dozen well-built, greased-up guys cracking jokes and striking poses. She moved with fluid grace, offering gentle pets—a calming presence among playful chaos, removed from the action.
I was entranced. Or perhaps bewitched. I didn’t know what the appropriate term was. I just knew I couldn’t look away.
As if she sensed me staring, her posture suddenly went stiff. She turned around slowly, eyes searching, until they landed on me. Analyzing me. Checking me out. Her eyes raked down my frame and back up to my face.
I felt like preening.
“Let’s go, Dom,” Lucia called, waving me over. “Show them how it’s done.”
I shook myself free of whatever spell she’d cast on me and slipped back into the present. This was my chance to show off a little, maybe impress the Madonna whose gaze I continued to feel as tangibly as if she’d reached out and touched me.
I strutted over to my cousin, flashing the others a grin. “Watch and learn, boys.”
Rude comments were tossed my way.
I laughed them off. “Don’t be haters.”
Even Lucia was smiling as she eyed me critically. I had on my flame-retardant pants, held up by suspenders over a bare chest, steel-toed boots, and my helmet in my hand. With my body artfully smudged with dirt and ash, I looked every bit the romance-novel-cover hero Lucia was going for.
I knew the drill. Hefting a leg onto the stone wall, I leaned forward and twisted my torso toward the camera.
She took a few shots, then commanded, “Now sit on the ground in front of the fountain.”
This was new, but whatever. I shrugged and did as she’d said. Lucia came over and poked me several times in the arm, chest, and jaw.
I vaguely registered the scent of peanut butter, but before I could fully process that, Lucia bellowed, “Release the hounds!”
A thundering herd of fluff appeared out of nowhere. Within moments, I was covered in clumsy, wiggling canines, going crazy for the PB. They tripped over my legs, fell over themselves while attempting to climb my chest, licked my face.
Not gonna lie—it was pretty freaking awesome.
Which was kind of surprising. I mean, I liked dogs as much as the next guy, but there was something about being covered in furry, adorable, innocent pups loving on you that was transcendent.
“That is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen,” one woman said.
“Oh my God, I think I just got pregnant,” said another.
Lucia was laughing and smiling broadly when she approached again. “Pick your favorite, and we’ll do some one-on-ones.”
I looked down at the tiny beasts. Pick a favorite from all these cuties? Was she kidding?
“Never mind. I think we’ve got a winner,” she said, her face going soft.
One of the little guys had settled in the crook of my arm and tucked its head under my chin.
Now that the peanut butter was gone, the dogs went looking for entertainment elsewhere. But not the tiniest one—a black-and-white puff of silky fur. Black on the top and bottom, white in the middle. Like an Oreo, but spherical instead of the disklike shape of the famous cookie.
As volunteers approached from the edges to collect the beasts, an awareness ghosted over me, like the energy in the air just before a thunderstorm.
I saw the dark-haired beauty nearing slowly from the side, moving among the shadows, as if she wanted to remain unnoticed. Fat chance of that. She was even more stunning up close. A natural beauty too. No makeup. No styled hair. No jewelry or enticing clothes. Yet she was the most compelling female here.
Her gorgeous, dark eyes were laser-focused on the yin-yang ball of fluff in my arms. With her gaze lowered like that, her long ebony lashes formed demure crescents on her lovely skin. Her features softened, and a gentle smile began to tug at her lips. Not for me. For the pup.
“We’re not done yet,” I said, tucking the little guy closer to my chest.
The smile faded instantly as her eyes flicked up and met mine. I sucked in a breath. They were like black diamonds. Dark yet clear. Multifaceted. Magnificent .
The moment only lasted a second, but I swore, I’d lived a whole lifetime in that second. I felt … well, poleaxed was a good way to describe it.
When I could blink again, she was already walking away from me. My gaze went with her. Those baggy, formless scrubs hinted at slim, curvy features before she disappeared out of sight. Something shifted deep inside me, urging me to follow. I nearly did too. Probably would have if Lucia wasn’t impatiently snapping her dagger-tipped fingers in front of my face, trying to get my attention.
“What?” I barked.
The goddess was getting away.
Lucia’s lips curled up in amusement. “I said, let’s get some shots over there by the tree.”
I slowly released my breath, willing myself to calm down. My eyes followed the shelter woman until she disappeared back into the shadows.
“Fine.”
I hung around, even after Lucia said she was finished with me. Most of my loitering was done with the black-and-white puppy in my arms. Every time I tried to put it down, it sat on my foot, looked up at me with—hello—puppy eyes, and whimpered. The guys thought that was hilarious. The women got the same kind of soft looks on their faces that were usually reserved for babies.
Not her though. I knew because I kept seeking her out. An odd tension tightened in my chest when I couldn’t immediately find her, the sensation only abating when I did.
She didn’t approach me again. It was as if she was going out of her way to avoid me.
It wasn’t just me, I realized after two hours of visual stalking. She remained in the background, tending to the animals while her coworkers primped and flirted and did whatever else they could to garner male attention.
Why? I wondered. Was she exceptionally shy? Did she have a possessive boyfriend? The latter gave me an uncomfortable burn at the base of my rib cage. I rubbed at it absently, thinking that maybe I should cut down on the food-truck chili dogs for a while.
Eventually, it was time to wrap things up. I held the sleeping puppy against me and helped break down the set one-handed. The sound of a shutter snapping had me looking right into Lucia’s camera lens.
“Sorry, couldn’t resist. That’s cover material right here.”
The puppy yawned and licked my chin.
“Glad we could be of service.”
She slipped her camera back into the bag at her hip. “Why are you still here? I thought you’d left an hour ago.”
My eyes flicked over to where the shelter folks were loading up, seeking the raven-haired beauty.
Lucia followed my gaze, her eyes widening. “Did Nonno’s prediction come true?”
I forced my eyes back to my cousin and chuckled. “Not that I’m aware of, but who knows? Anything can happen, right?”
“Right. Seriously though, thanks for your help today. This calendar is going to bring much-needed funds and attention to the shelter. See you at Mama C’s on Sunday? I should have the proofs ready by then.”
“Count on it.”
I started walking back to my SUV when Lucia pointed at my chest and said, “Hey, Dom? Aren’t you forgetting something?”
I paused, only then realizing I was still holding the puppy.