CHAPTER NINE
WHAT HAD SHE just agreed to? To think, when he’d asked her to walk with him, she’d initially thought it was because he wanted to spend time alone with her before the chaos began. As if.
Still, Maya hadn’t quite been prepared for what he’d just announced. In fact, she was woefully unprepared for this whole day. How was she supposed to spend the entire time by Vito’s side, ignoring the way he affected her? How would she clamp down on the arousal he fanned deep within her core? Now there was the added complication of having to pretend they were lovers.
Not that she hadn’t imagined just such a thing. Though, in her imaginings, there hadn’t been a need for pretense.
“I suppose we ought to get some sort of basic story in order. At the least, we should be consistent about what we tell everyone. Lynetta and Leo will have to play along, of course.”
“It’s probably wise to stick as close to the truth as possible.”
“I would agree.”
“We could tell them I fell when I first saw you. Quite literally. And you fell in a much more poetic, figurative sense.” See, she could be good at this. Not bad for an off-the-cuff suggestion.
Vito chuckled beside her. “I like it, cara. Though maybe we should be sparse with the details.”
“Like how tipsy I was?”
“More that you had just freed yourself of one fiancé.”
What an apt description. She hadn’t known it at the time, but Matt had, in fact, freed her. From a mistake that would have followed her for a lifetime. She had to wonder if Matt had simply seen the inevitable: that they both deserved more out of life than what they’d been settling for. She might actually owe Matt a thank-you if one were to truly examine it. That thought would have had her quaking in shock a few short days ago.
“Yes, let’s definitely omit that little tidbit,” she said as they walked farther along. Once they crested the hill, the house came into full view.
Maya had to do a double take. She wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting, but it was certainly a bit more modest than this three-story structure with Ionic columns surrounded by rolling hills.
“That’s your grandmother’s house?”
“Yes. More accurately, it’s the family estate. Leo and Lynetta come here often with the boys. As do I. It’s a short enough trip from Venice.”
“It’s quite the mansion.”
“Do you like it?”
What was there not to like? “It looks like something out of a painting. A sprawling house and the lush greenery as the backdrop.”
Vito placed both hands on his hips and studied the house in the distance. “Huh, I guess you’re right.”
She gave him a playful shove on the arm. “You’re toying with me. Of course you must have seen it yourself. Accomplished artist that you are.”
He shrugged. “I guess I just always viewed it more as home.”
Once they drew closer, Maya could see the festive decorations. The house looked every bit ready for a birthday bash. Decorative balloons adorned the windows. Colorful streamers had been wrapped around the columns. Lively music could be heard coming from somewhere within.
Without warning, a large mound of fur came flying at them from the direction of the house.
“Romeo!” Vito shouted, then he roared with laughter as the ball of fur reached him and jumped up. He spoke affectionately in Italian as he gave the dog a thorough petting.
“This is Romeo,” he told her. “He’s a very good mimmo.”
Maya leaned down to greet the dog. He responded with a wet lick on her cheek.
“He likes you,” Vito declared. “Juliet should be around here somewhere.”
Maya straightened. “You have two dogs that are named Romeo and Juliet?”
He gave her a playful smile. “We are in Verona, after all.”
Of course. That made sense.
“There’s a surprise twist,” Vito added in a mock whisper, cupping his hand against his mouth as he spoke.
“What’s that?”
“They’re both boys.”
“Hmm. That is surprising, indeed. I did not see that coming.”
Vito nodded solemnly, rousing a gurgle of laughter from her. “When you meet Juliet, please do not inform him that he is the namesake of one of fiction’s most notable heroines.”