Chasing Di'Maggio: a BWWM romance

Jessica Watkins Presents

Chasing Di’Maggio

Elisabeth

Copyright © 2015 by Elisabeth

Published by Jessica Watkins Presents
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof
may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever
without the express written permission of the publisher
except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Acknowledgements

First and foremost, I want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Without him, I wouldn't have this talent nor would you be able to read my book. I want to thank my big family for their love and support; you guys are the light of my world. From my mother and father, who have always known that I can write, to my siblings; Valerie, Jonas, Grace, Alvan, Jisca, Jemima, and our baby sister, Diamond (even if you're too young to read this book, it doesn't mean you didn't believe in me). I love you all with my all heart. I want to thank my friends, my girls; our little group chat makes my day and gives me ideas for more books. I want to personally thank Fadzai for reading all my books and falling in love with each and every character. I want to thank Jisca and you for fighting over the male characters; it gives me joy. Jemima, although you’re going to read the book later, you inspire me in more ways than you know. Aurelie, Sarah and Akello also known as my chichi; you guys were probably going to say something if I didn't include you in the acknowledgments. Last but not least, my Esosa, the way you hyped up my book and promoted it when the cover came out made me so happy. I told you I wouldn't forget you at all in my acknowledgments. Also, my boo, Alex thank you for reading my books.

Guys, I love you more than I say or show.

Thank you for believing in me.

Elisabeth

Seeing him leave was by far the hardest thing that she’d ever done. They weren’t serious about each other, nor were they dating, so she seriously didn’t understand why she was so heartbroken.

Matthew Di’Maggio was her brother’s best friend. They all grew up together side by side. When she was young, she would never want to tag along, but her mother made her brother take her wherever he went. As nice as that was, it was annoying for her. It seemed as though she followed them everywhere, like some kind of lost puppy.

Nicolette cried horribly when her brother and Matty moved away for college. They decided that they would go all the way to New York for school. Nicolette hated to see them go, but who was she to get in the way of their future? Her brother Tommy and Matty were four years older than her. Going to school in Florida wouldn’t have been bad, right? But she was miserable when they left.

Let’s be honest, she was crying more because she didn’t want Matty to leave. Of course, Nicolette loved Tommy, but when she was sixteen, she thought Matty was going to be the love of her life. Not everyone knew she was secretly in love with him—especially, not Matty—but it was obvious that she had a crush on him. His brothers would tease her about it nonstop and it used to piss her off. Ugh!

Now, today, Tommy was coming back for the holidays, this time with Matty. Nicolette was ecstatic because they got to see her all grown up. She hadn’t seen her brother since her eighteenth birthday. Since then she had been busy accomplishing things pretty well. She was the socially awkward kid in school, who was too smart for her own good and got bullied by all the other kids. Yes, it sucked, but it paid off! Now she had her own event planning business. She did it with the help of her doctor parents, Jonathan and Natalia Richards, who till this day don’t really approve of her not going into medicine. But Nicolette was never really able to handle needles.

For Nicolette, the great part of owning her own business was that she was her own damn boss, so she did as she pleased—except for when it came to paying the bills, of course.

Anyway, the Di’Maggio family and the Richards family decided to come together for the holidays, and her parents
finally
trusted Nicolette to plan an event for Christmas. She was so nervous! But she had no idea why since she was the acclaimed event planner!

Honestly, Nicolette Richards hated these gatherings. As a child, she was tortured by the Di’Maggio brothers: Michael, the eldest, Matthew, the middle child, and Gabriel, the last born like her. Now add her brother, Thomas Richards, the businessman, and for her, she’d rather skip it all.

The worst of them was calling her now.

“Hello, mother,” she answered reluctantly.

“Hmm, Nicolette, are you ready yet? Because we are at our house that you beautifully decorated, but you’re not in it. You know how much I hate you being late, right?”

“Yes, mom. I’m coming. I’m going to get ready now. Happy?”

“Very. The Di’Maggios are here, so clearly we know you’re the last one to come. Please do show up this time.”

“Uhh, okay. Bye.”

Wow, Nicolette’s mother still treated her like a baby.
Even if she worked hard to prove to her that she had the ability to do this crap. Her mother constantly reminded her how hard she should work to prove to people that her skin color had nothing to do with her brain. Just because she is black, it didn’t mean she had to be a doctor or lawyer to prove something. Hell no. Nicolette was perfectly fine with what she was today.

This dress is nice. Christmas-y, I guess
, she thought as she eyed a lace dress in her closet. How wrong can you go with an elegant lace dress? It was a simple, white, fitted lace dress with long sleeves. It cupped her chest well and it practically was painted perfectly on her body. It was topped off with black bangles, black five-inch heels, black diamond stud earrings that her dad bought her and a simple black clutch. The back was exposed all the way down near her waist. That’ll make her mother faint, for sure.

Oh good, something my precious mother would hate
, Nicolette thought with a snicker as she hurried to get dressed.

“Oh, nice to see you, honey,” Nicolette’s mother greeted after opening the door. “I see you showed up.”

“Yes, mom, I did,” Nicolette answered, kissing her as she entered the home. “Now where is Tommy?”

“Everyone is waiting for you in the dining room hall.”

“Oh, goodie,” she replied, attempting to hide her sarcasm.

For some reason, she felt chills walking towards the dining room. Maybe because it was just a little bit chilly outside, but she made sure she had a leather jacket on.

Ugh… maybe it’s the excitement of seeing my brother after four long years,
she thought.

“Tommy?!” she squealed. Nicolette hardly recognized her own brother, standing in the dining room. He’d matured so much since the last time she saw him.

“Nico?!”

Sigh. That dreadful nickname that stuck like a bad rash.

“Oh God, Tommy, I missed you! Come here; give me a hug.”

Hugging her big bro reminded Nicolette of how short she was despite her heels. Her brother was 6’2”, only two inches shorter than Matty. It had been so long since she last saw Tommy. He looked good though. Here he was; twenty-six and a young, serious, successful businessman in New York City. Wow
,
Nicolette thought her handsome brother didn’t look a day over twenty-one, but some of those bags under his eyes sure gave it away. He clearly worked out, from the looks of it.

“Nico, what the hell? You’ve grown, baby sis. Let’s be serious; how old are you again?”

“I’m twenty-two now, Tommy, Jeez.” Finally, they ended their embrace and Nicolette realized that she had forgotten to greet everyone else in the room. “Oh hi, Mr. and Mrs. Di’Maggio. How’ve you all been?”

“Oh, we’ve been great, honey. I love your dress.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Di’Maggio.”

“Oh, Nicooooo,” Gabriel Di’Maggio teased. “Won’t you give me a hug?”

She rolled my eyes in the back of her head as he embraced her. “Oh hey, Gabe. I haven’t seen you since …
last week at the gym
, idiot. Get off!”

Laughing, he told her, “I tried. I miss my gym buddy.”

“Sorry, stupid. I was busy. You know that. No hard feelings?” Then she turned to greet his other brother. “Oh, Michael! Come here and give good old Nico a hug.”

“Hi, Nico. Haven’t seen you in ages.”

“I know, I know,” Nicolette admitted while hugging him. “You moved to New York with Dumb and Dumber, so I can’t help it.”

“You should come visit, Nico.”

“I will someday, I promise.”

As everyone was saying their hellos and all, Matthew Di’Maggio walked in. Nicolette had her back turned to him, but Matty knew it was her. The way she laughed echoed in his ears. The way her back was openly exposed was perfection, but in the same breath, he didn’t like it. And it made him feel some sort of way when she kept grabbing Gabriel’s hand. Gabriel left Michael talking to Nicolette and walked over to Matty, who was standing in the doorway just admiring Nicolette.

“You might want to pick up your jaw, buddy.”

“Shut up, Gabe.”

Gabe chuckled. “Hey, man, Nico is hot. I told you that when I saw her at the gym last week in those shorts. Mmmm, delicious.”

“Ugh, you’re such a prick.”

“Then go say hi, big bro. I’ll go use the bathroom.”

Matty didn’t want to cause a scene by shoving Gabe, so he let it go... for the moment. As he walked closer to Nicolette, he couldn’t help but admire her beauty. She looked so beautiful with her hair all black and in those curls tumbling down on her chest.
Oh God. I cannot go there
, he thought. But what else could he do? The little excuse she called a dress covered close to nothing, but it gave an insight to how brown her skin was and how it resembled the smoothness of chocolate. The richness of her skin just glowed, and with her exposed back, he couldn’t stop looking.

The last time Matty saw Nicolette, she was crying and saying her goodbyes. At the time, she was on her way of being fully developed but not quite. But boy, did she develop quickly and perfectly over the years. The way her body curved in the right places made him feel like he was in heaven, even without touching her. He knew that Nicolette had a crush on them when they were kids, but that was child’s play compared to how he grew to feel for her. Matty knew he had no chance with her. One: she was Tommy’s baby sis, and he would strangle Matty in a matter of seconds. Two: he probably wasn’t her type. She seemed to like black guys back in high school, so the one major fact that he was white didn’t help his case at all.

He was interrupted out of his thoughts. “Matty? Oh my God, Matty! Hi! Come here. Give me a hug. You look so …Wow.”

As soon as Nicolette hugged Matty, something lit up. They both had no clue what it was, but something was causing a passionate fire to burn inside them both. Nicolette couldn’t resist Matty. Still, she was surprised that the same feelings she had for him were there. The way he looked was just exquisite. He had on a three-piece suit that did crazy things to her. His Adonis body was exquisitely outlined for her by his tailored black suit. Everything just fit perfectly. His body wasn’t like Michael's or Gabriel's, not even close to Tommy’s either. From what she could remember, Matty was always bigger than his brothers and hers. He was faster, stronger; much more athletic. He played rugby in high school and college. He still had the body of a rugby player and looked even better in suits. Only the Lord Jesus would save Nicolette from dreaming of him. He was simply astonishing. Matty was beautiful to Nicolette. He was much more handsome than anyone she’d ever met. He was 6’4” with dusky features, from his dark facial hair to his shoulder-length hair that he wore slicked back. His face was just the icing on the cake of a body built fit for a king.

That perfect, perfect, mesmerizing face of his.

His perfect blue eyes, perfect nose, the strong jawline, beautiful lips—all of that was exquisite, but what did her in and made him so irresistible were those deep dimples; it got to her every time he smiled. And the glasses that he was wearing… Whew! Nicolette couldn’t concentrate at all.

“Nico, how’ve you been? Miss me?”

“Pfft! Yeah right, buddy. More like vice versa,” Nico teased.

“No, I’m sure you missed me. I can sense it.”

“Yeah... says the guy who hasn’t called or seen me since I was what? Sixteen? Hmmm.”

“It wasn’t like that,” he assured.

She waved her hand dismissively. “Matty, you’re getting ignored.”

“Bu—”

Then he was interrupted by Gabe. “Nico, come sit next to me.”

“Sure thing, Gabe.”

As Nico made her way, Gabe smirked at Matty and winked at Michael. Matty got a little upset trying to understand Gabe’s plan, but Michael rolled his eyes and shook his head at both of the idiots in the Di’Maggio family. Gabe and Michael knew that Matty had been head over heels in love with Nicolette for as long as he could remember. Gabe was playing games with him, messing with his head to see his reaction after so many years. But the feelings were the same. Even though he’d moved away and managed to stay away, seeing her today did not help his case. He was in love,
so in love
, but she didn’t see him like that. If only there was a way to change that. She looked so beautiful tonight that he was sure she had a boyfriend. He was so sure of it.

“Uhh, young lady,” Nico’s father voice rang in the air. “Did you forget about your old man?”

“Oh my God, no way! Daddy. I love you. Just thought since I saw you yesterday, I didn’t need to hug you today.”

“Whatever,” he teased. “So, everyone, let’s eat then, celebrate this Christmas Eve.”

“Love you, daddy,” Nico smiled.

He winked. “Love you too.”

Through the whole dinner, Matty couldn’t stop looking at Nicolette. She was just too pretty not to look at, even the way she was enjoying herself with Gabe and everyone else. It was disappointing though, because she didn't tease Matty as much as she used to when they were kids. He missed that like crazy though. He liked that she tagged along with him and Tommy back then. Even though she was younger than he was, he couldn’t shake her out of his mind, no matter how many girls he dated. Either someone was talking about her or she would randomly appear somewhere. Even though she was sitting across from him, she didn’t bother starting a conversation, which made him feel little, though he was the biggest male there by size.

“Hey, Big Bro, why are you so spaced out?” Gabriel asked.

“Oh sorry. Did you say something?”

“No, Dad was saying something to you.”

“Oh, sorry Dad, you were saying?”

“I was asking about you relocating. How’s that going?” Mr. Di’Maggio asked.

“It’s much harder than I thought. I had to make sure that everyone was up to speed with your branch over there. Dad, you know this isn’t easy, but my things should all be here next week.”

Gabe’s eyebrows rose with shock. “You’re moving back, Big Bro?”

“Yeah, Gabe. Dad didn’t tell you? Since he is retiring, I’ll be taking over. Michael has his own thing, and since I’m the architect in the family, I’ll be handling it.”

The Di’Maggios had a big architecture and home designing business. Mr. Antonio Di’Maggio started his business thirty years ago and had expanded it to New York, California, and other cities.

“I’d rather stick with my baseball,” Gabe replied. “It’s much simpler than the whole architecture thing. I’m not into the whole thing.”

“We all know that,” Matty retorted with a voice laced with mockery. “Now back to you, Dad; you were saying?”

Gabe cut in with a laugh, saying, “You see what I’m telling you, Nico? This man has become grumpy.”

“Mmm, that’s true, Gabe,” Nico replied with a joking smile. “Well there, Matty, you’re going to have to work on that, babe.”

“I’m not grumpy,” he protested. Still, Matty couldn’t help but smile when Nicolette called him “babe.” No one seemed to notice how much bigger Matty’s smile had become. As for Nicolette herself, she didn’t even realize that she’d called Matty “babe.” It had slipped out by mistake. Damn that mouth of hers. No one seemed to notice but Gabe, who elbowed her.

“Ouch. What the hell, Gabe? What’s wrong with you?”

He lightly whispered, “I think Matty likes you,
babe
.”

“Shut up and don’t tease me tonight, stupid.”

Gabe couldn’t help but smirk at Nicolette’s glare.

“What are you two whispering about over there?” her mother asked.

“Oh nothing, Mrs. Richards. Nico here was just telling me how much she would love to be Mrs. Nicolette Di’Maggio.”

As Nico gasped, her mother replied with a questioning glare, “Oh would she now?”

“Oh my God!” Nico shrieked. “Gabe, shut up! No, mom, I didn’t say that.”

Nicolette knew how much she would love to be Mrs. Matthew Di’Maggio, but it would never happen for her, so why dream of it? Some dreams would never come true. She turned to glare at Gabe, but he was too busy staring and smiling at Matty. He was already glaring at Gabe, but when he caught Nicolette’s eye, he turned away. Nicolette thought that he was just being cold to her, as he’d been all night.
He must not like me even as a friend
, she thought. What other reasons would he have not to talk to her at all? He didn’t look at her once over dinner. It was like he was avoiding her. Did she have something on her face? Was she that ugly to him?

“Since we’re all done here, would you all like to join me in the family room for drinks? Eggnog, perhaps?” her father asked. “Uhh, Nicolette, can you clear the table?”

“Yeah, sure.” Nicolette hated that her mom didn’t even offer to help her clear the table, but whatever. She was used to it. Plus, the maid, Clarissa, was off for the holidays, so Nicolette was the maid for the night. As she was clearing off the dishes, she had no clue that Matty decided to come back and help her. She was too busy, humming and moving her body to music in her head.

Matty couldn’t control himself around Nicolette. It was like everything she did made him think all sorts of things in his head. He had no idea why he found himself back in the dining room looking at her. She was too busy humming to notice that he was watching her. Her back was turned to him, so the way that she was moving her body was most likely too explicit for anyone else to watch, but he couldn’t move; he was frozen in place. Nicolette would be the death of him if he didn’t flee at that instant, but he found himself moving closer and closer to her. He just had to touch her, to feel her someway somehow, even if it was just for a moment.

When Matty put his hand on the small of her back, Nicolette froze. She didn’t know what to say or think. Her body just loved his touch instantly. It was as though her body was already used to his touch. There was no mistake that it was Matty’s big, strong hand. She didn’t mind that he didn’t move his hand. The warmth of it made her forget where she was. In her mind, suddenly she wasn’t at her parents’ house, and no one was in the other room; it was just her, Matty, and their two hearts beating in the silence of the room.

“Nicolette! Are you guys done yet?”

That woke them out of their own world. Nicolette was so embarrassed that she didn’t say anything, she just picked up some plates and marched to the kitchen to escape. She needed to be alone.

God! What was she thinking? Letting Matty know how she felt about him with her body.
My God, if he knows, it’s the end of everything
, she thought. The torment would never stop and her brother would probably have a heart attack. As if it couldn't get any worse, Matty walked into the kitchen with more dishes. Nicolette pretended to keep busy with the dishwasher in order to avoid his eyes.

“Hey, Nicolette, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” she breathed. “No biggie. I didn’t think much of it anyway.”

Nicolette knew that when Matty called her by her full name, he was either angry or felt bad about something.
Oh, hell.
Thank God for the ringing cell phone that she’d left in the dining room.

“I’ll be right back, Matty.”

“Sure thing.”

Matty tried to mind his business, but Nicolette was being super loud on the phone. She sounded like she was arguing with someone, so he couldn’t help but overhear.

“Look, Andrew, if you have nothing better to do then hang up. If you’re going to sit there and call me about a bunch of crap you heard, then goodbye!”

“Listen to me, Nicolette. I’m just saying I heard it, okay?”

“Oh my God, you’re such a prick. If you’re done, I’d like to hang up now.”

“No, you’re not going to hang up until you tell me where you were last week.”

Nicolette broke out into an almost psychotic laugh. “You’re so stupid when you drink. You’re being so unreasonable. If it was like that, why would I bother explaining myself? Ask yourself.”

“No, I’m asking you.”

Nicolette was sick and tired of arguing with Andrew. They’d been together for six months, and still he thought everywhere she went, she cheated on him. It was beginning to piss her off greatly, and she’d just about had it with this insecure idiot.

“Look Andrew, I’m tired, and I’m with my family, so I’m not going to waste my time with this nonsense. This insecurity of yours is pissing me off, so I’m going to do you a favor and end this now. Save you the misery.”

“What? Seriously? Okay, whatever. We’re done then. Don’t come looking for me like last time.”

“The last time was a huge mistake that I’m beginning to regret now, so good-bye, Andrew.”

“Whatever. Bye.”

Nicolette was so tired of him. She hated how he got drunk with his immature friends every weekend, all of them trying to crash at her condo, eating all her food, just annoying her. It’s like Andrew came with a package—his friends. There was nothing more important to him than drinking with his buddies. It disgusted her. She didn’t even understand why she stayed with him. After this moment, she was relieved that she finally was set free. She would not make that mistake she made a couple months ago; going back to him and the relationship again. Huge, HUGE mistake. Piece of crap. Maybe being single was good for her in the long run; that meant more concentration on work than anything or anyone else. She looked at Matty, who had his back turned and she just sighed. She started to wonder why she couldn’t just walk up to him and tell him how she felt.