I got to the top of the stairs and saw a brunette looking around. She had strong facial features, and her brows deepened into a frightening scowl.
Walking down, I watched as she stood with her hands on her hips, tapping her foot. “Anto—” she cut herself off when I reached the bottom of the stairs.
“Can I help you?” I asked and she looked me up and down for a second. She scanned my outfit, then my face and walked towards me.
“You’reher, aren’t you?”
My confused face met her excited eyes. “Her?”
“Amelia,” she extended her hand, so I shook it, utterly clueless. “I am so sorry,” I apologized. “You’re telling me your name like I’m supposed to know who you are, but I don’t…” I hesitantly explained.
“Of course you don’t,” she sarcastically said, waving it off. “I’m his older sister.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry, he’s never—”
“Don’t worry about it,” she chuckled. “He’s always forgetting minor details,” she casually brushed it off. “I think he’s getting old,” she almost whispered and I smiled.
“You’re older than me,” Antonio said, walking into the foyer and my head snapped to him. He walked to his sister, kissing her cheek to cheek.
“Are you both ready to go?” she excitedly asked, clasping her hands together. I looked at her, then Antonio.
“Where arewegoing?” I asked and she dropped her head in her hands.
“I still wonder how you got her to marry you,” she mumbled irritably.
“I could tell you,” he grinned and disgust exploded across her face.
“Don’t even finish that sentence,” she shuddered. “I don’t want to know,” she shook her head and turned all her attention to me. “Weare going wedding shopping,” she sang. “We only have a week left so let’s move.”
“Oh, no—we can extend the date,” I said to Antonio. “We don’t have to put ourselves through all the—”
“You’re getting your June 16th wedding,” he said, kissing my temple.
“I don’t know if I can plan a wedding in a week,” I doubtfully admitted.
“That’s why she’s here. To help you.”
“I’m a great planner. Trust me,” she assured me. “Now, let’s go,” she hooked her arm with mine, dragging me to the door.
“I thought we were going shopping for tomorrow?” I asked Antonio and Amelia nodded.
“We are. But, we might as well go wedding shopping as well,” she shrugged her shoulders. “I’ve always wanted a sister—this is so exciting!” she squealed, grabbing my arm and I couldn’t contain my smile.She was adorable.
* * *
Lo and fucking behold, I was meeting the entire De Luca family. Yes.Allof them. Even the one’s who no long fell under the De Luca last name was going to be there. And boy, was I fucking nervous.
Amelia and I agreed on finding an outfit for tomorrow night first. It was a formal dinner party—apparently, all their family events wereformal.
We looked through a couple of outfits, and each one she had me try on made my nerves worsen. She wasn’t kidding when she saidformal dinner.
Antonio sat on the little sofa opposite the dressing room, watching us go in and out and grab multiple dresses. He didn’t seem bothered by the amount of time we took, as he spent his timeworkingon his cellphone,and chugging down the champagne he was constantly brought.
Amelia had left after getting a phone call from her husband and I sighed, looking at my pantsuit in the mirror. “Antonio…?” I hesitantly said, still staring at myself.
“Yes,tesoro?” he answered from outside the dressing room.
“Could you…” I trailed off, clearing my throat. As if he read my mind, he walked inside, pushing the curtain to the side. Hestopped and immediately closed the curtain behind him. I had my fingers gripped onto the sides of my pants which stopped mid-thigh.
