And nothing,nothinghad ever felt more right.
With a victoriously hissed, “Yes,” Nico grabbed her and kissed her back passionately. He made himself pause to take the ring from the box and slide it on her finger.
“A little loose, but we’ll make it work,” she said, admiring its shine on her hand.
“We can fix that.”
She looked up from the ring back to that face she loved without reservation. The shine of the jewel was dull compared to the absolute devotion lighting up his eyes.
Dani touched his chest, feeling the strong heart thumping steadily underneath. “Am I dreaming this?”
Nico cradled her face in his hands and gently kissed her cheeks, then her lips.
“Yes,amore. We’re sharing the same dream.”
EPILOGUE: WHEREVER YOU GO, THERE WE ARE
NICO
Almost two years later
Late afternoon.Nico’s favorite time of day.
He’d worked at the barbershop that morning. Afterward, he played racquetball at the park with Patrick and watched Baby Gino for his sister. Finally, he got the summons from his wife at six-thirty.
“Come home, caro mio!”
With a grin, he got in his car and drove over to Bronxville, where he and Dani had found a great three-bedroom house on a quiet, leafy street. Quiet by Bronx standards, anyway.
When they were in New York, she worked in the office in Manhattan while he was at the shop. In Parma, she worked from their home office on the estate. She said she had the best of both worlds.
Nico was dividing the year between two countries and working two very different jobs. The family, the firecracker of a woman waiting to tussle with him at the end of every day…all of it was a lot. But he was fueled by adrenaline and powered up by pure love.
“Ciao, bella.”
He walked in the door and performed his ritual; dropped his keys in the dish, kicked off his sneakers, hung up his baseball cap, and went to wash his hands. Then he went to the couch where Dani lay with those long, sexy legs stretched out, eyes closed, and a hand resting on her forehead.
“Ciao, caro mio. I heard you drive up. You had my brother’s record cranked full blast. I could feel the vibrations. Do you really need to play your car stereo that loud?”
“How else is everybody going to know I have good taste in music? Look at you, all sexy and waitin’ for me.Amore,” he murmured low in his throat. Nico joined her on the couch, which was wide enough to fit them both comfortably side by side. He rolled on top of her and cradled her face, kissing her with a light tap of his lips. “You feelin’ okay?”
There was a note of hope he couldn’t keep out of his voice whenever Dani had even the slightest upset stomach or showed tiredness. She’d stopped taking the pills the month before the wedding that prior December, warning him that it might take a while for them to get out of her system. It had been months and so far,niente. He was trying to be patient, but he was beginning to consider that they might need some help getting his boys to make the final touchdown.
“I’m good. Waiting for this AC to kick in and cool me down. How was your day?”
Dammit, it was just the heat. Oh well.
“Pretty good. Made the rounds.”
“How’s Tommy today?”
“Doing real good,” Nico replied with a smile.
Merelys, with their help, had finally convinced Tommy to do a short stint in rehab. Regular meetings were doing him good, and he was flourishing. He was also turning out to be a pretty decent barber. He was enrolled in a barbering program in Manhattan, and he and Carlo ran the shop when Nico was in Parma handling business. Nico couldn’t have been prouder.
“How was work?”
“Good. I booked a yacht for a Swiss couple. They’re going to be at San Gennaro next month. I thought that was a funny coincidence,” Dani said, grinning as he trailed his mouth along the salty line of her collarbone.