AllFreeNovel
Share Us
That did it for me.
Every single casino would be close. Better still, I wouldn’t have to go back to that joke of a room.
Upon laying eyes on that hotel, I couldn’t help but smile at Matteo and give him my sincere congrats. It was justenormous. Towering over most of the buildings around it, our hotel overlooked the Strip, offering some spectacular views to the city. The lobby was spacious enough for a truck to just roll in and park in front of the reception desk. Couches and armchairs stretched all the way to either side of the building. The only glitch in the whole thing was the temperature outside. It was a little too cold for the management to keep the pools filled with water.
Returning to the lobby, Cesare and Matteo strolled away from the elevator, Piper standing between me and them, her side to me.
“So, Mr. Vegas expert,” Matteo said, looking back at me. “I know this may sound stupid, but what do you want to do?”
Gamble.
Yep, this was my first instinct. To go out, walk into a casino and just gamble away. I had never done that in Vegas. I’d been to Salt Lake City once, but I didn’t like it so much. It just didn’t have the same appeal to me.
After about thirty seconds of silence, it was Cesare’s turn to ask me something.
“You don’t want to go find a casino boss and tell him we whacked Kanin, do you? Because this place is still run by…”
“Corporations. I know,” I interrupted him, my gaze shifting to Piper. Her cheerful expression and those big eyes of hers made my heart pump so much faster. She looked so fine in her white, ankle-long dress. In fact, that color gave me an idea. It was wild; there was no doubt about it, but I wasn’t going to keep it to myself. I pulled her aside and gestured to Matteo and Cesare away from the center of the lobby. “Let’s go to a chapel,” I suggested, goosebumps rising all over my body. “There are tons of chapels around here. We won’t have to worry about getting a license first and all that crap.”
“Huh?” Piper huffed, she and my boys staring at me like I had tentacles sticking out from my sides. “You want me to marry you?”
“Not just me,” I shook my head sideways once. “All of us. I love you, Piper.”
“I love you, too,” Matteo interrupted me, leaning closer.
“Iloveyou, Piper,” Cesare said, before swallowing hard. “I’m sorry on his behalf. Clearly, this isn’t the place or the time for confessions, but…”
“Hold on a minute!” she shouted, her hands raised at chest height as some heads turned in our direction. “Leo.” She lowered her voice to almost a whisper. “Do you realize what you just asked of me? And where? I mean, take a look around you. Am I supposed to decide right here? In a hotel lobby?”
“Let’s go back upstairs,” Matteo suggested, throwing a vicious glare my way. “I always knew you were crazy. Thanks for proving me right again, you moron.”
Yeah, yeah…
Moron my ass.
To me, this made all the sense in the world.
I was itching to get my point across. Even back in the elevator, it crossed my mind to start saying why we should do this. To list all the reasons that had helped me reach that decision. Hearing that ding was a relief.
“All right, you crazy son of a bitch.” Cesare was the first to speak up once we were back in our room. “Why don’t you go ahead and tell us why you talked out of your ass down there.”
“Right,” I murmured, looking out the window to my left. I had a clear view of the Bellagio, water shooting up in the fountains down below. “Out of my ass, huh? Okay. The place was all wrong; I’ll give you that. But can you two remind me why we drove all the way to Vegas just last week?”
“We all know why,” Cesare spoke, shrugging his shoulders. “To take care of Kanin.”
“Who wanted to have Piper killed for patching you up,” I went on, my voice stronger. “We don’t just love her, man. We love her so much that we’dkillfor her. That we’ddiefor her. My nurse,” I stopped talking for a moment and took a slow step towards her. “I know I can never love anybody else as much as I love you. So, I’m sorry if I said that the first time in a crowded lobby, but…” I faltered. “It just felt right. I hope you understand.”
“Wow,” she whispered, her gaze dropping down for a moment, before she raised it back up to mine. “Yes, I understand.”
“Look, I get it,” Matteo said, his voice gaining in volume. “You wanted to show her how much we love her, but these things don’t happen because one of us says so. We should have talked about this.”
“I know,” I nodded to him. “Guys, I told you what I wanted to do. The question is ‘do we all want the same thing?’ If we don’t, forget I asked and let’s go out for drinks.”
“I want that, too,” Cesare voiced his opinion, his voice bass deep as he gazed down into Piper’s eyes. “I’m not trying to put any pressure on you—this is just my take on the whole marriage thing. We stuck our necks out to keep you safe; all of us. That says a lot about how we feel about you. And I doubt there’s going to be another Piper in our lives.Ever. I mean someone we’d protect with our own lives.”
“Well said,” Matteo praised, looking at her from across the room. “You’re a decent woman, Piper Briggs. You’re fun, smart and so smoking hot it hurts. I never thought I’d go after a mobster for a woman, but you proved me wrong. So, yeah. I want that marriage, too. I just wish that little idiot had run this by me before he opened his big mouth.”
“Oh, my god,” Piper sighed, her gaze darting from me to Cesare, and then, to Matteo. I could have sworn I could hear my heart pounding. It had jumped in my throat, my pulse rising as I waited for her to speak up. Whatever words came out of her mouth, I knew I had done the right thing. I hadn’t hidden from her or my boys. I had put my cards on the table. It was up to her to decide what was going to happen during our stay in Vegas.
