Page 15 of Plucking His Daisy

Elio barks out a laugh and nods before rubbing his jaw and shaking his head. “Well, it goes double for me. You think you’ve seen my wrath before? None of it will have anything on what I’d do to you if you hurt my sister.”

“Never,” Lorenzo snarls.

“Good,” Elio nods absently, “that’s good Zo.”

When Elio calls the man I love by the nickname he’s had for him since they were kids, I find myself smiling. It was touch and go for a moment, but it’ll be okay. We’ll be okay.

Elio throws me a sheepish smile, “I’m sorry for inferring you’re a whore.”

I shrug. “It’s okay, I know I’m not. It wasn’t just a night with me I was auctioning off, it was my virginity too.”

Lorenzo covers his face with his hand and groans, “Principessa.”

Elio grabs his gun and points it at Lorenzo’s head again and grits out, “I should kill you right now.”

I grin at my brother and Lorenzo, no longer scared. Elio might be a lot of things, but he’s a man of his word and he’s already acquiesced. “You wouldn’t want to kill the father of the child I could be carrying.”

Elio slowly puts the gun down and glares at his best friend before looking at me, his body softening, “I could be an uncle?”

“Yup,” I pop the p. “Maybe godfather too,” I wiggle my eyebrows and laugh at my own ridiculous joke. Neither man laughs and I sigh and roll my eyes. “Just keep that in mind when you’re sending my fiancé out on jobs.”

Elio chokes on air, “Fiancé?”

Lorenzo scrubs a hand down his face and pulls our joined hands off the table to kiss my knuckles before he looks at Elio. “I do want to ask for your blessing, officially, Elio, to marry Daisy. I swear on my life that she will always have my loyalty, my love and everything in me.” Possessiveness fills his voice, “She’s mine.”

Elio eyes me and our joined hands. “I don’t see a ring on her finger.”

Lorenzo lets out a low chuckle and winks at me before turning back to my brother. “I have a ring.”

I gasp, “You do?”

Elio crosses his arms across his chest and stares at Lorenzo. They do that talking with their eyes thing they’ve always seemed to do. It used to make me feel so out of the loop. It made me feel small. I know this time it’s more a battle of wills than anything else.

I know who will win. Because he loves me. The memory of those words on his lips has a buzz flowing through my body from my toes to the top of my head.

Elio’s shoulders slump and he sighs deeply. “You have my blessing.” He arches an eyebrow and looks pointedly down at his gun. “You understand the consequences.”

I scoff, “I am my own person. I don’t need anyone’s blessing. I’m not property and I don’t come with a dowry or some other antiquated shit like that.”

Elio’s eyes soften when he looks at me. “You’re not property. Trust me. Remember how Constantino said Lily’s father confided in him he was going to marry her off to give the Scavo family a new head?” I pale at the thought. An arranged marriage like that, for power and never for love, sounds like a death sentence, one where you live your life like a shell of your former self. “Father never considered doing something like that to you. I would never do it either. So, no, Daisy, you are not property.”

“Never,” Lorenzo snarls, his voice filled with so much emotion that I feel compelled to squeeze his hand.

Elio looks at his oldest friend with pride. “I do appreciate the nod of respect in asking though and that’s all he was trying to give me.” He smirks. “A way to save face.”

Lorenzo stands and pushes his chair away from the table to make room for himself as he kneels, and a gasp escapes my lips. I blink at him to try and see him, my vision suddenly blurry with tears. He pulls a ring out of his pocket as he looks at up at me, studying my face, memorizing it.

“Now I can ask you with a clear conscience, knowing we have the support of the people who love you the most in this world.” He takes a deep breath, the way he’s holding his body telegraphing nervousness. He has nothing to be nervous about. “Will you marry me,principessa?”

I launch myself at him, burying my face in his neck and feeling his arms wrap around me, strong and secure. I whisper against his neck, “Yes. I already agreed. I’ll always say yes, Lorenzo.” I breathe out, “Always.”

His fingers tangle in my hair and he pulls me back enough to kiss me. He doesn’t deepen it which I understand considering the audience we have right now. The moment he slips the ring on my finger, it all feels so real. It’s happened fast, but I’ve been in love with this man forever and I know it’ll always be that way.

He knows me. He loves me. He’s everything I’ve ever wanted.

Tazio comes into the room holding a bottle of champagne, a big smile on his face. “Well, I’m glad that all worked out and I didn’t need to call a clean-up crew.”

I scoff as Lorenzo helps me back into my seat before he pulls his closer again. I tease Tazio, “Isn’t it kind of early for champagne?”

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