Kissed Blind (Hot Pursuit #2)(63)

“Oh wow.” She grunted. “That does sound kind of serious.”

“No kidding. Just when you think life can’t get any worse, it does.”

Becca was still for a moment before she slapped her hands down on her thighs. “I can’t say anything to make things better, but we can go out to eat. Come on, I’ll buy you dinner. What are you hungry for?” She’s stood up and tugged on my shirt.

“I can’t eat anymore. I went on a junk food bender earlier.”

She moaned. “Then keep me company. Get dressed in something presentable.”

I rolled over on my back and yawned. “I haven’t slept. I’m exhausted. I should go to sleep so I can at least function tomorrow.”

She sighed. “Fine. I’ll go to dinner by myself and be bored and lonely.”

“Thanks for coming over and keeping me company.”

“Hey, man, anytime you need help spending a few thousand dollars of someone else’s money, I’m your girl. Rest up and call me if you need anything.”

“I will.”

I saw Becca to the door and locked up. I crawled into bed and prayed when I woke up in the morning this day would have been nothing but a dream.





Twenty





I stood outside Vance’s parents’ house and could hear the flurry of chatter from the porch. I had to ring the bell twice and pound on the door with a closed fist before someone heard me.

“Diana!” Teresina DeLuca greeted me. She held me in a warm embrace and enveloped me with the scent of roses and garlic. After she squished the air from my lungs, she looked behind me with pinched brows. “Where your boyfriend?”

“He wanted to be here but got called away on business. He asked me to bring you this.” I handed her the nearly one hundred dollar bottle of Barolo. “He sends his apologies.”

She held her fingers to her lips and kissed them. “Que bello!”

“He knew you’d like it.” I smiled as she ran her fingers over the label.

She threw her hands up. “How can he leave you, eh?”

I shrugged and glanced down at my feet. “Oh, it’s okay. It happens.”

She pinched my cheeks. “You’re such a good girl. I send you home with food for him so he has something to eat when he get back. Come in. Come in.”

She wrapped her arm around my shoulder and led me into her home. The aromatics sent my appetite into overdrive. Lasagna, creamy cheese sauce, fettucine, baked penne, meatballs, garlic bread and countless other dishes were laid out in one long line on the buffet in the dining room. Vance’s family was the only one I knew who actually had their own set of chafing dishes. Sunday dinners were not for the shy. You entered their house with a raised fork and an appetite.

Everyone congregated in the kitchen, and when I walked in, they stopped talking. I waved and was immediately assaulted with hugs and kisses and a chorus of hellos.

Vance’s sister, Jina, came up to me. “Hey, Di. Great to see you again!” She kissed my cheeks while toting her youngest child, three-year-old Isabella, on her hip. Her Shirley Temple curly black pigtails were the cutest I’d ever seen, but when I hugged Jina, little Isabella buried her face in her mom’s neck. Jina patted her back. “Can you say hi to Diana, Isa?” Sweet Isabella shook her head and squeezed Jina tighter. A half-naked baby doll dangled from her hand.

I rubbed her back. “It’s okay, we can talk later. Maybe you can introduce me to your baby after she has a full tummy?”

Her head popped up, and she drew her doll into her chest. She gave me my first smile and nodded. Arianna, Jina’s five-year-old, clung to her skirt. She was equally as adorable but had a much more sophisticated ponytail high atop her head wrapped in an enormous purple bow.

I squatted down to meet her at eye level. “Hi Arianna, I like your bow.”

She gave me a huge grin, but was missing her front two teeth. “Thanks,” she whispered with a lisp.

“I see you got a new smile.” She nodded, and her ponytail bounced up and down. “Did the tooth fairy pay you a visit?”

“Yeah, and she leaves me a dollar every time!”

“She’s a pretty cool lady, that tooth fairy.” My hair fell forward over my eye, and I brushed it back behind my ear.

Arianna stroked a strand of my hair draping my shoulder. “You have really pretty hair.”

“Thank you, but it’s only half as pretty as yours, though.”

“Wanna come play in my salon?” She looked up at me over her thick row of deep black lashes.

“Are you kidding? I was hoping you’d ask. I’d love to. Do you have any more bows like yours?”

“I have a purse with brushes and stuff.”

“Yes,” Jina said. “We don’t go anywhere without our beauty supplies, do we?”

I stood up. “What girl leaves the house without her essentials?” I glanced down at Arianna. “No girl I know, that’s who. How about after dinner?”

“Okay.” She nodded. Her black patent leather Mary Janes tapped against the porcelain tiles as she trotted off.

I hugged and said hello to at least a dozen other family members: aunts, uncles, Vance’s oldest sister Christina, in-laws, they were all there. I found Vance tucked back in a corner, watching me get through the procession, resting his chin in his hand and wearing a smile. Someone handed me a glass of red wine. I joined Vance and sat on a small window sill near the kitchen table. I smelled the bouquet and sipped my wine. It was the perfect temperature and tasted of chewy plums and tart cherries.