Page 29 of Ties That Bind Us

“I guess that kind of depends on a lot of things. What do you want it to be like?”

Ava looked surprised that I would even ask. “I guess I haven’t given much thought. I was just thinking about where we’d live and school and . . . those types of things.”

“Ava, as soon as you are comfortable, I obviously want you to move in with me. I know you might not be ready yet, but the offer stands. And as far as school goes, I want you to do whatever you want to do. I don’t care either way, if you’re happy.”

She smiled. “What is it that you want?”

“Me? Well, I want a partnership. I want this to be something that we work at every day and never accept as just a business deal. That’s not how I feel about you, and I hope you won’t feel that way either. I want us to create something we are proud of. Maybe a couple of kids in a great big backyard by the ocean one day.” I winked as I stroked my thumb along the back of her hand. “Honestly, I have no idea what exactly the future looks like for us, but I’m excited about it, and I can promise you it will be a lot different from how things are now.”

“What do you mean?”

“I never want you to feel pressured to be anything you’re not with me, but one thing that would have to change is your partying.” I narrowed my eyes a little bit at her.

“What? You have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said defensively.

“I know more than you think. Your dad told me about your addiction and how rough it was for you the last couple of years.” Her eyes widened in fear, wondering just how much I knew. “I know enough, but I’d like to hear about it from you.”

Ava bit her lip, searching for words once again. “Nick, I don’t know what he told you, but that’s not . . . I’m not . . .”

“You haven’t used cocaine?” I arched an eyebrow at her. This wasn’t exactly the way I wanted to have this conversation, but it was out there now.

“I have, but . . . I used to. It’s not something I do anymore,” she said. “A few years ago, my brother killed himself and I was . . . it was extenuating circumstances.”

“Circumstances don’t matter to me, Ava. All that matters is that it has to stop for good. As my wife, I’ll deal with it if you can’t.”

“And how exactly do you intend to do that? Beat me into submission?” she snipped, her stare deathly serious.

The comment caught me off guard. “Is that how your father would handle it?”

Ava’s silence spoke volumes. My heart wrenched at the thought of what she’d endured at the hands of Alessandro Moretti. “Ava, I can promise you that I will never, ever raise my hand to you in anger or to hurt you. Believe me, whatever comes our way, we’ll deal with together. One of the things I love most about you is your fire and your tenacity, and I would never want you just to submit to me. In the bedroom, maybe . . .” I smirked, and got a small smile out of her. “But I swear to you, I will never hurt you. You’ll always be respected and valued. You’re my teammate, my partner, not some obedient housewife. I know that’s not how you’re used to things in your family, but everything I do will be with you in mind.”

“You certainly have a way with words, Mr. Caponelli.”

“So is that a yes?” God, I wanted her to say yes to me. To give herself to me willingly. I wanted her begging for me, aching for me as I was for her.

“It’s a we’ll see.” The woman was a tease and she enjoyed every second of it.

As much as I wanted to enjoy the rest of the afternoon, there was something weighing heavily on my mind. Ava said that her brother had killed himself, which meant she probably didn’t know that I had been involved in his death. If we had any hope of this working out I was going to have to find a way to sit down with her and let her know the truth sooner rather than later.

Chapter 10

Ava

“So, you’ve been wearing my ring for a week. Made any decisions yet?” Nick smirked as he licked the dripping ice cream off of his cone. My mind immediately went to what else he could do with that tongue. Get a grip, Ava, I internally chastised myself. I must really be falling for him if I was lusting over the way he licked his ice-cream cone. I’d tried my best to adhere to the hands-off rule, but we’d pretty much blown right past that the first night we met. I still hadn’t let him get further than a kiss though, despite the aching within my core for him again. My mind and my body were on two totally different pages, and most of the time, I found myself wishing he would push the envelope.

I blushed, tamping down my thoughts as we strolled down the sidewalk hand in hand and eating our ice cream. We’d gone to dinner and hoped to make it to a movie, but had gotten carried away talking and enjoying each other’s company, so we settled for ice cream instead. It was hard to believe that this wasn’t a real date, that we weren’t two people together under normal circumstances instead of two people who were being forced to get married and trying to make the best of an impossible situation.

We’d played this game a few times already this week; Nick would take me out somewhere, we’d spend the evening talking and getting to know each other, he’d drop me off at my parents, kissing my cheek gently. He had been a perfect gentleman, never expecting or pressuring me for more. I knew it was killing him. I could tell by the way his eyes traveled over my body, how his lips lingered on my cheek, inching closer to my lips each time, and he put his hands on me as often as he could. And if I was being honest, it was killing me too. Nick was turning out to be more than I ever could have imagined, and even though it was still early, my negative outlook on all of this was shifting.

I was pleasantly surprised about how understanding Nick was being. I was beginning to think I had misjudged him from the very beginning. Nothing changed the fact that we didn’t know much about each other or that our fathers were forcing us into this relationship, but we were making progress.

Part of me was still holding on to the illusion that I had some control over this. That if I found out something horrible about Nick, I could get out of it. Walk away. Break up with him. The reality was, it didn’t matter what I knew about him or what he knew about me. We were to be married. Nick was only being courteous with all of this, and while I appreciated it, it seemed a little like prolonging the inevitable.

“You know, before all of this, I didn’t think I would ever get married,” I admitted, avoiding his question. I wasn’t ready to answer but I was also afraid Nick would start to lose his patience with me. So far, he had been nothing but wonderful, but he didn’t have to go through any of these motions. My dad had already agreed to this; Nick could whisk me away and marry me whenever he wanted. Neither of us wanted it to get to that point, but if I didn’t give in soon, that’s exactly how it would end up. I didn’t blame him for it, it was just the way things worked, but it didn’t make it any easier to swallow.

“Really?” Nick’s expression turned curious. “You mean you haven’t had your wedding day planned out since you were a little girl, like most women?”

“I mean, I’ve thought about it. I just figured it would happen in a few years. Or, like, twenty.”

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