Page 187 of Made in Love and Blood

“It gives you just enough color.”

He licked his lips, hoping to take the rest of the lipstick away that remained. But he trusted her, to tell him the truth, anyway. Maybe he needed the color. Tonight had him in knots.

“Hey,” Frankie said like his thoughts were a running closed caption playing above his head, “haven’t we gone over this?”

He nodded. They had.

“Dinners have been going well. You see Carmen twice a week. Giorgio likes that you’re making good money and minding your business. Marco barely shows up when you go for dinner now.”

“Because he can’t stand when Dad likes me, or that I’m doing better than him in any way.”

“Unimportant,” she replied, winking. “What is, is that things have been going well. He’s not going to freak out when he finds out we’re engaged tonight. And if he does, then you can handle it.”

“You think I can handle it.”

“No. I know it, Nico.”

His thumb tapped a beat to her stomach. A breath later, little man kicked down lower in response to the stimulant and sound.

He had to handle it. The baby between them said so.

“Just trust,” Nico told her, “that Marco will be on his worst behavior tonight. I don’t have the first clue how he could do worse than he already has, but trust that he will. I’m not leaving your side unless I have to, so don’t take off the first second I turn. If your hand is not in mine, then mine needs to be somewhere on your body. Got it?”

She smoothed down the lapels of his tuxedo as he talked and then ran her hands on the inside of the jacket along his chest, the red of her nails fading into the same color of his vest and bowtie.

“You look so damn good in formalwear,” she informed. “Unbelievable.”

“Frankie.”

“Yeah, yeah. I heard you, hand in mine or on me. That’s the deal.”

“I call the shots tonight.”

“I mean...”

“At the party,” he clarified. “You get all the rest you want later.”

“Mmhmm, sounds about right.”

He rolled his eyes, smirking. Her hands kept touching.

“They’re watching you,” he said of the men in the cars.

She didn’t look like she cared.

“If we can leave early,” she said then, biting at the edge of her lip as she met his knowing gaze, “I’m just saying—we should.”

He only needed a glance at Frankie to agree to that statement. He had plans for her and that dress once he got her alone and safe again. A plan he fully intended to see through as long as the night went ahead as it should.

“You know it,” he murmured before kissing her again.

The beep of the door between the house and the garage sounded, making Nico pull away just in time for Salvatore to enter the space.

No one followed him. Also, part of the plan.

Only one of them could hide their pregnancy at the moment. Carina neared the final weeks of her pregnancy, and she decided the month before to step out of public life entirely. As far as others knew, including Nico’s father, Carina had headed to Milan for the holidays as she always did.

“Carina wishes us luck,” Salvatore said as he crossed the glossy floor. “And she said to let the dress—”