Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 77359 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77359 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
“I’m sorry about her,” I said, indicating Gladys with a tilt of my head. “She thinks you’re my fiancé.”
“She’s close.” He gave a grin and looked more like himself. “I’m your fiancé-in-law.” He ran a hand over his short, black hair. “So, is this the one?”
I looked down, running my hand over the smooth fabric. “I don’t think so. I like it, though. The first few she showed me made me look like a little girl going to a party.”
“You definitely don’t look like a little girl in that.”
“Thanks.”
“I’m not saying you look old or anything—”
I grinned, amused that the big man was worried he’d said something wrong. “It does make me look older—that’s one of the things I like about it.”
He cocked his head to the side. “Not much fun to have a baby face?”
“Something like that.” But it was more than that. I did sometimes feel like a child—because I’d always been treated like one. Always been told what to do. How was it that I was getting married yet there were so many things I’d never done?
“He did what?” Gladys’s sharp voice drifted our way, and we both looked over, but the older woman was still conversing with her employee.
Finally, she returned. “Shall we try on some more, dear?”
“I guess so.” Suddenly, I remembered that shopping for wedding dresses was the only legitimate excuse I had to get out of the Moretti mansion. “I want to try on lots more. And see some other boutiques, too. I want to get the perfect dress for my husband.” I looked right at Carmine as I said it. He wasn’t my husband, but apparently, he was the one in charge of taking me on outings.
Out of the next five dresses I tried on, only two felt special enough to show Carmine. He said he liked them, but he didn’t react the way he had with the first one I’d shown him. Truthfully, it was my favorite, also. At least of the ones I’d seen today.
By the time I was trying on the last of the dresses Gladys had prepared for me, my stomach was rumbling. That’s why, when I walked back to the main room where Carmine waited, the heavenly aroma hit me like a ton of bricks.
Or possibly a brick-oven, because there was a white cardboard box open on the little table next to the big man. An impossibly tall pizza pie, with steam still rising off of it, sat inside.
I took in such a deep breath that I almost popped the basted seams of the dress.
“You have to change first, dear.” Gladys’s voice was full of panic as she grabbed my arm, keeping me from leaping toward the food.
Hastily, I changed, and then hurried out to the front room. Carmine handed me a paper plate.
“Why is it so thick?” I asked as he scooped a piece out for me. A river of molten cheese hung down from the piece.
“That’s Chicago-style pizza.”
The plate sagged in the middle as I took it. I’d never felt a heavier piece of pizza. The cheese layer, under the sauce, had to be at least an inch and a half high. “Can anyone ever eat more than one slice?”
“I can.”
I smiled, but my eyes were still on the gooey slice. “Yeah, but you’re ten times bigger than me.”
He chuckled. “Let me know what you think.”
Fifteen minutes later, after I’d devoured a slice and a half, I was completely full. “I think I’ll never need to eat again.”
“Jana will be disappointed. She likes cooking for you.”
That pleased me. The head housekeeper was so busy that I rarely got to talk to her, but she was a nice woman, and certainly less intimidating than my fiancé and his brother. Except… it was a little easier to talk to Carmine now. Yes, he was still huge. And yes, I’d seen glimpses of the gun he wore in a shoulder holster a few times today. But still… a man whose eyes closed in pleasure every time he sank his teeth into the cheesy goodness was a man with some redeeming qualities.
“Are you going to finish that?” He eyed the half slice on my plate.
I handed it to him. “I couldn’t, even at gunpoint.” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I winced, but he just laughed, reaching out to take the plate.
Out of the corner of my eye, I watched the way his strong jaw moved, and his Adam’s apple bobbed as he finished off the pizza. “So,” I began, hesitantly. “Are we going to do this again sometime?”
He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Dress shopping? Or the pizza?”
A small grin broke out on my face. “Maybe both?”
“Deal.”
6
CARMINE
I stood stiffly across the elevator from Allegra as it made its slow way down to the first floor. My stomach was full, but my mind was in turmoil. The woman I’d given a tour to this morning had been as excited as a little girl. She’d strained eagerly in the back seat, eager to see out the windows on both sides as well as the sunroof. I’d had to remind her to keep her seatbelt on a time or two—Massimo would kill me if she were harmed in an accident.