“Solo tu,” I said, leaning down to rest my head against his. “You’re not mad?”
“I can’t say that it made me feel all fucking tingly to hear it, but no, I wasn’t mad. I told him not to marry her if he felt that way about you. He told me that he did love Charlotte. It was just complicated.” He shrugged in anot my issuegesture. “And I’m not mad, so that leads me to now. Tell me about your feelings toward Livio and Santina.”
“Oh,” I said, running a hand down his face. I smiled at myself. I was tired and lagging behind. “I—I’m not sure. I feel love, but there are other things I feel that are clouding my judgment…some.”
“Such as?” Rocco asked from his stone perch.
“He—” I bit my lip. “He wants to—”
“He wants to have sex with her.” Brando put it bluntly.
“Yes. Very much so.” My lips twitched. “She does too. It’s hard to get past the red fog and into clear territory.”
“Is that all there is between them?” Rocco ran a hand through his hair, ready for this entire ordeal to be over with. “Lust?”
“Well—” I glanced at Brando, who nodded, urging me forward. “The thing is, and this has never happened to me before, I’m not getting much from her, though she’s outwardly showing him that she loves him. She even stood up to you,” I said to Rocco. “That takes guts.”
He smiled at this, the glint of his perfect white teeth making him seem mischievous. “You stood up to me,bella.”
“I was enraged.” I waved a hand. “And I had no idea you were who you are.”
“Would that have changed your reaction?” He lifted a brow, challenging me to lie.
“No,” I said, grinning. “Not at all.”
“Non lo credevo,” Rocco and Brando said at the same time.Didn’t think so. They glared at each other before shaking their heads—at the same time.
I laughed and both glares turned on me—at the same time. “All right.” I sighed. “What are we going to do?”
Brando shook his head, staring at my hands. “There’s nothing to do. They’re both old enough to make their own decisions. Not that I agree with sex being the reason to get married. Well. Not theonly reason. It’s a perk.” A pirate smile came to his face, as mischievous as his brother’s. “It’s their lives. They must live it.”
“We will discuss the matter with Father Zullo,” Rocco put in. “Then, perhaps, they can use the chapel for their vows.” He sighed at this, a sound that made me think he was opposed to the entire situation, just as he had been to Carmen and Dario’s marriage.
“Perhaps we can talk to them—have Father Zullo perform the ceremony tomorrow?” I said. “That’ll give her parents a chance to be there. She wants them there. I know she does. It might help to have Father Zullo talk to them, along with you—” I nodded to Brando “—Rocco, and Uncle Tito. The women can take time to make it special. And for all that is holy, please refrain from telling her father that his future son-in-law held a gun to a priest!”
“If the love birds will go for it,” Rocco said. “They are suspicious.”
“I’ll give them my word,” Brando said, turning to his brother.
“As will I.” Rocco nodded.
“Then it’s settled.” I kept Brando’s hand in mine, but stood, ready to face the situation once more.
He stood with me, and not for the first time, I felt minuscule in comparison. He still had the ability to stun me, and not just with his physical gifts alone. He was a force field.
“Wait.” Brando stopped me. “Rocco, give us a minute.”
He nodded, leaving us alone.
“You’ve never felt that before? Santina?” I could tell he was troubled. He felt the desperation that flowed through me.
“No. At least, I don’t remember ifIhave,” I said, taking comfort in the solid presence of his hand in mine. “To be honest, it’s scaring me. It’s—she’s almost absent in her own skin.”
Brando’s eyes were on mine, but remote. Whatever he remembered troubled me, or perhaps it was whatever he extracted from my feelings. “I’ll talk to Livio,” he said, his tone distracted.
Whatever he was going to talk to him about made a frisson of unease run its cold fingers up my back. I might not have remembered, but he had, and whatever came to mind was worrisome.
Chapter Four
