“Atta,” I barely got out.
Her eyes swung to mine. In fact, if I had been paying more attention, I would have noticed that her eyes kept swinging from me to Casanova. She was feeling the tension in the air between us.
“Introduce Ty as your brother, my cousin,now.” I did not like the look on Mariano’s face. I did not like what I was feeling—anxious, suddenly. I knew how the Fausti family could be, and if, for some reason, Mariano had made a claim on me, beyond the jewelry he gifted me with, I did not want him to think Ty was a suitor.
Not that it wasanyof his business, but we would have to settle this issue later.
In that moment, Mariano was coming toward us with enough purpose to move a train.
Ty turned with me in his arms and eyed the two men coming toward us, suddenly looking at them with a different view.
Atta stepped in front of her brother and me. Even she could not stop a Fausti train. She had no idea how fast and hard they moved. The lion symbolism in the family was not wrong.
However, she did stop one of the men.
Angelo.
Of course, I knew who he was because, as a Fausti, all his jewelry was designed by my family. Iwas properly introduced to him the night of the concert, on the ride back to Venice.Son of Romeo and Juliette.Angelo was Mia and Mariano’s first cousin.He was the spitting image of his father. Not that any of them varied wildly in looks, or that feeling of sheer power they emitted, but there was always something about each one that made them individual.
If this had been any other time, I probably would have inwardly grinned at Angelo’s entrance. Where Mariano was dressed for a day of work on a ranch, Angelo was ranch…fancy. He wore a tight black t-shirt, gold jewelry, and black jeans—a belt that could have belonged to a rodeo star, diamond studs and all. A black cowboy hat. His boots?Check.These were work ready. However, I had a feeling he had a pair of black alligators in his bag.
Angelo stopped a step from Atta, a wall separating them—Judge and Juri. No one got to Atta unless her dogs approved. Juri had the final say. Both dogs were eye level with Angelo’s crotch and would not mind castrating him if she gave the word.
No one said anything. Atta and Angelo were in a stare down, it seemed. Something was happening there. Even Ty was frozen, me still in his arms, my feet dangling. Casanova’s eyes were hard on mine.
“Sissy,” I whispered.
Angelo’s eyes snapped to mine, then back to Atta.
“Introductions,” I reminded her.
Ty set me down and cleared his throat. “We met at the meetup point. Mariano Fausti.” He nodded toward Casanova. “His cousin, Angelo Fausti. Our new help. Mariano. Angelo. My sister, Atta, and our cousin, Sistine.”
Angelo reached out and took Atta’s hand. He brought it to his mouth. He kept it long after he should have dropped it. Judge and Juri did not growl. A good sign.
Atta cleared her throat. “I’m Atta Watt.” She said this unnecessarily. She put her head back, as if she was pointing to her brother. “Tyrone, Ty, Watt. My brother. Sistine’scousin.” She seemed to break eye contact with Angelo to send Mariano a pointed look. “I’m assuming you both know my cousin, Sistine Capella. I’ve never met a Fausti before, but if the description fits…”
I had never seen my cousin so…starstruck over anyone before. Ty grinned at me.
“Atta Watt,” Angelo said, “you will be my wife.”
I expected my cousin to laugh, to punch him in the arm, to tell him to go to hell.
Instead…
She nodded. “Yes, Angelo Fausti, I do believe I will be.”
He grinned at her. “It is done then.”
“We’ll see.” She was breathless.
His eyes became serious on hers. “I have already seen. You are my future.”
Ty cleared his throat, stepped forward.“Now that introductions are done, I’ll show Mariano and Angelo to their cabins.”
No way was Casanova going to walk past me without an explanation. When Atta moved to follow Ty, so did her dogs and Angelo.
Casanova stood his ground, and so did I.
