Page 127 of Precious Hazard

“Both. But also, I just don’t like him.”

“We’ve been over this, Arturo.”

“Mm-hmm. But the twisted dick still thinks he loves Sienna more than I love you.”

“You two really need to stop this childish behavior. Who loves who more is a ridiculous competition to be in.” I sigh. Iguess it’s better than the other shit they continue to argue about. Sienna and I have been trying to resolve the ongoing animosity between our brothers. So far, with little success. Drago holds Arturo responsible for my getting shot and nearly dying. And Arturo is dead set on the idea that the entire clusterfuck wouldn’t have happened at all if Drago had better business sense. As far as exploiting the Greeks’ collateral, that is. “Is there any news on Stavros’s father?”

Arturo’s face contorts into a mask of rage. “No. The motherfucker seems to have vanished and no one has been able to locate him. But he’ll surface eventually. And when he does, I’m going to make sure his death is slow and extremely painful.” He cups my cheek with his hand while his other palm settles over my heart. “I’m still plagued by nightmares about that night. I almost lost you.”

“I’m fine. I’m here. With you.” Lifting onto my toes, I press my mouth to his.

He briefly pulls my lower lip between his teeth, but then, with a rather amused look on his face, lowers himself to one knee.

“Another reason why I picked Rome is because my jeweler is here. That way, when you once more tell me ‘no,’ I can pick up the new ring right away and ask you again.” He smirks, lifting an emerald ring in its velvet box before me. “Will you marry me, gattina?”

My heart flutters as it does every time he asks me. He’s been trying to correct his wrongs, starting with a romantic proposal that I never received before we agreed to wed. Once I agree, he wants us to renew our vows. To say the words of love to each other, and this time, we’ll both mean them. To date, he has proposed more than a dozen times, approaching twenty, maybe.I’ve honestly lost count. But it’s time. He’s redeemed himself enough.

I smile and reach for the ring. The long-awaitedyesis ready to leave my lips when Arturo’s gaze snaps to the side. The mirth in his eyes transforms into frustration as he stares at something behind me.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

“What?” I look around, not seeing anything amiss. “I don’t… What’s going on?” I gape at Arturo as he rises, throwing out a bunch of Italian curses under his breath, and stuffs my ring back into his pocket. “Hey! Give that back!”

“Nope. The little shit somehow followed me all the way here. I won’t allow any bad luck to spoil this for us.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“That.” He juts his chin to the right.

My gaze shifts in the direction he indicated. Darting past the tourists huddled in groups. Searching, searching. Until it stops on the ornate trash can near a restaurant.

On top, hind leg straight up in the air, sits a scrawny black cat. One who’s vigorously licking his ass.

I slam my palm over my mouth to stifle a laugh. Fail. Chuckling at the all-mighty Arturo DeVille. My man is superstitious?

“Why are you giggling? It’s not funny,” he grumbles.

Shaking my head, I grab the front of his shirt and pull him down for a kiss.

“Just give me the ring,” I murmur into his lips.

“No,” he rasps.

I rear back. “What do you mean ‘no’?”

“I want to make it perfect. And this is definitely not.”

“But, I was just going to—”

His mouth slams against mine, cutting off the rest of my words.

Sometime later

New York

“Yes, I know it’s urgent, boss.” I shove the door shut with my foot and lug the bag of groceries to the kitchen. In my hurry to get home, I almost forgot to pick up the ingredients for the lasagna I’m teaching Tara how to make tomorrow. While Ajello yammers in my ear, I quickly put everything away and set off in search of my wife. “Tara has already gone over the contract and picked it apart. Those assholes tried to sneak in a higher rate than we originally agreed on and added a penalty to the delay clause. My guess is they figured we wouldn’t notice. I’ll see if—”

I jerk to a stop halfway to the stairs, not quite believing my eyes. Water is streaming down the steps from the upper level and cascading off the landing like a small waterfall.