As the sound of her giggles filled the car, he drawled lazily, “I believe I’m going to have a suddenly busy day today, Vivi. I might have to cancel—-”
Oh, fudge. She hastily covered her mouth until she was able to control her amusement, and lowering her hands, she told him earnestly, “I’m not going to laugh anymore, I promise.” But she wasn’t even finished speaking when her lips started to tremble at the effort not to smile.
Sighing, he drew her close to him, saying, “I suppose if I really want you to stop laughing, there’s only one way to do so.” Her lips parted, but before she could speak, he had already covered her mouth with his.
When they arrived at his office, it was Luca’s turn to sternly repress his smile. His wife walked beside him, her hand covering the side of her neck like a vampire had just bitten her. She had been like that the moment she caught sight of her reflection on one of the car windows—-
Oh my God, Luca, why are your hickeys always too big!
The memory had him coughing in an effort to control his amusement. At the same time, he heard his wife whisper, “Do you think they believed me when I told them I was stung by a bee?”
“I’m not, err, certain,” he said diplomatically.
“What about when I told the other woman I was bleeding?”
“A bit implausible but not, err, impossible, I suppose?” But this time, he had to cough again.
She looked up at him suspiciously. “Are you laughing at me?”
He pulled her inside the private elevator and waited for the doors to close before answering her with a grin, “Yes, I am.”
She gasped. “You—-”
Again, he swallowed the rest of what she had to say with another kiss, and for the second time, he moved his mouth down so he could mark her neck again.
Realizing this time what he was up to, Vivian couldn’t help laughing even as she protested incredulously, “You can’t be serious!” But then she felt him begin to suck at the tender skin of her neck, and she realized he was that serious. “Luca!” She was torn between amusement and chagrin, and oh, if she had to be honest, she was more than a little aroused, too, especially with the way his hard length was pressed against her.
And this was how Angelo Valencia found his older cousin when the elevator doors slid open to the penthouse, where he had been waiting for Luca’s arrival. His eyebrows shot up at the sight of Luca locked in an embrace with his wife of three months. He cleared his throat, and the woman froze, her eyes flying open.
Angelo’s surprise deepened. She looked very innocent…and extremely in love with her husband. This might be not a marriage of convenience after all, he mused, and the thought brought him relief.
Finally taking heed of the way his wife seemed to be seriously trying to get him to stop marking her, he reluctantly lifted his head, and she immediately whispered, “Your cousin is here.”
Luca turned his head towards where his wife was staring. Ah. A crooked grin unfolded over his lips. “You have seriously bad timing, cugino.”
Angelo laughed. “Clearly.” Then he turned to Luca’s wife, saying gently, “It is a pleasure to see you again, Vivian.”
“You, too,” she said shyly.
Luca took hold of his wife’s hand and brushed his lips against her knuckles. “Angelo and I will most likely talk shop. Go on ahead. Your tutor’s already waiting.”
“I’ll be at your office by eleven,” Vivian promised, and after shooting Angelo a quick smile and a nod, she hurried towards the meeting room where her Italian tutor was waiting.
“What does she have a tutor for?” Angelo couldn’t help asking curiously.
“Italian lessons,” Luca explained. “She takes them here five times a week.”
The younger man grinned. “You don’t want to let her out of your sight that much?”
Luca rolled his eyes but didn’t bother answering.
As they walked towards Luca’s office, Angelo could not help but marvel at how much marriage had changed his older cousin, and it was even more surprising that the changes were all because of his young, sweet wife.
Although he and Lane had attended Luca’s wedding, they had not had a chance to speak with the bride at all. Following the ceremony, Luca had only briefly introduced everyone to her before whisking his family off and flying them to Tuscany.
At that time, Angelo had privately believed that Luca’s explanation of wanting his bride to immediately meet his mother and spend their honeymoon there were merely an excuse, to avoid hearing Angelo preach at him.
After all, no one had heard anything about Luca dating, and then all of a sudden the man had sent his friends wedding invitations, and to a woman none of them knew anything about. In fact, the first time Angelo and Steel had seen Vivian Day, both men had immediately thought of the same thing.