“I do. It was our father’s and when Luca bailed on me, I was left to take it over.”
“You say that like it’s a hardship,” Luca said, reaching for his wine.
“It was, for a while. But luckily I had Izzy here to help me through it.” He turned and kissed his fiancée.
“So you two have been together a long time?”
“Not as long as you might think,” she answered for him.
“Yup, my brother is an idiot and ignored the fact that he was madly in love with his assistant.”
“Luca, I haven’t been his assistant in years.”
“I know Iz, I just can’t help poking at him,” Luca said, laughing at his brother’s expense.
“So, how about you two? I feel like we were just out for lunch and you never mentioned Ozzie.”
Sofia looked over at the man who had been her rock for the last two days. “We met a few weeks ago. I was at a coffee shop near my temp job and he came up and asked to sit with me.”
“I guess you could say the rest was history,” Ozzie added.
“Just like that?” Luca asked as he squinted his eyes in Ozzie’s direction.
“Well, you’ve met your sister, right? She pulled me in from the first day I met her. Being without her is harder than anything I would have expected, so yeah, just like that.”
Sofia’s heart was racing. She wasn’t lying, but it still felt deceitful. Ozzie had his arm around the back of her chair and the other hand on the top of her thigh. She couldn’t tell if the words he was saying were simply for her benefit or if he was telling the truth. She felt drawn to him since they met and had been doing what she could to keep her feelings at bay, but if he felt that way too, then maybe this was for real. As the conversation went on around her, she let herself imagine what it would be like dating Ozzie. They had almost nothing in common other than a love of chocolate cake. He rarely talked about himself and yet knew so much about her already. If they continued to date after the wedding, then she would learn everything about him she had been curious about.
“You aren’t related to the Ashfords in Coral Springs, are you?” Micah asked as they were finishing up dinner.
Sofia noticed Ozzie’s body tense. “I am. I have a lot of family in Miami.”
Micah just nodded his head but said nothing. It was Izzy’s face that tuned her in to the thoughts that there may be something more to the question than she knew about.
“Bella, is there anything you need done tonight that I can help with?” Sofia asked, realizing how uncomfortable Ozzie was with the line of questioning. A change in subject was in order.
“No, I don’t think so. We got everything taken care of today. Some of our friends will be by early tomorrow if you want to get ready in our suite. Izzy is coming up too.”
“Yeah, it’s going to be a nightmare. Ozzie, I’d stay clear if I were you, you’re welcome to spend the day with me and Micah.”
“I have some work to get done in the morning, but that sounds good, unless you need me for anything?” he said, turning to Sofia.
“No, I should be good.”
The rest of the meal went off without a hitch. Sofia was still curious why Ozzie didn’t want to share much about his family, but with her history and her cousin Dante’s business, she understood the need for some privacy. Once the bill was paid, the girls left her and Ozzie with Luca and Micah in the restaurant.
“Sofia, do you have a few minutes for the three of us to talk?”
“Yeah sure,” she answered Micah before turning to Ozzie, “Do you want me to just meet you back in our room?”
“No, I’ll wait for you at the bar.”
“It shouldn’t take us too long,” Luca added.
“Just let me know if you need me,” Ozzie said, turning to Sofia and giving her a tender kiss, “I won’t be far.”
Sofia watched as he shook hands with both of her brothers and excused himself. Once he was out of earshot, Micah started talking while Luca pulled an envelope from his jacket pocket.
“I know you’ve been dragging your feet about this but I think we would all feel better if we had this taken care of and behind us,” Luca said as he placed the papers down in front of her.