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I’m not saying we’re never going to have kids. Isn’t it better if we talk about this upfront?
Of course it is, I reply.
That way, you’ve got the chance to end things if you can’t accept it.
I stand up, moving to the balcony railing, looking down over the city’s glittering lights. I’m not going to end things with you, ever. That’s not an option. If you want to wait, we’ll wait.
But you’d prefer not to?
You’ve been honest with me. I owe you the same. No, Ruby, I’d prefer not to. I’d like to get you pregnant as soon as we have your parents’ blessing, but before I met you, life was hopeless and grim. It was mundane. It was flat. Now, it’s so, so much better. So, if you want to wait, I’ll stand by you. It’s like I keep saying…
We’ve got all the time in the world, she finishes for me.
Exactly.
Who knew a mafia prince would be so understanding, huh? I imagine her smiling with that teasing, sassy glint in her eyes.
You bring it out in me, Ruby—only you.
“I guess Paulie thinks she’s going to stop wanting me if we spend a week apart,” I tell Elio, tossing a tennis ball against the wall of his office and catching it.
Elio laughs, shaking his head. “If you’re anything like Scarlet and me, you could be apart for a week, a month, a year, a decade, and it wouldn’t make any difference. Once you know, you know.”
I nod. “Exactly, but what am I going to do, go against her dad’s wishes? I don’t want to start our life out like that. It’s a man’s job to do the right thing by his woman’s family.”
Elio smiles. “Women, eh? They’re like magic. They’ve got the power to change us. Before Ruby came along, you never would’ve said something like that. You wouldn’t have had that boyish look of excitement in your eyes, either.”
“Can it, brother.” I toss the tennis ball at him, and he catches it easily. “Now I’ve just got to get through this week without going completely nuts. That’s why I’m here. I want all the work you can give me. Go spend time with Scarlet and Molly. I’ll be working sixteen-hour days until I can see my woman again.”
“I won’t turn down extra time with the family,” Elio says. “As long as you’re sure?”
“If I give myself too much free time, I’ll just go nuts thinking about her. Or about him.”
Elio frowns when I say him. He knows I’m talking about the congressman’s son, the douchebag Nate Kingston. “I thought that was over.”
“It is… for the most part.”
“Luca…” Elio leans forward. “You haven’t put any Family men on him, have you? That could jeopardize everything.”
The fear on my big brother’s face makes me sick. It’s so bad I can’t even look at him. Elio has been like a lion all my life, my strong, invincible-seeming older brother. Nobody can make him cringe away from doing the right thing. Yet now, it seems, he’s turned soft. Is it family life? Will the same thing happen to me?
“Ah, everything,” I say darkly. “Like letting this little shit do any damn thing he wants because his daddy is giving us some cash.”
“It’s not as simple as that.”
I turn to him. “Then tell me, Elio. What’s the situation, exactly? Because you’re acting weird. You’re not acting like yourself at all. All these little looks, all this fear, it’s not you. Has Maverick got something on you?”
“No,” Elio growls. “I’m trying to do the right thing, that’s all.”
“Before, you said I could ruin my relationship with Ruby by going after them. I haven’t forgotten that.”
“Luca, goddamn it,” Elio snaps. “Will you just leave it alone? Have you put any men on him?”
“No Family men,” I reply.
“What does that mean?”
“You know Colt.”
“The ex-soldier? With the Belgian Malinois lurking at his side like a canine bodyguard?”
“He’s checking in on the douche from time to time. No connection to us.”
“Call him off,” Elio says.
Now, it’s my turn to laugh darkly. “There’s no damn way I’m doing that. Anyway, I couldn’t call him off even if I wanted to. Colt is his own man. He has his own reasons.” Not that I know what they are, but I won’t tell Elio that. “So, unless you want to tell me why you look so damn scared every time we talk about this little prick, I’m handling this my way.”
For a second, Elio glares at me. Then he turns to his computer and begins clicking and dragging. “I’ll make a work folder for you.”
“So we’re not going to talk about this. You’re clearly hiding something.”
Elio grunts. “I’ve told you how I feel. Leaving this alone is the best choice. If you don’t listen, I can’t make you.”
I curl my hands into fists, tension pumping through me. “If this prick has somehow managed to get some dirt on you?—”
