Cesare Fierri [Book #4]

Chapter 4

"I'm sorry, but we don't have any room for lingerie models in your size," the lady behind the front desk replied, eyeing me up and down.

"I can lose the weight," I offered, hoping that would show them how serious I am about modeling again. But the lady only shook her head, giving me a tight-lipped smile.

Snatching my portfolio off the counter, I stood up and started towards the exit. I had to walk past all the skinny, qualified models with my head down.

Everyday my insecurity grows. This makes the tenth time I've been rejected because I don't look like the girl from seven to ten years ago.

I flipped through my portfolio, admiring the girl I used to be. I miss her. I miss that girl. That girl could take on the world. And she had so much confidence and power in herself, that she felt as though she was Queen Elizabeth herself.

When I realized I was smiling, my lips dropped down into a frown just as my stomach grumbled.

I could use a burger right about now.

I eat to fill that void in my heart, knowing it will never satisfy me, and will only bring me temporary happiness.

So instead, I drove to the grocery store to pick up a salad. I don't think it will do much to brighten my mood, but I hope it will be beneficial in my attempt to lose weight and become that badass girl I used to know and love.

I stood in the aisle of the grocery store, trying to decide whether or not I wanted a chef salad, or a fruit salad. That's when I heard the voice that instantly made the butterflies in my stomach do a flip.

"What the hell does heavyflow even mean? And why the hell are their different sizes?" It wasn't hard to tell from his tone that he was complaining about the different feminine products, and wasn't sure what to purchase. He groaned in frustration. "Of all people, why did you guys have to send me? Why not ask -I don't know- your damn husbands?"

Rolling my eyes, I ended up just grabbing both salads, and walking over to the aisle where he was. People were staring at him, making no move to give him advice on something he was so clearly confused about.

When I approached him in the feminine products section, I held out my hand, motioning him to hand me the phone. "Give me the phone," I demanded.

He looked over and down at me, and I looked back up at him, expectantly. He hesitantly handed me the phone and I pressed it up to my ear.

"Hi, I'm Evelyn, a friend of Cesare's. He's disrupting the entire store, so please, tell me how I can help you, so these entitled Karens don't call the police on him."

"First of all, you sound hot as hell," a woman said into the phone. I wish. "And secondly," she continued. "Thank you God, because Cesare is absolutely useless."

"Hey," he protested with a whine. "Just be happy I'm even out here getting you all this shit," he said with a pout and frown.

"Shhh," I chided. "That's not helping." He rolled his eyes, focusing his attention back onto the shelves and shelves of pads and tampons.

I listened to what sounded like not one, but three different women on the other end tell me what kinds of products they needed. I nodded, mentally making note of each item, before handing Cesare back his phone.

He said his goodbyes and hung up, slipping the phone back into his pocket. I pointed to the three items he was going to need. He grabbed each one, dropping them into the cart beside him.

"Thank you," he said, running a hand through his curls. "My sister-in laws can be a pain in my ass, especially whenever their periods sync up."

"You googled that, didn't you?" I asked him with a knowing grin.

He chuckled lightly, sending a chill down my spine. "Yeah, I did," he confessed, an adorable blush of pink painted on his cheeks.

"Well, your welcome." I turned to leave so I could check out my groceries and head over to the school to pick my daughter up, but stopped when I saw my ex-husband and my ex-bestfriend snuggled up together in front of the planned parenthood section, picking out condoms.

Ugh. Today is just not my day.

"Shit," I mumbled.

Cesare looked between me and the happy "backstabbing" couple, impressing me with how quickly he was able to connect the dots.

"I'm guessing that's your bastard ex-husband and the bitch he cheated on you with?" I nodded and chewed nervously at my lower lip, not caring how he even knew about that. "Hmm," he hummed. "Interesting." He started walking towards them before I could stop him.

He cut in between them, excusing himself in Italian, before reaching over to grab a box of Magnums and walking back over to me. He made sure they were watching as he unexpectedly kissed my lips and squeezed my ass.

I was both caught off guard and entranced by the way he kissed me. It was like a refreshing reminder of my time with him back in Sicily.

My lips parted to give his tongue access. He kissed me with so much fervor and passion that I, for a moment, forgot where we were. He captured my lower lip between his teeth, sucking it lightly before breaking the kiss to drop the condoms into the cart.

His hand never left my ass as he glanced back over at Jackson, who was approaching us with an angry expression etched onto his face. Cesare smirked, leaning down to whisper in my ear. "Play along, amore(love)."

"So this is the shit you're doing, instead of taking care of my daughter!?" He shouted, causing people to stare at us.

Brooke couldn't even make eye contact, which was fine by me because I would have slapped her in her face if she had.

"What I do during my free time is none of your damn business, Jackson." I was still a little out of breath from Cesare's kiss, my heart pounding in my chest at a rapid rate.

"You better not be bringing this man around my daughter, Evelyn, or so help me God I'll-"

"You'll what?" Cesare interjected, taking a step forward. I felt like we were back at the club, a protective Cesare defending me yet again. Only this time, I was sober and more grateful than he could ever know.

"This has nothing to do with you," Jackson replied, challenging Cesare by also stepping forward. "This is between me and my wife."

Wife?

I scoffed.

Cesare chuckled, pulling me into his side. "Your wife?" His laughter grew louder and more maniacal. "If you haven't already noticed- she's mine now."

Hearing that really pissed off Jackson, which made the smirk I didn't realize was on my face stretch even wider.

And just like that, my day just got a whole lot better.