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“No, not at all.” His voice drops. “Losing her was really hard on you, wasn’t it?”
“She was my best friend,” I whisper, doing my best to force back the tears and failing miserably. Dammit. Squeezing my eyes shut, I try to regain control of my emotions, but it’s so damn hard. Losing her is still so raw and sometimes I can’t help bursting into tears.
Vin immediately pulls me close, wrapping an arm around my lower back while the other holds my cheek to his chest. I melt into him and let the tears flow. A few minutes later, I sniffle against his nice white shirt, pull back and realize I got it all wet. An embarrassing combination of tears and snot.
“I’m sorry.” I immediately try to brush it dry, but that doesn’t work. I’m probably just making it worse.
“It’s fine,” he murmurs, his big hand still stroking up and down my back. “It’s just a shirt.”
When I can’t seem to stop wiping at the spot, he grabs my hand, forcing it to stop, and lifts it to his mouth. Then he presses a soft kiss to my knuckles. Our gazes lock and my stomach fills with butterflies.
“Will you stay for dinner?” he asks huskily.
I can’t look away from his amazing green eyes and I nod.
“Good.” Vin releases my hand, leans in and kisses me. It’s soft, tender and over before I’d like. “Want to help me make some lasagna? Maybe toss a salad?”
“Yes,” I whisper, a little wobbly after the touch of his lips on mine.
We walk into the large, modern kitchen and he nods to a chair at the marble-topped island. “Have a seat and I’ll pour us some wine. I think we could both use a glass while you finish telling me what happened with Caleb Durant.”
I couldn’t agree more. My nerves are still frazzled by the incident. But watching Vin move around the kitchen, pour us wine and start pulling out pots, pans and ingredients sets my mind and heart at ease. He has this calm energy that speaks to me and reassures me on a soul-deep level.
I tell Vin how I had stepped out of the cemetery gates and then Caleb pulled up out of nowhere in his flashy BMW. “He said things didn’t turn out like he’d planned.”
“I’m sure,” Vin says dryly. I can’t help but notice how tightly he’s holding his wine glass and I watch him take a long, aggravated sip. “Then what happened?”
“He said he wanted to get to know me better, introduced himself and it’s almost like he waited for my reaction. Like I should recognize his name or something.”
“I checked with brother Enzo who knows everyone worth knowing and he said Caleb Durant thinks he’s a bigshot in the finance world,” Vin explained, a sour look on his face. “He’s not.”
“I told him I had to go and started walking. He still thought my name was Mary.”
“Did you correct him?”
“No.”
“Good girl.”
“He asked if he could give me a ride and I said no. I think that made him mad because then he got snippy. I didn’t want to encourage him, though. He ended up peeling away. I’m sure that’s most likely the end of it and I probably made the whole thing into a much bigger deal than it really is.”
“He harassed you,” Vin said, voice steely. “It is a big deal and I won’t let it happen again.”
“Thank you, Vin,” I say softly. Knowing he is looking out for me means everything. I slide off the stool and walk around, looking over all the ingredients. “I’ll make the salad.”
“Sounds good. I have a fresh loaf of French bread, too, if you’d like me to whip up some garlic bread.”
“Wow, you seem pretty good in the kitchen.” And in the bedroom, I think wickedly, pressing my lips together as I reach for the greens.
“My mom made sure all her kids knew how to at least cook lasagna. Some of us are better than others, but I’m pretty decent. I can make some mean manicotti, too.”
I chuckle. “Tell me about your family. Is it big?”
“I have an older brother named Miceli. Then there’s me, Enzo, Angelo and our baby sister Carlotta—who you met the other day. I told her to send the dress with a courier, but she’s so damn nosy. I should’ve known she’d show up herself to deliver it.”
“I’m glad I got to meet her, even just briefly. She seems sweet.”
“She can be a handful,” he informs me with a grin as he chops a fresh tomato. “But we love her. Then my parents live in Sicily on the vineyard.”
