Defense

by Sandi Lynn

  “Luca,” Julia spoke as she got up from her chair.

  “Julia.” I nodded. “I’m sorry about your father.”

  “Thank you. Is Ariana here?”

  “Yes. She’s in with him now.”

  “You must be Luca Russo. I’m Tom Brooks, Ariana’s—”

  “Father. I know,” I spoke as I shook his hand.

  “Have a seat,” Julia spoke as she sat down and patted the chair next to hers. “How is she?” she asked.

  “Scared,” I replied.

  “I’m happy that things worked out for you with your trial.”

  “You can thank your daughter for that. She’s an incredible woman and lawyer. In fact, I made her a partner at the firm.”

  “Wow. Since you’re here, I take it the two of you are—”

  “In a relationship? Yes, we are. I love Ariana very much. She means everything to me and I will do whatever I have to in order to protect her.”

  “Does that include keeping her away from us?” Tom asked.

  “That’s not my decision to make. It’s Ariana’s, and I will stand by whatever she decides.”

  “Thank you, Luca, for taking care of her.” Julia placed her hand on my arm.

  ****

  Ariana

  I slowly walked inside the room and my grandmother lifted her head from my grandfather’s arm and looked at me.

  “Ariana, my sweet girl.” She began to cry.

  Shit. I took in a deep breath and slowly walked over to her.

  “I’m here for him,” I spoke as I looked at my grandfather lying in a hospital bed, hooked up to several machines. “I can’t deal with anything else right now.”

  “I understand. Thank you for coming. He’ll be so happy to see you when he wakes up. We’ve all been so worried about you.”

  “I’m fine, so there’s no need to worry.”

  “He’s going to be out for a while. Why don’t we go grab a cup of coffee?”

  “You go. If you don’t mind, I would like to be alone with him for a while.”

  “Sure.” She gave a small smile. “It’s good to have you home, Ari,” she spoke as she left the room.

  Taking a seat in the chair alongside his bed, I placed my hand on his and stared at him.

  “Are you okay?” Luca asked as he walked into the room with his hands tucked in his pockets.

  “He used to take me to the park all the time and we’d fly kites together. Just me and him. He called it our ‘daddy-daughter dates.’ As I grew older and flying kites wasn’t important anymore, he’d take me to the marina and we’d sit on the dock with our feet in the water, watching the boats go by. We’d talk for hours. Just the two of us. He told me that I could be anything I wanted to and whatever obstacles I faced in life, I was strong enough to overcome them. Now that I think back on those conversations, I think he wanted to tell me the truth, or at least prepare me for it.”

  Luca walked over to me and clasped my shoulders from behind, softly massaging them with his magical fingers.

  “He loves you, Ariana. Your family is fighting to keep you and you’re fighting to let go. As much as you want to hate them for what they did, you can’t, and the sooner you accept that, the sooner you can find the peace you’re searching for.”

  My grandfather opened his eyes and slowly turned his head and looked at me.

  “Pumpkin.” A very small smile crossed his lips. “You didn’t have to come,” he spoke in a soft whisper. “I wouldn’t have blamed you.”

  “Yes I did.” Tears filled my eyes.

  “I’ll leave the two of you alone,” Luca said as he kissed the top of my head and walked out of the room.

  “Who’s that?”

  “The love of my life.” I smiled as a tear fell down my cheek.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Ariana

  My grandfather had quadruple bypass surgery and was on his way to making a full recovery. It was a few days before Christmas and the doctor gave him clearance to come to New York for the holidays. I insisted we spend it back in Boston, but my family said they wanted to have Christmas New York style. Whatever that meant. We all sat down and had a long talk. A talk that lasted about six hours. I’d almost lost my grandfather, and it was then that I realized that life was too short to hold a grudge. Luca was right all along. I could never find the peace I was searching for as long as I shut them out of my life. He told me to reflect on all the good they had done for me over the years. How much they loved me, took care of me, and nurtured me. Maybe I just needed a little guidance to clear the path of resentment and anger I walked down so the road to forgiveness could be paved.

  As we were getting dressed for the Christmas party Luca was throwing for the firm, he seemed a little off, and I could tell something was bothering him.

  “Are you okay, babe?” I asked as I walked over to him and had him zip up my dress.

  There was a moment of silence before he answered my question.

  “I’m not happy, Ariana,” he spoke.

  A nervousness settled in the pit of my stomach.

  “What?” I turned around and looked at him.

  “I’m not happy,” he spoke with a serious tone that frightened the shit out of me.

  “Why?”

  I could feel myself tremble for I didn’t know what the hell he meant. Things were perfect with us. Or at least I thought they were.

  “I thought you moving in with me and being a partner at the firm would make me happy. But it’s not,” he spoke as his eyes stared into mine. “I want more than this.” He gently smiled.

  “What do you mean? Luca, you’re really freaking me the fuck out.”

  He inhaled a sharp breath as he reached inside his suitcoat pocket, pulled out a small blue box, got down on one knee, and took hold of my hand.

  “I want you to be my wife. I want to marry you and take care of you for the rest of my life. Having you as my girlfriend just isn’t enough. I love you too damn much.” He flipped the lid to the box open and smiled. “Will you marry me, Ariana?”

  The hand he was holding began to shake. In fact, my whole body was shaking from head to toe.

  “Yes. Yes. Yes. I will marry you, Luca.” I smiled as the tears began to fall.

  He pulled the three-carat princess cut diamond ring from the box, slipped it on my finger, and brought my hand up to his lips. He stood up and placed his hands on each side of my face.

  “I love you—forever.”

  “And I love you—forever.” I smiled as our lips met.

  “I was going to wait until Christmas morning, but I couldn’t,” he spoke. “I’ve had the ring for a few days and it’s been killing me. I was so afraid you would say no or you weren’t ready yet.”

  “I would never say no to you.”

  “Really? Because I remember the other night when I wanted to do something to you and you said no.” He smirked.

  I couldn’t help but let laughter escape from my lips.

  “That was different! But who knows, maybe you’ll get lucky on our wedding night.” I grinned.

  He looked down at his pants and then back up at me.

  “Looks like we’re going to be late for our Christmas party.”

  “I don’t care how late we are.” Our lips collided once again.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Eighteen Years Later

  Luca

  “Great, they’re at it again,” Kennedy spoke as she and her twin brother, Ryan, walked into the kitchen.

  “Do you have to have make-out sessions in the kitchen? Go to your room, for god sakes,” Ryan spoke.

  I broke our kiss, and Ariana and I glared at them.

  “Is there something the two of you needed?” I asked.

  They both held up white envelopes in their hands.

  “Is that—” Ariana exclaimed.

  “Yes.” Kennedy bit down on her bottom lip just like Ariana always did.

  “Well, open them.” I smiled.

  The two of them took i
n deep breaths as they opened their letters together and read them.

  “I got in!” Kennedy smiled.

  “So did I!” Ryan shouted and the two of them high-fived each other.

  “I knew you would!” Ariana screamed as she hugged them both.

  “Congratulations, baby.” I kissed Kennedy’s head. “Congratulations, son.” I smiled as I hugged him. “I knew you both could do it. This calls for a celebratory toast.”

  I went into the cabinet, pulled out a special bottle of champagne I had saved for this occasion, and took out four glasses. Handing everyone their drinks, I held up my glass.

  “To my two beautiful children. The best things in life are yet to come for you. Congratulations on getting into Harvard. Your mom and I love you both very much and are so proud of you.”

  “Thanks, Dad. We love both of you too.” They smiled as we all clanked our glasses together.

  “We’re going out with our friends,” Ryan said.

  “Yeah, we’ll see you later.” Kennedy smiled.

  “Be home by midnight!” I shouted.

  “Twelve thirty!” Ariana yelled as they flew out the door.

  I looked over at her and cocked my head.

  “What?” she asked.

  “Why do you always extend their curfew by a half hour?”

  “It’s a big night for them. Let them have their fun.”

  I hooked my arm around her and led her to the couch, where we both sat down by the fire and put our feet up on the coffee table.

  “I can’t believe our children want to be lawyers,” I spoke.

  “I can. Look at who their parents are.” Ariana smirked.

  “They’ll probably be better than us.” I sighed.

  “With their IQs, they already are.” She laughed.

  “Just think. When they go off to college, it’ll just be the two of us again,” I spoke.

  “I know.” She smiled. “I’ll miss them dearly, but having you all to myself in this house sounds amazing.”

  “Shall we start practicing?” I grinned as I placed my hand up her skirt.

  “What if they come home?”

  “You extended their curfew. They aren’t coming home.”

  I leaned in and brushed my lips against hers. After all these years, I found myself more attracted to her than ever. There was no other woman in the world more beautiful than my wife. She climbed on top of my lap. Our kiss was as passionate as it always was. My fingers started unbuttoning her blouse and my cock was as hard as a rock. We had the whole night to ourselves and it didn’t matter where we made love.

  Suddenly, the front door opened.

  “Hey, we’re back and we brought some friends with us,” Ryan shouted. “We’re going to hang down in the basement.”

  “Mom, can a couple of my friends spend the night?” Kennedy asked as she stepped into the living room and halted. “Oh my God! Stop it!”

  “How many more months?” Ariana asked me as she still straddled my lap.

  “Not soon enough.” I sighed.

  Books by Sandi Lynn

  If you haven’t already done so, please check out my other books. Escape from reality and into the world of romance. I’ll take you on a journey of love, pain, heartache and happily ever afters.

  Millionaires:

  The Forever Series (Forever Black, Forever You, Forever Us, Being Julia, Collin, A Forever Christmas, A Forever Family)

  Love, Lust & A Millionaire (Wyatt Brothers, Book 1)

  Love, Lust & Liam (Wyatt Brothers, Book 2)

  His Proposed Deal

  Lie Next To Me (A Millionaire’s Love, Book 1)

  When I Lie with You ( A Millionaire’s Love, Book 2)

  A Love Called Simon

  Then You Happened

  The Seduction of Alex Parker

  Something About Lorelei

  One Night In London

  The Exception

  Corporate A$$

  A Beautiful Sight

  The Negotiation

  Second Chance Love:

  Remembering You

  She Writes Love

  Love In Between (Love Series, Book 1)

  The Upside of Love (Love Series, Book 2)

  Sports:

  Lightning

  About the Author

  Sandi Lynn is a New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author who spends all her days writing. She published her first novel, Forever Black, in February 2013 and hasn’t stopped writing since. Her addictions are shopping, going to the gym, romance novels, coffee, chocolate, margaritas, and giving readers an escape to another world.

  Please come connect with her at:

  www.facebook.com/Sandi.Lynn.Author

  www.twitter.com/SandilynnWriter

  www.authorsandilynn.com

  www.pinterest.com/sandilynnWriter

  www.instagram.com/sandilynnauthor

  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6089757.Sandi_Lynn