“But—” I couldn’t find the right words to express what I was feeling. “I don’t want?—”
Lykos silenced me with a kiss.
“It’s a long way away,” he finally whispered against my mouth. “Don’t worry about it, golden one. She might even change her mind in a year or two.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I’m worried,” Dimitros grumbled. “Aria has had a crush on him for way too long and it doesn’t seem to be going away. Amadeo is older than her and he’s well en route to becoming a playboy.”
“How much older?” I asked.
“Six years older. Too old for her if you ask me.” I agreed with Dimitros, although if I voiced it out loud, I would seem slightly hypocritical, considering the age difference between Lykos and me. And then there was the fact that I didn’t want to alienate Aria.
“Papa, tell Dimitros that Amadeo isn’t too old,” Aria protested, causing Lykos to pinch the bridge of his nose and shoot a wordless look to his son.
“It’s just a crush,” I said, although I’d already decided Aria and Amadeo would never happen. I didn’t care if he was a saint himself, he wasn’t good enough for her.
“Fine,” Dimitros muttered. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Dimitros disappeared out of the kitchen with an annoyed expression, clearly on my side and unhappy with Aria’s fascination with this Amadeo. Much to his dismay, his sister followed him, still chatting about the boy and how wonderful he would be when they all grew up.
“Lykos,” I started quietly. “I don’t like Aria being this obsessed with anyone.”
“It’s a childish fascination,” he justified.
I shook my head. “And I like the idea of an arranged marriage to a son of an Italian mobster even less.”
Lykos chuckled. “Do you not like Italians?”
“It’s not that, but she’s too young to be crushing on anyone, never mind talking about arranged marriage. She’s nine, for Pete’s sake, and we’re no longer in the fifteenth century.”
“She was five when she was ready to fight boys to defend him,” he retorted dryly. “And arranged marriages are still quite the norm in our world.”
“Lykos, she’s nine!”
“Like I said, it’s a long way away.” He was pacifying me now and I didn’t like it. “Yes, she’s still our little girl, but the fact of the matter is, she’ll grow up one day and marry someone. I’d rather that someone be a boy I know and could kill if he hurt my little girl.”
Suddenly, killing another human didn’t sound as shocking. Not when it came to keeping that boy away from my daughter.
“I’m not ready to think of Aria marrying anyone…” Dammit, couldn’t he see that wasn’t normal? I wanted a normal life for her—and for us. My parents didn’t exactly offer normalcy, and it left an impact. “I don’t want her in Italy in ten, fifteen, or twenty years.”
“Maybe those two will settle in Greece.”
“Right, or maybe they’ll settle in Boston.” My tone dripped with sarcasm.
“In Boston? Why would they settle in Boston?”
“I want to show her my life in the States. I’d like to take her home and get her to?—”
He stilled. “Excuse me?”
Why was he looking at me like I was betraying him?
“Lykos, I’m staying here, but I plan on going back to the States. I want Aria to see where I work, meet Sophie and her family. I want her to see where I grew up and visit my sister’s grave. I have friends there, and a career.”
“You want Aria to meet your friends in the States?”
“Yes, I?—”
