Love softened her gaze, and she reached up and draped her arms around hisneck.
“Yes.”
The next day, after Terrance had stopped by to check on her, Elizabeth invited Kelsey and Toni over for lunch. Alexander had to work, and he’d encouraged her to do whatever she needed to in order to reclaim some normalcy—as long as she stayed at home until Milos completed his defensive driving course and the new town cararrived.
Though she’d wanted to protest—and venture out for a run—the idea of going anywhere the hitman could get to her didn’t sit well. So, she’dagreed.
Donatella cooked chicken picatta, and after lunch, they sat around the hearth—on the floor, to Samuel’s surprise—with mugs of hotcocoa.
“So, what’s it like living in this mansion,” Toni asked as Kelsey groaned, patting her belly as Elizabeth offered her the last sugarcookie.
“Um…odd. I guess it’ll feel more like home once I get my stuff. Not that I’m going to bring much with me. Clothes, my accounting books, my Gram’s teapot.” She leaned against the leather sofa, absently rubbing her soreshoulder.
“What’s wrong?” Kelsey asked as she gave in and snatched the lonely cookie off the plate. “I can’t come over here too often unless I start walking from the SouthEnd.”
Elizabeth scanned her friends’ faces. “I haven’t told him that…I lovehim.”
Toni and Kelsey responded in unison, “What are you waitingfor?”
“The right time?” Elizabeth sighed. “We had all these intense discussions up in Maine, and I kept wanting to tell him, but…something would happen. and I’d chicken out. Now it’s like thisthingI can’tsay.”
Toni nudged her thigh. “You need a big glass of wine and a nice mealand—”
“Oh my God. You’re right,” Elizabeth said. “Can you get me a table at Guiseppe’s for tonight? Before it gets allcrowded?”
Toni shook her head, the mirth fading from her eyes. “We’re closed tonight, hon. Thursday. Family meal andcleaning.”
“Oh. Well…shit. I guess tomorrowthen?”
Toni frowned, then grabbed her phone from the coffee table. After her fingers danced over the screen for a moment, she held up her hand until the phone buzzed areply.
“Come at seven. Pops just agreed to meet me at the restaurant early. The rest of the staff doesn’t show up until eight, and Pops and I will whip up somelinguine alle vongolefor the two ofyou.”
“Really?”
“Hon, I love you. Friday nights are insane from open to close, and you look like you’re going to burst if you don’t tell him soon. Plus, this way, no one needs to worry about you out in a crowd with that asshole who hurt you still outthere.”
Elizabeth pulled Toni into a tight embrace, and Kelsey piled on. “We need to do this more often,” Kelsey said with alaugh.
“Next Monday? The twenty-third?” Elizabeth asked. As the date registered, she pulled away. “Oh shit. It’s Christmas next week. What the hell am I supposed to do? He’s got more money than God, and I need to get himsomething.”
Toni’s laughter echoed off the stones of the hearth. “Oh sweetie, I think a visit to Kelsey at the Waxing Spa and some stilettos would do him justfine.”
Once her friends had left, Elizabeth wandered through the house, looking for Samuel. She found him in a small room off the library, which appeared to be hisoffice.
“Yes, MissElizabeth?”
“Um, I need some things from my apartment, and if I tell Alexander, he’s going to insist on going withme.”
“I can retrieve what you need. Do you have alist?”
“Some of them are…personal.” The idea of Samuel going through her underwear didn’t sitwell.
He smiled at her like her favorite uncle, understanding and a little indulgence ghosting over his features. “Miss Elizabeth, you live here now. I will be folding your laundry. And though I work for both of you, if I facilitate you going anywhere on your own right now, he will have my head.” Samuel clasped his hands on top of his desk, his dark brow arched slightly, as if he expected her toargue.
And I suppose you probably know all about what happens in Alexander’s—our—bedroom.She rubbed the back of her neck and forced a deep breath. “Do you have a pen andpaper?”
“Of course,miss.”
