Claimed by the Enforcer: A Venturi Mafia Spin-off novel, page 20
“Ask you?” Luca sounded confused and looked from Teo to me and back again. Teo's smirk grew, and he tilted his head in my direction.
Luca's eyes sparked with realization, and he flashed me a smile and a wink before turning to Teo. “My Don, I would like to request permission to date your sister.”
"You have proven yourself to be loyal and invaluable to this family. If she wants to date you, you have my full support in doing so. I know that you will always keep her safe.”
“Thank you Teo,” Luca said with a nod before they embraced one another with a slap to the back. I rolled my eyes playfully and shook my head at the two of them.
“Archaic,” I mumbled.
Luca looked at me with a mischievous smile. “Oh, I'll show you archaic.”
With that, he stalked toward me, and I stepped back. “Luca, what are you doing?”
Before I knew what was happening, Luca scooped me up into his arms and threw me over his shoulder. I couldn't help but squeal.
“Luca,” I exclaimed. Put me down. This is a place of business. We're supposed to act professionally here.”
“Who says? I have the permission of the don to start dating you and I plan to start right now.”
“Right now? Where are we going?”
“I'm taking you to dinner.”
“Dinner?” I felt silly as I hung upside down from his shoulders still.
“Yes. I'm going to take you to dinner like a real gentleman.” He slapped my ass and I yelped.
"A real gentleman would walk me to the car and open the door for me not carry me out like a cave person."
"Oh well." Luca chuckled as he started walking toward the door. "Small steps, I suppose."
Chapter 30
Mira
One Year Later
Mia sat at the foot of my bed, bouncing Eli on her knee, while I tried on a third dress for my date with Luca. I’d quickly dismissed the champagne-colored dress, then a black one. I was nearly ready to give up as I finished zipping up the back of a burgundy cocktail dress and turned around to show her my last option.
“Oh, that’s the one.”
“You said that about all of them,” I chuckled.
“I know, and the others were beautiful on you but I’m serious. This is the one.”
“You’re sure?” I turned to study myself in the full-length mirror.
“I promise, Luca is going to love it. Which reminds me, you two have been dating for a good while now.”
“Yes. What’s your point?”
“I just mean, this isn’t your first date. Why are you so nervous about going out with him now?”
“Today is our one-year anniversary.”
“Oh, nice. I knew you’d been together for a while but I didn’t realize that so much time had gone by. I think it’s a side effect of motherhood. Time speeds up once you have kids.”
“Makes sense since you never have time to slow down,” I teased and ruffled Eli’s hair. “I know this guy keeps you on your toes.”
“Yeah.”
“But you love it.”
“I do.”
“So, it’s worth the alteration to time as we know it?”
“Absolutely, and...” Mia paused as if deciding whether or not to say something.
“And?”
“And it seems it’s going to be speeding up even more before too long.” Mia smiled, and I turned around and looked at her in surprise.
“How did you know?”
Mia’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean? I took a test...wait...are you?”
“You mean you weren’t talking about me?”
“Mira...you’re pregnant?” Mia exclaimed and I shushed her, but I couldn’t stop the grin that spread across my face.
“I take it that you haven’t told Luca yet?”
“Not yet. I was going to tell him tonight before I told anyone else.”
Mia cringed, looking guilty. “I guess that didn’t work out too well.”
“I guess not. But I know you won’t say anything. You really didn’t know?”
“No. How could I?”
“I don’t know. So, you’re pregnant again?”
“Yeah.” We both let out a chuckle.
“Wow,” I breathed out and sat on the bed.
“This is so exciting. We’re going to be going through this together and our kids are going to be the same age. They can grow up together.”
“That does sound nice,” I said with less enthusiasm as my mind raced.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m not sure how Luca will feel about this.”
“Oh, Mira. He’s going to be thrilled.”
“You think?”
“Of course. He loves you, and he was not only willing but enthusiastic at the thought of raising another man’s baby because it was yours. How much more excited do you think he is going to be about raising a child that is yours and his together?”
My mood plummeted at the mention of the ‘other baby’ that I had lost, and my shoulders slumped.
“Oh honey, you know I didn’t mean anything by that. It came out wrong.”
“No, no. It’s fine, really. I know what you meant.”
“Okay, it’s just...Luca is a great man. He would have loved that baby like it was his own and he mourned her loss right along with you because in his mind she wasn’t another man’s baby, she was yours. You said that God was going to give you your baby when the time was right. The time’s right. You are with Luca, happy, in love, celebrating being together for a year. He’s going to be ecstatic about the baby.”
“I hope you’re right. It’s just...last time, with Stefano, was horrible. I thought that I knew him, that when he asked me to marry him and for us to be a family, I thought it was a good thing, but it wasn’t.”
“You have to have more faith in yourself and in Luca. You’ve known each other most of your life. You know him. Put your fears aside and listen to your heart then you’ll know that it really will all be okay. Don’t worry. Just go out, have fun, tell him if and when the moment is right.”
“Thanks, Mia.”
“Any time.” Mia hugged me and I quickly slipped on my shoes and checked my makeup before there was a knock on the bedroom door.
“Mira, are you ready?” Luca’s voice came from behind the ajar bedroom door.
“Come in. I was just finishing up. Mia and Eli are in here too.”
Luca pushed the door open and stepped inside. “Wow, throwing a party without me?” He smiled and nodded at Mia. “Ciao, Mia, Elio...my man...” He ruffled Eli’s dark curls, making him laugh.
“Well, it’s about time for Eli’s dinner so we are going to go,” Mia said before giving me one more hug. “Have fun tonight and don’t worry,” she whispered before leaving the room.
Luca walked over to me and wrapped his arms around my waist. “You look beautiful this evening.”
“Thank you. And don’t even think about pulling that hair ruffle thing with me. I’ve put way too much work into these curls.”
Luca laughed and kissed my nose before pulling me closer. “I wouldn’t dream of doing such a thing...not before dinner anyway. I make no guarantees once I get you back to my place.”
“Your place? I didn’t know that we were going back to your place after dinner. I didn’t even pack an overnight bag.”
“That wouldn’t be a problem if you’d move in with me already.”
“I told you...I’m a little traditional when it comes to that.”
“I know, you won’t move in with a guy until you’re married...even if you spend half of your nights at my place already,” Luca teased.
“That’s different.”
“I know it is, which is why I want you to move in with me.”
“Luca...”
“I know, I know...now, let’s go to dinner before we are late for our reservation.”
I nodded and walked toward the door. Luca placed his hand on that sweet spot at the small of my back. It practically made me melt every time and as he led me downstairs, all thoughts of our debate were forgotten.
We sat through an amazing dinner at one of my favorite upscale restaurants. It was the same place where we’d had our first official date one year before. I smiled, looking around and taking in the warm atmosphere.
“I love that we have a place.”
“A place?”
“Yeah, you know...we came here for our first date, now again on our one-year anniversary...”
“Oh, is this where I took you on our first date?” Luca tried to act serious, but the shimmer of mischief in his eyes gave him away.
“You know it is.” I laughed and rolled my eyes.
“I know, which is why I chose to bring you back here tonight. This feels like our special place.”
“Same. I love it here.”
“I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself.”
“Oh, absolutely.”
“Good. And since you’re in such a good mood, I want to talk to you a little more about you moving in with me.”
“Luca...we’ve talked about this...”
“I know.”
“And you know how I feel...”
“I know.”
“And I’m not going to change my mind.”
“Neither am I.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that I’m never going to change my mind about you—about us. I’m never going to get tired of seeing your smiling face when we get home from work in the evenings. I’m not going to change my mind about wanting to wake up to you every morning or falling asleep with you in my arms every night. None of that is ever going to change. I love you, and that love only grows every single day, and that is never going to change.”
I smiled, my heart swelling in my chest until it was hard to breathe but in the very best way possible, but then I gave him a stern look. I had to be strong.
“I feel the same way, but that doesn’t change how I feel about moving in together.”
“I know, which is why...” Luca paused, simultaneously slipping his hand into the inside pocket of his suit and lowering himself from his chair onto his knee beside the table.
“Oh my—Luca? What are you—”
“Mira, when I first met you, you were just my friend’s annoying younger sister. As time went on, you became one of my very best friends, my family. And I got to see every side of you. All the bad, all the good...and there was so much good. As I got to know each of these amazing sides to you, somewhere along the way...I’m not sure when, but I fell in love with you. And although I’m not sure when or how it happened, I do know that I love you with all my heart and soul. So, now I’m asking you to make me the happiest man in the entire world by agreeing to be my wife.”
I couldn’t breathe. His words had filled my heart so full that there was no room for air in my chest. I could barely even make out the shimmering diamond ring in the proffered jewelry box from all the joyful tears filling my eyes.
I wanted to say yes, I wanted to scream it from the rooftops, but before I answered, Luca had to know exactly what he was getting himself into.
“Before I answer, there’s something that I need to tell you.”
“Of course, what is it?”
“I’m pregnant.”
“Pregnant?” Luca gasped, his eyes growing to the size of saucers.
“Yes.”
“That’s wonderful, but why did you need to tell me that before you answered me?”
“Because I didn’t want you asking me to marry you without knowing everything that would entail.”
“Because you’re pregnant?”
“Yes.”
“And you thought that you being pregnant would make me not want to marry you?”
“Well, no. I don’t know. I just couldn’t accept your proposal until you had all of the facts.”
Luca’s eyebrows shot up. “Accept?”
I nodded and Luca’s eyes lit up.
“So, your answer is...” The corners of Luca’s mouth twitched as if he were fighting back a smile until he knew my answer for sure.
“Yes. Yes, Luca. I will marry you.”
His face split into a huge grin as he leaped to his feet, pulling me up from my chair and wrapping me in a huge hug that lifted me off the ground before he kissed me deeply.
“You said yes? You really said yes.” Luca sounded in disbelief. “Oh, the ring.”
He quickly put me down and took the ring from the box, gently sliding it onto my left ring finger.
“A perfect fit,” I said, smiling up at him.
“It better be. It was hell trying to measure your finger while you were sleeping.”
“You measured my finger?” I chuckled as we took our seat back at the table.
“Well, yeah. I wanted to make sure that the ring fit perfectly the first time. Once that ring was on your finger, I never wanted it to have to come off again but man, do you move around a lot in your sleep. I never noticed how much until I was trying to measure your finger.”
“You do know that you could have just checked the rings in my jewelry box, right?”
Luca’s smile shifted into one of deep realization. “I never even thought about that.”
We both laughed, my joy bubbling out of me and causing my heart to swell. My cheeks ached from smiling so much but soon the mood shifted to something sweeter as Luca lifted my hand, placing a small, tender kiss on my newly adorned ring finger just above the engagement ring.
“And we are really going to have a baby?”
I smiled and nodded. “We’re really going to have a baby.”
“I thought about how tonight might go. I knew that if you said yes that I would be the happiest man in the whole world. I just had no idea that I could be doubly happy by finding out that we are going to have a baby, too.”
“That’s a lot of change in one night. Are you sure you’re up for it?”
“Oh, absolutely.” Luca leaned over the table and pressed a tender kiss to my lips. “I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you. I love you, Mira...more than words can even express.”
“I love you, too.”
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
For as long as she can remember, Nikki Rose has enjoyed writing stories. For years, writing was just a hobby for this South Carolina native. It was a way to let out all the stories floating around in her head. After one of those stories took on a mind of its own, outgrowing even the parameters of a single book, Rose knew she had to pursue her dream.
Married to her high school sweetheart and best friend, Rose feels she is truly living out a romance story of her very own. As a stay-at-home mom of two, she is blessed with the time needed to work on her writing career full-time while her kids are at school or in the wee hours while normal people sleep. She considers herself a music-obsessed chocoholic and hopeless romantic who enjoys weaving romance stories with a healthy dose of mystery and suspense.
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Other Books by Nikki Rose
The Line Series
Crossing the Line
Blurring the Line
Drawing the Line
Walking the Line
When Dae Breaks
When Knight Falls
