“Just one more photo,” Grandma says, a smile on her face. Raven and Ares both look weary and uncertain, but Grandma looks excessively happy. It’s almost as though they walked right into her trap. I suppose, in some ways, they did. If not for her insistence, they wouldn’t be standing here today.
“Grams,” I say, my tone indulgent as I wrap my arm around her waist. I pull her against me and smirk. “How about we let the happy couple rest? You’re turning this into a work event for my darling sister-in-law. She already has to model for hours on end, day after day. Let’s join the rest of our guests at the reception, shall we?”
She looks up at me with a sweet smile and nods. When she looks like that, it’s easy to forget that she’s the Windsor matriarch, the one who raised us all when we lost our parents. My grandmother rules our family with an iron fist, but on days like today, she looks like any grandmother would at a wedding. She looks proud and emotional, her eyes filled with genuine happiness for Ares and Raven.
I wonder if she’d look that way if it was Hannah that had married Ares. I don’t recall her ever smiling that way at Hannah.
I offer my grandmother my arm, and she loops hers through it. “Fine,” she grumbles, “but you owe me a dance.”
A soft chuckle escapes my lips as I lead her into the reception hall. “A dance with my favorite lady? It’s an honor.”
She narrows her eyes at me as I take her hand. “You’re a smooth talker, just like your father was.”
I pause, stunned for a moment. Grandma rarely speaks about my parents, so to hear her mentioning Dad so casually is surprising. She smiles at me as I pull her onto the dance floor, a slow ballad resounding through the room.
“It’s hard not to think of James on a day like today,” she says, a tinge of longing in her eyes. “He’d be so proud of Ares, and he’d welcome Raven with open arms. Not a day goes by without me thinking of them. I just hope I managed to raise your siblings and you the way your parents would have.”
My grandmother is a titan, a force to be reckoned with. She doesn’t show weaknesses, and for the longest time, I didn’t think she had any. “You’ve done an amazing job, Grandma,” I reassure her. “I don’t even want to imagine what might have happened to us if not for you.”
She reaches up and cups my cheek gently. Her fingers feel thinner than they used to, and she seems smaller than I remember her being. “You know that everything I do is for you and your siblings, right?”
There’s something in her tone that makes me pause, and I nod hesitantly. “Of course.” Somehow, her words feel like an omen, and I can’t push aside the discomfort I feel.
“Good. Always remember that.”
I twirl my grandmother around as I mull over her words. She’s a strategist, and nothing she ever says can be taken at face value.
I’m snapped out of my thoughts by the sound of familiar laughter, and I glance over, my eyes widening when I see Valentina dancing with a man I know all too well. He pulls her close, and she grins up at him. There’s something in her eyes that I’ve never seen before, and it does something to me. It’s rare to hear her laugh so genuinely, and I can’t help but wonder what he said to her. What did he say to earn her laughter?
She’s never looked at me that way before, and she’s certainly never laughed for me that way. Laughed at me behind my back, perhaps, but never with me. I didn’t think she could get any more beautiful, but watching her smile that way… yeah. She’s without a doubt the most beautiful woman I know. I fucking hate that she’s showing that fucker a part of her that she hides from me. He doesn’t deserve it. No one does. Not even me.
“Luca?”
I blink and force my attention back to my grandmother. “Hmm? What did you say, Grams?”
Her eyes twinkle, and she smiles at me. “I said, doesn’t Valentina look great dancing with Joshua Rivera? Perhaps your marriage isn’t the only one I should arrange. She isn’t getting any younger either, and you keep her so busy at work that she hasn’t had time to date. It’d be good for her to find a man that’ll love and appreciate her.”
“What?” My eyes widen at her insinuation, and I glance back at Valentina. “No,” I snap. “Absolutely not.” My tone is harsh, and I expected it to take my grandmother by surprise, since I’ve never spoken to her that way before, but she merely smiles.
“Why not?” she asks as we sway on the dance floor. “He’s handsome and rich, and they’re in the same industry. He’ll take good care of her, and I think he’ll make her happy. She can’t work for you forever, Luca. Besides, do you see the way he looks at her?”
I stare at Valentina, taking in her relaxed expression and the flirtatious look in her eyes. Anger unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before settles deep in my stomach, and I clench my jaw in an effort to suppress it.
“They’d make such beautiful babies together,” Grandma says, her tone amused. “Don’t you think?”
Joshua’s hand dips a little lower, until his fingertips are brushing right over her ass, and he pulls her flush against him. I expected her to push away from him, but she smiles up at him.
For a moment, thoughts of the two of them flash through my mind. His lips on hers, a soft moan escaping her lips as she rises to her tiptoes… his hands roaming over her body, feeling every single one of those irresistible curves, her eyes filling with lust. Each thought torments me further, until I can barely stand it.
I grit my teeth and take a step away from my grandmother. “Excuse me, Grandma,” I tell her, barely able to restrain my anger. “Come to think of it, there’s something I need to discuss with Valentina.”
“Very well, Luca.” She smiles as I walk away, as though she knows I was lying but is letting it be.
Valentina’s eyes meet mine before I reach her, and that beautiful smile melts right off her face. Why is it that she’s always so expressionless around me, when she laughs like that around assholes like Joshua?
I grit my teeth and reach for her, my hand wrapping around her waist as I pull her away from Joshua and into my arms in one smooth move.
She gasps, her eyes wide as she crashes into me, her body flush against mine. “Luca?” she murmurs, a hint of confusion in those stunning hazel eyes.
“What the hell are you doing, Windsor?” Joshua asks, an undercurrent of genuine anger in his tone. He looks at her with such longing that I can’t help but tighten my grip.
“Apologies,” I say through gritted teeth. “She’s mine.”
Valentina’s eyes widen, and she glances at Joshua. “He means that I work for him,” she clarifies, and I smirk as I push her hair behind her ear.
“He knew what I meant,” I tell her as I pull her into a dance. Her arms wrap around my neck, our bodies in the same position she was just in with Joshua. It’s far too intimate. Standing here like this… he’d have felt her entire body pressing against his. The feel of her soft curves against my chest is almost too much. I don’t have to guess to know what that swine was thinking as he danced with her. It’s impossible not to want her.
Valentina frowns as we sway to the music the live band is playing. “What was that all about?” she asks.
“Why?” I snap. “Annoyed I pulled you away from Joshua? You seemed to be having such a good time you forgot you’re on the clock. This isn’t a social event for you. You’re here to work.”
She glares at me and steps on my foot before pasting a mock apologetic look onto her face. “Oops,” she says. “Sorry.”
She really does make a mockery of me every chance she gets. I pull her closer and thread one hand through her hair, the tips of my fingers trailing over her scalp. An image of her on her knees in front of me flashes through my mind, my cock in between those beautiful full lips of hers, my hand in her hair the way I’ve got it now. “Childish,” I tell her as I tighten my grip on her, my touch possessive.
“No more than you are,” she retorts. “You don’t like others playing with your toys, huh?”
I chuckle and lower my face to hers. Even with the heels she’s wearing today, she’s at least a full head shorter than me. “Valentina, if I ever were to play with you, you’d never look at another again. I’d have you so hooked, you’d want no one’s hands on your body but mine.”
Her cheeks flush, and she averts her gaze, her annoyance draining away. “W-what are you even talking about?” she stammers.
The song comes to an end, and I grab her hand. “Follow me,” I murmur as I lead her through the wide doors and onto the candlelit path in the vineyard.
