The whole deal and the necessity of it made my interest fade to get into the details of who the woman was. I’ve always trusted my uncle blindly and would face my future wife when she was standing before me. All I knew is that they considered her the beauty of Italy.
Who knew my uncle picked Francesco Rosellinno’s daughter to become my wife? The attempt to assassinate him is legendary in our world. Mainly due to his wife, who killed the assassin and gave her life to save her husband, who was the underboss at that time.
I clear my throat and push everything involving Rina into the back of my mind. “First we need to deal with Fredo.” And, fuck, so much for pushing Rina to the back of my mind, because I have to give it to her, “I think Rina was right.”
“Yeah,” Leandro growls. “I agree. That fucker is fondling our dicks. Trying to keep us pleased and looking the other way while he can continue to fuck his own hand.”
Arturo shakes his head. “Could you try to talk normally instead of sketching visuals I really don’t want or need inside my head?”
“He’s fucking with us,” Leandro snaps.
I release a sigh of frustration. “We’re all in agreement about that part. Now, how are we going to make sure we nip this shit in the bud and end it?”
Leandro snickers. “Nip it in the butt.”
“For fuck’s sake,” I growl. “Get me the info who is behind it. And by it, I mean the idiots Fredo is working with because he’s not smart enough to start this up on his own.”
“I think we need to warn Pepe. Maybe even give him a little information, let him know we have our eye on Fredo,” Leandro says and Arturo glances at me for approval.
“Risky,” I murmur.
“Pepe is trustworthy. He came to me instead of reporting it to his capo. I admit it was casual talk at first. It was more in the lines of asking for guidance since it was just a rumor he heard. He didn’t know if he should report it. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t know about the first party we intercepted either. Fredo keeps him in the dark.” Leandro rubs two fingers against his jaw, thinking over his own words before he adds, “I don’t think Pepe is trying to get higher up either. It’s not why he brought these details to our attention. Pepe is happy as a soldier, providing for his wife and the workload he has now.”
I nod in agreement. “Pepe doesn’t have any alternative motives. He’s a good soldier and talked to you in good faith; family to family. I think it would be good if you had a chat, tell him his loyalty is noticed and appreciated by the Famiglia.”
“No information?” Leandro questions.
“Like Arturo said, give him a little information. Let him know we have our eye on Fredo. As of now that fucker has all our attention. Fredo might think he can deal with his own shit and make his own decisions, but if he thinks he can rule on my territory and do shit against my rules, he’s going to choke on his own blood.”
“Understood. Oh, another thing. The wedding. Your sister said we weren’t allowed to bring a plus one. Mind telling me what the fuck that’s about?” Leandro questions.
Arturo chuckles. “I’m allowed to bring a plus one. You, on the other hand, bring hookers to social gatherings. Gracy is smart, and the one planning her brother’s wedding. I guess she was telling you in a nice way not to bring hookers.”
“Fine,” Leandro huffs.
I shake my head. Idiots.
Arturo smacks Leandro’s back. “Lighten up. Maybe there won’t be a wedding after all. Caterina might kill him in his sleep. We now know how capable she is, and Clemente gave her all the reasons to hate his guts.”
“No one is going to kill anyone in his sleep,” I snap.
“We’ll see,” Arturo snickers.
“Get the fuck out and get to work,” I grumble. “I need to talk to my future wife so I don’t have to sleep with one eye open.”
The both of them fall into full-blown laughter as they head for the door. Assholes.
I wait for the door to fall shut behind them and head up the stairs. Maybe I shouldn’t go to her. Maybe I should head into my office and get some work done first. Better yet, inhale a few glasses of whiskey to calm down. My mind is still all over the place when it comes to this woman and yet deep down, I know I’ve met my match. But it still rattles my damn nerves.
And when I open the bedroom door and take in the visual before me...it’s not just my damn nerves that are rattled.
Fuck.
Me.
She’s on the floor wearing spandex doing a handstand split. Talk about flexibility and the need to wrap her body around mine effortlessly and see what ways we can bend her over to take my cock as deep as humanly possible.
Blood to make my brain cells function is clearly all huddled in my groin when I blabber out the words, “Now these are the kind of qualities men do appreciate seeing in their future wife.”
And the moment I voice those words, I know they’re the wrong ones since I just implied she’s just a woman to warm her husband’s bed. All while she’s so much more than that. Brains, beauty, a background that shows loyalty and strength. Yeah, talk about screwing up and keep kicking sore spots. Damn.
I release a deep sigh and slide my hands along the sides of my head. “I didn’t mean for it to come out that way. What I meant was—”
“Save it, Clemente. I’m very aware of what you meant. Seeing it’s just the two of us here and I’m allowed to speak my mind...can you kindly fuck-off so I can finish my yoga and take a shower? Thanks.”
She doesn’t wait for a reply but slides into another yoga pose—which turns her into a human pretzel—and my cock is really appreciating the visual. Though, this time there’s enough blood in my brain to function without being a dick. Or one might hope so.
“It clearly was a bad move for me to blindly trust my uncle and yet it wasn’t. What I’m trying to say here is...I wasn’t aware who you were and I was...pleasantly surprised. And I might have reacted poorly.”
She slowly unfolds out of her pose and faces me. “Pleasantly surprised and reacted poorly.” An unfeminine snort leaves her sexy body. “Nice excuse. Like I said, kindly fuck-off, I’m going to take my shower now since my yoga has done nothing to reach the calm state I usually obtain.”
I can only watch how her gorgeous, spandex-covered ass sways into the bathroom. A minute or two pass and the sound of running water filters through the air. I grab the velvet box from my pocket and take a seat on the mattress. She might have won this round—and I do admit it was a lousy apology on my part—but this whole thing between us is new.
We both have a long, rocky road to travel and the whole “companionship” will be all on us. I’ve heard stories about men who treat their wife as an object; no feelings involved. And then there are rare stories like the one of Rina’s parents. How Rina and I will make it work clearly depends on me. Her background and how she held herself while I was the one being a dick clearly showed it.
Though I know for certain she would still display a high-class wife to the outside world, even if she’d like nothing more but to kick me in the balls any time we’re alone together. So, here I sit, ring in hand, waiting for her to come out of the shower so I can smooth-talk her, to get her to hate me a little less, and slide the engagement ring on her finger.