“You’re right, I didn’t at all!”
“Happy anniversary,” he says, pulling me close. “And happy engagement.”
“Well, not yet,” I say.
He furrows his brow. “No?”
“You didn’t say yes! It has to be mutual!”
“Yes,” he says with a wink. “See, I told you I’ll always get the last word.”
I roll my eyes and let out a huff, but he snakes a hand around the back of my head and crushes his lips against mine. He tastes like spearmint, so cool and fresh and sweet.
“I love you so much,” he murmurs against my lips.
“I love you, too,” I say, wrapping my arms around him.
“Okay, so are you gonna tell me why you drove me away from here and then back again?”
“Well, I couldn’t very well throw us an engagement party at another restaurant, right?” I snap my fingers and the partition slides over, revealing the rest of our party guests, including my new bestie, Tommy Marcone.
Tommy grins, standing aside so we can see the two cakes he’s decorated. One says “He Said Yes” and the other says “She Said Yes.”
“I’ve never done a double engagement party where there are two engagements for the same couple,” he says in a dry voice.
“You knew!” I exclaim.
“Of course I knew.” He smirks. “The chef always knows.”
Dante hugs me close and drops a kiss onto the top of my head before everyone rushes over to me to get a look at the huge rock sitting on my left hand. I hold it out, admiring it along with the rest of them. I’ve never seen anything so beautiful.
Heaven clasps her hands together. “A wedding! Yay! And it’s one where you’re not being forced to marry the groom!” She chuckles as Matteo snakes an arm around her waist and dips her backward as she lets out a squeal.
“I don’t hear too much complaining from you now,” he says gruffly.
“Yeah, that’s because her husband doesn’t suffer from the Irish curse,” Kaz pipes in, hugging his wife Lindy close to him. “No more peanuts for you, Heaven. Only Italian sausages.” Kaz points to Marchella and Jaelyn, Roman and Sergio’s fiancées. “Am I right, ladies?”
“Hell, yeah!” Jaelyn says. Sergio smacks her ass and grabs her close as Marchella spews champagne all over Roman while she chuckles.
Alek and his wife Gianna roll their eyes. “Kaz, seriously? You’re about as subtle as a hand grenade,” Gianna scoffs.
“Well, I know I can’t argue Kaz’s point about the sausage,” I say with a giggle. “I’m a lucky girl.”
Dante smacks my ass. “Damn right,” he murmurs against my ear. “And just wait until later for the real celebration.”
I lay my head on his shoulder, smiling at the banter between the Villanis, the Severinovs, and the Marcones.
“Nobody made a better borscht than my grandmother, you fucking guinea bastard!” Alek snips, rolling his eyes at Tommy. “Don’t even insult me by saying that!”
“So now you’re challenging me to make a better borscht than your grandmother? Game on, Ivan Drago!” Tommy bellows.
“Wait, wait,” Dante says, chuckling so hard he can barely get the words out. “Tommy, you remember that restaurant review you got awhile back? About how your gnocchi…wait, lemme get this right…’resembled a saggy ball sack?’”
Tommy’s wife, Gemma, doubles over with laughter. “Oh my God! I found that article and framed it for him as a joke.”
“Yeah, not one of your funnier ones,” Tommy mutters.
I spit out my champagne. “Wait, somebody wrote that?” I gasp through the laughter.