I didn’t say anything but gave a small nod as I took a sip from my champagne. Then when I was sure my voice would come out strong, I said teasingly, “I hear I’m not the only one she cornered.”

Matteo cracked a grin. “More than cornered,” he said suggestively.

I nodded, looking back out toward the skyline.

“Trust me, no missing gag reflex ever made Luca look at Grace with anything close to the fucking vomit-inducing adoration he shows you when he thinks no one is watching,” Matteo said with his trademark grin. “My brother is hopelessly in love with you, and to be honest I want to have the same drugs you use on him for Gianna so she’ll look at me the same way once we’re married.”

I burst out laughing, and champagne shot out of my mouth and onto Matteo’s shirt. He glanced down at it then back up at me with raised eyebrows. “That was incredibly sexy—no wonder Luca can’t keep his hands off you.”

“I have my moments,” I said with an embarrassed smile.

“What was sexy?” Luca asked sharply as he stepped up to us with a plate loaded with bread and cheese and olives. He shoved it at Matteo, who winked at me. “Possessive husband mode activated.”

Luca circled my waist with his arm. “Matteo, I think you pissed me off enough for one evening. You don’t have to shoot all your ammunition today.”

“I never shoot all my ammunition, Luca,” Matteo said with a grin, wiggling his eyebrows.

I pressed up to Luca, feeling my cheeks heat from embarrassment and the effects of the champagne. Luca sighed, but when he looked down at me, I could tell he was happier than I’d seen him all day.

“And that look is my cue to head out and find someone to shoot my ammunition at,” Matteo muttered, downing his champagne.

Hesitation flickered in Luca’s gaze. They had spent every Sylvester together, and I realized that I had changed things between them too.

“No, stay.” I reached out and grabbed Matteo’s shirt because I didn’t get to grasp his arm and pulled half of it out of his pants. I released him at once.

His eyebrows shot up. “Luca, can you please tell your wife not to rip my clothes off my body? It’s sending out mixed signals.”

I burst out laughing and Luca pressed a kiss to my temple, then shoved his brother. “You wish.”

I smiled. “How did you spend your last Sylvester?”

Matteo rubbed the back of his head, glancing at Luca, who sent him a warning look. I took another gulp of the champagne. “I assume that means women were involved.”

“A few, yeah,” Matteo said with a wink.

“At the same time?”

“Matteo was too drunk to remember,” Luca said firmly, and I rolled my eyes at him but decided to let it drop.

“I never got to see old photos of you from when you were kids.”

Matteo grinned. “Let’s see if we can change that.” He moved back inside and began searching the cupboards.

Luca sighed. “He’s a pain in the ass.”

I touched his arm and his brows drew together, but I didn’t say anything. Maybe Luca thought he had never loved anyone before me but even if he didn’t realize it, he loved his brother. “Come on,” I said. “I want to see you when you were little.”

“I was never little,” Luca objected as he followed me into the living room.

Matteo held up an old photo album and I settled beside him on the sofa. Luca sank down beside me, grimacing at the first photo. It showed him and Matteo at ages three and five, dressed in suits. Luca was already tall but still scrawny, and his face already held a hardness a kid that age shouldn’t display. Matteo was holding his brother’s hand.

“You are holding hands,” I said with a smile.

Luca groaned. I turned the page and both Luca and Matteo tensed. The photo showed Matteo and Luca, wearing the same suits as before, beside a woman with long dark hair. She was staring into the camera with the most hopeless expression I’d ever seen. I could practically feel her despair. Luca’s mother had killed herself when he was only nine, and seeing her expression, I wasn’t surprised. I quickly turned the pages until I found a photo of Luca in his teens with the most horrible mustache I’d ever seen.

“I’d forgotten your pornstache!” Matteo said, chuckling.

“Pornstache?” I repeated, raising my eyebrows at Matteo. Luca was glaring at his brother.

“Because that’s the facial hair many porn actors had.”

I took another sip of my champagne even though I was already drunk.

“I was fourteen and thought it would make me look grown up,” Luca muttered and turned the page to a photo of him on a yacht in only bathing shorts. The mustache was gone and he was already all muscle, even though he couldn’t have been more than sixteen.

I let my eyes wander over him appreciatively and Luca smirked. I couldn’t wait for us to be alone.

chapter 5

ARIA

We didn’t mention the Sylvester party incident again and a few days later, we had to leave for Chicago to attend Dante’s wedding.

My cousin Valentina looked absolutely stunning in her cream sequined wedding dress. The wedding wasn’t a big affair like ours had been, but still, close to two hundred people attended from the Outfit and the Famiglia. I smiled as I watched Dante and Valentina during their first dance. The ballroom of the hotel had been decorated with pink and blush roses, and the atmosphere was almost relaxed.

Luca squeezed my hip. “You didn’t look this happy during our wedding dance.”

I laughed. “I was terrified of you.” Val didn’t look like she was scared of Dante, but she was older than me by five years and had been married before. I supposed the consummation of her marriage didn’t hold the same terror for her.

When the dance floor was opened for the guests, Luca pulled me into his arms and led me along to the music. It still surprised me how well he could dance despite his height. I beamed up at him and his thumb stroked my naked back, the only public display of affection he would probably allow himself. He was still cautious but I didn’t mind, because he never held back with affection when we were alone and that was all that mattered.

As was expected, I had to dance with Dante and Luca with Val. I’d danced with Dante before and barely tensed when he took my hand, but when he pulled me against him and touched his palm to my bare back, I shivered from the too familiar gesture. He, too, tensed at the missing barrier between our skins. That was the problem with backless dresses. Heat rose into my cheeks as I met his eyes.

He gave me a very small smile. “I apologize,” he said formally.

“You can’t help my dress. Unless you move your hand to an inappropriately low level there is no way for you to reach fabric,” I said, hoping to lighten the atmosphere.

The barest hint of amusement showed on Dante’s face. “If I do that, your husband will spill blood.”

I followed his gaze. Luca kept throwing possessive looks my way as he danced with Val. While Val had looked perfectly fine with Dante, she appeared absolutely tense in Luca’s hold.

“Val looked happier dancing with you,” I said with a smile. Dante’s fingers against my back tightened and his expression darkened. Possessive and dominant, not so different from Luca, when it came down to it.