Saverio sighed. “He’s still in Louisiana. Still can’t find Chloe. Wherever she’s hiding out, it’s a good place to do it. But her mom is worried. She said Chloe’s not happy about being followed, and it’s making her withdraw even more. Her mom called her ‘my little turtle’ and asked that we get Massimo under control. Let her ‘Little Turtle’ have some space to breathe.”
“I was concerned when I’d found out about Chloe and Massimo, but I thought Massimo could handle it. I still think he can. I’ve seen it. He calms her when she starts to feel anxious, and he pulls her out of her…shell when she…turtles. I hadn’t banked on Rosaria causing so much shit.”
“That naked model in their bed really messed with Chloe’s head. Then, when she realized it was a setup, and Rosaria had done it, it was almost worse.”
“Chloe pictured a future with Rosaria always putting a snake in their bed, so to speak.”
“Yeah. Chloe’s mom asked to speak to you personally.” He smiled when Stella took a seat and held her arms out for Graziana.
Stella didn’t seem too confident in holding something so small and breakable yet, but she seemed like a fucking natural. The way she looked at my niece was almost heartbreaking.
A knock came at the door, and my parents, my three brothers, Mac and Mari, Evelina, all my uncles and aunts, and Padrino all came barging in.
ZioRomeo held up a game. “We shall get our play on!”
Stella held Graziana a little tighter, like she was trying to protect her from the noise, but Graziana was an Italianbambina. We exposed our children to noise early on so they’d get used to it. Mamma took a seat next to Stella, hugging her, and then running her hand through Graziana’s dark hair. Mamma must have been telling Stella the same thing I’d beenthinking about the noise, because Stella got a serious look on her face, like she was mentally saving every word for later.
We decided to stay and playZioRomeo’s game, and we didn’t get to our villa until the middle of the night. Stella kept singing “Angel” by Shaggy, becauseZioRomeo had gotten it stuck in her head. She danced the entire way, singing, loving that I kept twirling her.
“I love your family!” She had a big smile on her face, and then it fell. “All but one—who shall not be named—who was not at the party tonight. Thank the stars up above!”
She was talking about Rosaria. I grinned. If I hadn’t have known better, I would have thought she was drunk. But she was just high on life.
We did what lovers do until the sun came up, and though we barely got any sleep, Stella was up and ready to explore Modica early the next morning.
When everyone found out we were going to the beach after a trip to Saverio’s great aunts’ chocolate shop in town, the two of us seemed to turn into twenty of us. Even Rio and Mia decided to come.
“AH!” Stella did a little dance. “I can’t wait!”
Twenty minutes later, she was complaining about not being able to find her bathing suit. It was a gold two-piece with pearls on the straps. The bottom looked like it came with a piece of string to floss her ass. Fucking scandalous.
“I don’t even remember packing this one.” She held up a gold one-piece that fully covered both cheeks. “I don’t remember buying it either.” She stared at it for a second before she turned to me, giving me a suspicious look.
I shrugged. “I like that one.”
“Uh-huh,” she said.
When she saw the Mediterranean for the first time, I took her hand and brought her to the edge of the water with me. Not closeenough for the water to rush over her feet, but I could tell she felt like she was standing in front of something she knew was so much bigger than her, and she was just soaking it all in, like she soaked up the sun.
I was fucking absorbing all the men on the beach attempting to absorb too much of mine. Even in the one-piece, she was fucking magnetic. It felt like eyes were crawling all over the place, in search of her flesh.Mine.But when she took my hand and gave me the sweetest smile, I fucking melted.
She screeched when I swept her off her feet and brought her into the water with me.
“Matteo! Oooh,” she almost cooed, closing her eyes, sinking into my arms, into the feel of the water. “This feels even better than it looks! It’s like I’m inside of one of those gems, the ones with the different colors when you open them up. This one has dark green, light green, all shades of blue, and a layer of crystal as the surface. So beautiful.”
I taught her how to swim.
She wiped her face. “How are you so good at this? It’s so unfair!” She slapped the water. “All I do is twist and turn a lot.”
Evelina laughed. “The Faustis turn into sharks in the water. They should come with a sticker:Add water and will turn into shark.”
Noemi lifted her hand. “I can attest to this.”
Stella looked at me and narrowed her eyes.
I wiggled my brows and grinned.
“I don’t like that look, Matteo Fausti,” she whispered, then she turned, using her hands and legs to swim away from me, but she was right. She twisted and turned a lot, like she was trying to run but couldn’t find her footing in the water.
