Page 55 of The Agreement

She frowned as his phone dinged with an incoming text and he groaned as well. He took a moment before reaching behind him to grab his phone and open the message. She watched through half-closed eyes as he read once, twice, even a third time, and finally groaned.

"What is it?" she asked but a feeling told her she wasn’t going to like the answer.

"It’s my mom. She wants us over for dinner, tonight."

~ Chapter 42 ~

Valentina groaned as she turned over in bed. That meant she had to get up, shower, and look almost perfect for Sofia and she felt like she was going to fall short. She got the distinct vibe that Sofia just didn’t care for her but she couldn’t figure out why. Vinny rubbed her back and she was grateful for him. Maybe with him there the woman wouldn’t be so nasty to her.

"I know, dinner with my parents is not going to be fun. And what's worse is that I know my dad is going to want to talk about what happened in New York and I have no more leads than I did when we were there." Val patted his chest because she understood how frustrated he was over it and knew his dad would be too.

"It’s really going to be a nice night," she said and Vinny laughed as he glanced down at Val. It was so evident that those words were just dripping with sarcasm. She smiled and shrugged before slipping out of the bed and grabbing the shirt he discarded.

"What are you doing?" he asked. She pulled it on and looked back at him and she could see the fire of desire in his eyes again.

"I need to shower, dress, and do all of that, and I hardly have anything in here yet. So, I need to go back to my room." She watched as his eyes kept trailing over her and finally he moved to sit on the edge of the bed and waved her over. She walked to stand before him and he grabbed her hips, brought her down to straddle his lap, and she felt the stirring of him getting hard.

"I like sexy lingerie, I like the little bra and thong sets, but nothing has been as sexy as seeing you in my shirts. I want you all over again," he confided and she had to admit, she liked that. She never thought of buying those things but maybe it was time to take a shopping trip with Luciana. She wrapped her arms around his neck and rubbed her hips against his, easily learning that vixen role.

"Too bad that the rounds of sex we just had made me sweaty and now I have to shower." He growled at her and flipped her on her back. She laughed as she looked up at him.

"There are quickies." She ran her fingertips over his cheek and slowly shook her head.

"They might be but that won’t satisfy you,Il mio cuore (my heart). Now let me up." He did but only after he gave her a deep, long, lingering kiss that for sure left her wanting more. She groaned as she climbed back off the bed, praying that tonight would go by fast just so that they could come back to this bed.

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Valentina pushed her hair over her shoulder as Giovanni rang the doorbell to his parent’s house. He glanced at her while she shifted and he chuckled. His hand grabbed hers and he pulled her close. "What is it?" he asked her.

"I'm nervous. The last meal I had with her didn’t go so well. And I can’t shake the feeling that this is going to be a disaster but I don’t know why."

"It was because there were others involved. This should just be us four." He kissed her cheek as the door opened and his mom stood there, staring at them. Val saw the look, saw the subtle shift of the face for the woman to lift her nose up in disdain and Val mentally cringed. Nope, she really didn't see this night being any better, even with Vinny by her side.

"On time, I like that. Please come in."

"Thank you. I brought some wine for dinner," Val said and his mom glanced at the bottle in her hands and then up at her. Val caught the eye roll as she took the bottle and pasted on a fake smile.

"Thank you, that was nice of you. Come in, dinner isn’t quite ready yet and we are still waiting on another guest." Val glanced at Vinny as they followed his mother down the hall, but he just shrugged. Vinny hadn't said anything about another guest and he would have if he had known about it.

"Another guest, mom?" His mom waved her hand to shake him off as if the other guest wasn’t important and that had Val’s nerves kick up a notch. She was praying that this other guest wasn’t who she was thinking of; she didn’t think she would be able to stomach that one woman right now.

"Dimmi (tell me)," his mom started as they walked into the living room, "have you had any progress with the wedding planning?" Val looked at Vinny. That wasn’t the question Val was expecting and truth be told, she hadn't given it any thought. Things had been crazy and a wedding was the furthest thing from her mind.

"Uh," Val started and his mother's eyes narrowed.

"You mean you haven't. The wedding will be soon and nothing has been planned or booked?" This time it was Vinny who looked confused.

"What do you mean soon? We haven't even picked a date yet, so how can anything be soon?"

"Because it’s obvious someone is out to stop you two so the sooner you get married, the less likely the target will be on your backs," Donatello stated as he walked into the room. Vinny turned around to look at him and slowly shook his head.

"That's your opinion. No one knows what happened in New York, no one can find out who was behind it, so no one can see the reason."

"Don’t be a fool, Vinny."

"With all due respect, Mr. Constantini, this is our wedding and we will choose our own date, colors, and wedding party," Val told him and Sofia jumped off the couch.

"Don’t be a stupid girl, Valentina. There is nothing about this that yours. In fact, if I don’t hear some details soon, I'm going to start planning things myself. After all, aprincipessa mafiosa viziata (spoiled mafia princess) has quite a bit of free time so there’s nothing left for you to do but plan."

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