gambling. I watch them for a moment, knowing that the reason their backs are to the women are because they’re completely devoted to theirs at home.
I want to be like them. I hope that I can be, that Pippa will allow me to be completely devoted to her. I wish that she’ll want all the things that I do in a relationship, in and out of the bedroom. That she’ll want to carry my children, make my house a home and be everything that I’ve always imagined she could be.
“You going to that blonde tonight?” Dante asks.
Jerking my chin, I grin. “Yeah. She knows what I like. Honest to fuck, I can’t be too worked up for the wedding anyway.”
He snorts. “Don’t want to hurt your new wife, right?”
“Don’t want to blow my load within seconds is more like it,” I grunt.
“Have a shot with me first?”
Nodding my head, I turn around and sink down on the barstool. The bartender slides us each a full shot glass of liquid. I lift my drink to his at the same time he touches his to mine. Together we swallow and both hiss as the liquid burns our throats.
“How’d you know you wanted Pippa?” Dante asks.
“Who is she?” I ask.
He shrugs a shoulder. “She’s Italian, but she’s not famiglia.”
“You sure?”
Most Italians near us have some kind of ties. Dante shakes his head. “East Village, mother owns a bridal shop,” he mutters.
“The only decent thing about going shopping with my bride, huh?” I ask on a chuckle.
He laughs and shakes his head. “It was educational. I don’t mind being around the women. They forget I’m there and get to talking. I learn a lot about their kind,” he murmurs.
“So, do you need help with this girl?”
“Want her. Haven’t asked her out. Wondering if I should even go there?”
I flick my fingers toward the bartender and he slides over another shot for me. Taking it, I swallow with another hiss, though I’m starting to become numb to the burning at this point.
“Pippa looked at me with her big blue scared eyes and I knew instantly that I wanted to keep her. I didn’t do anything about it at the time, probably wouldn’t have had she not fallen into my lap the way she did. So, my advice?”
He jerks his chin but otherwise doesn’t speak as he waits for me to continue.
“Go for it now. I’ve been waiting for three years and I’ve missed three years of having her where I want her, where I need her. Take your opportunity and seize the day.”
PIPPA
Looking at the reflection of my back in the mirror, I gasp at just how well it fits me. My dress is backless. The peach fabric only reaches the crack of my ass. The skirt is full and made of a soft tulle fabric.
This is the dress of my dreams, but that’s about the only thing that has been a dream come true with this whole process.
Turning around, I lift my eyes to look at the entire front of my body and dress in the mirror. The bodice is completely beaded and hugs me from chest to waist before the skirt floats out into a full tulle puffy princess dress.
I decided to forego white, choosing a nude color. The bodice while being completely beaded, is also absolutely sheer. The silver beading is the only part of the bodice that covers my breasts. The only part of the top that makes it anywhere near appropriate for the church, is the fact that it has capped sleeves.
“It’s indecent,” my aunt hisses from behind me.
I thought I was alone, my hair and makeup girls having left. I don’t have bridesmaids, don’t have attendants. Though I could have asked the women that I’ve become close with, I could have asked my sister, but I decided that I needed to do this on my own.
“I know,” I confess, turning around to face Irene. “But then again, this entire marriage is that, so it’s fitting.”
“Have you done this just to spite me?” she hisses.
Arching a brow, I curl my lip and shake my head once. “Why would I do that? You told me to figure it out, that I was no longer allowed in your home, so I’ve figured it out.”
“A Made Man?”
“Either that or be a whore like Bellarosa. Fortunately for me, I was given a choice where my sister wasn’t,” I snap.
Irene jerks her head back. “This will end in destruction. You’ll be nothing to him but