Take It All Off

by Weston Parker

  “I’ve told you that,” she said matter-of-factly. “It didn’t bother you before.”

  “It doesn’t bother me,” I said, even though it wasn’t completely true. “It’s just that it seems like a futile exercise to wonder about whether we might have a future together when his mother will hate me for something I can’t change.”

  Obviously, I planned on trying to change it. But neither Marco nor Elena seemed to be overly optimistic about it.

  “It’s a pity you can’t change it,” she mused, the corners of her mouth twitching into a smile. “He really doesn’t sound like the kind of guy anyone would want to let go of.”

  “No, he’s not.” I sighed as I felt a stab of disappointment in my gut. I didn’t let it fester, though. I was happy with the way things were at the moment. “What do I do if I ever meet his mother?”

  Elena’s eyes widened. “You run. That’s all you can do. Run. As fast and as far as you can.”

  I searched her face for a minute, but I couldn’t find any traces of amusement. She wasn’t kidding.

  With warnings from Elena, Aldo, and Marco himself, it didn’t seem like I had much of a chance with his mother. I usually tried to find the silver lining in situations, but I couldn’t see one here.

  Except maybe for the certainty it provided.

  Whenever I started feeling like I might have a future with Marco or I started hoping that there was something more between us than there was, his mother’s inevitable disapproval would be the reminder I needed to stop.

  No matter what I did, Marco’s mother was never going to be happy with me. She would never give her approval to any relationship between us, and according to Elena, that meant Marco would never be in a relationship with me.

  At least I knew it going in. That was something I would do well to remember.

  Chapter 23

  Marco

  I pulled up to my mother’s house to find Aldo leaning against the wall, a shit-eating grin on his face. He uncrossed his arms when he saw my car, pushing away from the wall and lifting his sunglasses up from his eyes.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked after I’d parked and climbed out.

  The grin widened. “I heard you were coming for dinner, and I wanted to come too.”

  I narrowed my eyes as I studied him, noticing all of his small tells, the gleam in his eyes, the flare of his nostrils, the slight lift of his shoulders.

  I cocked my head to the side. “Why?”

  “No reason,” he said cheerfully.

  I stood firm. “What have you done, Aldo?”

  A slight wince before he composed himself and smirked. “I haven’t done a thing, but Mama is super excited to hear all about your new girlfriend.”

  Fuck. My teeth ground together as I pierced my idiotic brother with a sharp glare. “I thought you liked her.”

  “I do.” He held my gaze—as unwavering as I was. “That’s why I told Mama about her.”

  Sighing heavily, I unfurled my fingers from my palms and shook my head at him. “You shouldn’t have done that. I would have told her if it went that far. Addy and I are nowhere near there.”

  “She doesn’t deserve to be kept your dirty little secret.” He jerked his head at the house. “Let’s go face the music. Standing out here isn’t going to change the fact that she knows now.”

  I lifted my face to the dusky sky, praying that somehow my mother wouldn’t react the way I thought she was going to. It didn’t work.

  Mom was in the kitchen when we walked in. She had a wooden spatula in her hand and a tatty pink apron tied around her neck. With her silvery hair in a tight bun and the cooking paraphernalia, she looked perfectly harmless.

  For just a minute, I relaxed. Wrapping my arms around her from behind, I lifted her into a big hug. “Hey, Mama. I’m here.”

  She pulled her head back, allowing me to see the murder shining in her eyes. The spatula whacked my shoulder as she struggled against my hold. “Marco Ricci. Who is this new girl? Why did I have to hear about her from your brother? What does she do? Does she go to church? What part of Italy is she from? Please tell me it’s a local girl.”

  After placing her gently on her feet, I held up my hands and stepped out of spatula reach. “Why don’t I get you a drink? I’ll answer all your questions, but let’s sit down.”

  She let out a deep breath, her eyes darting from one of mine to the other in suspicion. Eventually, she nodded. “I’ll have a Grappa. A big glass. None of those small ones. There’s barely a sip in them.”

  I chuckled despite the tension coiling in my stomach and nodded. “You got it. Coming up. Is there anything I can help with for dinner before we sit down?”

  She lifted the spatula and pointed it at me. “I’m not letting you stall any longer, Marco. I’ve waited long enough to hear about this girl.”

  “I was just asking if I could help,” I mumbled before going to fix our drinks.

  Aldo came with me, smirking as he added his glass for a refill. “This is going to be awesome. She’s going to flip.”

  “If she has a heart attack, it’s on you.” I kept my voice low enough that only Aldo would hear me. “You really shouldn’t have told her. This will cause her unnecessary stress.”

  He gave me a dark look. “It’s not unnecessary. This girl is in your life now. Mama should know about her.”

  “Mama doesn’t know about every girl you fuck,” I argued. “Why is it okay to keep her in the dark about your exploits and not mine?”

  He lifted his brows, disapproval stark in his eyes. “I’m not in a relationship with any of those girls. That’s why. It’s different and you know it.”

  “No, it’s not,” I replied in a heated whisper, a drop of Grappa spilling with a plop on the counter as my hand trembled. “We might have more than a one-night thing going on, but even if we were in a full-on relationship, it’s still way too soon to be meeting the family.”

  “I didn’t say anything about meeting her. I just told Mama she exists. You needed the push, and I gave it to you.”

  I exhaled sharply. “I didn’t need a fucking push. I would have told Mama about Addy if and when the time came. On my own terms.”

  “Yeah, well, your terms suck.” Aldo stood tall beside me, as firm in his convictions as I was in mine. “You shouldn’t have stopped me from talking to Addy about Mama the other night either. If you two have any hope of making things work, you need to be honest with her.”

  “We’re not trying to make anything work except our actual work. The rest of it is fun. Window dressing. Besides, I already had to clean up that mess. She knows Mama won’t like her and why. It was a complication I didn’t need.”

  “Dude, the complication you didn’t need was getting involved with her in the first place.” He put his palms out. “I’m just trying to help you smooth out the bumpy road your relationship is sure to take.”

  “There is no—”

  “How long does it take you to fill a glass for an old woman?” Mother’s voice rang out behind us. “I’m getting even older waiting for you two.”

  Aldo and I both scowled at one another, then shrugged in unison and turned away from the counter. He grabbed his glass and took off to the living room while I carried my drink and Mom’s. She followed us silently, sat down on the edge of her ancient armchair, and accepted her Grappa from me.

  “I’m listening, Marco,” she said primly. “Start by answering the questions I’ve already asked. Then fill in the gaps.”

  It wasn’t a request. It was a command. I mentally cussed Aldo out, but my brother sat back on the couch he occupied with his arms spread along the backrest. Even his resting face held traces of a grin, like he didn’t have a fucking care in the world.

  I suspected he knew I was cursing at him when he glanced at me and smirked, but he wasn’t bothered by my silent profanity. “Go on. Mama asked you questions. Like she said, we’re listening.”

  I sent another few choice words his way, then turned to face
my mom. “Her name is Adaline.”

  Intentionally omitting her last name for now, I tried to get comfortable and sipped my Grappa. It burned like hellfire going down, but damn, it was good. And very much needed.

  “She works for me as a client liaison. People listen when she talks, and—”

  “People listen when you talk.” Mom narrowed her eyes at me. “Why do you need someone to do it for you?”

  “If I’m the iron fist, she’s the velvet glove. We work well as a team.” I watched as my mother’s expression softened.

  She placed her elbow on the armrest and smiled. “Any good, solid relationship should begin that way. Tell me more.”

  My mother looked almost serene as she waited for me to continue. It killed me to know that in a few minutes that serenity would vanish. Deciding to focus on telling her about who Addy was first, hoping it would contain the explosion about to happen, I did as she had asked.

  “She’s intelligent and funny. She doesn’t treat me like a walking wallet and she stands up to me.”

  “A strong woman.” Mom nodded. “I like that.”

  I allowed a grin to break free, even though I knew it would be short-lived. “She is strong and independent. It’s still new, though, Mama. Don’t go getting any ideas.”

  She scoffed. “I got ideas the second Aldo told me there was someone special in your life. This is the first girl either of you has told me about in years. She must mean a lot to you.”

  “She does,” I said, realizing only once the words came out that it was true. “Let’s rather say she’s starting to mean a lot to me. As I said, the relationship is still very new. At the moment, we’re friends and coworkers who enjoy each other’s company. That’s it.”

  “I didn’t raise you to be slow and indecisive. It sounds like she’s a wonderful girl. Make her yours. Then hurry and give me my twin grandbabies.”

  “It doesn’t work that way, Mama,” I said. “I can’t just club her over the head, drag her to my cave, and decide that she’s mine.”

  “I know that.” She tutted at me. “You will make her yours by winning her over. I’ve waited long enough for you to get married and make me a grandmother. You seem to have found a worthy woman, so get on with it. Unless you’re intimidated by her strength and independence?”

  “What?” I frowned and tried my best to find the second head that had to have grown for her to have a thought like that about me. “I like those things about her. Admire them even. I’m not intimidated by her.”

  Mom gave me a smug grin as she sipped her drink, resting back in the chair like she’d won something. “Then what’s the problem? If you like her and you’re not intimidated by her, take your grandmother’s ring and do what men are supposed to do.”

  “Why does he get her ring?” Aldo asked.

  “Because I’m the oldest,” I retorted at the same time that my mother said, “You had two grandmothers, darling. When you finally become a man, you can have the other one.”

  “What? I am a man,” he said indignantly.

  Mom chuckled, shaking her head at her younger son. “A boy only becomes a man when he finds the woman that forces him to grow up and be one. Until then, you all like to run around like children, playing with girls’ hearts and breaking those hearts like they’re your old toys. A man doesn’t behave that way.”

  “I think you just got schooled.” I smirked. “Looks like I made it to manhood before you after all.”

  “Says the guy who can’t even admit he’s in a relationship,” he shot back. “You’re definitely still squarely in the ‘playing with her heart’ category, brother.”

  “Nonsense,” my mother said. “Marco is not playing with her heart. He’s winning it.”

  “Yeah?” He cocked a dark eyebrow at me. “Is that true, Marco?”

  I didn’t have an answer to that question on the fly, but my mother didn’t give me a chance to reply anyway. “Of course, it’s true. He might’ve been too stupid to realize it until now, but going forward, he will see things as they really are.”

  Aldo and I exchanged a glance, suddenly back on the same page. “Their relationship is very new, Mama. I don’t think anyone is at the heart winning or giving stage yet.”

  “Nonsense,” she repeated. “He wouldn’t be here telling me about her if his heart wasn’t already committed to her.”

  “That would be true, except that Aldo told you about her,” I reminded her. “Not me.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “It makes no difference who brought me into the loop. You’re the one who’s been telling me all about her. What I still don’t understand is why I had to find out about your girlfriend from anyone other than you.”

  I sighed, wishing my brother would have kept his mouth shut. “I didn’t want to tell you this early on. I knew it would give you hope, and I didn’t want to give you hope that she’s the one when I’m not sure yet.”

  “You are sure. You just haven’t admitted it to yourself yet.” Her features softened again. “What part of Italy is she from? If I’m going to have to plan a wedding out of town, I’ll need to give the family notice. You know how busy they are.”

  “That’s, uh, the one thing about her you might not like so much,” I said. “She lives here now, obviously, but she’s originally from America.”

  My mother didn’t skip a beat. “When you say she’s originally from America, you mean her family left Italy and she’s come back to her homeland. Don’t you?”

  Mentally bracing myself for the fallout, I gripped my Grappa tight and took the plunge. “No, Mama. I mean she’s American, not Italian.”

  Long minutes passed where my mother just blinked at me. Then she slammed her glass down on the side table and jumped up.

  Aldo and I could only watch as she lost her shit completely.

  “You’re in love with an American? How could you, Marco? You know how I feel about those people. They’re crass and uncultured, and they’re stupid. I thought you said she was intelligent?”

  “She is, Mama.”

  She marched right up to my chair and shook her finger in my face. “You will ruin your reputation if it gets out that you’ve involved yourself with one of them. What will people think about us? She probably doesn’t even attend church. Jesus, why have you forsaken me?”

  She howled that last part to the roof, and I gently wrapped my hand around hers. “No one has forsaken you, Mama. I’m not in love with her. It’s not going to ruin my reputation or the family’s if I’m in a relationship with her, and—”

  “I want to meet her.” Her gaze dropped suddenly to mine. “I want to meet the girl who is going to be responsible for ripping our family apart.”

  Aldo had only been listening so far, but now his spine straightened. “Mama, I don’t think that’s fair. Why would she rip us apart?”

  “Because Americans don’t understand or value family the way we do,” she yelled. “I want to meet her.”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Maybe we should wait a while, see if—”

  She grabbed my ear and bent her knees to look me right in the eyes. “This weekend, Marco! I want to meet her this weekend. No excuses.”

  Her cheeks were mottled with red and gray, and her chest was heaving up and down. Since I didn’t really want her to have a heart attack despite having told Aldo earlier it would be his fault if she did, I agreed.

  “Okay, Mama.” I reached up a hand to cup her papery cheek, stroking my thumb across the skin and holding her angry eyes with my own. “You’ll meet her this weekend. Just calm down for me, okay? Everything is going to be fine.”

  I was pretty sure it was a lie, but what the fuck else was I supposed to say?

  Chapter 24

  Addy

  A knock on my office door made me look away from my laptop. I rubbed my burning eyes, careful not to get makeup smeared all over my face.

  “Come in,” I called out once I was satisfied the veins in my eyes didn’t look like red roadmaps anymore. />
  The door cracked open, and Marco walked in. The bastard looked as beautiful and put together as always in his charcoal slacks and a crisp white button-down shirt. His perfect teeth showed as he grinned, his light brown hair shining with an amber shimmer where he stood beneath the light.

  “Hey,” he said, closing the door behind him and moving until he was in front of my desk. “You look tired.”

  “Thanks,” I said, trying and failing to sound bright. A yawn broke free, too. “I’ve been taking meetings in the middle of the night because of the time differences, but I think I’m finally getting the hang of some of those regulations. Did you come by only to compliment me, or did you have another reason?”

  Amusement flashed in his gorgeous eyes. He pressed a hand to his chest but somehow still looked genuine. “You know you’re always beautiful. Being tired doesn’t change that. In fact, it might be a bit of a turn on that you’re tired because of all the hard work you’re putting in for me.”

  I rolled my eyes, but a soft laugh escaped anyway. “You’re ridiculous. If that turns you on, I think we need to talk.”

  “Isn’t there a rule against judging someone else’s kink?” he asked, splaying his fingers and pressing his palms to the glass countertop of my desk. His eyes caught on mine. “You should also know that I’ll take you however I can get you. You’re my kink, even when you’re tired.”

  “You sure know how to romance a girl, don’t you?” I retorted, but there was no denying that he did bad things to me. Even when he was being ridiculous, I still wanted to jump his bones right there on the desk. Especially with the way his shirt was stretching around his sculpted muscles from how he was posed.

  The smirk that curved at the corners of his lips told me he knew exactly what effect he was having on me. Sadly, he didn’t seem interested in doing anything about it.