Giovanni watched the three people as he sipped on his own wine, although his eyes kept straining back to her, with her long black hair pulled up into a high ponytail and the nude colored dress tight on her body. Again, he couldn’t quite explain it, but he was grateful that all of that was, and would remain, his.
“Vinny?” He let out a soft sigh as his eyes broke away from her and turned to look at his cousin, and his best friend, along with his second.
“What is it Salvatore?”
“Jennifer came in, caused quite a scene. Your dad took her to the library.”
“Fuck, he will be pissed.”
“I thought you told her?” Giovanni gulped down his wine and handed the empty glass to his cousin.
“I did, but it’s obvious she failed to understand it. Let me to go take care of this before my dad blows a fuse.” Vinny made his way to the library and strolled right in. His eyes took in the blonde beauty before him. He rather enjoyed his time with Jennifer, and yes, he did question if he could discreetly swing seeing her but he knew better. He had many loyal men within the family, men who would keep his secrets. But he also had many that stood straight behind his dad and would spill the seed on this one.
He took her in before he cleared his throat, his eyes drinking in her lush curves and long legs. Sure, he had plenty of women, but oddly enough, he kept coming back to this one woman. And maybe, he would have dated her, if that was ever his thing. For sure not marriage, though. Jennifer was not Italian and marrying her wouldn’t have flown with either of his parents, actually. So, for him, she was enough for a fuck and nothing more, which she knew and understood. Which would explain why he was so very confused she was here, she knew better.
“Jennifer,” he said, causing her to turn and smile at him.
“Valentina is very pretty.” Yes, she was which told him that Jennifer had at least been around his home tonight long enough for her to have seen Valentina. Since Jennifer wasn’t part of any family, she wasn’t around the group he usually hung out with, so the paths of Jennifer and Valentina would never have crossed.
“Thank you, but what are you doing here?”
“I came to offer my congratulations, of course.” She stepped over to him, her hips swaying and his eyes ran over her. From the top of her plunging neckline to the way the dressed grabbed her hips, his eyes took it all in.
“How did you get in my house?”
“I have my ways.” He lifted a brow, her answer actually disturbing him. If she snuck it, then he needed to check the windows and doors. If she got passed people, he needed to check the staff.
“Tell me.”
“I got in with the catering crew.” Jennifer had no idea how many people she just put in danger. He had never gone into exactly what he was, why should he? They weren’t anything. So, he was pretty damn sure she had no idea how much danger she could have put herself in either. He pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head.
“Why would you do that?”
“To see you, to talk to you.”
“I told you that we were done, we had to be.”
“You told me you were getting married and you couldn’t cheat, yet you must have been cheating on her this whole time.” In this case, he really hadn’t been. But Jennifer never saw the news, so really had no idea about him. And given that, he knew he couldn’t explain about the agreement, which led to him keeping his mouth shut right now. “Come on Vinny, you can still meet up with me.”
“Jennifer, when I met up with you a week ago, and told you I was done, I meant it.” God, Giovanni hated when his dad was right, and he had been. Donatello had warned his son not to get to close to this woman, but he didn’t listen. Not that he was ever planning anything with Jennifer, but he had gone back to her more than the others, and it seemed she thought something more would happen; that all of their past gave them something special.
“She’s a prude, a bore. She won’ be able to give you what you want, what you crave.” His jaw clenched at that. No, she might be reserved and with holding, but he knew that he could open her up to his sexual world.
“She’s not a prude.”
“You called her that! You know….” She rambled on but he ignored her. Yes, he had called Valentina a prude the last night he was with Jennifer and that’s because he thought she was. Hell, he knew plenty of men, his own friends included, who wanted to fuck her. But he now knew why, and that didn’t make her a prude. By rights, that made her the perfect Mafia princess actually, doing what as asked of her and respecting the men who asked it, father or not.
And in fact, looking upon it now, he was quite happy to awaken her sexual appetite. And truth be told, he really couldn’t wait to see how un-prudish she could be; even if he had to wait till their wedding night to see that. Although, he didn’t want to think about going that long; he was hoping she might give a little prior to that.
“Just stop!” He let out a breath as he looked her over before shaking his head. “What we had was fun, sure, but it’s done. It was never going to be more. And whether you want to believe it or not, I’m not cheating, now or ever. There are some things that are done in our culture you will never understand.” Her eyes narrowed at him.
“You’re a prick!”
“Never claimed to be anything else, darlin’.”
“Valentina better be forewarned just how much of a dick you are.”
“Oh, she already knows.” He pointed to a door that was behind her. “Leave through there. And for your safety Jennifer, I suggest no one sees you, you don’t talk to anyone and you never come back here again.” She glared at him, slammed her glass down on the table and left how he told her. He watched her go, something telling him to be weary of her. Damn, his dad would hate to put anyone on watching her, so he was going to have to be careful, maybe find someone himself to watch her.
He opened the door to the hallway and paused before he walked out, the scene he saw a punch to the gut. He saw Valentina in the arms of one man, the man he hated with a big passion. Oh, he was well aware of the man’s feelings for Valentina, he used to think him a fool for them as well. But, seeing the look in the man’s eyes as he steadied his fiancé, Giovanni wanted nothing more than to punch the son of one of the other major families.
“Dante DeLaurentis,” Giovanni growled out, causing both heads to turn and look at him. He made a point at looking at Valentina’s hands on his arms, which quickly made her drop her hands from him.
“Giovanni let me offer my congratulations on snagging one of the most gorgeous ladies around.” Giovanni held his hand out to Valentina, who walked over and placed her hand in his.
“Thank you, we are looking forward to our engagement.”
“I’m sorry again, Valentina. As always, a pleasure,” he said, walking past her. “State attenti con il suo Constantini (be careful with her Constantini),” Dante muttered low enough for only him to hear. What that a God damn threat?
Giovanni and Valentina watched the retreating back for a few moments before Giovanni turned to look at her. “One of your many admirers, huh?” Valentina rolled her eyes and stepped away from him. With his loud mouth, she recalled Jennifer and his wonderful conversation. “Yes, Dante had tried to get me to go out with him plenty of times. In fact, I think he was waiting for me to graduate before talking to my dad about pressing for my hand.” “Ha, your dad wouldn’t have aligned with that family.” “Yet he aligned with the Constantini’s, go figure.” Valentina shot him a glare
“What are you doing?” Valentina looked at the man through the mirror and smiled. “Getting my hair done. As you know, I have an upcoming party to get ready for.” “You mean the one that’s coming up on Friday at your parents place?” Giovanni took the empty chair by Valentina and she smiled. “I’m sorry, but my mom doesn’t take well to being underhanded.” Vinny tilted his head to the side as he regarded her in the mirror. “You know, you would think our moms knew that this war was over.” She couldn’t stop the laugh that came out and she couldn’t deny that she liked
“Buongiorno (good morning), Giovanni.” Giovanni looked up at his dad as he walked into the kitchen. His dad perched against the island, a cup of coffee in one hand and the morning newspaper in the other. “Buongiorno, papà (morning, dad).” Vinny eyed the man again as he made his way to the coffee pot. It wasn’t odd to see his dad awake, and hell if wasn’t odd for Vinny to be awake either. But it was odd to see his dad still in the kitchen and not in the family dining area, which told Vinny that his dad remained just so he could run into Vinny. “You and Val make a striking couple,” Donatello said, tossing the newspaper on the counter between them. “The media are calling you two the power couple.” Vinny finish
It was simple and sweet and it sure as hell caused her heart to start doing double time, which was something she didn’t like and refused to examine why. But the sounds of cat calls and whistles soon broke them apart and as they did, she stared into his eyes. And she blinked as a flash captured her attention and she turned, seeing a cameraman there. “Thanks for that shot, Vinny; the readers are going to love it.” Val quickly took a step back, her teeth grinding against each other. She should have known better! In fact, she would do well to remember that all of this is for show that Vinny would never care for her like she would want. “Glad you got it, Nico.” Nico smiled at Val but she couldn’t return it. ‘This is just a job, grin and bear it’, she k
Salvatore looked between the couple and saw the hard glint in Vinny’s eyes. Yes, Valentina maybe shouldn’t have been so forceful and left marks on Celeste, but Celeste shouldn’t have disrespected her either; and everyone, including Celeste, knew that. Val did what any princess would have done, stood up for herself. And he had to make Vinny see that; after all, he was the only one who knew the terms of this agreement. So, he grabbed Carlos and told him to take Val down to the dance floor while he took Vinny to the office. Once Carlos took her, much to Vinny’s annoyance, Salvatore grabbed his arm, “let’s go.” “Where to?” “The office, we need to talk.” Vinny sighed, but followed him.  
“Are you allowed to go?” Val rolled her eyes at her friend. “I’m his fiancée Claire, not a lap dog or anything.” “So, you’re free to go after class?” “Yes.” Valentina looked up at her friend and classmate. Claire was one of those people who didn’t know about her world, and that’s how Val wanted to keep it. She didn’t hang out much with her outside of class, so when she asked, she was quick to say yes to get away from that mafia world. And all they knew was that she was engaged, and to whom, but all they knew about Giovanni was that he was some type of business man.
Valentina swallowed hard and looked up at her father before looking back at Vinny, who stood at the doorway, with his arms crossed over his chest and a murderous glint in his eyes. His eyes took notice of the cut on her lip and on her arm, but also of the hands prints. But before she could say anything, the doctor came in and checked out her wound, shooing everyone but Rafael and Vinny out. “De Luca, can you excuse us please?” Vinny asked as the doctor finished bandaging the arm. Rafael glanced at her and slowly he shook his head. “I’m very disappointed, Val.” And in all her years she had never felt so small. And it wasn’t like she made a habit of it. In fact, she was the one attacked! Vinny hunched down and she stared at his jean clad legs, not w
He pulled into the four car garage and quickly cut the engine after he parked. She looked through the window at the other three cars and lifted a brow as he helped her out. “Where would mine go?” He grinned at her question and tossed her a wink. “I have a warehouse at the back of my property that has another five cars. These are merely the ones I drive more often. When you move in, I’ll simply put one of these back there.” She blinked, she knew that it would happen, her moving in and living with him, but to hear it, it felt more real. “Right,” she muttered, which caused him to chuckle. It was as surreal for him and it was her. &nb