Chapter 12 #2
I wasn’t going to be my old man’s puppet.
Sure, the old man had arranged this marriage to create an unbreakable alliance he could exploit.
Plus the marriage came with the added bonus of getting me out of his way.
But I planned on cementing my power. Permanently, as my father’s second-in-command had to answer to him.
As the boss of both families though? I wouldn’t have to answer to anyone. Not to him, not to Don Romano.
Once I seized control, I’d be able to protect my family—my brothers, my mother, my uncle, and the rest of the empire.
Hell, I’d even be protecting the old man from himself.
This dangerous engagement would only turn out to be a stroke of genius because I was the one making it work.
Were it not for me, my father’s marriage plans would have gotten us all killed by now.
His rule had put us in danger. Killing Tony Sullivan had been an insane, unnecessary risk and blowing up Don Romano’s car hadn’t even fucking worked.
The son of a bitch was still very much alive.
Now I was going to amass enough power to put a stop to my father’s chaos. He just didn’t know it yet.
“Much as I enjoy sparring with you, we need to get the lawyers involved at some point if we want to actively avoid killing each other.” I dug into my plate of pasta. “Would be smart to draft the prenup after we get the major wedding details out of the way.”
“For once we agree.” She stopped to think. “You know, you’d do well running my father’s legitimate businesses.”
“I don’t know the first fucking thing about the hospitality business.” I drank some wine and kept eating.
“You seem pretty hospitable to me,” she said.
Probably the closest she’d ever come to giving a compliment. I’d take it. “We’ll get the lawyers to hash it out,” I said. There might be some advantages to running the legitimate side of the Romano empire, but I’d leave that for later.
For now, I had wedding plans to make with my future bride.
~~*~~
WHEN WE FINISHED EATING, I sat down beside her to refill her wine glass. Valentina took the glass from me, stopping suddenly when her eyes landed on my hands. She gasped.
“What’s the problem?” I glanced down at my hands and realized my knuckles were raw. Red and bruised, barely starting to heal after I’d pushed her against a brick wall to kiss her three days ago. Shielding her from the rough brick had done a number on my hands.
“It looks worse than it is,” I told her.
She put her glass down, and then took one of my hands in hers. With surprising gentleness, she brushed her fingertips against the healing wounds, her light touch sending a surge of heat up my arm.
Fuck, she had barely made contact, and yet parts of my anatomy were already stirring to life. What the fuck was that about? Reacting to a heated kiss was one thing, but Valentina touching my hand should have been meaningless.
“This is my fault,” she said softly, still holding onto my hand like it was the most precious thing in the world.
The ice queen actually seemed to feel bad about the bruises. Crazy, considering she had done far worse to me with that warehouse fire almost a year ago.
“Had to get rid of the councilman somehow,” I reminded her.
That brought a slight blush to her cheeks. No doubt she was remembering that kiss. A kiss that meant nothing. Had only happened so that I could hide her from view. And yet, now that we were both thinking about it, there was an electrical charge in the air between us.
“The councilman didn’t recognize me?” she asked, sounding breathless.
“Nope. You’re in the clear,” I replied casually.
Desire crashed through me. A sudden, uncontrollable force that got me to pull my hand away from her before I did something stupid.
For fuck’s sake, it had been a ruse. None of it was real. Didn’t matter that it had felt real in the moment. Valentina was a damned good kisser. There was no significance beyond that.
“One bout in a boxing ring makes this look like nothing,” I continued, changing the subject.
Much as I needed to seduce her for my plans to work, desire this intense was an inconvenience I couldn’t afford. I had to shake it if I wanted to keep a clear head around her. I needed to maintain the upper hand at all times.
“You’re a boxer?” she asked, her inquisitive blue eyes meeting mine.
For half a second I thought I was getting lost in those eyes of hers. Recovering almost immediately, I explained, “Not professional. Usually I get in the ring to win a bet. Or I do underground fights to let off steam.”
“Remind me to bet on you one day,” she said.
I laughed. “I’ll hold you to that.”
Quickly, Valentina grabbed her notebook and a pen from the coffee table. “We have to make some decisions.”
“Such as?”
She turned toward me, placing the notebook in her lap as she started reading off the pages. “We need to pick a venue for the ceremony.”
I stopped to think that over. “We’re both Catholic, right? There’s churches in the city.”
Valentina got busy writing. “Got any in mind?”
I grabbed my cell phone from the table, got a search going, then handed it over for her to look at. “Four’s a good number to start with. Don’t know if they’ll schedule us on short notice.”
She nodded and kept writing in her notebook. “Papa can make anything happen. But just in case, we can use one of his hotels as a plan B. Plus a hotel is a good place for a wedding reception.”
“Right.” Good thing I had her around because I sure as hell hadn’t remembered that we’d need a reception.
“Okay. Guest number?” she asked.
“We’re going to need a big fucking church just for my family,” I said. “If it’s roughly five hundred-plus on my side and the same for yours, we need to seat a thousand people.”
“Speaking of which, we’ll have to send out invitations,” she said absently as she continued filling the page with notes. “First invitations can go out at the engagement party. My assistant can do a mockup invitation.”
I raised an eyebrow. “What engagement party?”
“It’s next week.” Her lips thinned. “My mother’s hosting it for us.”
“Dammit! Both our families are going to be there.”
Valentina nodded. “Think it’s safe?”
“For our families to be under the same roof? Hell no,” I responded. “But I’ll guard you with my fucking life. You’ll be safe, Valentina.”
“I already have a bodyguard,” she told me.
I made a fist, ignoring the dull pain that skidded across my knuckles. “He can’t protect you the way I can,” I said, my tone far more brutal than I intended.
She stared at me in shock, her chest heaving as she took in several ragged breaths. “You want to protect me?”
“Want has nothing to do with it,” I explained, my voice low and rough as I unclenched my fist. “You’re my fiancée. That makes you my responsibility. For life.”
Truthfully, protecting her went way beyond either a want or an obligation.
My urge to protect her was a primal, uncontrollable drive.
There was no thinking about it. No weighing or coming to a decision.
Not even conscious motivation. This was pure instinct.
An animal need to guard and protect what was mine.
But voicing all that out loud—to her—risked me giving her the upper hand. And I would concede nothing that granted her any further power.
“Don’t even think about refusing me,” I growled in warning.
I saw the way she trembled at those words. Swallowing hard, she looked back down at her notebook. “There’s one more decision we have to make.”
Looked like I had succeeded in getting through to her. Based on that look on her face, Valentina wasn’t going to dare argue with me. Not now anyway.
“What’s the next decision?” I asked.
“Vows or no vows?” Her voice was a whisper.
“You want us to write our vows?”
“We don’t have to,” she said softly. “We could do generic vows. Or no vows.”
Now I could see that this was a test. A way to prove that I had made any progress with her.
I had to know if I’d managed to get into Valentina’s head.
Managed to get under her skin. I had to get her to eat, sleep, and breathe a desire that was more than lust. I could inspire lust in any woman.
What needed to happen was much deeper than that.
Valentina Romano had to want to be at that altar beside me.
“Do you want us to write our vows to each other, Valentina?” I asked.
A question that would leave her exposed, while it would also reveal if I had played my cards right with her.
“Our fathers would approve, so yes. We should write them,” she answered evasively.
“That’s not what I asked you,” I said, refusing to let her off the hook. “Do you want us to exchange vows?”
I reached out, gently seizing her chin to make her look up at me. She held my gaze for an extended moment. A challenge blazed in her eyes. As if she was gathering the courage to give me a straight answer and laying down the gauntlet no matter what it would cost her. “I do.”
Apt words under the circumstances.
“I want us to exchange vows because I want to see what kind of man you are,” she continued defiantly.
“I want to see you commitment to me and no one else. Our vows will be a promise. That promise makes you my captive for the rest of our lives. Don’t think for one second that you are going to have the final word in this marriage. ”
Fucking hell. That answer was enough to almost lay me flat. Instead of surrendering and letting her emotions diminish her, Valentina had practically turned the tables on me.
A lesser man would have been angry. Instead, I was intrigued. Fascinated by everything about her. Only a fool would want to extinguish this woman’s fire. They’d get fucking burned if they tried.
My heart pounded as I grasped just how arousing being in her presence was. Blood simmered through my veins. A lifetime to unravel the mystery of Valentina. That was when I prayed that marrying this she-devil wouldn’t end up cutting that lifetime short.