“Winning him over? What are you talking about?” This girl drove me nuts. “Focus, Lina. I never wanted to win him over. This whole thing happened because I wanted to pacify him so I’d lose him when the time was right so your husband would get off my back without a freaking war.”
“That’s a lot of sos in one sentence.” Finally, she peered at me, losing the little smile that had been on her face all the time I was telling her what happened. “Can I ask you something, and please remember I’m still your sister and you can tell me anything?”
Of course she was my sister, and she cared about me as much as I cared about her, but could I really tell her anything as we used to before she became Signora Bellomo and Tino’s puppet? “What do you want to know?”
“How good was Dom’s kiss?”
“Oh for God’s sake. I can’t believe you right now.”
“Last night, something amazing happened to you, but you wouldn’t even talk about it. Instead, you’re overwhelming your brain with worry.”
“What amazing thing? Lina, do you even understand what’s going on here? Have you listened to a word I said?”
“Yes, Nicky. I’ve listened, to every single word, including the part where you allowed a man to kiss you, for the first time when you had all control to say yes or no. You don’t think that’s amazing?”
I averted my gaze, the memory of Domenico’s searing kiss assaulting me, sending butterflies in my stomach and a shiver down my body similar to the one that engulfed me when our lips had connected.
“That good?” she asked.
My head jerked back at her. Then I raised a brow, refusing to be dragged down that dangerous path of sweet, blinding weakness. “Yes. He’s an excellent kisser and really hot. He could be a gentleman, too, and he had no problem in taking things slow.” I went over to her side and looked right into her eyes. “But it doesn’t change a thing.”
“Why not?”
“Because I refuse to have my brain washed and replace one monster by another like you!”
Her chin wobbled, and she gave a terse nod before she gave me her back, facing the crib.
Shit. I blew out a frustrated breath, pulling at my hair. “Lina, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“Despite what you think, my brain is still mine, and I use it more often than it appears to you.”
I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head. “I know. I’m so sorry. You’ve always been so smart. We just think in different ways. You follow your heart. You see things others can’t see.” I tightened my embrace. “Between the two of us, you’ve always been the beautiful dreamer.”
“And you’re the one who kept me in check.” She turned, and her tender eyes held my gaze. “You don’t know how much I love you, Nicky. All I want and care about is for you to be happy. It is possible, you know, for people like us to be happy.”
I glanced between her and Nick. Having a baby like him could make anybody happy. I had no doubt about it. But the way she had him, and the man who gave him to her… My head shook in response. “Like you are?”
“Yes. I know it’s hard to believe. With a man like Il Lupo, after what he put me through, what he put us through… It wasn’t easy in the beginning, and I felt the same way as you do now, hurt, scared, betrayed, lost, broken even, but in its own twisted way, it collected my pieces and put them back together, made me deal with everything I needed to deal with to open up my mind and heart and become the woman I am now.”
Delusions. All delusions. I wouldn’t argue with her now, though. Enough what I’d said. My sister meant the world to me, and I never wanted to hurt her. “Like I said, you saw things others didn’t see. You see something in Tino I can’t, not in Domenico either. Not every Beauty can fall in love with Beast.”
She took a deep breath, smiling. “I think if you allow yourself to—”
“Lina, c’mon. Now isn’t the time. We have a more persistent problem to deal with. There’s a coyote on the loose that’s out there to get me.”
She giggled, but her laughter was interrupted midway by a roar.
“Nicole!” Tino’s shout from downstairs reached the top floor where we were and went through my bones.
“Nicole!”
My heart sank. “He told him. The son of a bitch told him.”
Lina paled. “It’s okay. We’ll find a way to fix it. Let me come with you.”
“No. You stay here. No need to get in trouble for me. It’s my war, and I’ll fight it.”
“Nicky—”
