AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Considering the strange and dangerous pairing of guests, Valentina was relieved to find that the mood of the wedding reception was relaxed, light, and festive. Taking a sip of her wine, she scanned the large room once again in hopes of seeing Captain Hallelujah Thomas among the crowd of guests.
Hal had looked so handsome walking his sister down the aisle that Valentina stared at him all through the ceremony. And Glory! A beautiful woman by any standards, but as a bride, she was beyond breathtaking. Valentina had watched the whole ceremony with a tiny bit of envy—she wondered if she would ever find a man who would look at her the way that Jules looked at his bride.
“Yummy.” A voice with barely contained enthusiasm sounded out next to her.
“How would you know? You haven’t eaten more than three bites of anything on that plate.” Valentina raised a brow at her cousin.
“I wasn’t talking about the dinner.” Gia’s smile was wide as she looked around the room. “I was talking aboutdessert. Serve mine up hot, laid out on a chrome fender, all inked up, and wrapped in leather!”
Gia batted her eyelids in rapid succession and gave her long hair a sexy toss. Then she entertained Valentina with a comical series of practiced and exaggerated come-hither looks— all of which were directed to the bikers standing against the bar in the back of the room.
When one of Gia’s more overemphasized and sexually charged moves caught Gianni Abruzzi’s attention, he frowned at his niece and daughter from across the table. Valentina’s father leaned forward and opened his mouth to spout off what could only be words of rebuke, but just as he was about to scold them, Dolly McCabe lightly touched his arm. When he turned to her, she whispered something into his ear, successfully drawing his attention elsewhere. However, while Gianni was momentarily distracted, Aunt Audrina was most certainly not.
“Comportarsi!”Audrina growled at her daughter.
“Ci stiamo comportando!”Gia rolled her eyes and fired back at her.
The two women scowled at each other locked in the age-old battle of mothers and daughters.
“God, will that woman ever give it a rest?” Gia huffed under her breath as her mother continued to glare at her. In what seemed like forever to Valentina, Aunt Audrina was finally forced to turn away and give her attention to a wedding guest who had come to the table to pay respects.
Gia gave out a small sigh of frustrated relief as she took a long sip of white wine. Then her eyes filled with admiration as she once again scanned the guests in the reception hall.
“Seriously, Valentina, have you ever seen so many gorgeous men together in one room? And I’m willing to bet that not one of their last names end in a vowel either.Thank God.”
Valentina nodded with appreciation at Gia’s sentiment. It was definitely an unusual occurrence for the girls to find themselves seated among a group of strangers. Italian families were tight by nature, but being raised in a family who had its roots in the Bonzini syndicated crime organization gave a whole new meaning to the termclosely knit.
By any measure, growing up with the presumption ofenemies around every cornerwas difficult and stifling at best. But for the daughters of high-ranking officers like Capo Joe Bonzini and Front Boss Gianni Abruzzi, the restrictions were especially severe. The two girls spent most of their teenage years together plotting against and trying to thwart the limitations put in place for their own safety.
Much to the consternation of Auntie Audrina.
Audrina was Gianni’s sister and Gia’s mother. When Valentina was only two years old, Madelina Abruzzi (Valentina’s mother) died in a head-on collision. Faced with raising a motherless child, Gianni had asked his sister, Audrina, to help fill that void. Audrina was honored with the task and watched over Valentina, lovingly, willingly, and without hesitation. Five years later, when Joey Bonzini, Audrina’s husband, was sentenced to federal prison on a RICO charge and died shortly after, Gianni had naturally stepped up. As a result, Valentina and Gia were raised like sisters. The two girls each had bedrooms in each other’s homes, attended the same private schools, received their first communion in matching dresses, and were restricted to only double-dating all through high school.
The prevailing attitude and misconception in both families was that one girl would act as a moral compass for the other.
Which, of course, had the direct opposite results.
Just ask the DeMarco brothers.
Valentina blushed every time she thought of those steamy, summer nights when the sound of adolescent panting and lustful moaning filled the air. Hours later, when the girls would get together and compare notes about fumbling hands, sloppy kisses, and stumbling attempts to “put it in,” they confessed their mutual disappointment.
It wasn’t long before that disappointment turned to disenchantment. It was then that Valentina and Gia decided that the whole groping thing just wasn’t worth the trouble. The cousins resolved to break up with the DeMarco brothers and vowed to swear off sex forever, or at least until they found a guy who knew what he was doing. While the vow of abstinence didn’t last out the year, the quest to find a guy who knew what he was doing continued on.
Ten years later, the girls had several failed relationships and one near death experience between them, and they were still looking for that guy.
“Want to see my mother have a heart attack right here on the floor?” Gia challenged Valentina with the light of mischief in her eye.
“Gia….” Valentina whispered back in warning.
“No. Really.” Gia grinned. “This will absolutely positively kill her!”
Valentina couldn’t help the low giggle that erupted from her inner adolescent self. She knew as a grown-up woman she shouldn’t still be enjoying her cousin’s exploits as much as she did.
But she just couldn’t help it.
As the younger cousin, Valentina should not have been expected to be the voice of reason for the slightly older, much wilder girl. But because Gia’s capricious and willful nature had always been a problem, and the girls were always together, the duty had naturally fallen to Valentina to keep her cousin in check. The expectation had been that Valentina would shine a light on any and all mischief that Gia was always more than ready, willing, and able to get into.
That, of course, had no chance of ever happening.
