“Should we call Vinci and ask him to represent Aaron?” Taviano asked.
Stefano shook his head. “It’s actually better if Aaron is locked up. We don’t know for certain there is someone else, but let’s assume there is for now. Whoever is trying to frame him can’t very well do anything else while he’s in jail or the frame won’t work. Everyone is safe for the moment. We can concentrate on figuring out who he is and set up a con. That’s when we’ll pull Aaron out.”
“Who would have motivation?” Sasha asked. The heat from Giovanni’s thigh nearly scorched her palm right through the material of his slacks. She began to rub her hand up and down his thigh.
“Any of the fighters he defeated on his way to the title,” Emmanuelle said.
“Aaron told Sasha I competed with him for women.”
“What the fuck?” Stefano snapped. “I should go pay that little asshole a visit. Teach him a lesson about lying to one of our women. We fuck up enough on our own without having that kind of shit spread around.”
The fact that Stefano was so outraged made Sasha realize that none of Giovanni’s brothers would compete for women and then drop them. It wouldn’t happen. She had believed Giovanni, but it was nice to know none of the others would, either.
“The point is, if he said that, did he do it? If he did and won, would the woman be angry with him? Would the loser? What if the woman was someone the loser really wanted?” Emmanuelle asked.
“If the loser really wanted a woman, would he risk her on a bet?” Vittorio asked. “He didn’t want her that bad if it happened and he deserved to lose her.”
“What about Meredith Benson?”
Everyone at the table turned to look at Sasha. She’d expected it, but she still blushed. “I’m not jealous just because Giovanni kissed her …”
“I didn’t kiss her,” he denied, just like she knew he would. “She kissed me.”
“Is there a difference?” She widened her eyes at him.
“There will be a discussion at home about this.”
A frisson of excitement crept down her spine and her sex clenched. Her fingers bit into his thigh and crept closer to his cock. She was very happy to think about what kind of discussion they’d be having once they got home.
“I’m just saying, the woman set it up so the paparazzi would take pictures of her planting one on my helpless man for an imagined slight, perhaps she’s mental enough to go to all the trouble of framing a friend of his.” Even to herself it sounded a little lame. It sounded much better when she was thinking about it.
“I already asked the investigators to check her out,” Stefano said. “She has an alibi for every single night, but someone paid that worm to attack Giovanni and you at the club, so maybe she paid someone to do all this. I just don’t think she’s that stupid.”
Sasha didn’t feel so much like a jealous woman. She really wasn’t concerned about the most beautiful woman in Hollywood. Who would be?
Giovanni leaned close. “Stop it,” he whispered. He opened her fingers and pressed her palm over his thigh. She hadn’t even realized she’d closed her fist.
“Just so you’re all aware, in the middle of this fucked-up mess, Sasha has agreed to marry me immediately. We’ve already gotten the license, and we’ll be negotiating with Goodman today to get married in his facility so Sandlin can be with us. We thought taking him out of his environment would be upsetting to him. The doc noticed that if he’s forced out onto the grounds and away from the sitting room or his own room, he becomes agitated.”
Sasha looked down at her nearly empty plate. She didn’t want to think too much about what that meant. She knew the doctor had been trying to prepare her to lose her brother, but she’d insisted on denial. She was still in denial. If he could only live three years, then she wanted every minute of those three years. She planned to ask the doctor about a private nurse and Sandlin living with her. First, she had to ask Giovanni, but she knew his answer. When it came to caring for family, his answer would always be yes.
Stefano sent her a smile. A legitimate, real smile. The one he generally reserved for Francesca. “When? It has to be very small, to be held there. We’ll have to do the reception at the hotel so the community can come. I don’t want to be the one to tell Signora Moretti that she isn’t invited to Giovanni’s wedding.”
Another round of laughter went up. Sasha loved being with Giovanni’s family. When they were alone together, they seemed to handle everything easily. The fact that someone had tried to burn down businesses and kill her or Giovanni—very sobering subjects that they all contributed to—but then they’d go into laughter. She loved that.
“By right away,” Emmanuelle ventured, “do you mean in a month?”
Giovanni nearly spewed coffee across the table. He glared at his sister. “I spent all night tormenting her until she agreed to immediately.”
Sasha smirked. “But you didn’t negotiate exactly what immediately meant. A month, when it comes to a wedding, is definitely immediately.”
He glared at her and she wanted to laugh. “I’m fully aware you liked your torture a little too much, baby, so I’ll be upping the game tonight. When you agreed to ‘immediately’ that meant in the next couple of days.”
The women gasped. Emmanuelle shook her head. Mariko smiled and shook hers as if she thought all men were crazy. Francesca gave her brother-in-law a stern look. “No one can put a wedding together in a couple of days. The dress. The cake. The flowers. We have to have the place decorated.”
“To get the best planner can take months,” Emmanuelle said.
“Baby, you want to marry me as soon as possible, don’t you?” His voice was pure wickedness.
“Yes.” She could barely get it out. Her lungs felt raw with the need for air. How could a woman love a man so much so fast? She would do anything for him. He wanted to marry her immediately because of Sandlin. He might want to tie her to him, but more, he wanted to make absolutely certain that her brother would be well enough to attend the wedding and enjoy it.
“Don’t agree to anything,” Emmanuelle said. “He’s going to pull out all stops to get his way. My brothers think they can boss everyone. You have to stand strong, Sasha. Your wedding day is your day.”
“It’s our day,” Giovanni corrected. “The two of us, baby.” He brought her hand to his mouth and kissed her open palm. Right in the center, sending little darts of fire racing straight to her heart. Little arrows. There was no way to tell him how wonderful he was. No way to show him. This wasn’t for Giovanni no matter how much he said it was. Her heart ached with love. Her heart hurt with it. Giovanni and Sandlin, her two men.
“They’ll do anything,” Emmanuelle continued. “You just have to hold out.”
“You promised to be my wife immediately, Sasha,” Giovanni said. He was using the voice. His tone was sinful. Beautiful. “Immediately.”
Sasha nodded. She heard the love in it. There was no speaking. No way to speak. If she tried, she’d burst into tears, and maybe she still would. Her beloved Sandlin. Her brother. She fought so hard to keep him. To make his life everything it could be. She would have sacrificed anything for him. Somehow, by some miracle, she found a man who loved her enough to want to do the same thing.
Francesca put her hands over her face. “I don’t know how we’re going to be able to do this, but I guess …” She trailed off, looking at Emmanuelle.
Emmanuelle groaned, threw her hands into the air and shook her head. “You’re so whipped, Sasha. That man is going to walk all over you just the way Stefano walks on Francesca and Ricco walks on Mariko.”