Chapter 28
L uciano locked himself away after I broke the first glass. All he said was, “She’s visiting her parents.” But I know better than that.
He thinks I’m an idiot—maybe he’s right. That doesn’t change a damn thing.
She left me. She even left Ace behind. Seeing that empty bed felt like a punch to the gut. Nothing has been able to stop the ringing in my ears. In midst of the chaos, I turn in an aggravated circle, laughing and swearing like a madman.
Did I say I wouldn’t kidnap her? I take that back.
Breaking things and acting like a toddler won’t bring her back to me, but that’s fine. I can do that myself. Ace starts barking behind me again and I whirl around, ready to take him with me to get our girl back. Again.
Apparently, he beat me to it. In the doorway stands Amaris, taking in the chaos around me. Her eyes snap to mine, awash with concern.
Taking in my disheveled state, she walks towards me and says, “Kylo, what happened…” When she’s just a foot away, I drop to my knees in front of her and take her soft hands in my rough, bruised ones. Her eyes get nervous. “Get up. What are you doing?”
“You destroyed what I thought love was in the best way possible. I want you to scrunch your nose and furrow your eyebrows at me every time you don’t like something I do. I want you to disagree with me and tell me why you think I’m wrong. I want to hear your laugh turn into a snort when you find something too funny. I want to smell all the cinnamon rolls and sweets you bake flow through our house every morning. Dance in our kitchen, dance with me , sing to me . Slap me or yell at me , do it all but do it all with me . If you’ll have me, I promise I’ll spend every day trying to be better and love you better. I am already yours.”
For a moment she’s stunned in silence, eyes glossing over. “But you are still king of the city,” she finally throws back. I stand to look into her eyes closer so she can see the sincerity in them.
“I would burn this entire city down if it puts a smile on your face.”
A voice calls out from the hallway, “He won’t be doing that.” Luci casually strolls into the room as if he wasn’t eavesdropping and adds with a smug grin, “Because he isn’t king of anything.”
Amaris steps back to look between the two of us. “If you aren’t running the syndicate, then who will?”
“You’re looking at him, darling,” Luci says when I hesitate. Her head whips to me in a silent question and I nod.
“What do you say, little fox? You and me?” I ask hopefully.
Standing with a faux pensive face, she drags it out until she finally drops it and takes a step closer to me with hopeful eyes. “Actually, I was thinking…What are your thoughts on Spain?”
When it registers in my head what she means by that, I scoop her up in my arms and crash my lips onto hers. “Anywhere you want,” I say before kissing her again.
She breaks the kiss, narrowing her eyes at me. “You told me what you want. Do you wanna know what I want?” I nod. “A real race! We can see who really has control of their bike now, mentiroso .” She shoves my shoulders back, but it doesn’t have the desired effect.
Remembering the little comment I made pulls a small laugh out of me and I set her down on her feet. “Deal.”
“ Te quiero. ”
“ Ti amo, tesoro. ”
My accent is rusty, but the fire in her eyes ignite with desire, anyway. She licks her lips then asks, “Since when do you speak Italian?”
Luci comments from somewhere in the room, “I taught him that.”
I deadpan to him. “Why are you still here? I thought you left.”
“In case you forgot, Tasmanian devil, this is my house.”
Amaris chimes in then. “What the hell even happened here?”
“This big baby thought you left him for good.”
“I may have gotten a bit carried away,” I mumble. “I’ll call the cleaners to fix everything up.”
“Already taken care of, I’m just enjoying the show now,” Luci says, eyes shining with amusement.
Amaris rolls her eyes and stifles a laugh. “We will be out of your hair soon. Come with me, baby boy.” Grabbing my hand, she leads me to her temporary room.
As soon as she shuts the door, I pull her to me. When we come together, it’s electric.
It feels like fireworks.
It feels like home.
“Are you ready for the real test now?” she asks when she pulls back.
“I’m ready for anything you throw at me.”
“Good, because you are coming to dinner with me tonight to officially meet my parents.”
She walks off to pack the stuff she used while I stay rooted in my spot, muscles stiffened as my stomach contracts into a tight ball. I consider myself an overly confident man, but the thought of her parents disapproving of me makes me strangely insecure. Knowing of my reputation and history with her family, my heart starts racing and my body grows hot, but I sit on the bed in an attempt to play it cool.
Amaris finishes gathering her stuff and her eyes survey me. “What? Kylo Kincaid, are you nervous ?”
“So what if I am?” I retort.
Wrapping her arms around my waist, her expression grows soft. “Just be yourself, they are open to getting to know you, the real you.”
“I have a feeling I fucked it all up before I even met them.” I blow a breath and pull myself together. “I’m ready, we can go.”
“I didn’t see your bike out there, did you drive here?” she asks me.
“Yeah, why?”
“Take my bags in your car and follow behind me, I’m taking my bike.”
“You got a bike, already?” I ask as I gather her bags.
“Sure did, try to keep up with me.” With that she winks and walks out ahead of me.
We park in a nice neighborhood in Chelsea where Amaris leads me up to a penthouse. My nerves racket up once the elevator doors close.
Trying to distract my mind, I ask, “So, this is where you grew up?”
“It is. I never really liked the big city life, but when I’m home with Mama, it’s always nice.” She grabs my hand to stop it from fidgeting and kisses the top of it. “Relax, no matter what happens in there, you know exactly how I feel about you.”
The doors open and her mother jumps up from the couch to greets us. She exudes warmth and the way she actually includes me with her and Amaris catches me off guard. We sit in the living room for a while and make small talk until her dad gets home from work.
My body works on its own when the elevator pings minutes later, standing to greet her father. His face remains impassive until he shakes my hand, eyeing me warily.
“Follow me, I want to have a word with you before we sit down to eat,” he says.
Without waiting for a response, he turns to kiss his wife and Amaris on the cheek, before walking towards a big, brown door to my left. When I glance at Amaris and her mother, their eyes are apologetic, but I get it. Regardless of what Amaris told either of them, she is still his baby girl and he doesn’t know my intentions. We enter an office and he takes a seat behind his desk, motioning for me to take the seat across the way from him.
“Amaris told us everything. Well, not everything, but she told us enough of what happened while she was gone.”
This is it. The moment I have been dreading since Amaris mentioned this dinner. But I won’t go down without a fight.
“Sir, if I can just—" He holds a hand up to silence me.
“Let me finish what I have to say. Everyone knows of you around here, but I know that nobody knows who you really are. My little girl out there seems to be one of the people that do know your heart. You saved her life and, from what I’ve heard, you make her happy. That’s all I want for her and for that I’m grateful. However, if I so much as hear about or see one small thing I don’t like, I will take it upon myself to kill you with my bare hands. I don’t care who you are or what type of power you have. Are we clear?”
The knot in my stomach loosened with every word he said. Giving him a firm nod, I say, “If I ever hurt her again, I will come to you myself and let you do it.”
He claps his hands together and smiles at me, relaxing and allowing me to release a small breath. “Well then, let’s have that dinner now, mijo . Can’t leave the ladies waiting too long.”
Amaris is in the kitchen with her mother helping her finish preparing the meal when her father and I return to the main room. My heart feels full at the sight. At the acceptance. The first thing I ask when I reach them is if there’s anything I can do to help them out.
“No, we’re okay in—"
“Actually, why don’t you give me a hand in here,” her mom cuts her off. Amaris tries—and fails—to protest, but her mother quickly shares a knowing glance with her husband and he takes Amaris with him to set up the table, leaving just her mom with me.
We work together seamlessly and after a short conversation, I see a lot of where Amaris gets her stubbornness and charm from. The one thing that has been blatantly clear from the moment I entered is how much they love their daughter. Her mother—Natalie, as she insists I call her—oozes pure love when Amaris is mentioned.
We all have dinner as a family and it feels nice. I can’t remember the last time I had a meal with people. We talk and laugh. I hear embarrassing stories from Amaris’ childhood and she throws me under the bus about my art hobby. Instead of dismissing it, they ask questions and seem genuinely interested. Once it’s time for dessert, it becomes obvious where Amaris got her baking skills from.
At the end of the night, they offer to let me stay the night and I take them up on it. Amaris and I watch movies until she dozes off and I carry her to her room, feeling my heart full of warmth for the first time ever.