by A. K. Evans
“Thanks, Michaela. I’ll be right out.”
I looked back at Ava and stated, “Well, I better get to it. Do you have a full schedule today?”
“Yep,” she answered. “This day is going to fly by and then I’m going to get laid. I cannot wait!”
“Me too,” I returned giggling.
Ava laughed as the two of us walked out of the lounge and got to work. Hours later, I left work and went home to get myself ready for girls’ night with Kendall and Ava.
“This is hopeless,” Kendall declared.
She was sitting across from me at the table we’d gotten ourselves at Big Lou’s Restaurant and Saloon in Rising Sun. Kendall, Ava, and I had just finished dinner down in the restaurant and made our way up to the saloon searching for a good time.
Much to my surprise, Elle was going to be performing. Elle was married to Lorenzo’s boss, Levi Cunningham.
We hadn’t been sitting for more than ten minutes when Kendall made her frustration known.
“Nothing is hopeless, Kendall. You just need to be patient,” I assured her.
“I don’t have any left,” she muttered.
“That’s why you need to just do what you’ve got to do to take care of your needs. You don’t think you could handle a one-night stand?” Ava asked.
Kendall shook her head. “No judgment, but I personally can’t do it. He’s got to mean something to me.”
“Don’t give up hope yet. It’s still early,” I maintained.
Kendall let out a sigh and looked around the room. It made me sad to see my sister so upset. I understood her frustration because it wasn’t that long ago that I was in the same exact position, wondering where I’d gone wrong and why I hadn’t fallen in love.
But I knew Kendall was a treasure. And I knew there was a guy out there who would be perfect for her. She really just needed to be patient and stay positive.
“Jolie?” a female voice called from beside our table.
I glanced up and saw a beautiful woman, who looked vaguely familiar, standing there. It took me a few seconds, but I suddenly placed her the moment I glanced to the guy standing next to her.
Luke Townsend.
Professional snowboarder and one of Rising Sun’s hometown heroes. He’d won the gold in the last Winter Olympics.
The woman standing next to him was his wife, Nikki. She was Michael’s daughter.
“Nikki?”
A smile spread across her face and she replied, “Yes. I thought that was you, but I wasn’t sure. I’ve only seen one picture of you, so I was hoping I wasn’t mistaken.”
“A picture of me?”
She nodded. “Yeah. At my dad’s house. Your man’s mom is living there now and she’s got a picture of the two of you from Christmas up on the fireplace hearth. It’s so nice to finally meet you. Sorry we didn’t get to catch up with you guys over the holiday.”
“It’s great to meet you too. We should try to plan something soon,” I suggested.
“That works for me. I’ll talk to my Dad and Lena and set it up.”
“Sounds great.”
“This is my husband, Luke, by the way,” she stated, curling her body into his.
“Nice to meet you, Luke,” I replied. “This is my sister, Kendall, and my best friend, Ava.”
“The pleasure is mine,” he said, before turning his attention back to Nikki. “We should get up there before Elle starts.”
She nodded and exclaimed, “Hey, why don’t you ladies join us? We always come to watch Elle perform, but it’s also Logan’s birthday today, so we’ve added another celebration to the mix.”
“Logan?” Kendall wondered.
Nikki’s eyes went to Kendall and raked over her before she smiled and replied, “Yes. Luke’s single, slightly older brother.”
Kendall’s eyes lit up.
Luke was a good-looking man, so it was a safe bet that Logan was just as handsome.
“Does Logan have any other single friends?” Ava asked.
“Most of the guys from the shop came out tonight,” Luke informed her. “Most of them are single.”
Ava perked right up in her seat.
I looked at Nikki and declared, “I guess we’re joining you.”
Not even thirty minutes later, Ava was sitting comfortably next to one of the guys from Logan’s shop while Kendall was enthralled with Logan himself. I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen my sister so happy.
For the next hour and a half, I hung out with the massive group of people who were there celebrating Logan’s birthday and watching Elle perform. Levi’s brother, Cruz, even happened to be there because he was with Lexi, Logan’s sister. I had a great time, but ultimately, I wasn’t where I wanted to be.
After Elle had finished her set, I sought out Kendall and Ava and confirmed they were both comfortable with me leaving. Neither one of them could have sent me away fast enough. Girls’ night was officially over.
But I’d done my job.
Satisfied that I’d successfully seen to it that my girls were taken care of, I made my way to the front door. I loved being with Kendall and Ava, but this was really not my scene, not anymore.
I wanted to go home and see my man.
Moving toward the door, I heard a deep voice call, “Jolie.”
I turned and saw Pierce Reynolds. He worked with Lorenzo and Dom at Cunningham Security as well.
“Hey, Pierce,” I greeted him.
“Heading out?” he wondered.
Nodding, I explained, “It was girls’ night. But the ladies have found men to spend the night with, so I’m heading home to mine. Are you just arriving?”
He shook his head, “No, I’ve been here a little while. Unfortunately, I haven’t found any women in the middle of girls’ night who are looking to turn it into anything but that just yet.”
“Sorry,” I replied.
He chuckled. “Don’t worry about it.”
I returned a smile and said, “I should get going.”
“Let me walk you out.”
“Oh, that’s okay. You don’t have to do that,” I insisted.
He gave me a look. “It was bad enough when Ekko thought I was going to let her walk in the snow to the bus stop when her car wouldn’t start and she and Dom were going through their thing. I would have had just a pissed-off Dom on my hands if I had allowed that to happen. Sending you out there alone now, I’ll not only have a pissed-off Dom, but a really pissed-off De Luca on my hands. I’m not fired up about either one of those, so I’m sorry, but you’ve got no choice. I’m walking you out to your car.”
“Okay,” I agreed, realizing he felt obligated. Enough bad things had happened lately that I didn’t think it was a bad idea.
After Pierce saw me safely to my car, I got in but looked up at him before I closed the door. “Thanks for walking with me to my car. Go find yourself a lucky lady tonight, Pierce.”
He laughed. “I’m glad you think she’ll be the lucky one. I’m going to need that mindset heading back in there.”
I grinned at him. “There’s not a doubt in my mind that the lady that ends up with you will be a lucky one.”
He gave me a smile and a nod before he ordered, “Drive safe.”
“Always.”
At that, he closed my door. I turned on my car, shot a quick text to Lorenzo letting him know I was on my way and pulled out of the lot. Twelve minutes later, my big guy saw my car pull up outside his place. I knew this because the second I turned off the car and got out, I saw him standing in the doorway.
Even though I was in my dress and heels, I ran toward him. He took a step toward me out of the doorway and, the second I leaped into his arms, caught me around the waist. My mouth went to his as he carried me inside and closed the door behind us.
“Missed you, boss,” I breathed after I’d kissed him.
“Same here, baby,” he returned. “Thought about you in this dress all night.”
“This is the dress that started it all,” I reminde
d him.
He grinned. “And I fucking love it.”
“I’m thinking you love it more when you take it off me, though,” I teased. “Take me upstairs and make love to me, Lorenzo.”
He touched his mouth to mine before he moved to the stairs.
Then, he proved just how much he loved that dress.
Three years nine months later
“Uncle Enzo!” Gracie whispered excitedly as she ran over to me, where I was sitting on the couch. “Did you get them?”
I nodded at my niece and asked, “You bet, Princess. But where’s Hank? Isn’t he coming, too?”
She rolled her eyes and put her hand on her hip as she huffed, “He’s too busy playing with the boys from school and his new trucks.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. Gracie was only four years old and she already had way too much sass. I had no doubts she was going to be a handful the older she got. I didn’t envy Dom in the least; though, I knew I’d always be there for her no matter what.
Today was Hank and Gracie’s fourth birthday party. Dom and Ekko had invited not only their friends and family but the twins’ whole preschool class. There were entirely too many kids running around to keep track of, but I had one of the two most important hidden inside with me.
“It’s okay that he’s playing with his friends,” I assured her. “We’ll save one for him.”
“I don’t even know why he likes to play with them. Hank is the only boy I like. All of the other boys at school are yucky.”
I sighed as I lifted her up and set her down on my lap. “Gracie, honey, you have no idea how much I wish that you’ll always feel that way. One day, though, you’re going to change your mind about boys and I have no idea what your dad or any of your uncles will do then.”
A look of disgust came over her face. “No way. Boys are mean, too,” she said sadly.
My protective instincts kicked in and I asked, “What do you mean?”
She frowned. “Today, one of the boys told me he didn’t like my princess dress.”
I didn’t know it was possible to have my heart broken by a four-year-old little girl, but leave it to Grace Moore to make that happen with her sad face and wounded voice. “I’m going to tell you a secret, Gracie,” I whispered. “But you have to promise not to tell anyone, okay?”
She grew curiously excited and held her hand out to me. It was balled into a fist with her pinky sticking up. “I can pinky promise,” she beamed.
Wrapping my pinky around her tiny one, I shared, “Sometimes, boys pick on girls because they like them.”
“That’s not nice.”
“You’re right. It’s not. But, trust me, boys love when girls wear dresses that make them look like princesses.”
She thought for a moment and asked, “Did you think Auntie Jojo was a princess when she was wearing her white dress so you could get married?”
My mind flashed back to the beginning of last year when Jolie became my wife. I’d always thought she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen, but that day she was something else. I knew I’d never forget just how breathtaking she looked as she walked down the aisle toward me. Gracie was too young to really remember the day, but she and Hank were at our house frequently. She’d seen the wedding pictures hung all over our home.
“I did,” I answered.
“I don’t think I want to marry any of the boys from school. I want to get married to you or Daddy,” she announced.
I laughed inwardly. Instead of crushing her little heart, I just redirected the conversation. “Alright, Princess, you ready to have your extra cupcake that I snuck for you?”
Her eyes lit up and she bobbed her head up and down.
Leaning over the side of the couch to the end table, I lifted the plate and held it in front of her. “I got four cupcakes. Two with pink frosting, two with blue.”
“I want pink!”
I took one of the pink cupcakes off the plate, removed the wrapper, and handed it to her. She held it in her hand as she looked at me and demanded, “You get to have a blue one.”
“You’re the birthday girl,” I said as I picked up a cupcake with blue frosting and unwrapped it. I looked at her, smiled, and wished, “Happy Birthday, Gracie.”
I watched as she took a huge bite. With her mouth full of cake and frosting, she mumbled, “Fanks, Uncle Enzo.”
Chuckling, I kissed the top of her head and promised, “You’re welcome, Princess. Every birthday you can count on me to sneak you an extra cupcake.”
She grinned and took another bite at the same time as me. Just as I was about to take a second bite, I heard an exasperated, “You didn’t!”
Looking up from my niece, I saw my gorgeous wife walking toward us.
“Auntie Jojo!!” Gracie squealed. “Uncle Enzo snuck cupcakes. You can have a pink one!”
Jolie may have acted tough when she walked in, but I knew how easily her heart melted for her niece and nephew. She came over and sat down next to us on the couch.
“If I keep eating cupcakes, I’m going to need to go shopping again,” she declared.
“Baby, you’re beautiful. Eat a cupcake with us.”
“I just had one with Hank!”
My eyes narrowed at her. “Are you telling me that you just walked in here, ready to scold me for sneaking extra cupcakes for Gracie when you did the same thing for Hank?”
She bit her lip and shrugged her shoulders.
“Eat the pink one for the baby,” Gracie reasoned.
“Okay,” Jolie agreed. “The cupcake with Hank was for me, but this one is for the baby. After that, no more cake for me.”
In just nine more weeks, I was going to be a father. Jolie was thirty-one weeks pregnant with our first child.
I never expected that this was what my life would become, but now that I was here, I couldn’t imagine things being any different. For so long, I’d never allowed myself to dream of a life with a woman I’d eventually make my wife, let alone having children.
Of course, I had valid reasons for living my life the way I did, but now I realized how foolish I’d been. I no longer worried about turning out to be like my father. With Jolie’s love and the love of my mom, my brother, and the rest of our friends and family, I finally saw just who I really was. I now knew that I wasn’t that man and I knew I never could be. I’d always do whatever I could to protect Jolie and our children.
Sometimes if I thought about it, which wasn’t very often, I’d think back to the words Rocco said the day everything happened. I’d feel pity for our father and everything he missed out on. Beyond that, I didn’t think about him and I certainly didn’t feel anything else for him. He made his choices; those choices had consequences.
But his choices would not be mine.
I knew that with everything inside me.
I was a lover.
A protector.
I loved Jolie.
I’d protect her with everything in me.
As I looked over at her smiling at Gracie while they ate their pink cupcakes, my heart felt like it would beat right out of my chest at the sheer beauty that was Jolie and the knowledge that she was mine.
I put my hand on her round belly, still amazed that I had been given such a remarkable gift. She leaned over and kissed me.
When she pulled back and I saw the look in her eyes, I fell even deeper in love with her. That was something I’d always treasure, realizing I could fall harder for her with each day that passed because she was truly a miracle.
And I’d be thankful every day for that miracle.
The miracle that came in my solitude.
Nine weeks later, Jolie gave me another gift.
My beautiful baby girl, Daniela Mae De Luca.
Want to see what life is like for Lorenzo as a new dad? Download a free bonus scene here.
Preview of Burned, Book Five
“The last bus just pulled away!”
“So, you’re officially done for the summer?” I asked my closest
friend, Gwen, with my phone pressed to my ear.
Gwen taught second grade.
“With the kids, yes,” she replied. “I still have to come back in next Monday and Tuesday to finish up a few things, but I’m done teaching until next school year.”
“We should celebrate,” I suggested. “I had a client scheduled for four-thirty today, but she needed to reschedule. If you want, we can meet up at Earl’s Pub for a bite to eat and a drink.”
I heard some rustling around before she answered, “I can meet you there in twenty minutes.”
“Perfect. I’ll see you then.”
After disconnecting the call, I set my phone down and went about shutting down my computer. I worked as an agent for an insurance and financial services company, a job I’d gotten immediately after graduating from college.
My job was just that.
A job.
While I really liked my co-workers, most of them driven, focused individuals, the work itself wasn’t necessarily my thing. I spent a lot of time in my car, driving to meet with clients. I worked odd hours and had a lot of evening appointments since most of my clients were at their own jobs during the day. Even though the work wasn’t necessarily demanding, it wasn’t something about which I was truly passionate, and I often found myself longing for something else.
But the income was great.
And that was something that kept me going back day in and day out.
That, and the fact that I didn’t want to be a failure. I’d been unsuccessful in other areas of my life that I wanted to prove to myself I could see this through. So, I’d stuck with it for the last ten years. I went into the office every morning, made calls, ran reports, set up appointments, and met with clients before heading home every night.
Now that it was Friday, my last client for the evening had canceled, and Gwen was done with school, I was going to go out.
Gwen and I met seven years ago at a party for a mutual friend. I was never one for having a massive social circle, but Gwen was someone I was drawn to. We had similar personalities, both of us unable to deal with nonsense and drama. When she had no problem telling one of the party-goers that he was being a belligerent drunk and was ruining it for everyone, I knew I couldn’t not be friends with her.
