That's Amore (16 page)
Gina got misty eyed and so did Paige as she realized how much she wanted Gina to be loved and respected like she deserved to be.
“Well,” Gina said, firmly, “that’s all over. It’s a whole new life for Johnny and Justin and I.”
Jeff ruffled her hair. “Well, congrats on the wedding then. I just want you to be happy.” He turned and shook Johnny’s hand. “Take good care of my sister.”
“I will,” Johnny said fervently, that wondrous look of devotion on his face again as he stared at his bride-to-be.
“So what’s with you two?” Gina demanded, hands on hips. “You finally admit you’re both hot for each other?”
Paige shot Gina a warning look.
But Jeff just shrugged. “We’re getting married.”
Gina’s scream rang out so loudly, Paige feared for the safety of the church’s stain glass windows.
Gina jumped up and down and gave them each a smothering hug. “I knew it! I just knew you both were head over heels!”
Paige couldn’t help but laugh with her.
Gina added, “Paige, we’re going to be sisters!”
Paige hadn’t thought that far. Tears rose in her eyes. She had everything she could want. Friends. Family. The man she loved.
And it looked like she was moving back to Little Italy. Back home.
She fanned herself, drawing her eyes open wide to try and prevent her tears from spilling over.
“Oh, no, don’t go all weepy on me,” Gina said, sniffling and wiping at her own eyes.
“There’s no time for tears. We have two weddings to plan, Paigey.” Gina put her hands over her mouth. “Holy cow! We could have a double wedding!”
Jeff made a choking sound.
Paige pictured Johnny in a black silk shirt and red tie doing the chicken dance.
“I don’t think my mother would agree to that, Gina.” Her mother would rather go bald than share her daughter’s wedding with someone else. Especially the Benedetto/Romano wedding.
“Oh, you’re probably right,” Gina said. “Your mom is kind of stuck-up.”
Paige snorted.
“Can we go home now?” Jeff asked. “I’m hotter than hell standing here and I’m starving.”
Gina frowned at him. “Okay, keep your shirt on.” She turned to Paige. “Are you sure you want him? He can be such a jerk.”
Did she want him? That was the understatement of the decade. Jeff’s arm went around her. She smiled at him. “Oh, yeah. I want him.”
Jeff’s eyes went dark. He leaned down and brushed a soft kiss across her lips. His soft mouth and hard body surrounded her, and Paige knew this was where she belonged.
Gina grinned at them.
Mrs. Castenetti and Mrs. Bodziony walked by the steps of the church. They shot twin demon glares at Paige and Jeff.
Jeff called down, “Don’t worry, Mrs. C, Mrs. B. Paige and I are getting married!”
The two ladies stopped. Mrs. Bodziony assessed them. “When?” she challenged.
“When?” Jeff whispered to Paige out of the corner of his mouth.
She thought of Grandma Benedetto’s suggestion/command. “Right before Christmas,” she told him.
“Right before Christmas!” he called down with a big grin.
The women sniffed and moved on.
“Perfect,” Jeff said. “Now we don’t have to send an engagement announcement to the paper. Everyone in the neighborhood will know by dinner.”
Paige thought of her parents getting a phone call in thirty minutes from Mary Dibiasio’s mother. Paige’s mother would never forgive her if she found out about her only daughter’s wedding from a third party. Her only daughter’s wedding to one of those Benedetto boys.
“I’ve got to call my mom.”
“Well, we’re going to head back to Mom’s,” Gina said. “We’ll talk later.”
They hugged again and Johnny gave Paige a sheepish smile. “I really am sorry about the gun. I didn’t mean to scare you, I was just trying to be realistic.”
“That’s okay.” She probably had gray hair now, but hey, Gina was happy.
“I’m very skilled with firearms. I took a class at the community college. I got an A.”
“Wow, that’s great, Johnny.” Paige smiled and waved as they left.
“I need to call my mom right now and then we can go get something to eat, okay, Jeff?”
He nodded as she pulled out her phone and dialed, holding her breath hoping that the ladies of Little Italy didn’t have faster fingers than she did.
Her father answered the phone. “Hi, Daddy, it’s Paige. Is Mom around?”
“Paige! Hi, hon. Listen, what the hell is going on? Your mother is laying down with a headache muttering that she’s going to have to drop out of the Ladies Guild at church.”
Whoops. “Don’t worry, Dad. Just tell her my news and she’ll feel better. I’m getting married! To Jeff Benedetto.”
“No kidding?” Her dad sounded mildly interested. “I always thought you had a crush on him.”
Did everyone know she’d been mooning after Jeff for a decade? Not a pleasing thought.
“Well, congratulations, sweetie.” There was a pause, then he said in a low, hard voice she’d never heard before, “And listen, you tell that Benedetto boy that if he ever hurts you, I’ll have his legs broken.”
Paige gasped.
His voice returned to normal then as if he’d said nothing out of the ordinary. “I’ll have your mother call you later when she’s feeling better.”
Paige heard the click and swallowed hard. She looked at Jeff, stunned. Breaking legs?
“What’s the matter?” Jeff took the phone from her slack hand.
“I think I’m a Mob Princess,” she wailed. Her whole life she had never suspected. Could it be true?
And she really liked Jeff’s legs just the way they were.
“That’s okay, babe.” Jeff brushed her hair back. “I still love you.”
His lip was quirking up in a smile. She laughed.
“We should get a few things straight, Jeff.”
Paige knew she had been fighting her whole life to become independent and confident in who she was. That’s why she had moved out of Little Italy, and why she worked so hard at her career as an investment counselor.
Well, she was confident, and she was independent, and she could be all those things while still being a wife, a mother, and a daughter.
“I’m not the same shy little girl I used to be, Jeff.”
Jeff grinned. “I think I noticed that somewhere along the way.”
“I’m not quitting my job, even if we have kids.”
“I didn’t expect you to.”
She put her hand on her hip. This point was very important. “I’m not cooking every night. And you have to learn how to grocery shop.”
He held his hands up. “Done. Anything for you.”
“All right, as long as we’re agreed.” She let him tug her into his arms, not caring that they were still on the church steps and half the neighborhood was probably staring at them.
“Where are we going to live?” she asked.
“I don’t care. Anywhere you want.”
He kissed her forehead and she sighed in contentment.
“Of course, I’m kind of attached to that apartment now. Think your dad would let us have it?”
Paige thought that was a fabulous idea. Jeff was no poet, but he did have a romantic side. “It is ready to move into. Now.”
The idea held all kinds of appeal.
Jeff pretended to look shocked. “Paige, think what people would say. No, we’ll have to wait until the wedding.”
Then he ruined the proper effect by adding, “But we can sneak in and use it on the weekends.”
Now he was talking. “That’s true. Its got great furniture and it’s stocked with enough food to last us months.”
Jeff patted his pocket. “And I’ve got the protection.”
Paige laughed, than gave him a saucy grin. “That’s not going to last for months though.”
Dark eyes bore into her. “Hell, no.”
Then his voice softened.
“I love you, Paige, you do know that, don’t you? I always have, since as long as I can remember.”
Oohh, that smile of his. Marshmallow. That’s what she was. Hot and gooey.
“I love you too, Jeff.”
Then before God and the Italian sausage stand, he kissed her.
by
First published as a Kindle Edition by Erin McCarthy, 2011
Copyright 2011 © Erin McCarthy
Cover Photo Copyright 2011 © Alina Isakovich | iStockPhoto.com
Cover created by Barbara Satow
All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from Erin McCarthy.
USA Today and New York Times Bestselling author Erin McCarthy sold her first book in 2002 and has gone on to pen more than 38 novels and novellas in the paranormal, contemporary romance, and young adult genres. A RITA award finalist and an American Library Association winner of the Reluctant Young Reader award, Erin is a member of Romance Writers of America, Horror Writers Association, and Ohioana. Visit
www.erinmccarthy.net
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