He spun fast on his heels, eyeing the man from where he currently stood near the windows. “Did she?”
“I take it that’s not a regular thing, then?”
“I think she’s feeling out the idea ... testing it,” Marcus said, shrugging. “Seeing how it sounds, and if she likes it. How other people react when she says it. She’s a smart girl, and she acts like it, too. If people pay attention, they would notice it more often. Instead, people tend to overlook children because they are children.”
“Smart like her mother.”
“Exactly.”
“But how do you feel about it?” Lucian asked.
Marcus smiled faintly. “Well, that’s not really about me, is it?”
He didn’t get a say.
That was all on Tiff.
“Doesn’t mean you can’t feel a certain way about it.”
“You’re right, and I do feel ...”
Happy.
Proud.
Pleased.
Honored.
“Well, I’ll keep that for me,” Marcus finished quieter.
Lucian nodded. “I get it. So, that chat you wanted to have—what was it?”
“I want to marry Cella.”
Marcus wasn’t really sure what he expected after that declaration. He thought, perhaps, he might just warm Lucian up to the idea of what he planned to ask the man. Not that Cella’s father didn’t like him, or anything, but he didn’t want his request for her hand to come off as a demand.
Yet, it did just that.
Behind the desk, Lucian laughed. “Took you long enough.”
Marcus met the man’s gaze. “Pardon?”
“My bet was six months. You made it a year. I owe my wife a grand.”
Well, then ...
“Is that a go-ahead from you?”
Lucian sighed, lifting one shoulder. “You didn’t really need to ask.”
Yes, he did.
“It’s who I am, Lucian.”
• • •
“So, I hear you have a surprise for me.”
Marcus glanced up from the sink basin to find Cella was currently leaning against the master bathroom of her bedroom. “Well, at least she made it a day before telling you. And from what I hear, you have a surprise for me, too, hmm?”
Outside the bedroom, fast footsteps pattered down the hall followed by Tiffany’s very loud, “I regret nothing!”
Cella grinned.
Marcus just shook his head.
“Also,” he added, pointing his razor at her in the mirror, “I had the decency to know you had a surprise—whatever it is—not to tell you I knew that you had one. And look at you ... you couldn’t even give me the same.”
“I’m too impatient for that.”
His laughter colored up the bathroom.
“Maybe you should wait,” he added.
“Do you want to wait for your surprise?”
That made him hesitate.
“It’s not a tit for tat, Cella.”
Goddamn this woman.
He loved her.
“So, you’re not going to admit it’s killing you to know I have a surprise for you?” she asked.
Jesus.
“Well—”
“Technically, it’s two surprises,” she added.
“Cella, if you give me yours, I’ll have to give you mine. Maybe I was trying to do something for you. Have you thought of that?”
“Yes, and I still want it.”
No shame.
She had none.
He loved that, too.
“So, are you going to give me the surprise?” she asked.
“How about you read Tiff her bedtime story, and we’ll revisit this later?”
“Patience is a virtue, bella.”
“In your world.”
He chuckled.
She still left him to his business, though.
Marcus took his sweet time shaving what remained of the facial hair on his throat before moving onto the rest of his face. When he was in New York for a week with Cella, he could get away with having a bit of scruff on him. It also helped that he still had to use a faked passport, one with his brother’s identification information but Marcus’s picture, to get across the border because he still wasn’t supposed to leave his country. While the investigations had died down because the cops still couldn’t prove he had a hand in taking out the Quebec chapter of the Riders, he still had a lot of legal issues that seemed to keep coming up one after the other.
Nonetheless, the facial hair helped because Corrado was going through a whole phase of growing out a beard—which his spouses hated—and he and Marcus looked far more similar when his grew out, as well. Not that anyone at the border seemed to know the difference, and the bribes he paid to keep a couple agents quiet certainly helped. But tomorrow, he had to head back to Toronto, so he’d shave tonight and cross the border clean-shaven so that when he had his meeting with the made men of the family in the evening, they didn’t think their boss was pushing the rules by not shaving.
By the time he finished his business in the bathroom, Marcus found Cella’s Rochester home to be quiet as he walked through the upstairs hall. Tiffany’s bedroom door was firmly closed which meant the girl had finally allowed her mother to tuck her into bed for the night. He went in search of Cella, quickly finding her downstairs in the kitchen where she stood against the island with her back slightly turned to him.
He could still see the small smile playing on her lips, though. Not to mention, the way that smile of hers grew wider when a sound started to echo from the phone in her hands. He said nothing, leaning in the doorway as she listened to what sounded like the hooves of horses beating to the ground on top of white noise. Then, the recording went straight to white noise with no other sound before the hooves came back again, a bit slower than the first time. He was sure he’d heard that before but where, he couldn’t quite place it.
“What’s that?” he asked, when it finished.
Cella turned fast, that phone of hers dropping to the counter at the same time. Her wide eyes met his, and he grinned back. “God, you need to make noise.”
“Okay—but answer the question.”
“Heartbeats.”
Marcus took a second.
Then, two.
“As in, more than one?” he asked. “Wait, whose heartbeats?”
Cella smiled.
In that moment, Marcus understood everything.
Her passing comment—technically, two surprises.
He knew exactly where he’d heard that sound before. Each of his brothers had sent him similar recordings when they first had the chance to hear their babies’ heartbeats during pregnancy exams.
“You’re pregnant?” he asked.
Even as he asked that, he wasn’t sure he actually said it. His legs moved on their own accord, taking him across the kitchen as Cella nodded in response to his question.
“Nine weeks,” she told him, “and I’m not even sure how.”
“Nine weeks,” he echoed.
Right.
Because birth control.
Her shot.
“Twins?” was all he managed to ask.
“Apparently. There are two heartbeats, and even though they’re very small, the doctor found them on an ultrasound. Same sac. I had a bit of spotting, some cramps. I went in to my gynecologist last week just to do a—”
Cella didn’t even get to finish explaining how she found out she was carrying his children before Marcus had her in his arms. All he wanted to do was kiss her. So, he did exactly that, his mouth crashing down on hers as his hands slid under the hem of her night shirt to push it higher. His palms laid flat to the very small curve of her stomach that seemed warmer against his touch for some reason.
This was not the surprise he expected.
It was still perfect.
“I know this isn’t the best time,” she whispered when their kiss slowed, “we’re not
married, we’re still living in two different countries, and—”
“None of that even matters to me, but I was working on one of those anyway.”
Her stare met his.
“What?”
“Your surprise, Cella.”
Marcus wanted to propose in a totally different way. He wanted to plan something huge—give this woman everything she deserved and more. Besides, he was a fucking Guzzi, and they never went halfway on anything.
Not even a proposal.
This seemed better, though.
The right time.
Kneeling to the floor, Cella’s hands drifted from his jaw to rest overtop his palms still resting flat against her stomach. He did take one hand away, although that was only to pull out the item he’d been keeping a hold of ever since his father gave it to him when he asked for it. A ring his mother had worn for years. It meant so much to his family. Passed down for generations. It felt appropriate that he could put it on Cella’s hand, now.
Glancing up at her, he twisted the white-gold band with the oval-shaped diamond surrounded by a crown of small, blue sapphires between his fingertips. A line of water wet her lashes, but she didn’t move to wipe the tears away.
“Ti amo. Vita mia. My life, Cella. You’ve become that to me now. Because my life certainly wouldn’t be the same without you. I don’t ever want to be without you. Or Tiffany. Everything else, we’ll figure it out. Right now, though, this is all I want to know. Will you marry me?”
She leaned down with him, her kiss finding his as she gave him everything that he wanted all over again with nothing more than a simple, “Yes.”
• • •
Did you love the second generation of Guzzi boys? Pick up The Firsts to catch up with every brother and their wives! Or, check out Always to start another second-generation Commission World couple!
XO.
BK
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bethany-Kris is a Canadian author, lover of much, and mother to four sons, three cats, and four dogs. A small town in Eastern Canada where she was born and raised is where she has always called home. With her boys under her feet, a snuggling cat, barking dogs, and a spouse calling over his shoulder, she is nearly always writing something ... when she can find the time.
Find Bethany-Kris at her:
WEBSITE
OTHER BOOKS
The After Another Trilogy
One Step After Another
One Breath After Another
One Second After Another
Boykov Bratva
Fractured Ties
Essence of Fear
The Guzzi Legacy
Corrado
Alessio
Chris
Beni
Bene
Marcus
The Firsts
The Guzzi Legacy: Vol 1
The Guzzi Legacy: Vol 2
Renzo + Lucia
Privilege
Harbor
Contempt
Forever
Cusp
Renzo + Lucia: The Complete Trilogy
Andino + Haven
Duty
Vow
One Last Time
Andino + Haven: The Complete Duet
John + Siena
Loyalty
Disgrace
John + Siena: The Complete Duet
John + Siena: Extended
Cross + Catherine
Always
Revere
Unruly
The Companion
Naz & Roz
Guzzi Duet
Unraveled, Book One
Entangled, Book Two
Cara & Gian: The Complete Duet
DeLuca Duet
Waste of Worth: Part One
Worth of Waste: Part Two
Standalone Titles
Pink
Pretty Lies
Dirty Pool
Effortless
Inflict
Cozen
Captivated
Dishonored
Donati Bloodlines
Thin Lies
Thin Lines
Thin Lives
Behind the Bloodlines
The Complete Trilogy
Filthy Marcellos
Antony
Lucian
Giovanni
Dante
Legacy
A Very Marcello Christmas
The Complete Collection
Seasons of Betrayal
Where the Sun Hides
Where the Snow Falls
Where the Wind Whispers
Seasons: The Complete Seasons of Betrayal Series
Gun Moll Trilogy
Gun Moll
Gangster Moll
Madame Moll
The Chicago War
Deathless & Divided
Reckless & Ruined
Scarless & Sacred
Breathless & Bloodstained
The Complete Series
Maldives & Mistletoe
The Russian Guns
The Arrangement
The Life
The Score
Demyan & Ana
Shattered
The Jersey Vignettes
FANTASY ROMANCE
The Hunted: A 9INE REALMS Novel
Find more on Bethany-Kris’s website at www.bethanykris.com.
Copyright © 2020 by Bethany-Kris. All Rights Reserved.
WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted material is illegal and punishable by law. No parts of this work may be reproduced, copied, used, or printed without expressed written consent from the publisher/author. Exceptions are made for brief excerpts used in reviews.
eISBN 13: 978-1-989658-36-9
Editor: Eli Peters
Cover Design © Lee Ching, Under Cover Designs
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, organizations, corporations, locales and so forth are a product of the author’s imagination, or if real, used fictitiously. Any resemblance to a person, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.