Kiss de La Notte - Book III (Mafia Romance)

Chapter Thirty-Six: Timber

Glancing over at him was like a godforsaken trap. I'd tried to ignore how good Lucius looked this morning and now I was up close and personal and failing miserably. Lucius was dressed casually for once in a dark grey sweater that had a hint of green somehow, jeans, and a black leather jacket that he'd folded on top of my winter coat in the back. No way was his jacket was warm enough to be using at a lake house around winter, but the man's skin temperature ran as hot as hell, so I imagined he'd be sweating in anything less. His thick dark brown hair was styled in a way that feathered all the layers of his hair, and I could tell there wasn't as much product in it as usual which meant it would be soft. And he smelled so good. Like fresh laundry and that unnamed cologne he tended to wear. The one I could still smell lingering on his skin as he loomed over me last night in that black ribbed tank top.

Lucius glanced to his right before he made a turn and caught me staring. A smirk lifted his mouth, and I couldn't look away. "Cosa stai gaurdando, bella ragazza?" What are you looking at, pretty girl?

I felt a small wave of butterflies and looked down at my lap. I thought about telling him how I thought he looked handsome today, but the idea of complimenting him seemed different than when he did it. Lucius was a natural flirt and I had no doubt he complimented every person he met.

The screen on his dashboard lit up with the sound of an incoming phone call through his car speakers. The screen flashed with caller ID, but Lucius connected the call before I could read the caller ID. He pressed something at his left ear and took the call took to an earbud I didn't notice he was wearing.

"Pronto," he answered, his voice deepening a little. I couldn't hear who was speaking on the other end, but I could tell Lucius had tensed in the shoulders. "Mmhm. No,

"Who was that?"

"An employee," he replied.

I opened my mouth to press further, but he cut in.

"We're meeting my family for brunch at the house, and then later on you and I are going to drive to the venue nearby for dinner. My family will also be there and some of my father's personnel."

I didn't say anything right away, as I'd noticed how quickly he'd tried to change the subject away from that call. "I won't have to meet any of them, right? His...personnel."

"The plan is to propose at the venue," Lucius said, like he was on his own train of thought. "I'm thinking later in the night I'll make a toast."

"And you're sure you want to do this in front of your dad's associates? Not in a, I don't know, more private setting?"

Lucius rung his hand on the wheel, again. "I know what I'm doing, Korinna. Don't start."

Hmph. Someone was on edge after that call. "Alright, fine. So you have a speech prepared?"

I noticed how he'd shifted in his seat a little. "A speech?"

I slowly turned my head toward him and gave him a long look. "You're kidding, right? You're proposing to me in front of a bunch of people, and you have nothing prepared to say?"

He scratched at the dark facial hair along his jaw. "Won't it sound more genuine off the cuff?"

I shook my head in disbelief out the window, concerned about the direction in which this was all heading. "You're saying that phrase way too much."

"Don't worry about me," Lucius said, his tone edged with annoyance. "You worry about you and how you're going to react. You're the woman everyone will look at. They'll expect tears of joy when I get down on one knee."

"Wait a minute, I'm supposed to cry now?"

"Of course, you're supposed to cry."
Suddenly I felt a ball of pressure in my chest. "But we're arranged to be married. Won't this not be as...I don't know. Not shocked?"