He wasn’t lying.
Ginevra must be cooking something. It smelled rich and full of spices. Already, his mouth watered because God ... that woman could cook like it was nobody’s business. If there was anything Corrado missed the most about living at home with his parents, it was his mother’s cooking. Except now, he only had to come to his home for a good meal, a great man, and a perfect woman.
“Don’t let my offhanded remark make you get in a headspace about something like babies, figlio,” Gian said on the phone. “I was just talking to talk.”
“It didn’t. I want kids. Right now, I want to eat more than I want that, though.”
His father chuckled. “Fine. And continue to make nice with the Marcellos, Corrado. Because goddammit, if you’re going to live in New York, you need to play by their rules. That is the end of it.”
“You wanna tell Les that, too?”
“Everyone likes Alessio. When he tries.”
“Yeah, well ...”
“Say hello to Ginevra for me. Les is where ...?”
“Back in Vegas as of a couple of days ago,” Corrado explained. “He had to head back for the new recruit they’re training, apparently.”
“You don’t sound happy about that.”
“I like it better when we’re all home.”
“I suppose you should work on making that happen, then, son.”
Point taken.
• • •
“This is enough food to feed a small army.”
Corrado’s grin blew into a full-blown smile when Ginevra turned around at the kitchen island to face him. Standing in the entryway, he gave the spread on the counters a look and then passed the same to her.
“Something I missed?” he asked.
Ginevra shrugged. “I kind of ... invited Siena and John to have dinner with us and the girls tonight.”
He might have been annoyed by that, if only because Johnathan Marcello was best friends and a cousin to Andino Marcello, but the excitement in Ginevra’s eyes kept him quiet. His father was right—wives, or their women, rather—just had a way of bringing people together in this life whether they wanted to be or not.
Including his woman.
“Les will be sad he missed out,” Corrado said.
Or entirely too happy, the bastard.
“No worries,” Ginevra said, turning back to her work of rolling dough on the counter, “because we’re going to make this a regular thing. I’m sure he’ll have plenty of opportunities to join in.”
“Careful. We don’t play nice with others very well.”
She shot him a look over her shoulder. It warned him, satisfied, and said she was amused all at the same time. “I suggest you learn, then.”
Damn.
“Lucky we love you, woman.”
Ginevra’s laughter had Corrado crossing the kitchen in a blink before he even properly understood what he was doing. He caught her around the waist with his arm, and pulled her into his chest. He cared little that her flour-dusted hands left handprints on his black dress shirt. How could he care about that when she tipped her head back on his shoulder and reached up to press a kiss to the underside of his jaw.
Like she missed him.
God knew he missed her, too.
Always.
For a moment, the two of them stayed like that. Tucked together, lost to the silence of the house and the smells in the kitchen. Happy being close.
“Les needs to come back,” Corrado muttered against the top of Ginevra’s hair.
She nodded. “He does.”
Spinning her around so her back faced the kitchen island, his hand found her jaw, and he tipped her head up. Lowering his own, he took the kiss from her that he’d been waiting for all goddamn day. There was no give to her kiss—not when he took everything from it.
“Missed you.”
Ginevra smiled against the slowing of his lips against her own. “You better.”
He chuckled. “Mmm, and hey, you went to the doctor today, right?”
“With my sister.”
“And?”
She stared up at him, happy as could be. “You and Les worry too much. People get sick. It happens.”
Corrado didn’t deny that, but it told him nothing. “But what about you?”
“All is good. Normal.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yep.”
She popped her p.
Corrado just laughed. “So, how long do we have before this dinner gets started? Or until the girls get back home?”
He didn’t hide the suggestion at all.
“A bit. The girls are coming with Siena and John.”
“Does long enough mean I could put you up on this counter and get your thighs wide for me? Because if I am going to have to play nice with Johnathan tonight, I need a reason to keep smiling while he’s here.”
A sweet heat crawled up Ginevra’s cheeks. “I am cooking on this counter.”
“Table is free.”
“The table is where we will all eat.”
“Yeah, us too, but you know what we did on that with Les the night before he left, right?”
Ginevra blew out a slow breath. “Ten minutes. That’s what you’ve got. They might not get here for an hour or more, but I have things to do.”
“Oh, you know how I love a challenge, kitten.”
6.
Ginevra
“GUESS what?”
Alessio’s dark tenor had Ginevra smiling in a way she knew was entirely inappropriate considering who her companion was that walked down a Manhattan street with her at the moment. They were supposed to be shopping, but she had wanted to take a walk first. Mostly the drive made her nauseous, which was exactly why she currently had a ginger sucker in one hand while she held her phone with the other.
The sucker was disgusting.
It did help the sick feeling.
“What?” she asked Les.
Cara passed her a look, raising a brow because maybe she had heard the way Ginevra’s voice dared to raise a bit with her curiosity. If there was anything to know about Corrado’s mother that was most important, it was that she loved her family. All of them.
It didn’t matter if it was her sons, husband, one of the brothers’ wives, or even Ginevra who really wasn’t ... well, she wasn’t an official Guzzi. Then again, neither was Les. None of that made a single difference to Cara.
She loved them all.
In fact, she often made time to come to New York just to spend time with Ginevra and Les, separately and together. As far as she understood, Cara did that with all her son’s spouses. Whatever they enjoyed, she made time to do it with them.
“Say hello for me,” Cara mouthed.
Ginevra nodded. “Cara says hello, Les.”
“We need to visit.”
“We do.”
“Say hello back for me,” he said.
“Of course.”
Ginevra relayed the message, but quickly went back to her call when Cara noticed a flower vendor across the street. With a wave and a nod in that direction, Ginevra gave her a shrug and a smile to say it was okay if she left her side for a moment.
She went back to her conversation with Les.
“So, what am I trying to guess again?” she asked.