Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 79336 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79336 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
The city of Taormina calls to me—but Constantine possesses me, body and soul. Not just because of those chiseled abs and glorious tattoos my photographer’s eye can’t help but admire. Or the man’s utter devotion to his dog. But because he always stands up for me.
He saved my life once. And he’d do it again.
His ruthless brand of justice inspires terror on the streets of Rome. But in his arms, I shiver for a different reason. So when he asks me to move in after just six weeks, I’m ecstatic.
And conflicted.
I worry I’m a distraction. An obstacle to his duties as emperor. And when his nemesis, the Skull King—that merciless bastard who killed Constantine’s twin—reappears, I fear I’m right.
Whatever went down between them, Constantine loved his brother with all his heart. Now he has a choice to make: avenge his brother’s death and protect Rome…or save me again
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Prologue I
Constantine
Bright and early in the morning, I worked in the kitchen of Rosticceria Da Cristina and prepared the dough for the pizzas and the fillings for the arancini. The pizza dough took the longest, requiring adequate time for the yeast to activate and for the dough to rise at the right temperature. I turned on the music from the sound system, cranking it up because I was the only one in there, singing along to the parts I liked because there was no one there to judge me.
Then I saw my mother through the window. She used her key to unlock the door, but when there was no resistance, she realized I’d left it open and she walked inside. “What did I tell you about locking the door, Con?” she shouted over the music.
“What do you think’s gonna happen? Someone is gonna jack our pizza?”
“Why is this so loud?” She marched to the sound system and aggressively pushed the buttons until the music abruptly ended. “Jesus Christ, it’s seven in the morning.”
I rolled my eyes and got back to work.
“Roll your eyes at me again, and I’ll smack them out of your head.”
I smirked as I rolled the dough in the flour. “Sorry, Ma.”
She gave me a gentle smack on the ass before she headed into the office. She did the books while I continued to prepare the store to open. I turned the music back on, keeping it at a reasonable level so she wouldn’t yell at me again.
A couple hours later, she joined me in the kitchen. “Everything ready to go?”
“Like always, Ma.” Working at the family business wasn’t exactly glamorous, but it’d been in our family for generations and we were all proud of it. The restaurant had become a famous tourist spot for everyone who visited Taormina. Sometimes I wondered what life would be like if I left the island and made my own way on the mainland, but I had too much to leave behind. My family was everything to me, and if I ever decided to move, my mother would be devastated. She smacked me a lot, but I knew she did it out of love.
She rubbed my arm before she gave me a gentle pat. “That’s my boy.”
“Your boy has been a man a long time.”
“Yes, I’m reminded every time I stand next to you.” She glanced up at me, a foot and a half shorter than me. “So how are you? How are things with Issy?”
“Good,” I said with a smile. “We were at the beach yesterday.”
“She’s a nice girl, Con.”
“I know.”
“And nice girls don’t wait around forever . . .” She shot me a look before she started to place the trays of arancini and pizzas inside the glass-covered display case where the customers could choose what they wanted.
“I know they don’t. Which is why I’m going to ask her to marry me.”
“Wait too long and all the good ones will be taken, Con.” She clearly hadn’t heard what I said, obviously drowning in her anxiety that I wouldn’t marry and have two kids before I turned twenty-five. “They will have another man’s babies, and you’ll be sorry.”
“Ma?”
“Hmm?” She finished loading the last tray into the glass case, then shut the door. She came back to me, dusting her palms from the flour that was always sprinkled throughout the place.
“I’m going to ask her to marry me.”
She blinked once, and then her face hardened like she didn’t understand. Her hands flew to her mouth as she silenced a gasp she didn’t realize she’d made. “Con, do not mess with me right now. I’m not in the mood for one of your jokes—”
“I would never joke about that, Ma.”
“So, you’re serious?”
“Yes.”
She smacked both of her hands onto the counter, probably hard enough that it hurt, but she then threw her arms in the air and hopped up and down, moving with an enthusiasm she hadn’t shown in . . . forever. “Oh my god, my boy is getting married. I can’t believe this. I just . . . I have to talk to your aunt Chiara. She’s going to be so excited—”