Wild Love, page 1
WILD LOVE
THE CALVETTIS OF NEW YORK
DEBORAH BLADON
FIRST ORIGINAL EDITION, 2023
Copyright © 2023 by Deborah Bladon
All rights reserved. No parts of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without written consent from the author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual person’s, living or dead, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
eBook ISBN: 9781926440767
ISBN: 9798866069385
Book & cover design by Wolf & Eagle Media
deborahbladon.com
CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Epilogue
Ready for More?
Virtue
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Also by Deborah Bladon
About the Author
CHAPTER ONE
Gina
Las Vegas is supposed to be the land of the lucky, so why do I feel like the unluckiest woman on earth?
I nudge an elbow into my sister’s ribs.
She turns to face me. “What the hell, Gina? That hurt.”
The smile on Bella’s face tells me that it might have stung a touch, but she’s fine.
I tilt my head slightly. “Why is Lawton here?”
Her gaze wanders to where our older brother, Dominick, is standing next to a poker table in this crowded casino. Seated to his left is his lifelong best friend.
Daniel Lawton.
I’ve known him for as long as I can remember. I can count on one hand the moments when we haven’t wanted to strangle each other.
“He’s Dominick’s best man,” she points out. “How could I not invite him?”
I tuck a few strands of my long brown hair behind my ear. “You could have given me a heads-up that he’d be here.”
“He said he couldn’t make it,” she explains, shrugging her shoulders. “I guess he decided to make a surprise appearance.”
That’s the type of surprise I can do without.
She glances to the left when the joyous sounds of someone hitting the jackpot on a slot machine fill the air.
I trail her gaze to see a woman dressed in a long white lace gown jumping up and down. Next to her is a man in a black tuxedo, complete with a red bow tie.
“Do you think they’re on their way to one of the chapels to get hitched?” Bella’s hands dart to the middle of her chest. “Or maybe they’re already married, and this is their wedding night.”
My sister is three years younger than me. She’s also happily married with a beautiful daughter.
Bella is a firm believer in true love.
She found it with her husband, and now that Dominick is marrying the love of his life, I’m the focus of my sister’s heart eyes, and wishful dreams.
On her wedding day, she predicted that I’d be married before my twenty-ninth birthday. Since that’s less than a month from now, it’s time for her to face reality.
I’m never walking down the aisle. Love hasn’t been kind to me.
I’ve lost count of how many men have broken my heart. There was a time when I thought I’d find my perfect match, but those days are long gone.
“If they got married here, I give it a week,” I say flippantly. “Las Vegas weddings are a bad idea.”
Bella’s head snaps in my direction. “Don’t be so cynical.”
I skim a hand over the skirt of the short royal blue dress I’m wearing. It was a gift from one of my many sponsors.
When I announced on social media that I was heading to Vegas for the weekend, I was inundated with messages from companies looking to cash in on my online popularity.
I’m an influencer.
My follower count across all platforms is in the tens of millions.
Countless strangers scrutinize every image, video, and review I post. It doesn’t matter if I’m raving about a new lipstick shade or if I’m in the kitchen of my grandmother’s Italian restaurant back in New York City. Everyone has an opinion on my every move.
It’s exhausting.
“I like that dress.” Bella points to what I’m wearing before her gaze drops to her black pencil skirt and pink blouse. “I’m a mom, so I dialed it back.”
I smile. “You look beautiful, Bella.”
She does.
My sister and I share the same hair color, but that’s where our similarities end.
She’s shorter than I am, and her striking blue eyes don’t match mine. I was born with the same shade of brown eyes as our mom.
“We should go over and say hi to Daniel,” she suggests. “When’s the last time we saw him?”
I can’t speak for her, but I know the exact date I last saw Daniel Lawton. I can tell her the time and where I was when he walked away from me. It was just past three on a Wednesday afternoon almost a year ago on the sidewalk at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 34th Street in the shadow of the Empire State Building.
I ran into Daniel after I left a photo shoot for a newly launched jewelry line.
He asked if there was anything new going on in my life.
I gushed about the guy I was dating at the time. Brogan McCabe was handsome and successful. I believed he had long-term potential.
When I told Daniel my boyfriend’s name, he ordered me to dump him. He listed all of the reasons why Brogan was no good for me.
I balked and told Daniel he had no idea what he was talking about.
He claimed to know someone who knew Brogan.
He sidestepped when I asked for more information about who was feeding him all the bullshit about Brogan that was coming out of his mouth.
In exasperation, Daniel stormed away.
He never looked back.
Six months later, he boarded a plane for California and hasn’t been back to New York since.
My relationship with Brogan ended a week after Daniel warned me about him. The breakup had nothing to do with Daniel’s accusations and everything to do with the fact that the lease on Brogan’s apartment was coming due, and he wanted us to find a place together.
I wasn’t ready for that step, so Brogan broke up with me via text message.
I glance in Daniel’s direction again, and this time, his gaze is pinned to me.
His blue eyes lock on my face before they trail over my body and back up again.
Is Lawton checking me out?
He moves to stand.
All six feet two inches of him are as muscular and trim as ever. His dark brown hair is shorter than I remember but still styled to perfection. Late day stubble covers his chiseled jaw.
The man is nothing if not hot as hell.
I had a brief crush on him when I was eighteen, and he was twenty-five, but it was over almost as soon as it began.
I went to the apartment he shared with my brother one Saturday afternoon, hoping to get some time alone with Daniel. I had convinced myself that it was the perfect day to tell him that I had feelings for him.
Daniel opened the door without a shirt on. He invited me in, and then a woman wandered out of his bedroom wearing one of his T-shirts.
My infatuation went up in smoke when she begged him to take her back to bed. He told her to wait until I left.
I ran out in a rush, burdened with embarrassment.
“You’re staring at Daniel,” Bella whispers in my ear. “He can’t take his eyes off of you. Is this a movie moment? Are you falling in love across a crowded casino floor?”
I tear my gaze away from the well-tailored dark blue suit Daniel is wearing to glance at my sister. “Put your dreams away, Bella. I’m never falling in love again.”
Her head falls back in laughter. “That’s not how it works, Gina. Love is going to find you. It might even happen here.”
I turn to walk away. “I’m going to my room before dinner.”
Bella rushes to fall in step next to me. “To catch your breath aft
Yes, but I won’t admit that to her.
“To change my dress,” I say before I add for good measure, “I want to check on Arietta, too.”
Our future sister-in-law is just fine. Ten minutes ago, she left the casino to go up to the suite she’s sharing with our brother. I suspect she did that to check in with her dog sitter, who just happens to be our grandmother.
“I’ll go find Barrett,” Bella says with a sigh. “When I left our room, he was in the shower. Maybe I can convince him to get dirty before dinner.”
Shaking my head, I laugh. “You’re taking advantage of your child-free weekend, aren’t you?”
She winks. “Absolutely.”
Still chuckling, I wag a finger at her. “Play safe, or Luisa will have a sibling in nine months.”
“Would that be so bad?”
“That would be phenomenal.” I don’t try hiding my excitement at the prospect of becoming an aunt to another little bundle of fun. “Are you pregnant?”
My sister shakes her head. “No, but if it happens, we’d be thrilled.”
“Me too,” I whisper.
As we reach the bank of elevators that lead up to our rooms, Bella wraps an arm around my waist. “You know that all I want is for you to be happy, right?”
I look into her eyes. “I know.”
“Promise me you won’t hide your heart away forever,” she whispers as people gather around us, waiting to board the elevator. “Just because you lost on love a few times doesn’t mean you won’t find it again. We are in the luckiest place on earth, after all.”
I laugh as I hear another person shout when a slot machine’s bells and whistles signal a win in the distance. “I promise you my heart is right where it needs to be. Safe and sound in my chest.”
She fakes an exaggerated frown. “Fine, but you can’t hide from fate forever. One day it will find you. When it does, you’ll know because that will be the day that your heart meets its match.”
CHAPTER TWO
Gina
I have only myself to blame for this.
Dominick has been nothing but generous to me throughout my life. When I was burdened with student debt after attending NYU to earn a degree in behavioral science, my brother secretly cleared that for me.
He was by my side when I bought my apartment, negotiating like the financial genius he is so I’d get the best possible deal.
My brother has always looked out for me, so I wanted to do something extra special for him when he got engaged.
I arranged this Vegas getaway to give him a break from the stresses of managing the investment portfolios of Manhattan’s elite. His fiancée, Arietta, is in law school, so this weekend has given her a chance to unwind.
If I had known that Daniel would show up for this trip, I might have made a last minute excuse not to board the plane at La Guardia, but now I’m sitting across the table from him with no escape in sight for at least a couple of hours.
“We should toast to the soon-to-be-married couple,” Daniel announces in his toe-curling deep voice.
It’s the same voice I fantasized about before I walked in on him and his lover when I was a teenager.
Since then, I’ve done everything possible to avoid hearing him speak.
Everyone, including me, picks up the flute of Dom Pérignon that was served to us at Daniel’s request.
I intended to pay for this dinner, but if Daniel wants to shower us with expensive champagne, he can pull out his credit card.
Showoff.
Daniel pushes to stand. His gaze wanders the table, taking in the sight of my brother holding tightly to his fiancée’s hand. He smiles at Bella as she leans against the shoulder of her husband. Finally, Daniel locks eyes with me.
It’s intense in a way I’m not expecting, so I drop my gaze to my lap.
The fact that my nipples have furled into tight points under the thin fabric of the black lace dress I’m wearing isn’t lost on me.
It isn’t lost on Daniel either because when I look up, he’s staring at my tits.
What the hell?
I clear my throat. “You were saying, Lawton?”
A languid smile slides over his full lips. “Right. A toast to the happy couple.”
“The incredibly happy couple,” my brother corrects him.
Tearing his gaze away from me, Daniel nods. He focuses his attention on Dominick and Arietta. “I was thrilled when Dominick told me he’d fallen in love. It all made sense as soon as I found out that it was Arietta. Before I left New York, I had a front row seat to her keeping him in check at work.”
Laughter floats through the air from everyone at the table, including me.
His chuckle fades. “She has helped him view the world through a new lens. She’s given him a fresh perspective on life. I’ve known Dominick forever, and I can say with every confidence that I’ve never seen him happier.”
“Save some of this for your best man speech,” my brother says.
Everyone laughs again, but me.
I’m stunned that Daniel understands the depth of Dominick’s love for Arietta or that he’s noticed the difference in my brother since he fell for the beautiful blonde sitting next to him.
Daniel has been in California while he meets with potential new clients for the wealth management firm he owns with Dominick and another friend of theirs.
He hasn’t seen firsthand how the walls my brother always had around him have collapsed under the weight of his love for his fiancée.
“That speech is one for the ages.” Daniel laughs. “I’ve been working on it since you asked me to stand next to you when you marry the love of your life.”
Staring at Arietta, Dominick nods. “She is the love of my life.”
Raising his glass in the air, Daniel smiles. “Here’s to Arietta and Dominick.”
Everyone glides to their feet to clink glasses. I follow suit and softly wish my brother and Arietta all the happiness in the world before I turn to Bella and Barrett. When we’re done toasting, I glance at Daniel.
He’s waiting with his glass in his hand. “To Dominick and Arietta.”
I touch the side of my champagne flute to his. “To Dominick and Arietta.”
He leans across the table and lowers his voice. “True love rules.”
I bite back a smile at the reminder of the phrase I used to recite all the time when I was a teenager.
Dominick holds his flute of champagne in front of him. “Today is also a day to remember a man who had a huge impact on my best friend. Hell, he had an impact on me, too. Today would have been his sixty-seventh birthday, so I want to commemorate that with a toast to him. Here’s to Marlin Lawton. A good man, a great friend, and an incredible father.”
Daniel raises his glass in the air as his gaze wanders to my face. “To my dad. I’ve done my best to make him proud. One day, I hope I can make his every wish a reality.”
“To your dad,” I whisper, suddenly feeling something I never expected to feel tonight.
Gratitude.
As much as Daniel annoys me, I know how important he is to Dominick. They’ve always been like brothers. The smile on Dominick’s face tells me that having Daniel here means the world to him.
I’ll survive spending a weekend in the same city as Daniel. This is Las Vegas. He’ll go his way after dinner, and I’ll go mine.
