Page 23 of Ciao, Amore

Dani could hardly wait to get out of the car and check out the facade. That is, until the front doors on the second-level balcony opened, and what seemed like a raucous horde of men poured out and down the stone steps on either side. The flowers in terracotta pots seemed to be in imminent danger as they passed.

“Christ, I was hoping they’d be out or asleep by now,” Nico swore.

Dani had been fully briefed on Nico’s three brothers, but she wasn’t prepared for the assault as they swarmed the truck, banging on the side where Nico sat shaking his head.

“Yeah, baby, there he is. There he is.” The biggest of the brothers pulled open the car door rather than wait and practically hauled Nico out by his jacket into a bear hug. “How you doin’, big bro? Whassup?” That was Angelo, brown-eyed and tall like Nico but bald and burlier.

Nico returned the hug, slapping Angelo on the back with a huge grin until he freed himself to turn to the next brother, who stood waiting like a big kid anxious to be picked for a team.

“Hey, Tommy Boy. How you doin’?” Nico squeezed him.

“I’m great now that the man is here,” Tommy said. He was built big and strong like Angelo, but with his deep blue eyes and thick brown hair, he and Nico looked the most alike. “I brought the Brugal. We are gonna getlittonight after the kids go to bed.”

“Fuckin’ guy. He’s already lit,” Angelo said, pushing Tommy by the chest.

“Yo. What do we havehere?” It was Tino, yanking open the passenger side door to gawk at Dani. “I can’t believe you’re even prettier than your pictures.” Before she knew it, she was dragged out of the car and into a sweaty hug.

“Tino,” Tommy warned. “Could you behave like a human being? Give her a fucking minute.”

Tino released her from the hug. He looked exactly like his photos—shorter than his brothers with broad, powerful shoulders, a muscular chest, and spiky blond hair.

Nico rounded the hood of the car and put his own arm across her shoulders. He walked her to where his other brothers stood smiling and examining the two of them together.

“Daniela, these are my brothers, Angelo and Tommy. You just met Tino. Guys, this is Daniela.”

“Hey, how you doin’? Welcome to Italy. Happy to finally meet the famous Dani,” Angelo said, coming forward and giving her a kiss on the cheek. “This guy can’t stop talking about you.” He hit Nico in the chest, who took the blow with a wince.

It was too dark to see a blush on Nico’s face, but she had a feeling there was one, judging from his expression.

“Hey,” Tommy said, giving her a reserved handshake. “Nice to meet you.”

The scent of seawater and flowers flooded her nose as Nico left her side long enough to help the driver pull their bags from the trunk, talking in Italian which, honestly, she wasn’t fast enough to decipher.

After settling with the driver, tipping him even though he profusely tried to reject the money, the brothers grabbed their bags while Dani walked with Nico up the steps to the main door. She was disoriented from the nap and the welcome, barely registering the kinks in her body from the flight. Add to that, her legs were singing bloody murder from the crazy encounter in the plane bathroom and the hours of walking on Rome’s cobblestones. Throw on top of that the latent jet lag, and she had no doubt she was going to feel all of it later.

Despite that, she was with it enough to notice there were more mounted cameras embedded in the stone on either side of the doorway.

Balmy air caressed her face even inside the wide entryway of the main floor. It was surprisingly airy; tan marble flooring with tiled designs, the ceiling with a high arch painted a fresh white, and a marble staircase leading to the next level off to the side. The decor looked a bit old, as though some of the tall curio cabinets were originals, but the round table in the center had a beautiful arrangement of pink and purple flowers.

As his brothers trudged up the stairs with the bags, a man with salt-and-pepper hair and a thick mustache came through a doorway straight ahead, following three children who squealed and jumped up and down when they saw Nico.

It wasn’t until they were inside and the doors closed behind them that she noticed two thick, muscled men dressed in dark suits on either side. They had those earpieces with the curly lines disappearing into their white collars and eyed her dispassionately with sharp once-overs. Clearly, they were in service here, but what the hell kind of butlers were these?

“Uncle Nico, Uncle Nico!”

It was a happy chant that made Dani momentarily forget the men. She smiled as the two boys and one girl attacked him by the legs and tried to take him down. Her niece had glued herself to him after an hour at her parents’ house; obviously, these kids adored him. Behind them, another two kids appeared, but they were a bit older—a girl of around ten, who eyed her hair and her clothes critically, and a boy around the same age. They were at that stage when they were too cool to hop up and down, but the boy still gazed at Nico worshipfully.

“Hey, Pop,” Nico said.

“My firstborn,” Patrick proclaimed, coming over to give Nico a kiss on the cheek and a long hug.

This was Nico’s dad, Patrick, with his giant ’80s square tinted glasses and thick dark mustache. Although his firefighter days were over, he was still pretty fit, even if a bit fluffy in the middle. Nico said he was still tough to beat in their daily racquetball games at the park.

Patrick turned to her next with a smile, and in a surprisingly good voice, he sang, “Oh, Dani girl, the pipes, the pipes are calling.’Daniela, I am so happy to meet you. Come here, sweetheart.”

Beside him, Nico rolled his eyes. He’d told her Patrick wasextraIrish when he was over here surrounded by full Italians.

She giggled like a kid, suddenly enveloped in a hug and a cloud of cologne. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Donahue.” Coughing a little, she was pulled into what seemed to be the main living room while the small kids dragged Nico down to the carpet.

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