by Rich Amooi
Giovanni unwrapped her hand again and Natalie leaned in to look at it.
Natalie snorted.
“I can’t believe you’re laughing at me. I’m dying! I’ve been shot! Oh, dear God. The room seems to be spinning a little bit. I think my time is near. Don’t cry for me, Argentina!”
“Mom, you’re missing a fingernail, not a limb.”
“Seriously?” Eleonora held her head up and inspected her hand. Then she flipped it over and checked out the other side. “How is that possible? Because it hurts like a son of a bitch.” She sat up, pointed at Natalie with her good hand, and smiled. “Okay, good news then. You and I are back in business. Eight kids. That’s all I’m asking for. You two need to get busy.”
“Mom!”
“I’m joking!”
One of Natalie’s other coworkers grabbed Paolo and escorted him toward the exit.
Jacks approached, a bloody tissue stuffed inside one of his nostrils. “Obviously this isn’t going to work out.” He held out his hand to Natalie. “The ring, please.”
Eleonora sighed. “Do you know how tacky that is?”
“It’s none of your business.”
Natalie handed Jacks the ring. Eleonora swung her leg around and knocked Jacks’ legs out from under him. He hit the ground hard and screamed like a girl.
“Shut up,” said Eleonora. “You big pansy.”
Chapter Twenty
A week later Giovanni and Natalie held hands as they approached the entrance of the dog park with Precious. They’d seen each other every day since Natalie’s almost-wedding. Giovanni was right; they had an amazing connection. He’d never met anyone like her and was so excited to spend every possible moment with her.
And kiss her. No way he was going to forget that.
He’d met a lot of women in his life, but he was positive that Natalie was the one. They agreed to take it slowly, but Giovanni really wasn’t too sure how long he could wait before popping the question. It was crazy, but this was real. He felt it.
He smiled, opened the first gate, and they stepped inside with the energetic dog.
“Arf!”
“Someone’s excited,” said Giovanni.
He pushed open the second gate and undid the leash. Precious bolted toward her labradoodle friend. Giovanni and Natalie sat on the same bench as before and watched as the dogs played and ran in all different directions. They continued to hold hands.
Giovanni smiled as the pug from last week walked in their direction. “Here comes reincarnated Hairy.”
Natalie laughed and stuck out her hand as the pug approached. The dog licked her hand and she scratched it on the head. “I don’t think he would come back as a pug.”
“I think it’s him. This dog is attached to you. Like me.”
“You’re not going to lick my hand, are you?”
“Well, not that hand.”
Giovanni's phone rang and he held up an index finger. “Excuse me for a moment. I’m expecting a call from a client about their guitar delivery. I’ll make it quick.”
She smiled. “Take your time.”
He answered the call. “This is Giovanni.”
“Giovanni! This is Beatrice—how is my baby?”
“Are you talking about me or the dog?”
“Ha! Good one, but I am talking about the dog.”
Giovanni wasn’t ready to give up Precious, but he knew this was supposed be temporary. How would he know he would get so attached to the dog?
“Precious is fine,” he said. “How was your trip? Are you back in town?”
“Not quite. The trip is going very well. Okay, I might be understating things. It’s the trip of a lifetime! That’s why I’m calling. I’m going to extend the trip three months.”
“Three more months?” Giovanni mouthed “Oh, my God!” to Natalie.
It was the best news. Beatrice could never come back and he would be perfectly fine with that. Things just kept getting better and better.
“Who am I kidding?” said Beatrice. “There’s a chance I may never come back.”
And better.
Giovanni smiled and squeezed Natalie’s hand tighter. Just the thought of spending more time with Precious put a smile on his face.
Beatrice sighed. “By the way, I met a younger man who loves to kiss on the mouth. Unlike you!”
Giovanni laughed. “Yes, kissing on the mouth is important, but with the right person.” He nodded at Natalie and pointed at her lips and she laughed. “In fact I see a beautiful pair of lips I would love to kiss at this very moment.”
Natalie lost her smile and her gaze dropped to Giovanni's mouth. That look was enough for him to hang up on Beatrice. “I have to go, Beatrice. Take as long as you need. Precious is in good hands.”
“That’s wonderful, Giovanni, because—”
Giovanni disconnected the call and slid the phone in his pocket. He eyed Natalie’s lips and then moved in slowly toward her. She closed her eyes and he was just about at the point of contact when he pulled back.
She opened her eyes—the look of disappointment all over her face. “What?”
“I just want to make sure I’m not going to get slapped after I do this.”
“I promise.”
“And you’re not drunk or anything, are you? I want you to remember this, too.”
Natalie slapped him on the arm. “I’ve been with you the whole day and I haven’t had a single drink. Are you going to kiss me this year?”
“The forecast calls for mostly sunny skies and a ninety-nine percent chance of kisses.”
“Is this your foreplay?”
“Let’s just say I’m taking my time and doing it right. I want to make sure you really want this.”
“I really want this.”
“I don’t want to take advantage of you.”
“Oh, God. I really think I’m going to kill you.”
“I mean, I know you would take advantage of me and actually did on that drunken and stormy night.”
She sat there quietly.
“You have nothing to say for yourself?”
“Yes, I do. First of all, it was not stormy that night. There were a billion stars in the sky.”
“So poetic.”
“Thank you. And number two, would you just shut up and kiss me before I taser you?”
“As you wish.”
Giovanni leaned in and kissed her good. She moaned and squeezed his hand.
Natalie pulled away from the kiss and smiled. “Do it again.”
“Incoming!”
He kissed her again.
She smiled. “Nice. Now before you go off on some verbal rampage, I want one more.”
“So demanding.”
Giovanni kissed her again
He felt something wet in his hand and broke off the kiss. “If that was you licking my hand, you are very talented.”
They looked down and laughed when they saw Precious staring up at them.
Natalie stroked Precious, deep in thought. “Life is weird.”
“How so?”
“A week ago I was supposed to get married and three weeks ago you were supposed to get married. Instead we’re here with each other and this cute little dog. Holding hands. Kissing. No plans at all.”
Giovanni grinned. “That’s where you’re wrong because I’ve got some serious plans for you.”
Natalie smiled and pointed to a cocker spaniel. “Just like that dog over there, I’m all ears. Tell me about these plans.”
“It would be a pleasure. For starters, we’ll be seeing a lot of each other.”
Natalie nodded. “That’s a great start—I like that.”
“Good! And I will be treating you like a princess, if you don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind that at all either. Go on—you’re doing really well so far.”
“We need to start kissing hourly. In fact, I would like to glue my lips to yours.”
Natalie laughed. “I’m okay with that, too. Anything else?
”
“I’m so glad you asked! We’re going to come back here many more times in the future. Maybe even one day towing along an extra person.”
“Your mother?”
Giovanni laughed. “No—not my mother.” He cleared his throat. “Someone . . . much younger.”
Natalie blushed and squeezed his hand. “Oh . . .”
“First we’ll need to make things official, of course.”
Her face beamed. “Of course.”
Giovanni smiled and stared at the most beautiful woman in the world. This felt so good. So right. Still. There was just one more thing he needed to hear from her.
He held up his index finger. “But you need to promise me something.”
She perked up and swallowed hard. “Anything.”
“That you’ll show up.”
And with that, Giovanni leaned in slowly and lingered in front of her face for a few seconds. He grinned and kissed her on the lips.
Natalie pulled away—her eyes sparkling. “You keep kissing and smiling at me that way and I can guarantee I’ll be there.”
THE END
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Dear Reader,
I’m honored that you took the time to read my second novel, Dog Day Wedding. I hope you enjoyed the fun, crazy story of Giovanni and Natalie. I had a lot of fun writing it!
I would be so grateful if you would take the time to leave a review online at Amazon and Goodreads. It would mean the world to me and would also help new readers find my stories.
And feel free to send me an email to say hello! I love to hear from my readers—it motivates me and helps me write faster. I personally reply to everyone. :)
My email address is [email protected].
With gratitude,
Rich
Acknowledgments
It takes more than a few people to publish a book so I want to send out a big THANK YOU to everyone who helped make Dog Day Wedding possible.
To my very talented cover artist, Sue Traynor. Thank you for drawing another beautiful cover for me!
To Mary Yakovets for editing. Thanks so much!
Thank you to Paula Bothwell for proofreading!
A big smoochy, mushy, huggy, kissy thank you to my wife, Silvi. I’m grateful for having such an amazing person in my life that loves me and supports me and believes in what I do. Thank you for your constant help and feedback. YOU ROCK!
To romance author, Deb Julienne, for always being so helpful and kind. And to Hannah Jayne! Thanks for brainstorming with me at the very beginning.
To Robert Roffey, Isabel Anievas, Krasimir Sofijski, Kamlapati Khalsa, and Julita Sofijski. Thank you for your friendship, your support, and your help.
To Debra Holland, Sever Bronny, Chris Fox, Myra Scott, and J Gordon Smith for your input.
About the Author
Rich Amooi is a former Silicon Valley radio personality and wedding DJ who now writes romantic comedies full-time. He is happily married to a kiss monster imported from Spain. Rich believes in public displays of affection, silliness, infinite possibilities, donuts, gratitude, laughter, and happily ever after.
Connect with Rich!
www.richamooi.com
[email protected]
