by A. K. Evans
“Dom, it’s fine. I can handle them.”
My brother sat there staring at me, relief in his face. I could see how tired he was, but I also knew he loved every minute of being a father.
“What day and what time do you need me?” I asked.
“You tell me what works for you and I’ll adjust accordingly. Her birthday is on Thursday, but I can wait until the weekend if that works better for you.”
I shook my head. “No, Thursday is fine. I’m working next weekend, so I’ll actually be off on Thursday. And you don’t need to worry about coming back early because I don’t have to be to work on Friday until after lunchtime. Enjoy your time with your wife. The two of you need that time with each other.”
“Thanks, Jojo. You’re the best.”
I grinned at him. “I know.”
We sat there grinning at each other, in complete silence, when I suddenly heard the creak from the second to last step on my staircase.
Shit.
I couldn’t think fast enough.
Dom’s body went alert before he whispered, “Is someone here?”
My eyes rounded, but just as I was about to answer, we heard the voice before the body entered the room, “Jolie, baby, I was thinking—”
Lorenzo stopped speaking. He had walked into the kitchen, in just jeans, and froze. The tension in the air was thick and nobody said anything. The silence stretched on for a long time. I was nervously biting my bottom lip, Lorenzo hadn’t moved, and Dom’s eyes were narrowed moving back and forth between his friend and me.
When Dom’s eyes finally settled, they settled on Lorenzo.
“How long?” he asked.
“A little over a month,” Lorenzo replied immediately.
Dom shifted his gaze to me. “Jojo, why didn’t you tell me?” His voice was strained, thick with emotion. He was hurt.
I swallowed hard. “Dom, I’m sorry. We got together right after Hank and Gracie were born and you had a lot on your plate. I didn’t know how you’d react and the last thing I wanted was for you to have your focus on anything but those babies. It was my choice not to tell you.”
Dom looked back to Lorenzo. “You know I love you like a brother, man, but if she’s not different than every other woman you’ve ever been with, we’re going to have a serious problem.”
While I really didn’t like hearing about Lorenzo with any other woman, a small part of me was amused by the irony of the situation. Last night, Rocco made it clear to me that Lorenzo was his concern. This morning, Dom was making it clear to Lorenzo that his only concern was me.
“She’s very different,” Lorenzo promised.
My brother stood from the stool and walked around the counter. I held my breath, waiting for the worst possible scenario to break out. Then, I realized I didn’t want that to happen, so I moved quickly and put myself between the two of them.
Lorenzo immediately stepped forward, put his hand on my arm, and nudged me to the side so he could position himself in front of me.
“I’m not going to hit my sister,” Dom exclaimed.
“I know that,” Lorenzo returned. “But if you decide you want to hit me, there’s not going to be even a remote possibility that she’s going to get caught in the middle of that.”
My eyes rounded.
Would Dom hit Lorenzo?
Dom was quick when he lifted his arm and wrapped it around Lorenzo, pulling him in for a man hug. Lorenzo was frozen solid, completely caught off guard.
“I couldn’t be any happier for the two of you,” Dom shared when he stepped back from Lorenzo. “It should come as no surprise that I want the absolute best for Jojo, but I love this for you,” he directed his attention at Lorenzo.
Dom was giving us his blessing. I could have jumped for joy.
“You…” Lorenzo stammered, clearly shocked by Dom’s reaction. “You aren’t worried?”
Dom jerked his head back. “Worried about what?”
Lorenzo’s voice got quiet and was filled with agony when he answered, “That I could turn out to be just like him and hurt her one day.”
“Brother…” Dom trailed off.
I felt myself getting emotional. The lump in my throat was growing by the second and seeing the pain in Lorenzo’s face was heartbreaking.
Putting his hand on Lorenzo’s shoulder, and with a finality and conviction in his tone that spoke volumes, Dom stated, “Not at all.”
Lorenzo dropped his gaze to his feet as the breath left his lungs.
Dom didn’t quit. “I’m not sure I could hand pick anyone that I’d trust more than you to do right by her and I don’t doubt that you’ll do everything in your power to make sure she’s always safe. I don’t know where things will end up between the two of you, but I know you’d never lay a hand on her.”
Lorenzo lifted his head and insisted, “Your blessing means a lot, Dom. Thank you for not making this difficult for us, especially for her.”
Dom nodded and looked to me.
“I’m pissed that you didn’t tell me, Jojo, but I understand your logic behind keeping it from me.”
“I’m sorry and I appreciate you not completely losing your mind this morning.”
Dom walked over to me, pulled me in for a hug, and kissed the top of my head.
“Don’t hide shit from me,” he ordered. “That’s not who you are.”
“I know. I won’t.”
“I’m going to get out of here and get back to my wife and kids. Thank you for agreeing to watch them on Thursday,” he started as he began walking out of the kitchen. He stopped, looked at Lorenzo, and back at me. “If he’s free and wants to join you, I’d feel better knowing you’ve got an extra set of hands.”
“Okay.”
I walked Dom to the door and said goodbye. As I walked back toward the kitchen, Lorenzo’s back was to me and I noticed he had barely moved.
“I’m so sorry,” I lamented from behind him. “He just stopped over to ask me to watch the kids for him this coming week so he could take Ekko out for her birthday. His visit was completely unexpected.”
Lorenzo turned slowly toward me. His eyes, so dark and intense, fixed on mine as he brought his hands up to frame my face.
“Why did you do that?”
My body went solid. Did he think I purposely set him up?
“I…Lorenzo, I didn’t—” I got out before he cut me off.
“Why did you get between your brother and me?” he snapped.
I didn’t understand what he was upset about. I didn’t come between them. Dom left on good terms with both of us.
“What? He’s fine. Dom’s not angry about us being together,” I asserted.
Lorenzo shook his head. “No, Jolie. When the situation was tense and he stood a few feet in front of me, you walked over and put yourself in the middle. Why?”
“I didn’t want things to get physical. We still didn’t know how he’d react and I wanted to try to diffuse the situation before it came to that.”
His fingertips pressed in. “If there’s ever a situation where there is a threat to me, you do not ever get in the middle of it. You do not sacrifice yourself to protect me, Jolie.”
I blinked my surprise at him. “My brother would never hit me. I knew that and took advantage to help diffuse the situation.”
“No,” he clipped. “That is never an option. It’s non-negotiable. You do not ever become the target for anyone’s unpredictability. And you especially don’t do it to protect me.”
“Can you?” I asked.
“Can I what?”
“Can you become the target for me? Are you allowed to do what you have to do to protect me?”
“Is that a serious question?”
I raised my brows at him, indicating I was waiting for a reply. He never gave one so, feeling annoyed, I went on, “If you can do it, so can I.”
Lorenzo was growing more and more agitated. “If your brother decided to throw a punch at me, I can handle it. If he does that and you get
clipped instead, it’s going to be a lot worse for you. Why would you ever consider doing that?”
“Because that’s what you do when you love someone!” I shouted.
I gasped.
The look in Lorenzo’s eyes was intense, but still very guarded.
“What?” he whispered.
“I love you.”
I barely got the words out when he crushed his mouth to mine, his hands sliding back into my hair. Lorenzo walked me backward until my back was against the wall. He lifted me up and my legs immediately wrapped around his waist.
“Shirt off,” he ordered.
I whipped my sleep shirt over my head and tossed it aside. Lorenzo’s mouth went to my jaw. His lips moved down my throat as one hand came up and cupped my breast, his thumb swiping over my nipple.
“Lorenzo,” I rasped.
“Baby,” he breathed against my skin. “Fuck, Jolie.”
He stepped back and lowered me to my feet.
“What’s wrong?”
“Need to get a condom,” he explained.
I reached my hand out and grabbed his wrist. His eyes came back to mine. “Have you always been safe? Have you been tested?”
“I got myself tested right after we got together,” he responded. “I’ve always worn protection, but I still wanted to be sure for you. Since we’ve been together, I haven’t been with anyone else and I’m clean.”
“I am, too. And I’m on birth control,” I shared.
His hands went to the fly of his jeans. “Are you sure you want this?”
I nodded, sliding my fingers under the material of my panties at my hips. I began pushing them down and shimmied my legs back and forth until they fell to the floor.
His jeans landed on the ground, his belt buckle clanging against the tiled floor.
Stepping back toward me, he wrapped his arm around my waist and put his other hand on my thigh.
“Guide me in, baby,” he encouraged.
I reached my hand between us and guided him in. My back was against the wall as Lorenzo kept himself still, pressed tight against me.
“You feel so good, boss,” I moaned.
He pulled back slowly before thrusting back in just as languidly.
The sound of his groan filled the air. “Jolie,” he whispered.
My breaths came quick, my chest rising and falling against his. Lorenzo began moving his hips faster, easily finding a steady rhythm.
As he moved, it built. And it built quick on all that I was feeling, on all that I’d just shared. I’d put myself between him and a threat because that was what you did when you loved someone.
I loved him.
I loved Lorenzo.
His mouth took mine. He kissed me hard, wet, and deep. The feeling was beginning to take over me. I disconnected my mouth from his, dropped my head back to the wall, and felt his tongue at my throat.
“Lorenzo,” I practically purred, feeling myself close and on the verge.
“Say it,” he ordered.
“What?”
He slowed his pace and my eyes shot to his as I whimpered. “Don’t stop,” I begged.
“Say it, Jolie.”
I couldn’t focus as I felt my orgasm slip away.
“Tell me how you feel about me,” he demanded.
“I love you,” I breathed.
He kissed me.
He picked up his pace.
He built me up again in no time at all.
And then I shattered. My body convulsed around his, my limbs clinging tightly to him.
Several thrusts later, Lorenzo buried himself deep and groaned into my neck.
My big guy kept us like that a long time, his strong, powerful body pressed against mine, holding me against the wall. It took a while, but he eventually lifted his chest from mine and began walking with me in his arms.
Lorenzo carried me upstairs, got me steady on my feet outside the bathroom, and instructed, “Go get cleaned up. Meet me in the bedroom.”
A few minutes later, I walked into my room and found him lying on his side in the bed underneath the covers. Taking a few strides in his direction, I made it to the bed and climbed in beside him, my back to the bed.
While there were a million thoughts running through my head, I was hoping that he’d say something. I’d just told him I loved him and he hadn’t said it back. If I started rambling, I knew I’d end up having a total meltdown.
Thankfully, Lorenzo saved me from my fate. His fingers lightly traced along the top swells of my breasts. “I’ve never been in love,” he stated. “I never gave myself the opportunity to fall in love. For my entire life, I’ve done everything I can to avoid having that happen. And I’ve been successful until now. Until you.”
I felt the lump forming in my throat again.
“I love you, Jolie. I swear to you that I’m telling you that because it’s true and not because you’ve just said it to me. I didn’t want this to happen, but you single-handedly crushed every wall I built. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen and your heart is…there’s nothing like it. I love the way you live your life and I’m hoping to be part of it for as long as you’ll allow me to be in it.”
Tears were spilling from my eyes, sliding down into the hair at the sides of my head. Lorenzo wiped them away.
“It’s been a little more than a month since we started this thing between us, baby, and I’ve got to tell you…it’s been the best month of my life. Bar none.”
“Lorenzo,” I cried quietly.
I turned my body toward his, buried my face in his chest, and held him tight. His free arm curled around me and pulled me close.
“This has been the best day ever,” I eventually said.
He gave me a gentle squeeze and agreed quietly, “Yeah, it has.”
“It’s still early, though,” I noted. “How are we going to make sure it doesn’t go downhill from here?”
“I can’t think of much that could ruin what today has meant to me, but I’d say if we want to continue with the good, we should probably get you donuts for breakfast.”
“That sounds fabulous. And then maybe later I can give you a massage with a happy ending.”
I felt Lorenzo’s body vibrate with laughter. “That’ll work for me.”
At that, Lorenzo and I got up and got ourselves ready. Then, he took me out for donuts so we could plan the rest of our day. While there wasn’t anything that was going to top the morning we had, we still ended up having the best day together.
“He wants me to meet his mom.”
I was at my sister’s place, sitting on the opposite end of the couch from her, giving her a life update. It was Wednesday, a few days after Lorenzo took me to my first live hockey game and after we were subsequently discovered by my brother, and I had just given Kendall the details of all that. I also shared that Lorenzo and I had officially fallen in love.
To say my sister was ecstatic was an understatement. I had always been grateful for the fact that I had Kendall there for me. There was nothing like having a person there for you that you knew you could always count on. And while I knew my brothers would move mountains for me, it just didn’t compare to having her. No matter how talkative and outgoing a person I was, there were certain things that I’d never share with them that I could always share with her.
One of those things was the fact that two days ago, Lorenzo told me he wanted me to meet his mom.
“That’s good news, Jojo. Meeting the parents is huge,” she bubbled with excitement for me. “Why does it seem like you’re worried about this?”
“This wasn’t something I wanted to share, but Lorenzo said it doesn’t bother him if I do. I’m not meeting his parents; I’m just meeting his mom.”
“Okay, I still don’t understand.”
“Remember when all of Dom and Ekko’s wedding stuff was going on and you and some of the other girls said you could see that Lorenzo was attracted to me? Remember how I tried to do something about it on the day of the w
edding and he shot me down?”
“Of course. As much fun as we had at the wedding, you were completely devastated. How could I forget?”
I took in a deep breath and blew it out. “He wasn’t turning me down because he wasn’t attracted to me. He was doing it because he was afraid of hurting me.”
She made a face and said, “Wow, if all men would be that chivalrous.”
I shook my head. “No, sissy. He isn’t necessarily worried about breaking my heart. He believes that he’ll physically hurt me.”
Kendall’s body tensed and she sat up a little straighter. “What?”
“Lorenzo’s father abused his mother through a good chunk of his childhood. It continued until Lorenzo finally took a stand at the age of fifteen. They got out, but he still worries he’ll end up being just like his father.”
My sister’s face was filled with shock and concern. “Wow, Jojo, that’s awful. The very few times I’ve been around him, he always seemed so quiet and focused. I mean, you had to practically jump him to get him distracted at bowling. What about Dom? Does he know about Lorenzo’s family?”
I nodded. “Yeah, and that’s what came up this weekend when Dom stopped over. I told you Dom found out about us, but I didn’t tell you that I thought they were going to throw down right in my kitchen. I stepped right in between them and Lorenzo immediately moved me. After Dom gave us his blessing because he completely trusts Lorenzo and knows the kind of guy he is, he left. Then, Lorenzo got angry with me.”
“Wait, what? What did he do to you?”
“He was angry I stepped between him and Dom. He said that it’s never an option for me to put myself between him and any potential threat. I told him that that’s what you do when you love someone. Then we made love.”
Kendall was quiet for a minute while she processed everything I told her. When she spoke, she asked, “So, if this was how he responded and you look at everything that’s happened between you since the first time you met him, I don’t get why he thinks he’ll end up like his father. He helped you out when you had that situation with the guy at Carter’s.”
