Love Me (The Elites of Cheshire shore #2)

22. Florence

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

florence

“ R ome.” I lean across the table and rest my much smaller hand on his and get lost staring into his sea-green eyes. I don’t see the thirty-one-year-old Rome sitting opposite me, instead, I see the sixteen-year-old boy who asked me to wear his jersey to his first Friday night football game when he made the team because he wasn’t sure anyone in the stand would. Sitting opposite me isn’t the Rome Venuccio everyone sees, the facade of an extremely confident, high-achieving man with charisma. No, the real Rome Venuccio is pensive, and quiet; he uses his jokester persona to study people. His laid-back attitude is easily mistaken for laziness, when it’s actually all calculated. But most of all Rome is not a man who would ask for anything unless he truly needed it. “I promise you; I’ll help you make this happen. No matter what.” I watch the Adam’s apple bob slowly in his throat before he nods.

Now onto the fun part. Making Luca into a mail-order bride.

We sit in comfortable silence while we wait for Luca and Lottie to arrive; we need to break it to our friends about our new relationship status—but first, Luca. Rome is patching Dante in on FaceTime so they can both hear our new plan.

Luca cocks his head to the side, the skin around his jade-green eyes crinkling. “Why do I feel like the naughty kid who’s been sent to the principal’s office?”

“I don’t know, I would say because it happened to you a lot, you’re pretty familiar with the feeling.” Lottie shoulders past him and storms into the room, followed closely by Luca.

“Can someone please tell me what the fuck is going on, and don’t give me the whole ‘I need to debrief you on my activities last night’ bullshit again because the moment we were out of earshot all that salacious gossip you were promising me became ‘Can you shut up and move your fat head so I can see.’”

Here we go. Luca really is the moment for a reason.

“I didn’t say fat head,” Lottie gasps. She’s used to handling the theatrics.

I check the hallway twice, making sure it’s clear before closing the door behind them, “Did they stick around for long?” I whisper.

“Why are you whispering?” Lottie sits in my vacated chair. “And if you’re referring to Brian and Nora, no, they left shortly after you guys. Impressive walk out too. I was mentally clapping for you.” Rome sets his phone against his now-finished coffee cup and reaches a hand out to pull me to sit onto his lap, leaving Luca to stand. I settle against the hard plane of his chest. The subtle smirk Lottie gives me quickly disappears as she focuses back on the phone, just as Dante’s face fills the screen.

“Guys,” Dante groans. “Time difference is a real thing, seriously.” Dark circles cover his under eyes. His thick dark hair sits askew on top of his head, and a thick layer of dark stubble lines his jaw.

Rome is the first person to talk. “We have to talk?—”

“I’d fucking hope so, because if you called to see my beautiful face, next time, stare at a picture,” Dante interrupts.

Rome doesn’t let his brother’s crappy mood deter him. “There’s been some development on the Deeter front.”

“I’m glad you guys were able to salvage everything after that dinner party.”

If only.

“Not quite.”

“Oh shit. What did you fuckers do now?” Dante groans, scrubbing a hand down his tired, worn-out face. “Do I need to come home and babysit you two because you’re clearly incapable of doing anything on your own?”

“Nice insult, brother, it goes especially well with the lovely purple hickey on your neck.” Luca snickers. Dante’s cupped hand covers the mark in question as the apples of his cheeks tinge pink. Interesting, he didn’t even question the place of the mark, he just knew instantly.

Kadelburg , Lottie mouths at me and winks. She always tells me Kadelburg is insane, it’s like Monaco, only bigger, richer, and more powerful. It’s one of her favorite racetracks too.

Kadelburg , I mouth and wink back at her. Something hard poked my butt and I wiggle to get around it, only to have Rome clamp down on my hips, his iron grip making me still.

“You better stop that, lollipop, or are you going to do a repeat of our study session?”

I definitely don’t think a repeat of the study session would be appropriate now, but it is making me want to scratch a particular itch I haven’t in quite a while.

“While I appreciate the inquisition into my love life, this can be done at a regular hour, I have a meeting with the planning department tomorrow.” Dante burst the little bubble we have around us.

“I hope you brought a turtleneck sweater,” Luca mumbles.

“I might have come up with a way to help,” I pipe up. Rome gives my hip a soft squeeze. It was my idea, and if his brothers are going to be angry with it, I’d prefer to bear the brunt of that particular burden. When no one speaks, I take that as my cue to continue. “I told Brian and Nora we’re together.”

“Flo, you’re the smartest person I know,” Luca rests his hands on his hips, “but I think you showed that you’re involved with our family by being at family dinner, there is no need to broadcast it.”

Oh crap on a cracker, this isn’t working. Luca has completely misunderstood what I meant.

Dante continues to blink, before a wide grin splits his generous lips. It seems the second Venuccio brother isn’t as oblivious. “Well, this is worth the late-night phone call after all. And can I be one of the first people to congratulate the happy couple.”

“Dante, dude you’re talking in riddles again. Your new squeeze might like it, but to anyone else its annoying as fuck.” Luca squints at his brother, before swinging his gaze to me, and slowly tracking down to where I’m sitting on Rome’s lap with his arm anchoring my hips. It’s like he’s just now noticing.

I wait for his eyes to land on mine again. “I told Brian and Nora that I was in a relationship with Rome and it’s to blame for the mess-up at dinner—and also to help with the whole three single men Venuccio image.”

“And you think you and Rome being together will fix this?” Luca’s voice remains hard, I’m almost nervous that I’ve hurt him in some way. Crossed some invisible line he drew in the sand.

I squeeze my fingers into the palm of my hand, enjoying the bite of my nails into the soft skin. “That’s the hope, until you guys get your port then we’ll just ‘break up’ and no one will be the wiser. Except us, of course.”

My heart pounds in my chest. Shit, in doing this I don’t want to ruin my friendship with Luca. I seriously hope not. That’s the last thing I wanted to do.

Lottie clears her throat. “And they make such a cute couple.”

Luca continues to stare at us, the wheels turning in his brain.

“Plus, she’s already staying with Rome, so it kind of works.” Dante shrugs. So far everyone in the room is in agreeance. Everyone except the person whose opinion I care most about. While all three Venuccio brothers were there for me when my dad died, Luca, became my shadow. He messaged me good morning and good night when I didn’t feel a reason to experience either. When I just wanted to sit in my room and cry, he would hold my hand and let me. If Luca is unhappy about this, then we’ll just have to convince Sof to do it, I’ll bow out and step away. Beads of sweat gather at the nape of my neck. An idea I thought would be the thing that would save my friends may cause me to lose them. My stomach twists at that thought. My relationship with Luca means a heck of a lot more, and losing him would kill me.

Luca clicks his tongue to the roof of his mouth. “You know what, I like this plan. I like it a lot.”

I sag against Rome, pure unadulterated relief flowing through my veins.

He taps his finger to his chin. “Although, you need to do way more PDA to become convincing.”

My mouth falls open. “I thought we were pretty convincing at breakfast.”

“At telling everyone you plan to be celibate until your wedding, sure.”

That gets a snicker from Dante, as Rome becomes stiff under me. “I warned you, lollipop,” he whispers so low right in my ear, making my center tingle. All I can think about is the firm part of Rome pressing against me. I wiggle again, feeling my nipples tighten in my bra.

“We want people to believe that you’ve not only seen his dick, but it’s made you the happiest girl in the whole world every single day,” Luca continues, eliciting a groan from deep in my chest. I hide my face in the crook of my elbow, not able to stop the corners of my mouth from tipping up. I’m really glad he’s taken this so well.

“Sit still, or my brother is going to find out exactly how un-celibate a couple we are.” He breathes each word, letting the vibration of his voice play along my skin, making my whole body tighten. I roll my lips together and try to regulate my breathing. I’m getting so worked up, a couple more words from Rome and I could just about blow, right here on his lap, in front of his brothers and my best friend, and without him laying a finger on me. Fuck, Rome Venuccio is dangerous.