Unexpected Mr. Right (19 page)

After paying her cabbie, she got out of the car, straightened her red flowy skirt, fixed her white silk tank top and headed into the restaurant. She stepped in the door to find Bri standing there looking mad as hell. “What's wrong, girl? You have your scary Bri face on right now."

"I'm just trying to figure out why that man is here."

"Who? Sorry I don't understand angry Brianna talk."

Bri gave her the don't go there look. “Jackson. I mean, I know Kaylee invited Mama Love but why the hell did she have to go and invite him? It's already bad enough that I have to see him at home. Now he's barged his way into the rest of my life."

Tabby tried not to smile but to no avail. She'd never seen Bri like this before. She couldn't help but wonder what it meant. “I'm sure Mama Love didn't want to come on her own."

"Hello? What am I? I could have brought her."

"Maybe he wanted to come so he could make sure she's safe. He's probably still worried about her since the mugging."

"I doubt that. I don't think the man has a heart."

Hm, this is interesting. If she didn't know better Tabby would think Bri liked him. That is if it was anyone but Brianna they were talking about. When she liked someone she wasn't afraid to admit it. She'd approach him, have her way with him, then kick him to the curb. “I guess he just came to make your life a living hell then. Maybe he's stalking you."

"Ha, ha very funny. Looks like Nico's rubbing off on you. You're finally loosening up a bit."

Tabby smacked her in the arm with her purse. “Hey. I've always been loose.” With one look from Bri she realized what she just said. “Oh, shut up. You know what I mean.” They both laughed and finished walking into the restaurant. God she was lucky. She had the best friends. Without them she'd be completely alone. Bri and Kaylee could always make her smile, help ease her tension with a joke and a smile. Kind of like Nico.

"Great. He's coming this way.” Brianna squeezed her arm as Tabby looked up to see Jackson coming their way.

"I just wanted to apologize if I hurt you the other day,” he said to her. “I was a little side tracked with McGruff over there,” he pointed to Bri, “and I know I shook you pretty hard."

"Don't call me a dog.” Brianna said.

"I didn't. I called you McGruff. I was referring to your crime stopping abilities, not what you are.” He crossed his arms. Wow. All sorts of tension flowed between these two and something told Tabby some of it was of the sexual kind. “Don't worry about it. You didn't hurt me. Not that we didn't deserve it for the way we jumped on you."

He gave her a slight nod. “You were just trying to defend your friend. She's the one that went crazy for no reason."

"No reason?” Bri said a little too loudly. “I thought you were trying to break into Mama Love's house."

"I told you I'm her son. You're the one who didn't listen."

"Like anyone would believe a hoodlum trying to jimmy a little old woman's window open."

Tabby just stood there watching the scene unfold between the two of them.

Jackson let out a deep breath obviously realizing the two wouldn't come to any agreements. He turned to her. “I just wanted to apologize. I'm going to find my mother."

"Good riddance,” Bri said as he walked way. Then she turned to Tabby. “Can you believe that guy? What a jerk."

"Well we did attack him in his mother's front yard. He has a reason to be a little bit angry."

"Please, the guy is some kind of cop. If he can't handle two women then that's his problem.

Tabby almost told her he'd handled the two of them just fine but she had a feeling Bri wouldn't hear her anyway. For some reason she seemed determined not to like Jackson and once Bri set her mind to something there wasn't any changing it. “Whatever. I just don't want a scene."

"At least he's leaving. Now I might finally enjoy myself at this little shin dig. Where's your man?"

"I don't know. We haven't talked much the past few days."

"So you admit he's your man?"

Oops. She'd fallen right into that trap. Before she could reply Bri spoke again. “Why haven't you talked?"

"I don't want to talk about it.” Tabby tried to slip away.

Bri grabbed her arm to stop her then eyed the other side of the room. “Don't look now but Super Chef is right over there. He's giving you the sexiest, I-want-to-devour-every-inch-ofyour-hot-body look."

Tabby chanced a quick glance at him and he was indeed looking at her. His soot black lashes and dark brown eyes began to penetrate her defenses.

"Oh, no. No, no, no. I can see that look in your eyes. Stop over-thinking this. Go with the flow, Tab. That boy wants you. Hell that look tells me he's halfway in love with you."

Her heart sped up, the blood rushed through her veins in excitement. God, she wanted him. She could so easily fall in love with him. Probably already had but she didn't want to admit it. He'd never want what she did. In the end, they wouldn't be able to give each other what the other needed.

"He's not in love with me, Bri. It's lust plain and simple."

"Well whatever that look is, it's hotter than hell. I say you go over there and let him work out some of the lust with you."

She smiled at her friend. “You're so bad, Bri.” But she knew she couldn't avoid him all night. Making a quick decision Tabby said, “I am going to go talk to him. Not to work out the lust but just because I've kind of avoided him this week. He doesn't deserve that."

Tabby started to walk toward him. It was like the crowd parted to give her a clear path to him. He watched her every step of the way leaning against the wall relaxed, his hair a mess, his body covered by black pants and an untucked, button up, black silk shirt. Can you say yum? She sure could. This man did it for her like no other. “Hey,” she said when she reached him.

"Hey yourself.” His voice dripped with sensuality.

"Sorry we haven't talked very much this week.” God that sounded dumb. She really should have thought about what to say before she walked over here.

"You mean sorry you haven't talked to me very much this week. I've tried. Can't very well hold a conversation with myself, Slugger."

He sounded angry and to her surprise maybe a little bit hurt too. Damn, he'd been nothing but nice to her and she repaid him cutting his calls short or avoiding him all together? Not cool. “Sorry, Nico. I—"

She was cut short when Nico pulled her close to him. He smelled so good, so incredibly masculine. His hard body pressed against hers as he dipped his mouth close to her ear. “We'll finish this later. You're not off the hook but we have company."

Tabby turned, as older Italian couple approached, and by the looks of them she knew they were his parents. To their side stood three women. One she recognized as Maria. The other two had to be his other sisters. How could she avoid this meeting? Sure she and Nico had said they were dating but that's before she pulled her disappearing act on him. Plus, she doubted he wanted to do the whole introduce her to his family thing. “I'll go so you can talk with your family.” Tabby tried to pull away but Nico held her in place.

"I don't think so, Tesoro. I'm not letting you out of my sight tonight."

Nico leaned in and kissed his mom, dad, and three sisters on the cheek. “Hi, Mama, Papa. This is my girlfriend, Tabby."

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My. God. She didn't know how she stood here alive because her heart had stopped beating. Not to mention her breath stopped. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't breathe. She could not believe Nico just introduced her to his family as his girlfriend. His mom, who had to be a good four inches shorter than herself beamed up at her before stepping forward and kissing her on the cheek. “Hello, Cara."

His father stepped forward and kissed her as well. His three sisters hugged her, Gabriella and Teresa introducing themselves and Maria told her it was nice to see her again. Everyone in his family was gorgeous. They all shared similar features including Nico's dark hair. After her breath finally found its way back to her Tabby said, “Hi Mr. and Mrs. Valenti. It's so nice to meet you."

His mom waved her hands as she spoke, “We don't need such formalities. I'm Rosa and this is Angelo.” She turned toward her son. “Nico, e molto bella."

Okay, she recognized the word, bella from Luciano. He always called Kaylee bella so she knew it to mean beautiful. Nico clued her in on what Rosa said when he replied, “Yes, Mama. She is beautiful.” Heat singed her cheeks. This was so weird. A few months ago she'd never imagine being introduced to Nico's family as his girlfriend. Her mind wouldn't help but wonder if he'd ever done this before. Was it habit for him to introduce women to his family?

"Hey, Nico, can you come here for a minute?” Luciano called from across the room.

He bent and kissed her forehead. “I'll be right back. Pop, come with me.” Nico turned to his mom and sisters. “Keep an eye on her for me, ladies. I don't want her disappearing on me.” He winked and walked away. And people say women didn't know what they want. Nico had her so backwards she didn't know what to think. He agreed to just friends, then they added the benefits, now a relationship. And nothing could prepare her for being introduced to his family as his girlfriend. That seemed so beyond the scope of reality to her. She couldn't help but remember all the times in the past he'd told her he didn't want a relationship that he never planned to settle down.

How could she believe he'd changed his mind so quickly? Life just didn't work that way. Or did it? Maybe her fear, the knowledge that Nico could hurt her so badly she might not be able to recover blinded her. Oh God, she didn't know what to think.

"So how long have you and Nico been dating?” Maria asked.

Great. How did she answer this one? Well, we started sleeping together first but decided to make it official a little over a week ago. Somehow she didn't think that would make the best impression on his family. “Um, we've been seeing each other for a while now."

"He's never introduced a woman to us before, you know? They're usually not around long enough. He's never been real big on the idea of settling dow—"

"Teresa! You're going to scare her away,” Gabriella added.

"I didn't mean it like that. I was trying to say she must be special."

"Didn't come out like that.” Maria frowned at her sister.

Rosa said something in Italian and all three girls stopped talking said goodbye to Tabby then left. “Sit down, Cara. My legs are getting tired.” Tabby sat down with Nico's mom. “My son likes you."

How much? That's what she really wanted to ask but instead she said, “I like him too."

"Yes, you do. I can see it in your eyes."

For the second time in the past few minutes she started to blush. She should feel uncomfortable talking with Nico's mom about him but she didn't. Something about the woman was very comforting, caring. She had kind eyes and talked with her hands. She smiled and Tabby saw more knowledge than she wanted to share in the Rosa's face. She didn't have to tell her what she'd tried to deny to herself. She loved him. She knew it. Rosa knew it. But neither woman admitted it out loud.

"The girls are right, Nico doesn't bring women home. The look in his eyes tells me you mean a lot to him. You're special. For some reason he's never liked the idea with settling down with a woman. He's never used the word girlfriend to me in his life."

Tabby felt a little nauseous. The look must have shown because Rosa said, “Don't be scared, Cara. If he can embrace this change in his feelings you can overcome your fears. He won't hurt you."

Wow, talk about insightful. Rosa read her like a book. Scary but true. But her words gave her hope. Truth lied behind them. Maybe not to the extent she thought, only time would tell that but something about what his mom said gave her strength. She made Tabby believe in Nico, made her believe in herself. She might get hurt, hell the odds were she probably would get hurt but Nico was worth it. She was worth it. How did she ever expect a chance at her happily ever after if she ran from the closest prospect she'd ever had? Instinctively she knew without Nico, no matter where her life went, it would never be a true happily ever after anyway.

As if she knew Tabby had just been enlightened, Rosa patted her hand, stood, and kissed her cheek. “It's very nice to meet you, Cara. I'll see you again soon.” Rosa smiled then walked away.

Tabby sat in the corner of Luciano's lost in the sights around her. Kaylee hugged Luciano, looked up at him and laughed, pure happiness in her eyes. Nico stood talking to his dad and sisters, laughing then ruffling his sister's hair like she was a child. Bri stood by Jackson and Mama Love, shooting daggers at him. He must have decided not to leave and Brianna didn't look happy about it.

The aroma of Italy filled the air. Basil, garlic, tomatoes. People chatted, laughed, drank wine. Tabby just watched. Briefly her eyes strayed from Nico but somehow they quickly found their way back to the sinfully sexy man that stole her heart. She had to try and trust him. He could be everything she ever wanted. For her heart, she knew he was the one, she just feared he'd change his mind. Feared he'd realize that he wasn't ready, that he really didn't want to do the whole relationship thing. He'd never wanted one before so she struggled to believe he really wanted one now.

But God she hoped he did. She wanted to believe in him. No way could she turn her back on him. She'd just enjoy the ride, see where this went and most importantly keep her feelings to herself. Last thing she wanted to do was scare him away.

Nico stopped talking to his dad and made eye contact with her. She didn't stand and he didn't walk toward her they just stared. His gaze turned predatory, molten heat simmered off him so strongly it singed her all the way across the room.

She watched him say something to his dad before he stalked toward her. He was a man on a mission. She could see it in his body language, in the way he moved, the look in his eyes. Her body came alive, her heart raced, her nipples puckered. This man not only won her heart but possessed her body with just a look.