“You’re in it now,” she whispered, holding her stomach as she lay on her side, her back to him. “That was my family saying congratulations. About exactly as I pictured it, minus the whole getting hit part.”
Vince kissed the back of her shoulder and retrieved an ice pack for her, kept cool since it had been used on his many recent injuries. He pressed it to her cheek, knowing by the redness that there would be swelling in the morning. Patrick O’Keefe was a big man whose hands had been trained for brutality, though Vince was certain Patrick never would’ve hit Fallyn, had he been in his right mind. Vince never guessed such aggression would happen upon the man’s only daughter. “How’s your face?”
“Can I stay here tonight?” she asked, ignoring the thing she didn’t want to discuss.
“You can stay here every night, honey. Move in with me.”
She surprised him with her quiet compliance. “Okay. I’ll grab my stuff in the morning.”
He shook his head at the whole situation, pushing aside the thrill of moving her into his home. “Your brothers are no joke. You warned me, but for some reason I actually thought at least Killian might find a way to be okay with us. We’ve been working side by side on so many things for a long time now. I don’t know why I thought it would be okay with them. And I don’t know what Declan’s deal was. He acted like the idea of us together was disgusting or something.”
Fallyn thought she’d run out of tears, but at her next declaration, a few more trailed across her face to wet Vince’s pillow. “Screw them all.”
Vince pressed his lips to her shoulder, adding some warmth to her cold words. “You don’t mean that. It’s just a fight. Carrigan found a way to calm down for a little bit. They will too.”
“I don’t have brothers. I don’t have a father.” Her whisper was as powerful as if she’d shouted. “I’ll take your last name, if that’s okay. I don’t want anything to do with mine anymore.”
Vince didn’t say anything to this, since there was nothing he could offer to lessen the emotional, verbal and physical blows. Instead he took her shoes off for her and pulled out his phone. “Angelo, take Fallyn’s keys and the guys and pack up her house right now before her brothers try to go get her. She’s moving in here.” He put his phone on the nightstand, wishing he’d cleaned up a little for her. “You’ll be moved in tonight. You don’t have to deal with anyone who hits you or who treats you like that. You can take a break for once. Rest. You’re safe here. No one will ever hit you here, or shame you for your choices.”
Fallyn cried silently, the icepack on her cheek taking some of the sting out of the night as it numbed what burned her. “I just want to take a nap. Is that okay? Can I borrow a big shirt of yours or something that smells like you?” She tapped her heart. “I can’t feel this anymore.”
Vince softened, unbuttoning his shirt to hand to her. “Of course. You can have anything you want. Everything I own is yours.”
He expected her to hold it like a blanket or lay it across the pillow to sleep on. His intake of breath as she sat up and pulled her lavender sweater over her head made him feel like a tool for getting aroused when she was so distraught.
She kept her back to him as she unhooked her pink bra, letting loose the breasts he’d longed to cradle. His shirt slipped over her arms, and he talked himself down as she buttoned it up, sliding off her skirt and revealing long, bare legs that were the perfect shade of barely tan.
Vince swallowed a lump in his throat, willing himself not to speak, lest he hit on her and prey on her vulnerability. Instead he followed her lead and removed his undershirt, watching her reaction as he unbuckled and kicked off his pants and socks, pulling back the sheets to invite her into his bed. “Lay down.”
Fallyn’s nose was pink when her head hit the pillow, finally facing him so he could see her pain that was still radiating. “My Daddy doesn’t know who I am!” she whispered, breaking in his arms. “Daddy never hit me. Never! I never even got spanked! And now he hates me. He doesn’t even know me.” She burrowed into the warmth Vince provided, moving closer into his arms and draping her leg up over his hip to pull him as near as she could possibly get. Her hand rested on his bare chest that felt strong when she couldn’t find her own strength she knew was buried somewhere deep down. “My brothers don’t love me if they can’t control me. That’s not love. I can’t believe I ever thought it was. I’m so embarrassed I let it go on like that for so long. That you saw it all blow up. So humiliating.”
“Hey, now.” Vince kissed her forehead, willing his body’s eagerness not to make itself known to Fallyn. “They do love you, tesoro. They all do. They’re just really bad at it. And your dad? That’s not him. It hasn’t been him for a while. The dad you knew loves you so much. You can’t let this new guy tarnish what you had. Two decades of affection.”
She shook her head into his chest. “I don’t think I want to talk about it anymore. Did they get any punches in on you?”
Vince scoffed. “Not a one. Seamus is a terrible fighter. Too much anger to be lethal. Most of them were too shocked to throw any punches. We got out of there just in time.” He pressed his lips to her nose. “I’m fine, honey. Just worried about you. Tell me how I can make it better.”
Fallyn thought on this for a moment before answering. “Can you teach me how to run the business remotely? I don’t want to go in to work for a while. I know they’ll be camping out there to talk me out of this, and I don’t want to hear it.”
“Sure. That’s easy. I’ll walk you through it tomorrow, and if anything needs seeing to, I’ll send Angelo into the store to take care of it. You just rest.” His arm pulled her so she was flush against him. He nuzzled his nose against her wet one, refusing to turn away from her raw emotion. “Anything else?”
“Whiskey? Do you have whiskey? I just want to sleep this off, but I know I won’t be able to.”
“I’ve got all the whiskey in the world. Hold tight.” He kissed her lips lightly, gave her a squeeze and went down to the kitchen, pouring her a glass of his favorite distraction. He took a shot himself, wishing away the night that had gone so horribly south on them.
When he brought the drink up to her, the sight of her in his shirt lying in his bed took his breath away. She was puffy-eyed and her nose was red, but wrapped in his white dress shirt that fit her like a bag, she was a beauty to behold with her tangled curls and long legs.
Vince sat down on the mattress and leaned against the tall oak headboard, pulling her up to sit on his lap. Her legs to the side were too tempting not to touch, so he stroked the smooth skin, marveling at the allure her knees held for him. “When we’re married, I think we should get a bigger bed. One you can really spread out in.”
“This is a king-sized mattress. There’s plenty of space for the both of us here,” Fallyn worked out through her snivels.
He tipped the glass to her lips, wishing he could kiss them for hours without seeming insensitive to her obvious pain. “I can clear out some space for you in that closet.” Vince pointed to the walk-in that had more than enough space for five people’s clothes. “I’ll make you breakfast in the morning, and you can read or watch movies or do whatever you want that relaxes you all day long.”
“What if I want to run the bakery all day long?” She leaned her head on his shoulder, relishing in the comfort of resting all her physical and emotional weight on him.
Vince shrugged. “That sounds great. Whatever makes you happy.”
Fallyn pulled her head up to stare at him, awestruck at the wonder that was Vince. “All these years, I never knew you were like this.” She leaned over and set the half-drunk glass on the nightstand, and then kissed him slowly, enjoying each stroke of his lips that tasted like home. “Vince?”
“Mm-hmm?” His hand found its way to her thigh and massaged the flesh there, loving the feel of every inch she made available to him.
“Do you have any condoms?”
Vince’s eyes flew open, freezing mid-kiss. “Um, yeah
. Why do you ask?”
She tilted his chin down so she could look in his eyes. “Make love to me,” she whispered, bringing her mouth to his to coerce the desired effect out of him. He was malleable, despite his shock. “Please, Vince.”
Vince fought hard through his raging desire for her. He removed her from his lap and stood from the bed, his hands atop his head to ensure they stayed honest. “Why tonight? Why all of a sudden? I thought you wanted to wait until you got married. I thought that was important to you.”
She blinked up at him, her eyes puffy, and her expression that of a lost girl. “I don’t know what’s important anymore. I just know I can’t feel this. Any of it.”
Vince took a step away from the bed, lest he get too close and rip his shirt off her in an animalistic attack. He’d wanted her in this very way for so long, but now that it was here, the golden offer felt tarnished. “Baby, one of us has to think clearly. This isn’t how you want your first time to be. You can’t waste your first time like that – on a day you want to forget. Once we’re married, I’ll take you all day and all night, just say the word. But tonight? I don’t want to make it onto your list of regrets. This isn’t the night for big decisions. Let’s just let the night be terrible, and call it what it is.”
Fallyn’s voice came back insecure. “You don’t want to have sex?”
Vince gaped at her. “Of course I want exactly and only that. But so far I haven’t done anything your brothers and your father would have the right to shoot me over. I respect your father, Fallyn. I won’t take his daughter like this. Not when you’re vulnerable, and not before your wedding night. It’s what you said you wanted.”
He watched Fallyn’s hopeful face fall into shame and chagrin as she stared at her knees. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I don’t know what’s gotten into me. I’m all turned around right now. I’m so embarrassed!”
Vince scrambled back to the bed, kneeling before her so she couldn’t crawl into her shell of shame. His kiss was so passionate, he knocked her backwards onto the mattress, letting her feel how much he wanted her. “You have no idea how badly I want to say yes. I want to be buried deep inside you more than anything. I just want it to be right. I want it to be how you imagined.”
Vince warred within himself, caught between his words and her smooth body. He took a chance and parted her knees, leaning down to kiss the insides of her thighs just to see her squirm under his devoted touch.
Fallyn’s moan was half pleasure and half torture. Her face was twisted from too much emotion and too much desire.
Vince was fighting with everything in him to control his urges. Finally he sat up, leaning back on his heels to draw in a full breath of clarity. “Amoroso, we have to stop. I want you too badly right now. If you keep looking like this, I won’t be able to resist, and I know I need to.” He picked up the rest of her drink and downed it, grateful for the burn that distracted him.
Fallyn lay down on the mattress, patting the space next to her. “You’re right. We can wait.” She traced patterns on his chest when he lay down beside her.
Vince was cautious of the draw she had on him, and kept his hands honest on the curve of her hip. “I love you so much.”
“I love you, too.” She gave his lips a sweet kiss that nearly undid his resolve to behave. “Vince?”
“Yes. Whatever you want, the answer’s yes.”
“When do you want to get married?”
“Yesterday. The sooner the better. Whenever you’re ready.”
Fallyn thought on this, and then kissed his lips. “Monday,” she ruled. “Justice of the Peace is open on Monday. Let’s go then.”
Vince’s head whipped to gawk at her. “Monday?! Like, this Monday? In two days, Monday?”
“If you want. I don’t need to wait. My family will never be okay with this. I don’t see a point in having a big wedding, unless that’s what you need.”
“No, I don’t need a wedding. Honey, are you sure that’s what you want?”
Fallyn nodded. “Unless you need to get married in a church. Whatever you want is fine, just know that I only need you, a witness and a Justice of the Peace, and I’m good.”
Vince shot her a look of disbelief. “Please, can you really picture me in a church? The thing would probably burn to the ground if I stepped inside.”
“Then let’s go down to the courthouse on Monday.”
“You don’t want to give your brothers a week or two to come around?”
“No. Weddings are for the family, and I don’t have one of those. Monday works for me. I don’t need a big dress or a party my brothers can ruin. I just need you.”
Vince rolled atop her to kiss her deeply, groaning at the way her back arched for him. Her body was so ready for his, but he knew her heart wasn’t. Vince kissed her for several luxurious minutes in the lamplight before he nodded. “Monday, then. I’ll take care of everything. I want you to wear a white dress, if that’s okay. Can I send you shopping tomorrow for one? I just have this vision of you in a white dress, all perfect and pure. Virginal. Doesn’t have to be anything huge if you don’t want that. Just any white dress you love.”
Fallyn kissed him, feeling a touch of warmth through the chill her heart had endured when it had frozen over towards her family. “Then you have to wear a tux. My fantasy of you has you looking like 007.”
“Done. I love you, Mrs. D’Amato.”
Fallyn pressed her lips to Vince’s, wrapping her legs around him as they indulged in the sensuality of too many kisses. “I love you, Mr. D’Amato.”
Fourteen.
Carrigan’s Fury
Most of the weekend saw Fallyn not stepping foot outside Vince’s fortress of a home. She did something she had not done in years – rest. Fallyn slept a full nine hours tucked up in Vince’s nook, breathing in the peace he offered all night long. During the day, he and Angelo taught Fallyn how to run the business with a less hands-on approach so she didn’t have to go into the bakery. She put Loretta in charge of hiring two new bakers: one to take over for her doing fill-in baking work, and the other to start off the arrangement of merging the bakery with La Cucina Italia by baking all the desserts for Vince’s restaurant chain.
Fallyn read a classic novel in the backyard under a Japanese maple tree. The hardback book was taken from Papa D’s dusty bookshelf. She remembered loving the feel of her nose buried in a book, but hadn’t made the time for such nurturing luxuries since opening the bakery.
She left the house on Sunday only to meet up with Jen at a boutique she’d never had an excuse to go into before. Fallyn hugged her friend with too much desperation in the embrace for Jen not to ask question after question with a furrowed brow. “Engaged? It’s like I blinked and you had this whole life. What gives?”
“I want to be with him. I know you think he’s terrifying, and I guess he is to everyone else. But he’s so sweet to me.”
“He’s sweet to you?” She shook her head like a dog ridding itself of fleas. “I cannot picture that. Please tell me it involves him wearing Shakespearean tights or something like that. I’m a visual learner.”
“Vince is kind, and he’s got a good heart.”
“Yeah, that he probably shot out of some unsuspecting missionary and stole for himself. Seriously, Fal? This is Vince we’re talking about. Vince D’Amato? Carries a gun and has exactly one facial expression?” She mimicked Vince’s cold, emotionless stare.
“That’s the one. He’s it for me, Jen. It’s him or no one.”
Jen held her friend’s hand as if she was sending her off for life-threatening surgery. “Um, okay. Mazel tov, I guess. I mean, if you’re happy and this is what you want, then I’m in your corner.”
Fallyn’s heart swelled with love for her closest girlfriend. Jen hadn’t balked when she’d wanted to move back home and open Sweet Somethings in neutral territory. She hadn’t questioned whether or not Fallyn could handle her life. Jen had supported her quietly, showing up for her in small ways, and in a f
ew very large ones, as well. “Thank you.” Fallyn exhaled a gust of tension she didn’t realize had been knotting her chest. “I think I just needed someone to say that to me.”
Jen donned a cheery smile. “So when’s the big day?”
Fallyn debated telling Jen, not because she didn’t want her friend there, but because she knew her brothers would go to Jen for information, and she didn’t want drama at the courthouse. “Soon,” she replied. “Can you slip away for an hour tomorrow morning around ten? I could use a friend with excellent taste to help me pick out some shoes to go with whatever dress we find here.”
“Sure. How’d your brothers take the news?”
“Oh, exactly how you’d expect. Tried to beat up Vince. We barely made it out of there.”
“Oh, man. Your brothers are so stupid. I’m sorry.” She hugged Fallyn to start the conversation afresh. “Hey, I’m crazy sorry. I’m doing this all wrong.” She plastered on a huge smile and jumped up and down. “You’re getting married! That’s so great! Oh my gosh! Show me the ring!”
Fallyn applauded Jen’s effort, recognizing it as the first time a person in her life congratulated her. She presented her hand for Jen to examine. As predicted, Jen’s eyes bulged at the iceberg on her ring finger. “Not bad, right?”
Jen’s voice came out pinched and high. “I’ll say. It’s huge!”
“Yeah, Vince doesn’t really do anything halfway.”
“Well, if you’re going to skimp on things, best not pick the wedding ring for that. Well done, Vince.”
The girls giggled together and spent the next hour picking out the perfect white dress that wasn’t too over the top for Fallyn, but made her look like a classic beauty. She finally decided on a crisp white strapless knee-length satin gown that fit her body like a glove. The dress hugged her hips, but hung loose around her thighs, making her feel how every woman should feel in their perfect dress. The layer of lace beneath the skirt stuck out an inch past the satin hem to add just the right amount of sexiness to balance the demure length. She examined herself in the full length mirror as the saleswoman pointed out all the features Fallyn couldn’t have cared less about. She was a bride, and everything else felt like details.
Escaping: A Mafia Romance (The O'Keefe Family Collection #2) Page 7
