Page 20 of Ties That Bind Us

A group of people had stepped in front of us and had their backs to us, shielding us from view of anyone. We were in our own little world in the corner of this crowded restaurant, and it was fuckin’ hot.

“Nick . . .” She nearly moaned my name. God, I loved the sound of that. “You can’t do this. I’m meeting my dad for dinner.”

Without a word, my fingers played with the hem of that short dress and I dragged the tips purposefully up her inner thigh as she gasped. I inched closer to the feather tattoo she had on her upper thigh—I remembered that well. I’d traced it with my tongue ten times over during our night together.

She moaned, leaning into my touch. It was a dare to go further. She pressed her lips to mine, ravishing my mouth with as much hunger and temptation as she had that first night. Fire ignited all over my body, and I had to remind myself we were in a public place.

Fuck. What was I thinking? I couldn’t do this to her. Was I really that selfish? Leading her on like this when I was currently promised to another woman? It wouldn’t always be like that, but right now it was. And one thing was for sure, I was not a cheater, and I was not going to let Ava believe I was available right now.

“Ava,” I whispered harshly. “I’m engaged.”

She ripped away, looking at me like I was growing another head. “You’re what?” Her voice was pure venom.

“Wait, let me explain.” I jumped to my own defense, but she was having none of it. For a second I thought she might reach out and slap me, but instead, the bells on top of the door clanged, signaling the arrival of another group of people. We were separated briefly, and I tried to move through the crowd so I could explain this to her.

“Ava!” A man at the back of the group greeted her. Shit, was her father here already? “So sorry to keep you waiting, darling.”

The man leaned down and planted a kiss on her cheek. To her credit, Ava put on a brave face, like nothing had been going between us just seconds earlier.

“Hi, Daddy.” She smiled warmly, slowing her breathing back down so he wasn’t suspicious.

“Let me just tell the hostess we’re here, and then you can fill me in on your day.” He turned quickly, and when I saw his face my jaw nearly dropped to the floor.

Alessandro Moretti.

“Nick!” He greeted me warmly. “Great to see you, is your father here yet?”

“Hi, Mr. Moretti. Uh, no, he’s not. Should be any minute, though.” I stared back at him in utter shock. Did this mean . . .

“This is my daughter, Ava.” He moved aside and gestured to Ava, who was standing a few feet away still scowling. “I’m so glad the two of you could finally meet.”

A wicked grin spread across my face. Ava was Alessandro’s daughter, the girl I was supposed to marry. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ava.”

She scoffed, turning away from me as Alessandro shot her a harsh look.

Oh, this was definitely going to be more fun than I originally thought.

Chapter 7

Ava

Something fishy was going on. In all of my life, I couldn’t think of a time when my father had involved my mother in his business, let alone one of his daughters. He liked to keep us as far away as possible from anything to do with his endeavors. Until tonight, Gio Caponelli had been an enigma to me. I knew who he was, and I knew he and my father were not the greatest of friends, but that was about it. I certainly had no clue that he was the father of the guy I’d hooked up with randomly several weeks ago. Oh God, did they know about that? Was that why I was here?

I tried to ignore Nick’s grazing eyes as best as I could, but that was proving harder and harder to do as I could feel them wandering over me. So far, this dinner had been unbearable. Gio and my father, and occasionally Nick, discussed a few work things vaguely, but it was mostly just pleasantries. I was on edge the entire time trying to figure out why I had been included, especially since no one had really even spoken to me after the introductions. Could it be because they were in trouble with the law? I wasn’t a lawyer yet, but I certainly knew my way around a courtroom. Maybe they needed my help.

“So,” Gio said turning to me with a huge grin on his face. “Ava, I’m so glad the four of us could get together tonight and discuss the details of our arrangement. I trust your father has explained to you while we’re all here?”

“Actually, I haven’t had the chance.” My dad interrupted Gio before I could get a word in edgewise. He was antsy. Another thing that caught me off guard. I was used to my dad being the pillar of stoicism. “Ava has been busy with school, and I haven’t seen much of her since we came to our agreement.”

Gio pursed his lips slightly but moved on. “Right. Well, your father and I have come to an agreement. We would like to move forward with a treaty between our two families.”

As Gio spoke, his words whirled right over my head. A treaty? As far as I knew, my father didn’t sign treaties with anyone. He thought it was better to keep his circle as close as possible. It was definitely odd he would agree to something like this with them. They probably wanted me to draw up some kind of contract to bind everyone together.

I was a little taken aback, but as it sunk in, I felt kind of excited. This was exactly what I had wanted when I went to law school. I wanted to prove to my father I could be valuable to him, that he could use my skills instead of just passing me off to someone and holing me up like my mother and sisters. And although I didn’t like the fact that that meant I was going to have to work so closely with Nick, I was ecstatic, nonetheless.

“That’s wonderful.” I smiled but tensed up the moment I felt Nick’s knee graze mine underneath the table. I shot him an icy, frustrated glare.

“I know we haven’t had a chance to talk about this, sweetheart, but it is really for the greater good. It is safer for all of us, and I wouldn’t be asking you to do this if it wasn’t necessary. You know I don’t like involving you girls in any of this.” My dad spoke directly to me now. His face was forlorn, and I started to get the feeling this wasn’t just about a treaty. “You understand how important the safety of the family is, right?”

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