“Nick!” Leo greeted me, shaking my hand and pulling me into a hug.
“Good to see you, man.” I hugged him back. “This is Ava. Ava, this is my brother, Leo. My other brother, Frankie.” I nodded at Frankie slumped in the corner of the booth. “And this is Zane, he’s practically my brother.”
Ava hardly seemed phased by the men in front of her. She smiled confidently and stuck her hand out to Leo. “It’s so nice to finally meet you guys. Nick has told me so much about you.” I loved how at ease she was. If there was anything good that bastard Moretti had done for her, it was to make her such a people person. She hardly ever appeared flustered and came across as completely calm and collected, working every corner of the room.
“Everything he said was a lie . . . unless, of course, it was good.” Zane smirked, standing up to greet her as well.
“Definitely good.” She smiled as we slid into the booth.
“It’s nice to finally meet you too. Nick has been completely infatuated with you since he met you. He’s hardly talked about anything else,” Leo teased, shooting me a grin. I guess it was my turn to take a turn at being embarrassed by siblings.
“Yeah, he even had me try to stalk you for a few weeks. You’re a tough woman to find,” Zane echoed.
Ava giggled and smiled at me.
“All right, all right. Enough with that.” I tried to stop the madness. Everyone settled down eventually and I kept my hand securely on Ava’s thigh as we chatted. I was proud to show her off and happy that they were finally getting to meet each other. Throughout the conversation, I snuck my hand farther up her thigh. It had her completely flustered, and the best part was, I was the only one who knew.
“When is the wedding?” Frankie piped up. He had been relatively quiet this entire time.
“We haven’t really talked about it,” Ava answered, trying to squirm out of my grasp. It was a futile attempt.
A smirk spread across my face. “It’ll probably be in the spring.” Only a few short months away.
“Not gonna let her run away again, are you?” Zane teased.
“Nah, I’ve got her exactly where I want her.” I chuckled, amused with myself and the double meaning of my statement. I had her as my fiancé of course, but I also had her hot and bothered in the middle of a restaurant. Exactly where I wanted her.
I gave her a reprieve and took my hand away. She sighed with relief and relaxed a little. We ordered lunch and Ava thoroughly charmed them all. At the very least, she was showing them why I had been so obsessed with finding her. Every moment we were together, I was even more assured of the feelings I had developing for her.
“Well, it was wonderful to finally put a face with the name. We’re excited to have you in the family, Ava,” Leo said, hugging her as we were leaving.
“It was nice to meet you guys too. Hopefully, we’ll be seeing more of each other.”
“I just can’t get over how much you look like your brother,” Frankie marveled. The blood in my veins turned to ice. Why was he picking now to talk to her after he had pretty much been mute all of lunch? And why was he bringing up Andrew at a time like this?
“Oh.” Ava flinched a little, unsure how to respond. “Vince?”
“No, Andrew,” Frankie responded.
Ava’s eyes went wide. “You . . . you knew Andrew?” She turned to me slowly and I completely panicked.
“Yeah,” I said. Hopefully I wasn’t visibly as anxious as I felt. We hadn’t had a chance to have a conversation about Andrew yet, and this wasn’t the time or place. “I’ve told you that, haven’t I?”
“No.”
I froze, every opportunity I’d had to talk with her about this flashing before my eyes. I could only hope it wouldn’t come out now and unravel everything.
“We knew Andrew briefly. Just from our families working together,” Leo jumped in quickly. “He was a good guy. We were so sorry for your loss.”
Ava was quiet for a second, but then loosened up. “Thank you.” She smiled. “I’m sorry, it’s been a long time but it’s still hard for me to talk about.”
“Of course it is.” Leo nodded.
I grasped her hand and gave it a small squeeze. “We should get going.”
“Yeah.” She sighed with a smile. “It was nice to meet you guys.”
We finished our good-byes and went outside to get the car. I was still nervous but she seemed to be softening. She only knew the surface of my friendship with her brother; what would happen when she knew the whole story? Would she ever forgive me?
