Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80014 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80014 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
“It is. Everyone’s incredibly welcoming, though. It’s kind of surprising, actually. It must have been weird for them to suddenly learn they had a new family member, but they seem to be taking it in stride.”
“That’s probably Nana’s influence. She’s all about bringing people into the family. Her specialty is gay men who don’t really have anyone else. She already has a huge biological family, but that’s a fraction of the bigger family she’s created back home in San Francisco,” he said with a grin.
A few moments later, Adriano sat down beside me and took my hand. That felt good. It was as if I provided a sense of security to him when things felt overwhelming. I smiled at him and handed him my drink, which he tossed back like I had.
Dante and Charlie snuggled up together on the other side of the coffee table, and Dante said, “Just so you know, I invited Romy to join us this evening, but he said he had plans. I didn’t want him to think we were trying to exclude him or anything.”
I doubted Romy had plans, since he was a total homebody. He probably just found all these Dombrusos a bit intimidating, which I certainly understood. I wished he’d give them a chance though, because these were kind people, and the way they’d welcomed Adriano (and me) to the family was truly remarkable.
Not that they’d just taken our word about who we were without question. Dante was a shrewd, intelligent man, and I had absolutely no doubt he’d looked into both of us by now. He certainly had the resources and capability to make sure we weren’t a couple of con artists, trying to get away with something. Good thing I didn’t have an arrest record, not that that would necessarily have been a deal breaker. This family clearly hadn’t made its money through legal means, and being a thief probably wasn’t all that off-putting to them.
Even so, when Yoshi asked me what I did for a living, I hesitated before saying, “I’m currently between jobs.” That was literally true—I wasn’t robbing anyone at the moment. But in a bigger sense, I was also at a crossroads. I turned to look at Adriano just as he turned to look at me. Now that we were together, I couldn’t imagine going back to robbing men who picked me up in bars—not that sex was involved, but still. It just didn’t fit with who I was now.
I really wanted to explain all of that to Adriano, but this wasn’t the time or place. Instead, I searched his eyes while he gently ran his knuckles along my cheekbone. We both sort of forgot about everyone else for a few moments, until Trevor said, “Aw, new love. I remember those days.”
To which Charlie replied, “You’re currently sitting on your husband’s lap, Trev, and you two were making out like a pair of horny teenagers earlier. Don’t make it sound like you’re some sad old married couple whose sex life has gone the way of the flip phone.”
“Good point,” Trevor said with a grin, before planting a big kiss on his husband. It was amazing to see the way Vincent, who was usually so quiet and reserved, lit up around the man he loved.
We were all on our third round of drinks when the hotel room door flew open and Nana exclaimed, “There all of you are!”
She and her husband breezed into the room. Nana was wearing a hot pink sequined dress—which was when I realized she’d actually chosen the limo to match her outfit—along with a headband featuring two pink dicks on springs. Ollie was wearing a tasteful tweed three-piece suit and a headband that matched Nana’s, because why not? Her huge, black handbag was slung over Nana’s skinny arm, and both she and Ollie were carrying three-foot-tall margaritas in novelty glasses, which for some reason were shaped like very long cocks with a pair of balls at the base.
As soon as Nana spotted Adriano and me, she smiled and rushed over. Then she kissed both of us on our cheeks and said, “Look at you two, all dressed up and so handsome! I did good on that suit, didn’t I, Jackie?”
I nodded and said, “You sure did, Nana. Thank you again.” Adriano looked devastatingly handsome in his black pinstriped bespoke number, while I was wearing a plum-colored suit that Nana had bought for me on her shopping spree. I’d paired it with a black shirt and black loafers, and all of it was a surprisingly good fit. It was also the least “she works hard for the money” thing Nana had selected for me.
Dante asked his grandmother, “Where’d you get those drinks?”
“We crashed a bachelorette party downstairs,” she explained. “They were such a cute group of girls.”