EIGHTEEN
“Go big or go home. That seems to be your motto.” Mia walked around Nico’s penthouse at the Casino Italia. He had brought her here after a few celebratory drinks, expecting they would be in bed together already. But she’d been wandering around for the last five minutes with no indication that she intended to sit down, much less get busy consummating the marriage with him.
He to admit, the penthouse was impressive. Soaring floor-to-ceiling windows gave him a 280-degree view of the city, while inside, thick Berber carpets and rich mahogany floors spread across three thousand square feet of space. He had already shown her the entertainment room, multiple seating areas, powder room, large master bedroom, dining room, and three massive bathrooms. Nico had given the designer a brief for understated elegance in neutral colors and let her run with it.
“I was kinda hoping to see your place,” Mia said. “I don’t know much about you. People usually know something about the man they marry before they tie the knot, other than that he’s a mobster and runs a casino.”
Nico shrugged off his leather jacket and hung it carefully in the closet. They had returned the rented wedding clothes on the way home, and he swore he’d never wear an ill-fitting tux again. “This is it.” He’d never thought about his living environment before. It was a place to sleep and occasionally entertain.
“Seriously, you live in the hotel?”
“My office is downstairs. I’m available to handle any emergencies. It’s efficient.” He walked over to the polished granite wet bar in the corner and raised a quizzical eyebrow. She was unusually cagey, aloof, despite the vodka shots she drank with Jules before and after the ceremony. He understood her sense of disquiet, could almost hear the thoughts in her head because they were the same thoughts he was having.
What the hell had they done?
After this night, when they went public with their union, the fallout might be worse than either of them had anticipated. But no matter how bad it got, it couldn’t be undone.
Yes, they had an attraction, an incredible chemistry that had sparked the night they first met. But for all that they had spent some time together, they were still strangers. Two people who had been walking different paths, now on the same road together. Nico had never expected to love his wife. Marriage was a contractual union, a business arrangement, a means of showing power and producing heirs. Love and intimacy were for mistresses. And yet, when he was with Mia, he imagined having both.
Mia shook her head. “I’ve had enough, thanks.” She trailed her fingers over the wooden credenza. “Where is you in this suite? Magazines, pizza boxes, pictures, sports gear—the kind of stuff that tells a wife what kind of man she’s just married, what he does on his time off, how he relaxes…”
“I’m here just to sleep,” Nico said. “My days are taken up with work. There is no time for hobbies or relaxing.”
“Liar,” she teased, giving him a flash of the Mia he knew. “That motorcycle we rode on to get here is definitely for chilling out.”
“Not when you’re screaming at me to go faster. I didn’t realize I had married a speed demon.”
She grinned and Nico’s tension eased the tiniest bit. Nothing in Nico’s life had ever truly belonged to him. Even the casino had been built with Mafia money. But now Mia was his wife. His to have, his to hold, and his to protect. Although she insisted it was just a marriage of convenience, the words he spoke, the piece of paper he signed that evidenced their union, meant something to Nico—something he hadn’t been prepared for when he agreed to the plan.
He watched her open doors and cabinets, peer behind curtains, and inspect the computer station and the electronics systems. She was stalling, trying to put some distance between them. So he gave her some space. He turned on one of the televisions, sat on the cold, beige leather couch, and stared at the football game on the screen as she walked around some more.
“What does this do?” She pushed a button and the window slid to the side, giving her access to a vast outdoor patio with a rooftop swimming pool, small garden, and hundreds of twinkling lights that Nico had never once walked through.
“Terrace.” He came up behind her, looked out at the starry night.
“If I lived in this place, I would be out here every night,” she said, stepping outside, her voice without the strain he’d heard since she said”I do.” “It’s so beautiful, peaceful.”
“You do live here.” He rested his hands on her shoulders. “This is your home now.”
“I can’t live in a hotel.” She stiffened in his arms. “It’s too … I mean … It’s nice. Really nice. But it’s kind of … bland. No character. And it’s too clean and tidy. I’m not a tidy person. You saw my place. This isn’t me.”
“You can go to your place to visit whenever you wish. But you are my wife now, Mia. You live with me.”