Page 22 of The Agreement

“I don’t trust him at all, actually. He could have taken Valentina, but he didn’t, which makes me feel that he is up to something.” As he pulled into his garage, his phone rang again and Salvatore laughed even more.

“Damn that woman is really trying to get a hold of you.” Vinny rolled his eyes as he got out of the car, the phone to his ear.

“Ciao mamma(hi mom).”

“Finally, I was getting worried.”

“Mi dispiace mamma(sorry mom). I was driving home and talking business with Salvatore. What is going on?”

“Your fiancé scared Celeste away today. I really don’t know what your dad was thinking when he set up this marriage, you would be better off with someone else, someone more like Celeste.” Vinny rolled his eyes again. No way in fucking hell would he have ever ended up with Celeste, or anyone like her. No, his dad picked correctly, even given the rough and rocky turns of their relationship.

“I’m sure Valentina didn’t scare off Celeste; she is an adult mama.” His mom huffed and he could picture her, the annoyance clear in her body language.

“She did and she was thinking of not having Celeste in your wedding. Can you believe that? Celeste is like family and I would have her be in that.”

“I will talk to Val, but mom, I got to go, business calls.”

“Va bene figlio, ti amo(okay, son, love you).”

“Love you too mom.” Vinny hung up the phone and entered the house, seeing Salvatore in the back by the pool and he made his way back there as well. He shoved his phone back in his pocket and opened the door, right as Val was getting out of the water.

His eyes slowly trailed over and he quickly felt his breath catch. God, she looked fucking amazing standing there in her bikini that was modest yet so sexy. And add in the messy hair and the water dripping down her body; yeah, he was making silent vows that sex in the pool was going to happen at some time, or many times, for them.

“Did you just get home?” she asked after she grabbed the towel and started drying herself off.

“I did actually. How was lunch?” She paused, her eyes on the towel before she started moving again.

“Uh, could have been better. I picked out a location and everyone loved the idea.”

“Including my mother?” Something in his tone must have set her off because she walked over to him, her lip between her teeth, and she grabbed his hand.

“I don’t want to upset your mom, I don’t want to cause problems at all for anyone, and I know you are close to Celeste, but I really don’t want her as my bridesmaid and I am so sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“But your mom, she practically told me that I had to have her. And then my mom was talking about the politics behind this wedding and how I had to keep the peace but…”

“Hey,” he said, cutting her off, “I don’t want her in there any more than you do. I don’t know why, but my mom has always loved that woman, but that’s my mom and not me.” She let out a breath and you could visibly see it like a weight was lifted off her shoulders.

“Thank you.” His hands ran over her shoulders and then down to her hand, taking them within his own.

“I know most Italian weddings everyone gets a say in it. And in our mafia wedding, mothers have more control than anyone would like to admit. And though we are marrying for the politics found within our families rather than love, I’d still like this wedding to be us. No one to dictate to us what’s wrong or what we should do.” She looked up at him, a smile teasing her lips.

“You would fight your mother on this?”

“If it meant that my mom was going to be pissed off and not talk to me for a bit, you can bet your cute, sexy ass I’d do it.” She threw her head back and laughed and he very much liked the sound. “Val, this is our wedding, neither one of us will get another, so how about we do it right?”

“I agree so much with you.”

“Then don’t let them push you around. In fact, if you rather not have more wedding planning lunch dates, I’m okay with that.”

“Thank you, Vinny.” He looked into those eyes and got lost. How had he never seen just how unique and expressive they were before? His hands moved back up her arms, over her shoulders, and rested on her neck, his thumbs brushing over her cheeks.

Her eyes searched his before his head slowly descended and his lips captured hers. He wanted to keep it soft; sweet even, he didn’t need to freak her out, but once her hands rested on his hips and the heat seared his skin from her touch, the kiss exploded. His tongue ran along her lips and she opened them, her tongue softly meeting his, and the feel of her tongue mixing with his set his desire rolling even higher. Fuck, they always said hating someone and loving someone was a fine line. Not that he was claiming love, but the way she set his blood pounding and his desire scorching, he had no doubt in his mind that he could become a one-woman man.

~ Chapter 19 ~

They both heard the door open but couldn’t pull back far enough before Salvatore started talking and then stopped, looking between the two.

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