Page 74 of Cavaliere

“No. I am not fucking kidding you.” I can hear the smirk in his voice. The fucker. “You better stop trying to glare a hole into my back if you don’t want that to be the first look that Ma sees on your face. I wouldn’t mind though. You know I love fucking that attitude away.”

My mouth opens to reply just as the front door quickly swings open, revealing a drop-dead gorgeous woman about my height. She has the same piercing brown eyes and thick black hair as Matteo. Her hair is kept in loose curls with nothing out of place. The resemblance is almost uncanny.

I startle as she gasps, and before I can react, her arms wrap around my body, pulling me in for a tight hug. “You must be Wren. It’s so nice to finally meet the woman everyone keeps telling me has captured my Matteo.”

I look over her shoulder with wide eyes at Matteo, who is trying to contain his laughter, as I slowly and stiffly hug his mom back. He knows damn well I’m not a hugger.

I’m so getting payback for this.

“Don’t suffocate her, Ma. We have plans tonight.” Matteo smirks.

If looks could kill, Matteo would be buried six feet under right now with his own knife sticking out of his dick.

You want to play?

Game fucking on, Adduci.

His mom quickly pulls back, a smile lighting up her whole face. “Oh my gosh, fun after-dinner plans?” She pauses as she looks between us, and I can feel my face turning more red by the second. I would love nothing more for the ground to swallow me up right now. The audacity of this man to imply we’re about to fuck tonight in front of his mother. “You don’t have to tell me.” She waves us inside. “I know it’s not cool for moms to know what’s going on. Your father and I always loved to catch late-night movies.”

“If there’s enough praise, we might make it to a show.”

“Gio is making Aperol Spritz’s for everyone. Would you like one, Wren?”

“Yes, please,” I barely get out as I’m trying not to die on the spot from embarrassment. I don’t know who I need to thank for letting it go over her head, but I will gladly get on my knees and deep throat like the dirty whore I am in my fantasies.

“I’m Camilla, by the way. Matteo seems to have forgotten his manners.” She slides him a disapproving look. He’s forgotten a lot of things tonight. Like who the fuck he’s dealing with.

“Ma, this is Wren. Wren, this is my Ma, Camilla.” Matteo finally introduces us.

Camilla’s eyes light up with approval as she leads us through the house. “I feel like I’ve been waiting ages for one of them to bring a girl home. You’ve seen what I have to deal with. Another woman around is going to be like a breath of fresh air.” I can’t even imagine what this woman went through raising Matteo, Alessio, and Gio. They are three very different men with dominant personalities. I bet things got interesting.

“It’s about time you got here. I thought I was going to be stuck with his ass all night.” Alessio grumbles as we enter the living room.

“Hey! I wasted my last umbrella on you. That’s the last time I do something for your ungrateful ass.” Gio glares from the bar in the corner of the room.

“I told you I didn’t want this fruity drink in the first place. You’re the one who insisted everything tastes better with an umbrella in it.”

“Because it does! Wren, tell him it does,” Gio pleads with me.

“Sorry, Alessio. I’m with Gio on this. Everything tastes like a party with an umbrella in it.” I shrug with a smile. Alessio has his signature permanent scowl on his face as Gio looks more than pleased that I sided with him.

“Wren.” Aldo nods his head at me from his seat on the massive black leather sectional that would never fit in my small, crappy apartment. A small smile toying at the corner of his mouth. “You’re looking much better compared to the last time I saw you.”

“What happened?” Camilla asks, face laced with concern. My hand shoots to my chest at the small pain that starts throbbing right where my heart is, rubbing slightly as I try to ease the ache. This woman, who I haven’t even known for more than ten minutes, is concerned about me. The only other person who has ever cared about me so quickly is Delaney, and look how that turned out. She’s like a chin hair that keeps growing back no matter how many times you pluck it. I wouldn’t have it any other way, though. She’s my bitch.

“Oh, it was nothing really. Just a small little mishap.” I wave my hand, trying my best to brush it off and calm her. I can feel my face heating with everyone’s attention on me.

“It couldn’t have been nothing if Aldo was involved.” Camilla hums as her gaze intensifies on me. “He’s a doctor after all.”

My eyes dart around, landing on everyone’s face in hopes they will give me some sort of an out, but I come out empty-handed. Every single one of them acted like anything but me was interesting. The fuckers.

“Uh… Well…” I trail off, having no fucking clue what to say to her.

“She ran into a little bit of trouble helping me, Ma.” Matteo steps in for me, sensing my rapidly growing discomfort. I feel his hand on my lower back as he draws me into his side. “We’re taking care of it.”

Camilla beams up at Matteo like he hung the moon. “Good. Our girl should always feel safe, and if she doesn’t… well, I know you boys will take care of it.”

Gio winks at me just as a timer goes off in the distance.