Alonzo gives me a heated stare, already unbuttoning his shirt. “Clothes off,orsetta,” he orders, his voice low and sensuous. “I don’t plan on sleeping much tonight.”
Who needs sleep when you have a sexy Italian man in your bed?
EPILOGUE
RORI
Fifteen Years Later, Caruso Estate in Sicily.
“I’m going to kill him.”The words are spat through clenched teeth by Nico the moment he walks out of the main house and sees what Alessio and Sienna’s three kids are all wearing. Thankfully they’re only loud enough for us adults to hear, but it does nothing to quiet our laughter.
Luca, Alessio’s oldest and the spitting image of his father, sees Nico first, and a wicked grin splits his face into pure glee. It’s no secret that he loves to push buttons the same way his father does. “Uncle BB, you’re here!” he calls loudly, throwing just enough excitement in his voice to have all the kids turn to look his way. There are a few loud squeals from some of the girls, but especially Gemma, Alessio, and Sienna’s daughter, the only girl and the baby of the family.
“Uncle Boo Bear!” she cries as she paddles her little hands furiously toward the pool's edge. “Uncle Boo Bear, come swim. Come swim!” Her face is flushed from the summer heat, and herdark hair flat to her head. She’s the apple of her father’s eye, and she keeps Sienna on her toes with the amount of sass she can throw.
Serves her right. At least I was smart and only had boys.
“Yeah, Papa, come on in,” Nico and Gia’s oldest son, Enzo, calls with a wicked grin of his own stretching across his face. A mixture of both his parents, at fourteen, he’s the second oldest of all the kids, but he and Luca are thick as thieves, much to Nico’s annoyance. Especially once Luca let it slip why all the cousins call Nico Uncle BB. Well, other than Gemma. She loves to say the whole thing, just to see her favorite uncle stew.
“You’re a dead man,” Nico growls furiously at Alessio, before grabbing Gia and hauling her into his arms for a kiss. He was delayed in getting here due to some issues at home, but I’m glad to see he’s made it. And from the way Gia sinks into him, I’d say she’s happy too.
Alessio grins wickedly, some gray starting to come in at his temples and lines starting to form around his eyes. Even older the man hasn’t changed a bit. He’s just gotten more creative in his ways to annoy everyone, but mostly Nico. “Awww, Boo Bear, you know you missed me. I mean, you did name your daughter after me.”
Nico skewers him with a glare, but then his eyes move around trying to find one of his two daughters. I’ll never forget the day that Gia called to tell us she was pregnant with twins. She was terrified and excited, but to find out they were both girls, it nearly sent Nico into a coma.
That was until both girls were born, and there was a small error with the paperwork for the girls’ names. I don’t know how Alessio did it, but I know it was him. Nico lost his shit, but Gia loved the name so much that he couldn’t change it. Not that it mattered. Both girls have him wrapped around their little fingers.
At eleven, Alessia and Rosa are the oldest of the female cousins and the spitting image of their mother. Nico’s already assembled a team of guards to watch over them, but I don’t think he has much to worry about with them. They’re quiet girls, with kind hearts, and love to help out with the younger kids.
“Fuck off,” Nico tells Alessio when he finally pulls away from Gia. His eyes sweep over to me. He takes in the dog at my side and arches a brow. “That better be mine. If I have to hear Roman whine about not having his own dog one more time, I’m going to hire someone else,” he threatens darkly.
Gia and I share a look and roll our eyes. It’s been his go to threat since the day he finally agreed to get another dog. So for the past six months straight. He hates my pesky rule that no dogs are allowed into homes until I’m certain they’re ready for it.
After moving to Sicily, I was bored for less than a day before I was roped in to help Titus with their dogs. From there, it just became my permanent position. I trained all their dogs, and before long, I had other families asking for our help with theirs. Only allies, of course.
A small pang of sadness hits me at the thought of Hades, who helped me train each of them until he finally passed of old age at thirteen. A year longer than the average, but I like to think that was because he wanted to make sure me and the kids would be alright without him. It wasn’t long after my youngest, Santino, turned five that I found him in his bed early in the morning. My only comfort was that he just went to sleep.
I cried for a week straight, heartbroken. Alonzo had no idea what to do to comfort me, but I saw the wetness in his eyes the day we buried him. The two of them were close up to the end. I refused to do anything with any other dogs, until finally, I knew I had to get my butt in gear. Because that wasn’t what Hades would have wanted, so I got back to work. I worked my ass offwith the other dogs, until I finally felt steady enough to let him go completely.
Now, we have another Cane Corso named Zeus, keeping with the Greek name theme, who is a little more of a goofball than Hades, but watches over the kids like the perfect nanny he is. Even now, I glance over and see him herding Lazaro and Amara’s youngest, Kira, away from the pool’s edge. Then I look at the dog at my side.
A young German Shepherd I’ve dubbed Aries, sits at attention, waiting for the next command. “He’s yours,” I tell Nico, looking back at him. “We’ve got a few things we’re still working on, but he should be able to go home with you when you leave.”
“Is this one going to eat my favorite shoes?” Gia asks lightly, but her eyes soften when she looks at the dog. I trained another German Shepherd they called Diablo for them about a year after I moved here—and people say Nico doesn’t have a sense of humor—and he died not long ago. The kids have wanted another dog ever since.
“Probably.”
Gia groans, but she smiles. “Just gives me another excuse to go shopping.” Nico groans, but I see the smile pulling at his lips. Gia’s embraced living her life as a free woman, and she loves to shop as often as possible. Nico didn’t like it at first, but I think they’ve found a good balance. Especially since his daughters hate shopping while Roman loves to go with his mother as often as possible.
An arm slips around my waist, and I instantly sink back, recognizing Alonzo’s grip. Even after fifteen years, he makes me feel warm and fuzzy when he’s near. Maybe that’s because we’ve made it a point to never let our passion and love for each other fizzle. We’ve struggled, especially after we had Salvator twelveyears ago, with Santino following only a few years after, but we’ve made it work.
Not to mention, we have to get very creative to get some time alone, and it makes it hotter.
“Hello,orsetta,” he rumbles in my ear, kissing my neck.
“Goliath,” I tease. “I thought I was going to have to send out a search party. Did you bury Dante in the shallow grave, after all?”
“We tried, but the asshole is slippery.” He grins wickedly down at me. “But I managed to get in one good punch to his balls, so I call it a win.”
