“Ren, your family does certain… things. And they’re Italian. Sicilian Italian. Your dad was whacked. And Vito can be scary. I put two and two together—”
“And made twelve.”
Oh man.
I put a hand on his chest and leaned in. “You’re right. I’m sorry. That was totally uncool. Totally. Really, I’m sorry.” I tipped my head to the side and pressed my hand into his chest “Forgive me?”
“For thinkin’ I’m an underboss?”
Hmm.
Time to shut my mouth.
See, I’d been stupid and I’d apologized.
And he hadn’t accepted.
I offended him and maybe his acceptance was going to take a few minutes.
So I was going to give them to him before I lost my patience and pointed out (in a perhaps snotty or sarcastic way) that he should accept my apology.
“I’ll just take the dishes down to the sink,” I muttered, moving to exit the bed.
Instead of getting out of the bed, my coffee mug was pulled from my hand, put on the nightstand, and I was shoved back into position facing Ren.
“All this time, you thought you were fuckin’ a wiseguy?” he asked.
“Um…” I mumbled, because I did. It was just that he was angry and I didn’t want to say it out loud.
“You did. You thought you were fuckin’ a wiseguy,” he pressed.
I pushed my lips to the side.
“And you let me in there,” he went on.
“Yes,” I whispered.
He stared at me.
I fought squirming.
Then he burst out laughing.
I stopped fighting squirming and glared.
“What’s funny?” I snapped.
His hand shot out and hooked me behind the neck, pulling me into him even as he leaned close.
“Christ, you love me so much, I was so damned in there, you accepted me as a wiseguy.”
I had a feeling I was never going to hear the end of that.
“Just saying, Zano, if you’re looking for new career paths, I’d prefer you veer from that one,” I returned.
“Babe, you thought I was already on it.”
This sucked, but it was true.
“Whatever,” I muttered, yanking at his hand at my neck and looking anywhere but at him.
“Ally,” he called.
“What?” I asked the bedpost.
“Baby, give me your eyes.”
He was talking sweet.
I heaved a sigh and gave him my eyes.
“So, I want a stay-at-home mom and you give me a badass PI. You accepted a wiseguy and got whatever I am. We’re a fuckin’ pair.”
We were.
I looked into his eyes and wondered how on earth we were working.
Then it hit me I shouldn’t think on that too much. We were. That was all that mattered.
“I suppose I should thank you for giving up your six figure part of a criminal empire for me,” I said somewhat ungraciously.
This made him smile and pull me closer as his eyes dropped to my mouth and his lips murmured, “You’re welcome, honey.”
“Now, I need to go out and run off my French toast,” I informed him.
His eyes came back to mine just as his lips hit mine and he replied, “Oh, we’ll work it off.”
A shiver slid over my skin and my happy place got happy.
His head slanted, his lips pressed to mine and his tongue slid inside.
We then proceeded to work off the French toast and the sausages.
I wasn’t sure what we did would help me stay in shape should I have to outrun bad guys.
But it was a whole lot better than running.
Chapter Twenty
Welcome to the Family
“You good?” Ren asked, and I looked from my place in the passenger seat to him behind the wheel of his Jag.
“I’m good,” I answered. “You good?”
He grabbed my hand, gave it a squeeze and rested it on his thigh. “I’m good.”
I looked out the windshield.
Even though we were heading to have dinner with Mom and Dad, I was good.
This mostly had to do with the fact that Ren instigated Operation Two Year Fuck-a-Thon today. Ren got out of bed to make us these awesome toasted roast beef sandwiches with peppers, mushrooms and melted cheese for lunch, and we both got out of bed about an hour and a half ago to take a shower. The rest of the time was in bed making love or holding close, touching and whispering, or snoozing to prepare for more making love.
It was righteous.
So since we had no fights or breakups and nothing exploded, but I’d had seven orgasms, I was all set for dinner with my man and my parents.
“Date night tomorrow night, baby,” Ren said on another hand squeeze, and I looked at him.
“Okay, but I have a meeting at Lee’s office to discuss my future career plans tomorrow evening, so we’ll have to go after that.”
“What the fuck?” he asked, eyes narrowing on the road.
“It’ll be cool,” I assured him. “I’ll talk them around but if I—”
“No, babe,” he bit out. “What the fuck?”
I looked forward.