Alessia (Casella Cousins #4) - Kathryn Shay
Chapter 1
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As soon as Alessia Benatti finished her afternoon class, she threw on her quilted jacket and raced out of the room, down the hall and to the exit. She’d just reached the door of the building when she heard, “Alessia, wait up.”
She turned. And gave a half smile. Any other time, she’d be thrilled that Derek Davidson, the dark-haired, blue-eyed heartthrob of the class had called out to her. He was movie-star handsome with a quick smile. That he also had a quick wit made him even more attractive. Despite the cold, he wore a thin leather jacket over a navy sweater. “I can’t—”
“Talk, I know. I saw you leave in a hurry. Did something bad happen?”
“No. It’s all good. I have to get home for a Girl Power Party and I don’t want to miss dinner.”
He pushed open the door for her. Once outside, her dark hair blew all over the place in the November wind. She tried unsuccessfully to contain it. “My car’s right down the street. I’ll take you to Hidden Cove. You can tell me on the way what a Girl Power Party is.”
Startled at his suggestion, she said, “Thank you so much for the offer. But I don’t want to put you out.”
He peered over at the busy traffic, honking horns and shouts of drivers on the street in front of the school. A light snow had begun to fall. “What would you do? Try to get an Uber at four o’clock on a Friday afternoon in lower Manhattan?”
She checked her watch. “Or walk to the train.”
“Which will be mobbed. I’m free the rest of the day.” His mouth crooked into a delicious smile. “Let me do this for you.”
“All right. And thank you.”
They hurried to a lot not too far way, the snow increasing to large, wet flakes, and stopped at an older, gray Honda Civic. He unlocked the door and opened the passenger side. She slid in, he got behind the wheel, checked the rearview mirror, then pulled out into the thick traffic that made the roads spit slush.
“This’ll save me tons of time.” She uttered the words once he started driving. “I really shouldn’t have come to school today, but I like this teacher and what she does in the course.”
“Me, too.” The windshield wipers squeaked on the glass as he glanced over at her. “So, what’s a Girl Power Party?” His voice was deep and husky.
She chuckled. “It used to be called a bachelorette party but none of us liked the name. This is for my soon to be sister-in-law, who’s marrying one of my brothers, and my cousin, who I’m very close to.”
“Two brides?”
“We have an interesting family.”
“Being there for family is important.” He winked at her. “You said that once in a group work session.”
“So did you. You’re from Brooklyn, right?”
“We were both paying attention.”
Alessia struggled not to sigh. When they were asked to relay some of their bio in Interpersonal Communication, a required course, he’d told the group that, too. The other eight females in this particular course of twelve had fawned over him. Not Alessia, though. Why bother? She wasn’t his type. Word had it he dated around, but never stayed with anyone too long.
As he got on the expressway, he relaxed back in his seat. Now, his scent, something spicy and male, began to fill the car. “Tell me about your brothers. You mentioned them in class.”
“The first one, Rafe, has a doozy of a story.” Doozy. What a stupid word. “He’s a firefighter captain and lost the love of his life seven years ago. She…abandoned him. But she came back, with his five-year old boy in tow. They eventually got together, married and she’s pregnant again.”
“Wow. Girl or boy this time?”
“A girl. She named Tomaso after my father even when they were split.”
“That’s sweet.”
“What are your twins’ names?” He’d also mentioned he had two children a year older than Pete.
“Hell on Wheels and Holy Terror.”
She laughed. “Yeah, I got a Hurricane Peter.”
He laughed.
“Any other siblings with drama like the first one?”
“Uh-huh. My younger brother Seth, the one who’s getting married, got stabbed last year where he works at Legal Aid by the disgruntled husband of a client.”
“Was it serious?”
“Touch and go for a while. But he recovered. He got back together with his long-lost girlfriend while he was recuperating, and they worked things out. And she—Julianne—was being stalked at the time, so they’d both been in danger. Their double jeopardy kind of brought