“Really?” I asked.

Aria smiled brightly, and suddenly the dark cloud over my head burst open.

Romero

I was good at keeping a straight face even in difficult situations, but when I first saw Lily as she walked into the penthouse, I wasn’t sure I could hide my fury. Fury toward her Father for letting his own daughter drown in her sadness while he was busy furthering his position in the Outfit by inducting his too young son.

Lily had lost weight, enough that her collarbones and shoulder blades stood out. She looked breakable, but still so goddamn beautiful. I wanted to protect her from everything.

Her eyes met mine, and the longing in them almost compelled me to cross the room, to wrap her in my arms, but I stayed where I was, not only because of the look Aria sent me. Luca had given his promise to Scuderi. We, the Famiglia, would keep Liliana safe, and that included her honor. Considering that most of my dreams included Lily in some state of undress I definitely needed to keep my distance, and I would.

In the last few weeks, I’d fucked several girls in the hopes that they’d dispel Lily from my mind, but seeing her now, I realized that it had been completely in vain. Of course, it hadn’t really helped that I’d imagined it was Lily every time I’d been with a woman.

I was completely screwed.

Luca came up to me as I leaned against the kitchen counter and watched the reunion of the three sisters. “Is this going to be a problem, you being in a mansion with Liliana?”

“No,” I said firmly.

“You sure, because that look on your face a moment ago told me a different story.”

“I’m sure. Liliana is a pretty girl like you said, but I’ve been with pretty girls. I’ve been with prettier girls even. I won’t risk Scuderi’s wrath.”

It was a fucking lie. None of the girls I’d been with could compete with Lily’s beauty, but thankfully Luca couldn’t read minds even though he tried to make the stupider soldiers believe he had some sort of sixth sense like that just to keep them in line.

“Not just Scuderi’s wrath,” Luca said. “This is fucking serious. I mean it, Romero.”

Was that a warning?

I had to bite back a comment and nodded. Luca was a good Capo and I’d never had a problem following his rules but for some reason this didn’t sit well with me. Lily tried to catch my eye during dinner but I made sure to keep my attention on Matteo and Luca. I didn’t want Lily to get her hopes up.

And what was more important, I needed to get my own fucking urges in check.

Liliana

Romero was still ignoring me. Though ignoring wasn’t quite the right word. He treated me with polite detachment, always friendly, but never too warm. If I hadn’t known what Aria had told him, I’d have taken it harder but as it was I was fairly sure that he was interested in me.

The first day at the mansion, the sun was shining brightly and we decided to have dinner outside on the beach. I decided to wear my pink beach dress. It was low-cut, backless and hugged my curves. Well, at least it usually did, now it was slightly loose in certain places but it looked still very nice. When my sisters and I headed for the table that the men had set up, Romero looked up from the barbecue that he was manning and the look in his eyes when he spotted me was all the encouragement I needed. That was far from the polite detachment of the last twenty-four hours.

He tore his gaze away from me and returned to his task of turning the steaks. He looked amazing too, the way the sinking sun caught on his brown hair, the way his forearms flexed when he moved. I loved the way he’d rolled up the white sleeves and had opened the upper two buttons of his shirt, revealing a sliver of tanned chest.

“You’re drooling,” Gianna whispered in my ear.

I flushed and jerked my gaze away from Romero, then glared at my sister who sank down at the table with a sneaky grin on her face.

I took the chair beside her. “Did you tell Romero to stay away from me as well?”

Gianna took the bottle of white wine out of the cooler and filled our glasses. “Me? No. You know me. I’m all for the naughty and forbidden. If you want to have a piece of Romero, then do it. Life is too short.”

I paused with the wine glass against my lips. Mother’s words crashed into my mind, almost the same words. “Aria disagrees,” I said, then I downed half of the wine.

“Aria’s trying to act like a mother hen, but you have to decide what you want.”

“Are you trying to get me in trouble?” I asked, feeling my stomach warm from the wine. I finished my glass in another long gulp.

“I don’t think you need me for that, to be honest,” Gianna said with raised her red eyebrows. “But do me a favor and slow down with the wine.”

“I thought you wanted me to have fun.”

“Yeah, but I want you to be sober enough to realize what you want. And I don’t think Romero will take you seriously if you’re shitfaced.”

“You’re right. He’s too much of a gentleman to take advantage of a drunk girl.”

Gianna snorted. “Wow, now I know why Aria’s worried.” She watched Romero for a while. He was laughing about something Matteo had said. “I wouldn’t put too much trust in his gentlemanliness, if I were you. Stay in control when you’re with him. He’s still a Made Man. Don’t make me have to kill him, okay?”

“I thought you weren’t a mother hen?”

“I’m not. I’m the angry mother bear who’s going to tear his dick off if he hurts you.”

I burst into laughter. Aria joined us at the table in that moment and mustered us with suspicion. “I don’t know if I like you two alone together. It smells like trouble if you ask me.”

“You don’t want me alone with anyone it seems,” I said, only half teasing.

Aria groaned and took a glass of wine for herself. “Are you still mad at me?”

“I’m not mad at you.” I was only going to ignore Aria’s orders, and I’d do my best to convince Romero to ignore them as well.

Aria glanced at Gianna who made an innocent face, then at me. “I don’t like this. Promise me you two aren’t getting into trouble.”

“I’ve had enough trouble, thank you very much,” Gianna said with a grin.

Aria fixed me with her older sister look.

“I’ll behave, I promise,” I said eventually. Then I poured myself more wine, trying to come up with a plan to get some alone time with Romero. I knew Aria would do her best to be my constant shadow.

***

During the day it was pretty much impossible to shake Aria off. She watched me, and particularly Romero like a hawk. When had she turned into such a killjoy? The nights and the early mornings were the only options I had. Since I barely slept anyway, that wouldn’t prove too much of a problem. For some reason the darkness made me afraid of falling asleep, so I spent the nights fantasizing about Romero and making plans on how to seduce him while I caught the occasional hour of sleep when my sisters and I were sunbathing in the afternoon.

It had taken me a few days to gather my courage for my next move. I knew how to put on a brave face but this wasn’t something I’d ever done before. I had no experience with men, except for the harmless flirting I’d done with Father’s soldiers over the years.