Page 113 of Wrapped in Silver

“Why not?” His teeth nibble on my nipple.

“Did you take a blue pill or something?”

“Fuck off. I don’t need any of that.” He slaps my ass, which makes me tingly all over again.

I bite my lip. “Show me.”

xxx

After a redo dinner atAthena’s Delight, we make some new memories filled with jokes and plans about our future, which helps to subdue the very dark night of nearly losing him a month ago. He seems lighter these days, like he came to an agreement with some of his demons and is finally letting himself live.

A part of me worries, though. Life can’t work out this perfectly, especially after what I’ve seen.

Then again, who am I kidding? Showing up to Ferraro’s funeral a few weeks back was a horror show of trauma. Pretending that he was still my Uncle F for all his family, hugging Big Bill and telling him Ferraro was a good man… it still rattles me to my core. But that’s all over now.

“Ready?” Silver throws cash into the receipt booklet and folds his napkin on the table.

Butterflies shoot around my belly. “We’re actually doing this?”

“Of course.” He holds out his hand.

“What if he—”

“He won’t,” Silver assures me.

The ride to my dad’s house is full of nerves. I know the two of them have put aside the two-ton elephant in the room after they both nearly died at the hands of the bratva, but marriage? That’s a big deal. I’m his favorite person.

He grabs my hand and squeezes it. “Let me do the talking.”

I hear two bottles clanking around in the back seat. “Did you?”

“Yeah. Went to the liquor store before,” he says.

“Wow. You really planned this out.”

“What did you expect? That’s what I do.”

“Oh, so you meant to propose to me while my pale ass was out?”

“No better way, if you ask me.” He laughs, calming my nerves a bit.

We pull up to my old house. We tried to get the bear to sell it, but he’s stubborn and settled on a complete renovation to erase all the horrors we encountered in it, and added lots of security cameras all around. The kitchen and dining room were supposedly just finished yesterday, and I’ve yet to see it.

Silver reaches for the champagne bottle, takes my hand, and leads the way.

Din-dan-don!

The newly installed front entrance camera lights up, and my dad’s heavy-footed steps come toward the door.

God. Oh God.My teeth clatter.

“Arosso, Little Bear, it’s late.” He looks at us both suspiciously. “And what’s with the dress up? Not you, Arosso, her.” He nods at me, and I sink a little farther behind Silver.

“May we come in?” Silver asks.

“Lucky I’m just watching a little TV before bed. What’s up?”

I shut the door behind us and triple lock it out of post-abduction habit.

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