Coming Home (Morelli Family 6)

The list could go on, but I don’t require evidence. I know there’s good in Mateo. He doesn’t always know how to harness it like normal people, but he does his personal best and that’s all I’d ever ask of him.

“I know,” Sal says, apparently misinterpreting my silence. “You love the asshole. I wish you loved healthier people, but I’m glad you’re happy. I hope he doesn’t burn you out.”

I roll his words around in my head, but ultimately reject them. “I wouldn’t want to love anyone else. Mateo and I are a perfect pair. I’ve never fantasized about Prince Charming, Sal. I like a man with an edge.”

“There’s edge and then there’s controlling, abusive asshole.”

I give Sal a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “Trust me, Sal. I like when he controls me.” I hold his gaze, then add a little more slyly, “I like it a lot.”

The last strains of the song have barely finished but Mateo apparently doesn’t like me dancing with Sal; he approaches before we even have a chance to separate.

“Salvatore,” he acknowledges, nodding. His arm moves around my waist and he tugs me close to his side.

Sal nods back, then immediately rats himself out. “I told her Vince lives in Connecticut. My bad.”

My jaw drops open. “Goddammit, Sal.”

Sal shakes his head. “I don’t fuck around with this guy and secrets. Better just to tell him. I thought she knew. Sorry.”

Mateo’s grip on my hip tightens at the mere mention of Vince’s name. I lean my head on his shoulder and wrap my arms around him to give him a sideways hug.

“Anyway, congratulations and all that shit,” Sal adds, before taking off to find Francesca.

Despite his firm grip, Mateo appears vaguely amused when he moves in front of me and pulls me close as the next song starts. “You’re trying to keep secrets from me now, huh?”

“No,” I say, one hand on his shoulder, the other playing with his lapel. I can’t look him in the eye as I say this—I’ve kept more secrets from him than I ever wanted to—so I keep my gaze on his broad chest. God, he is a sexy man. “You look so good in white. Like, I would not have expected you in a white tux today, but you sure pull it off.”

“Nice try,” he remarks, smirking down at me. “If you have questions about Vince, just ask me; don’t try to pry them out of other people. Especially Sal—he’s not even my man, for Christ’s sake. I would’ve expected you to ask Adrian.”

“Well, I might have, but Elise gave me a firm no on dancing with Adrian; Sal won by default.”

“Elise is smarter than I used to believe,” he tells me.

“She rivals me in possessiveness, and that’s saying something,” I agree. Frowning suddenly, I raise my gaze to his. “Speaking of things that make me get possessive, you never did explain the Gremlin ice cream situation.”

I watch his face attentively for any signs of shade, but come up empty. “There’s not much to explain. I was obviously struggling with what to do about your pregnancy. I already knew your side of things, so I wanted to be alone. Meg interrupted, as she’s wont to do. She offered to lend a friendly ear and I thought perhaps a new person to bounce thoughts off might be a good idea. I only had you and Adrian, and both of you were on your side of the debate.”

It vaguely irritates me hearing that. “But Meg was on yours?”

“Nope.” He shakes his head. “Turned out she was on yours, too. She’s less emotional than you and less judgmental than Adrian, so her points were more reassuring.”

“Oh.” That relaxes me. Ordinarily I would never expect the worst from Meg to begin with, but after what she told me about selling me down the river to Vince, my confidence in her was a bit shaken.

“So, that was the ice cream situation. The Gremlin situation is that you’re far too young, and apparently we need to have a movie night and educate you.”

“I’m game,” I tell him.

“Adrian liked the movie as a kid; he’ll probably come, too.”

Feigning disappointment, I say, “Oh, no, not Adrian. I hate him.”

Mateo rolls his eyes. “I’m sure Elise will tag along.”

“I need to make her like me.”

“Probably not flirting with her husband would be a good first step.”

I smile at how lightly he says it. No part of Mateo is threatened, which makes it that much funnier that he was annoyed by Sal dancing with me. “She doesn’t even know I flirt with him, and she disliked me long before that started anyway. She’s looked at me like I’m a weirdo ever since Meg came around.”

Rocking his head left, then right in consideration, Mateo says, “Well, you made a point of forcing Elise’s eyes open about me, then turned around and lied to Meg about the same thing. I don’t think she understood your motivations.”