Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 88326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
“Finished up early. Wanted to swing by and check in.”
She walked around the bed and took the seat beside me. With the coffee in her hand, she leaned in and gave me a kiss.
My hand automatically went to her thigh, and I gave her a squeeze.
Her brother looked away and stared at the opposite wall.
“Leo said he can go home tomorrow,” I said.
“Yeah,” she said. “We’re both excited to get out of here.”
“You didn’t have to be in here in the first place,” Leo said as he looked at her again.
“Come on. Who’s going to kick your ass in poker, then?” she teased.
He rolled his eyes. “Wolfe says you’re having a reception at Villa Igiea in Palermo.”
“He did?” she asked as she looked at me.
“They said next Saturday is available,” I said. “I told them we’d take it. Leo says he can make that date happen.”
She looked at my brother again. “He’s been doing well in his therapy sessions. Won’t be able to drink, but he might be able to dance.”
“I’ll definitely be dancing on your wedding day,” Leo said. “And I’m definitely drinking.”
Francesca ignored his last statement and turned to me. “How was your day?”
“You know.”
“I don’t know, actually. That’s why you’re running the show.”
I filled her in on everything.
She gave a sigh. “It’s always something, huh?”
“I’ll figure it out. Don’t worry about it.”
“Now that Leo is going home tomorrow, I guess I could return to the office.”
“Up to you. But you also have a wedding reception to plan.”
“Oh shit,” she said. “You’re right.”
“I can help,” Leo said. “We can sample the menu, do a cake tasting, pick out the alcohol.”
A little smile moved over her lips as she looked at her brother. “And you’d like to do that? Doesn’t really sound like your style.”
“I’m just happy to do anything that gets me out of this room.”
Leo was discharged the next day, and Francesca and I took him home.
When we pulled up to his house, he released a sigh of relief. “So nice to be home. You have no idea.” He got out of the car himself, and when I offered a helping hand, he brushed me off. “I got it.”
I stood there and waited for him to walk toward his house.
He took a breath and winced slightly, like his lung still hadn’t quite healed. Then he moved forward and up the steps to the front of his house, growing winded halfway there but too proud to take a break.
He got to the front door, pulled out his keys to unlock it, and stepped inside. “Oh wow, I expected it to be a mess.”
“I had the maid clean it,” Francesca said as she followed him inside. “There are groceries in the fridge. You don’t need to come back to work right away. You should continue to take it easy. No reason to force it.”
He took a look around his living room and his kitchen, his arms crossed over his chest. His expression was blank, but it seemed like he was processing a lot of emotion underneath the rough exterior. “I never thought I’d be here again.”
Francesca walked up to him and placed her hand on his shoulder.
He didn’t look at her, but his hand moved on top of hers, and they stood there together as they looked out the window that showed the main villa in the distance. Warm sunlight came through, revealing the dust particles in the air.
After a long stretch of silence, Francesca spoke. “I’m really glad you’re still here, brother.”
Leo didn’t return to work for a week, but Francesca was back in the office, being the finest boss bitch I’d ever seen. In her skintight jeans with her leather holster over one shoulder and her diamond ring on her hand, she was fucking irresistible.
And she was mine.
We got the business back on track, had new guns shipped to us on the next plane, and she managed to do all of that while putting a wedding reception together. I didn’t mind helping her plan the event, but she took Leo with her to Palermo, and I thought it was important to let them have their time together to continue to repair that fractured relationship.
I was home when she walked in the door, and the second she set her purse on the table in the entryway, she said, “Babe, I’m home.”
I smirked as I continued to cook dinner on the stove. “Babe, huh?” I said to myself. I adjusted the burner to the lowest setting and turned to her.
“You made dinner?” she asked as she walked toward me with those playful eyes.
I moved over to her and gripped her tight ass through her jeans as I kissed her. “Yep. I know you’ve had a long day.”
“That’s sweet of you.”
“It’s not 1905,” I said. “I can cook and clean too.”