Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 32729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 164(@200wpm)___ 131(@250wpm)___ 109(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 164(@200wpm)___ 131(@250wpm)___ 109(@300wpm)
Liana placed several fake pumpkins around the room, and weaved fairy lights around them. The scents coming from the kitchen were making his mouth water, and as Liana stepped away from the sitting room, she came toward him and placed an arm around his waist.
“Thank you,” she said. She surprised him further by placing a kiss on his cheek.
He watched her as she walked into the kitchen, and he couldn’t help but check out her ass. They hadn’t exactly come to an agreement about the whole divorce thing, but this was something. Rubbing his hands together, he walked into the kitchen to see her already serving dinner.
“Are you hungry?”
“Starving.”
She carried their food into the dining room, and he took a seat. He noticed she had served water but had placed a cool beer for him on a small coaster. Liana was slowly making this place her home.
Picking up his knife and fork, he cut into a piece of chicken, and it fell apart, it was so tender. He took a bite, and the flavors were so savory on his tongue. It was a perfect balance of garlic, tomatoes, chicken, carrots, the whole dish was just perfection.
“How was work today?” Liana asked.
“It was good. You could have come in. I was just at the desk at one of the casinos, looking over some figures.” He was not going to tell her he also had to torture a man who was seen spying as well as distributing drugs at that same casino. It was the only reason he was there.
In the past couple of weeks, Francesco had been getting a lot of heat from people overdosing on product on Colombo Mafia property. Emilio had contacted him today, telling him two women were found dead, with blood coming out of their noses from drugs, that were not Colombo. Whoever was distributing this shit was doing so in the hope of putting the blame on them. Diego was not going to let that happen.
Giovanni and Lorenzo were also suffering the same problem. The guy he talked with today was currently spending some time locked in a box in a freezer. He figured some alone time would help him decide where his best interests lay.
“How was your day?” he asked.
“It was good. I mean, I didn’t do a whole lot. I baked a pumpkin-chocolate cake.”
“You baked?”
“Yeah, I like to do that from time to time.”
He sat back and looked at her.
“What?” she asked.
“Maybe you tell me what it is you like and I start to learn who you are?”
“Diego—”
“Liana,” he interrupted her, but then he didn’t quite know what to say as the words just weren’t there. “Tell me who you are. Tell me what you like. It’s the only way I am going to get to know you.”
She pressed her lips together, then nibbled at the corner. “What would you like to know?”
“Just tell me about you,” he said. “No bullshit either. Just talk to me.”
“Okay, I love the color blue, and I love going for walks in a garden. I like watching it fade away but come back brighter than ever in the spring. I love holidays and any excuse to celebrate. I also happen to love cooking and baking for the occasion.” She stopped to take a bite of her food. “I want a big family. I want to have dozens of kids, and to never know a moments’ quiet.”
He looked at her.
“You know, that part is the worst. The quiet when you lose someone. That hurts the most. You can almost hear their voice, and your whole day has gone as normal, but then it changes, and before you know it, reality sets in and when you expect her to come in, she doesn’t.”
Diego reached out and took hold of her hand. “It’s okay.”
“You know, I never told anyone how I felt when it came to losing my mom,” she said. “Not my dad, I knew he was already hurting. I didn’t talk to my brother. We were already feeling that grief. It didn’t matter where I went at home, it was still empty without her.”
“You got through it.”
“You’ve got no choice but to get through it. Life goes on. You have to go to school. You have to try and make your dad proud, and you need to also make her proud. I know my mom would want me to do the best I can at everything. It was all she ever asked for.”
“I wish I had gotten the chance to know her.”
“I wish you had as well. She probably would have told me to kick your ass for calling me a doormat,” she said.
He looked at her. “I am sorry about that.”
She waved her hand in the air. “Don’t worry about it. Come on, eat your food.”
On the one hand, he regretted calling her a doormat, at the same time, he couldn’t regret it, because it had made her break out of her shell, and he got the chance to meet the real Liana.