“He lives in New York City too. Him and Luca don’t get along very well, which I think may have put some strain on my relationship with Luca. According to Bella, he will be at the wedding, though. My cousin has some different business practices that my brothers don’t agree with, so they normally keep their distance. But weddings bring everyone together, so they’ll put all that aside for the weekend.”
“Do you have a big family?”
“I don’t know, really. It doesn’t seem that way. Luca has a bunch of friends who are basically family to him. His and Micah’s mom died of cancer when they were young and then our dad died eight years ago.”
“So you never met him?”
“No. Dante found me after his father died. I guess I was the big family secret for the older generation and from what I’ve learned from Micah, I didn’t miss out on much not knowing my father. It doesn’t seem as if he was that great of a man.”
“I’m sorry, Sofia. When you said complicated, you meant it.”
“Yeah, it’s weird and honestly sounds a lot worse than it is. I’ve spent most of my life taking care of myself, so I always will. It’s nice having family now and a place that I kind of belong. It’s just going to take a while to really believe it all. When you lose so much so often, it makes you feel you’re always waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
“I could see that.”
“I’m sorry. Here I am going on and on about myself again.”
“It’s okay, I asked. Besides, I enjoy getting to know you,” he said as he reached for her hand and they closed the cabin door.
Ozzie was one of those people that were too easy to talk to. Sofia was never the one to hide who she was, but there were things he didn’t need to know about so soon. Like what her cousin Dante really did for a living, or that she was falling head over heels for him in the short period they had known each other. Those were things that could wait, things that needed to wait, otherwise she would end up scaring him off. The plane taxied out to the runway, and they sat in silence, waiting for it to take off. Flying was never something she enjoyed. The idea of a tin can with wings just seemed crazy to her. The last flight she had was on Micah’s jet when they went to New York City for her to meet Luca. Now, sitting in first class with a gorgeous man holding her hand, she realized she wasn’t nearly as nervous as she used to be. Ozzie calmed something inside of her and she was growing accustomed to that feeling when he was around. The safety video started, and the plane took off. She closed her eyes and gripped his hand until they leveled out. When she tilted her head to the side to look at him, he was sitting there smiling back at her like she had hung the moon in the sky. Not for the first time, she wondered how in the world another woman hadn’t scooped up Oscar Ashford up at this point in his life.