“Just thinking about what we’d tell our children about how and why we met.” And the kind of people we are.”
His chuckle sent another wave of electricity through me. As always. “How many children are we planning on having?”
Inhaling, I nuzzled even closer, thankful for being protected. Cherished. His lost angel. His little ballerina. I adored all the cutesy names he whispered in both moments of passion as well as danger.
Even now in sadness.
“Four. Maybe five, depending.”
“I like odd numbers. Five will do. Five little rugrats running around the house. Zorro would like that.”
Zorro. Also my protector. He’d saved my life by jumping in through the car window. “By the way,” I said, turning to him. “Don’t ever put our dog in harm’s way again. He’s not a superhero.”
“I beg to differ. You’re forgetting he’s a drug-sniffing dog. And he’s fabulous at picking out the bad guys.”
“No longer.” I pressed the tip of my finger against his chest. “He’s officially retired. He’ll do nothing but follow me around our house. Sometimes he’ll come to rehearsal with me, but just for fun. You got it?”
“Hold on here. You follow my rules. Remember?” When he tweaked my nose, I bristled, but not out of anger. Because of the gleam in his eyes, the seriousness of his tone. As if he was truly the one in charge.
“In quanto padrona di casa, mi ascolterai.”
As the woman of the house, you will listen to me.
His eyes twinkled more than before. “Not a chance. However…” As the driver of the SUV we were in made a turn, I noticed the other vehicles trailing behind as well as the one up front.It would seem even in Sicily that the Prince family had a reputation.
We’d arrived in a large private jet, one of two planes the family owned. Along with half the Prince family, several guards had come with us on the trip. We’d breezed through customs even though the group had arrived heavily armed. No one seemed to care.
“However what?” I pushed.
“Since you have us with a retired guard dog in our house alongside five children, don’t you think we need to discuss our wedding?”
His question caught me off guard as so many of them had with the man. I’d known him less than two weeks and my entire life had been turned upside down.
Again.
Two weeks of banter, anger, passion, danger, hatred, fights, abduction, gunfire.
And utter possession.
I could only imagine what an entire life would be filled with if I spent it with this man. Heat shifted across my cheeks, enough so I was floored into silence. “I’m a ballerina.”
He laughed, his eyebrows knitting together. “Yes, you are. A very talented ballerina. If you’re asking if I will force you to abandon your career, of course not. We don’t live in another century. I’m a modern man and all.”
I nodded, searching his eyes. Was he serious? A group of massive Italian homes came into view. They reminded me of my family’s estate, which wasn’t far from here.
Had the cat been let out of the bag? Did the members of the Five Families know about our arrival or had it been kept a secret as hoped?
I’d talked with Sophia again after the horrible news had settled in. She’d told me how my brother along with Luciano, the man I’d once had a crush on, had lured my papa to one of the family’s warehouses, Marco shooting him before setting the building on fire.
I was still completely ravaged by the knowledge Marco could do something so horrible. In turn, learning my mother was sleeping with Luciano was…
What did the Americans call it? The icing on the cake.
“I’d need to make changes to the house. I mean it looks like a guy lives there,” I offered.
“Fine. You can hire a decorator. I don’t care.”
“I’d want a pool.”
