Over the Middle: A Sports Romance (41 page)

I smiled and looked at Dominic out of the corner of my eyes. “Now, Dominic, after all that talk you gave me about suspecting, knowing, and proving, are you really going to ask me to confirm something to you?”

He chuckled and shook his head. “No, not at all. But if I may say, Miss Bertoli, you have the guts and brains of your father and uncle. If your cousins don't want to take over the family business, you might entertain the idea of doing so yourself.”

I shook my head, still smiling. “No thanks. I'm perfectly happy being a budding artist. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to take the public transportation back home. It's been a long time since I felt safe doing that, and I'm going to enjoy the experience.”

I
felt
out of place wearing the blue cocktail dress. It had been so long. “Mom, I wish we could skip this,” I muttered as she fussed with my hair. “It's a family dinner, not a dinner with the President.”

“It's your engagement dinner, sweetie. Besides, Carlo's boys came back from college for this. And you might as well humor Carlo. I know he's been looking forward to this part of your life for years. I bet he already has a speech all prepared for your reception.” Mom was wearing a nearly identical dress in deep wine red with her best heels. “To tell you the truth, I've been looking forward to it too. Actually, if I remember right, Carlo now owes me a dollar, too.”

“Oh, why's that?”

Mom blushed, then laughed. “When Tomasso was born, you were still only two, so you probably don't remember, but Johnny and Carlo, they made a bet as to which of their children would get married first. With Tommy and Angelo growing up so handsome, and you being not so much a social butterfly as just independent, I was wondering for a while.”

“Tommy and Angelo aren't social butterflies, Mom,” I replied with a laugh. “They're players, maybe even more than Daniel was.”

“And look how that turned out,” Mom reminded me. “You have to admit that it kind of caught all of us, you included, by surprise.”

“Surprise? Sure,” I said, picking the string of pearls up from my changing table and putting them on. It felt nice to be back in my old room, and not the interior
safe
room I had been using. For one, I had windows and light. “But in a lot of ways, it kinda feels like fate, if you know what I mean.”

“I do,” Mom said. “You two were good friends when you were little. Even back then, he looked out for you when other people might try and tease or make fun of you. I guess in that way, things never changed.”

We left my room and went downstairs to the grand dining room. It wasn't used often. After all, the table could hold twenty-four, but with Carlo, Mom, Tommy, Angelo, Daniel and myself, it was more than the normal dining room table could hold too. “You know, Mom, we need to get a smaller table, or maybe something we could do outside. Say, something for twelve or so?”

“Why?” Mom said with a grin. “Give it a few years, and there'll be enough for more of the table to be filled. What with Tommy and Angelo eventually finding girlfriends, and then your . . .”

“Whoa Mom, talking children already?” I asked, flabbergasted. “A little early to be talking about that, isn't it?”

“It kind of happens when you get married, especially as amorous as you two are,” Mom replied, her smile widening until it was nearly laughter. “But I'm not trying to pressure you. Just saying.”

“We can discuss that later, Mom. Let's get me through college first.”

I took my seat at the table, second from the right side. We were following a pretty formal arrangement, with Carlo and Mom at the head of the table. Daniel would be to the immediate right, next to Carlo, while I would sit beside him. Tomasso and Angelo would sit across from us, Tomasso closest to the corner. All the men were wearing suits, and I had to remind myself that I was in company because Daniel looked so handsome. The bruises had faded, the bandages had come off, and while he was sporting an impressive new scar on his shoulder, he was back to his normal self.

“You look beautiful,” he whispered to me as I took my seat, causing me to blush slightly.

“The sentiment's returned,” I whispered back, and cleared my throat, looking at Uncle Carlo. “Sorry.”

“No reason to apologize, Bella,” Carlo said. “Before we sit, I'd like to offer a toast to you and Daniel. Despite the roadblocks, most of which I will admit I was more than responsible for, you two found love. Bella, for years I wanted you to find the perfect man, when I never realized that he was already right in our house. Salud.”

Everyone raised their glasses, and we took a sip. Carlo continued. “Daniel, I already apologized to you in private, but I think that deserves a repeating here and now. You came to my house, and you have lived your entire life as an honorable man—even when I didn't realize it. You fought for, you bled for, and more importantly, you have loved this family. It is my honor, and I most humbly request that you accept my blessing on the engagement between you and Bella, and I offer you a place in our family.”

“It is my honor to accept, Godfather,” Daniel replied, his face shining. “If Mrs. Bertoli also offers me the same, of course. No offense, but it's her daughter, after all.”

We all laughed as Mom raised her glass and the toasts were complete. We took a seat, and Carlo lifted the lid on the serving platter, a beautiful roast that was certainly not in the Italian tradition. “What's this?” I asked, surprised. “I'd expected something more . . . Italian.”

Tommy laughed and set his wine glass down. He looked a lot like Dad did when he was young, with thick, lustrous brown hair that had just a hint of wave, hazel eyes, and a thick build that reminded me a little bit of a wrestler or bodybuilder. He didn't have Dad's height, though, topping out at only five foot ten. Still, his good looks and natural charm let him be quite the ladies' man.

“We can enjoy some sophistication from the other cultures that are going to make up our family, can we not?” he asked in his accentless voice. While Carlo had hung onto his Italian accent, Tommy's only came out when he spoke Italian. “Of course, I tried to convince Papa here to do haggis and sauerkraut, but that was a no go.”

“That's good, Tommy. I'd hate to drink you under the table again,” Daniel teased back, smiling. “Remember that trip to Vancouver?”

Tommy's smile disappeared, and he set his glass down. Mom laughed. “It's going to take some getting used to, Daniel being able to talk back to you two. I'm actually glad. Gives you someone your age who won't care about telling you when you two get out of line.”

Angelo nodded, not happy but accepting it. He'd always been the baby of the family, and at nineteen, was just coming into his adult body. “Honestly though, it is surprising that you'd be the first of us to settle down, Daniel. Not that you aren't a great guy, but just . . . you were pretty one-track minded. Well, two tracks I guess.”

“I still am,” Daniel replied. “Actually, I'll whittle it down more now. I'm one-track minded. What can I do to make and keep Adriana happy?”

“And that is a mantra that I think you should live by the rest of your days,” Uncle Carlo said, taking the carving knife and slicing up the roast. “In fact, Daniel, I also wanted to tell you something else tonight. I thought I'd save it for after dinner, but why not now?”

“What is it, sir?” Daniel asked, a bit concerned. I shot Mom a questioning glance, and she returned it with a shrug. She had no idea what was going on.

“Daniel, I ask much of my men, especially my enforcers. And while you obviously proved your dedication and courage with rescuing Bella, you still showed a rather disturbing streak of not obeying orders. And that, I can't have. So . . . you're fired.”

“What?” Daniel, Mom, and I all said at nearly the same time. I added, despite the fact that Daniel and I had talked about this exact subject with Carmen in her apartment, “Uncle Carlo, that's not fair!”

Carlo held up his hands until we quieted down. “Will you let me finish? Daniel, you're fired as an enforcer. However, I did have a discussion with Pietro, and he thought of a new way that the Bertoli family could expand our enterprises without running afoul of the law. So, we're going to look at starting a private security firm. Of course, it's going to start relatively small—bodyguards, security escorts, stuff like that. But, I think with the right man in charge of the company, it could grow to be quite profitable. Daniel, can you think of anyone who might be good at this?”

“It might need a team, sir,” Daniel said, his smile returning. “After all, someone would need to stay behind and run the office side of things while others are running all over the place pretending to be Kevin Costner.”

“God, that movie sucked,” Angelo grumped, then took a bite of his roast. “At least the roast is good.”

Carlo ignored his youngest son and nodded in agreement with Daniel. “Oh, of course. I was thinking . . . maybe a staff of two or three to start? President, secretary, and then the field operatives? Also, I wouldn't want to risk the money all myself, of course. I was thinking a man who might be willing to buy in fifty-fifty with me? That'd make him co-owner and managing partner, of course.”

Daniel chewed his roast and nodded. “I can think of some names. Let's talk after dinner.”

“Tomorrow,” I interjected. “You two can talk business tomorrow. Tonight, it's all about family, remember?”

* * *

A
fter a late dessert
, Daniel and I went back to the dining room arm in arm while the rest of my family scattered to their own bedrooms. “You know, I nearly punched Angelo when he said he and Tommy decided to hire Genesis to sing at our wedding,” I said, causing Daniel to laugh. “Well, I was going to.”

“I know you were,” he replied, patting my hand which was entwined in his arm. “I'm still not sure if he knows you aren't really going to castrate him.”

“He'd make a good
castrata
,” I said with a giggle. “He's got such a good singing voice. You know, he's used that at least once to get into a girl's pants.”

“Hmm, maybe I should try that,” Daniel said, stopping. He shook his head and turned me to face him. “Adriana, would you give me the honor of a dance?”

“Here?” I asked, surprised. “It's the middle of the dining room.”

He went over to the recessed nook where a stereo system had been installed. It was a bit older. It used CDs for the most part, but it had good quality, and when I heard the beautiful strains of Puccini, my heart melted.

“How'd you know?” I asked as he crossed the floor to me. “I've always loved Puccini at the balls.”

“We were meant to be together. All those little things you mentioned, I never forgot them, even when I pretended to everyone that I had,” Daniel said, taking me in his arms. “Sometimes, I even believed that lie. But the little things, like Puccini, or that you prefer to sleep on your left side, I never really forgot. Now I don't need to tell myself to forget anymore. I can just love you.”

We started moving slowly in a dance that wasn't classical in the strict sense. Of course, I'd had lessons. I knew how to waltz and tango and foxtrot and all that other stuff. But Daniel hadn't, and instead he moved with a natural, flowing grace, the two of us making it up as we went along. My feet felt light on the floor, and I glided across the polished wood, and when I saw Mom stick her head in about halfway through some music from
La Boehme
, she smiled and closed the door behind her, turning the lock and making sure we were undisturbed. I leaned in closer to Daniel, letting my head rest on his chest. “Daniel?”

“Yes, Ade?”

“Take me . . .”

Daniel surprised and thrilled me by spinning me around and picking me up, carrying me over to the table before setting me down. “Daniel!”

“We had dinner here. I think this is a great place for a real dessert too,” he growled, his hands running over the satin of my dress and cupping my ass. “You don't know how sexy you look in this damn thing.”

His hands were insistent, caressing my body even as he started to peel my dress off, his mouth claiming mine in a fierce, possessive kiss that left me breathless. “Whew, am I going to get this every time we have to take a few days off from sex?” I teased when I could breathe again. I slid my hands inside his suit jacket and slid it off his broad shoulders, starting to undress him as he was undressing me. “If so, I'm going to have to call a one-week pause right before our honeymoon.”

“Why?”

“So you can rock my world.” I laughed, grabbing hold of the two halves of his shirt and yanking. Buttons flew off, clattering across the table to drop to the floor, and I darted my head forward, kissing and licking the skin of his chest. It'd been over a week since we had a chance to make love, first with recovery from his injuries, then dealing with the cops, before finally just getting caught up in everything, including my cousins coming back from college to visit. I was hungry, and not for gelato.

Daniel ripped his tie off, leaving him in just his suit pants as he hiked my dress up, lifting it above my waist as our fiery passion overcame our hesitancy and desire to hold back and make it last. There would be time for that later.

Pushing away from Daniel, I gave him my sexiest look and slid off the table, turning around and bending over. “Take me.”

I trembled as he lifted my dress all the way up again, exposing my ass to the night air. The weather was starting to cool off some, fall was coming, and I felt goosebumps break out on my skin, delicious and sensitive. “Sexy.”

I felt heat rising to my face, and I looked back at Daniel's appreciative gaze. “I was kinda hoping I'd get lucky tonight.”

“Grab the table and don't turn around,” he replied, his blue eyes blazing with desire, “and you'll get lucky for sure.”

I did as he said, trying to grip what I could on the table as I felt him run his hands over the exposed curves of my hips and ass, shifting around until I felt his warm breath on my skin.