I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the ceiling.

What was the point, anyway?

The world held nothing good for me anymore.

As of six hours ago, I was officially twenty-five. I could rent a car. I could say I was one quarter of the way to a century.

I could marry that Italian mafia boss.

All day long I’d been on edge, unable to get anything done at work. Despite that, I hadn’t wanted to leave the office.

Now twenty-five, the New York streets were scarier than they’d ever been. How exactly would this deal go down? Would I be walking to the subway when a black car would pull up and snatch me, then take me to a basement where I would be married off and kept in captivity, not able to see anyone or go to work ever again?

Despite those fears, I made it home in one piece. No one waited for me on the streets, or at the apartment.

Which meant it could happen any time. Moretti’s goons could be walking up the apartment steps right now.

Would I fight? Would I just give in?

I hadn’t decided yet.

Once I saw the face of the man who had a part in killing my parents, I would likely lose my shit and try to destroy him. Maybe I’d be punished. Or killed.

Maybe that would be fine.

I hadn’t heard from Angelo. Which made sense. What I’d perceived as growing love had been nothing but an illusion. It was best if we never saw each other again.

And Sophia had been MIA as well. Again. I hadn’t gotten her on the phone since she flew out of the apartment with that claim to ‘take care’ of things.

The game was over. I’d lost.

A noise came from the front of the apartment, sending me bolting up to sitting.

Here he came. Moretti.

“Paige?”

I let out a sigh of relief. “Sophia!”

She pushed my cracked bedroom door open. “What are you doing?”

“Waiting for my life to be over.” I pursed my lips in an attempt to not cry, but the bottom one trembled horribly.

Bags sat under Sophia’s eyes, but her irises sparkled. “Nu-uh. Not today, sister.”

“Huh?”

“There is no more Moretti.”

“What are you talking about?”

“He died. Someone killed him in Italy.”

My jaw came unhinged. “What?”

She came and sat next to me on the bed and took my hand. “And there’s more. It turns out he already took care of the paperwork for your marriage. He signed his Sicily house and property over to you and me.”

“Both of us?”

Her head bobbed eagerly.

“But who… How...”

Sophia’s hand tightened on mine. “It doesn’t matter. And it doesn’t do any good to ask questions. That can get you into trouble. Let’s just celebrate what we have.”

She hugged me tight. I buried my face in her shoulder, relieved beyond belief. “This is crazy!”

“I know!” She let me go. “Get up. I’m taking you out to dinner. We have to celebrate the best birthday we’ve ever had.”

“Okay,” I chuckled, wiping away the tears of relief.

“Happy birthday, by the way.”

“The same to you.”

She grinned and hurried from my room.

No. That was the first thought I had when our taxi pulled up to our favorite Italian restaurant—where I kissed Angelo for the first time.

“This place?”

Sophia shrugged. “It’s one of the best in the city. I’m treating you anyway.”

My fingers curled around my clutch. My first date with Angelo started off here and ended up at that place I liked to call an alternative dance club. I thought back to the night we ended up going back to my place.

Was Sophia deliberately trying to bring up bad feelings?

The place did have killer steak. I had to give it that.

“All right,” I grumbled, climbing out onto the sidewalk. “At least we won’t be in that private room.”

Sophia gave her name for the reservation and the hostess showed us to a square table near the front, where we got a view of the street. She took away one table setting, leaving three.

“Oh.” I frowned. “Excuse me! You forgot...”

“No she didn’t,” Sophia quickly said, taking her linen napkin and laying it in her lap.

“Huh?”

She fingered the roses in the middle of the table. “I invited someone.”

“You did? Who?”

“Angelo.”

“Angelo?”

Soph shrugged, like inviting Angelo was the most casual thing in the world. “We talked on the phone today. Right after I got off my plane. I thought about it a lot… About those things that I said to you about him. I was too hard on him. I don’t think he meant to hurt you, Paige.”

I angrily crossed both my arms and legs. “Even if he didn’t mean to keep such a big secret from me, there are other things. His family’s involvement in Mom and Dad’s death, for one...”

“No,” she fiercely said. “The Salvatore’s had nothing to do with that.”

“What about Angelo’s chasing tail? You told me yourself that he’s a ladies’ man.”

“Yeah, well, that’s something else. He’s definitely not perfect.” She sighed. “But since you like him, I figured I might as well try to get along with him. And who knows? Maybe you’ll be the one to break him of that habit.”

I started to point out that Angelo had failed to get in touch with me yet, but the words slipped back down my throat when he appeared in the restaurant entrance.

With his unbuttoned suit and side parted hair, he looked just the same as he always did. It just felt like years since we’d seen each other.

An uncertain smile on his face, he approached the table.

“Hi,” he softly breathed.

I couldn’t help but stare at my hands. “Hello.”

“How are you?”

“Fine,” I told my pinkie finger.

Sophia cleared her throat. “Angelo, have a seat.”

“Thank you. Paige, I was actually wondering if I might have a minute with you first.”

I finally had to look up. “Uh, okay.”

“I’ll order some appetizers,” Sophia announced, burying her nose in the menu.

“And wine,” I told her. “A bottle.”

Or two.

I followed Angelo across the main dining room and into a little hallway, then up a short flight of stairs. He seemed to have a destination in mind so I let him take the lead. On arriving at the landing, the noise from below softened. We passed a doorway showing a private dining area, the chairs all overturned on the tables.

Angelo stopped near the end of the upstairs hall.

“Well?” I barked. I hadn’t meant to be so cutting, but now that I was being just that I figured I would just go with it. Crossing my arms, I glared with everything I had.

“I’m sorry.”

I didn’t buy it.

“What for, exactly?”

Angelo’s head ducked. “For not telling you before about what I knew about the photo. And for failing you in any other way. I’m sorry for hurting you. I’m sorry for letting you down. I’m sorry for making you feel like you couldn’t trust me.”

I couldn’t stop that last part from softening my heart a bit. Still, we weren’t done. “You really know for a fact that your family had nothing to do with my parents’ deaths?”

“I swear on my life,” he seriously said. “They didn’t. My parents were friends with yours. Your dad wasn’t just my father’s tailor.”

The way he said it was all I needed to believe him. “I’m sorry too,” I sighed. “I’m sorry I accused them of being involved.”

“It’s understandable.”

There was still more, though, more to get off my chest. We weren’t about to ride off into the sunset just yet.

“I heard you like to chase women.”

“I did,” he softly said, not skipping a beat.

“You… did?”

Angelo took a step towards me and I responded by moving backwards. My back bumped against the wall, leaving me with nowhere to go.

He pressed his arm against the wall next to my head and gazed down at me.

“Moretti is dead,” he whispered, his breath kissing my nose.

I gulped. “I heard. He signed his house in Sicily over to me and Sophia.”

Angelo’s eyebrows rose. “You don’t say?”

I lifted my chin, staring him down. With him that close, with everything that previously stopped us from being together, the answer seemed clear. There was nothing else to do but seize hold of the day, take Angelo in my arms and kiss him until I died.

Yet I was frozen with fear. It all seemed too good to be true.

“Is this really happening?” I whispered. “Am I free?”

Angelo slowly nodded and slipped his free arm around my waist. “I thought it was the end for us.”

“Me too.”

I went for his mouth before he so much as took another breath. His desperate kiss greeted me, pulling me in.

My hands moved all over him, clutching at each part of him they could get. His shoulders. His chest. His hair.

I wanted to feel each part of Angelo beneath my fingers. To memorize each line of his face and body, but to never need those memories, because I planned on never letting him go.

Angelo’s fingers curled around the fabric of my dress, pushing it up along my thigh. Heat flooded me. I hissed out a breath, dropping my head back against the wall as Angelo moved his attention to my neck.

I tried to open my eyes, but they kept fluttering closed. Combined with the shaking of my legs and the crazy flipping of my stomach, I was close to collapsing to the floor.

“Angelo. We need...”

He nipped slightly at the spot below my ear, taking away any ability to talk.

He seemed to read my mind, though, because he turned me around and pushed us through a doorway across the hall.

My butt hit something hard. Angelo locking the door behind us gave me just enough time to note we were in a bathroom. A second later and he was on me again, lifting me up and settling me on top of the counter.

I grabbed his shirt in both hands and pulled him towards me. Mouths mashed together, my legs wrapped around him, we ground our hips. His dick pressed against his pants to rub against my thigh.

I let out a groan of frustration. “I need you right now, Angelo.”

With that invitation, he reached under my skirt and yanked my panties down. They slid over my shoes and landed on the floor.

A bit of my butt slipped off the counter and I reached out for the wall to keep myself in place. Angelo hurried to undo his belt and pull his dick out.

With one of my hands pressed against the wall and the other wrapped around his neck, I teetered on the edge of the counter. Angelo took his dick in his hand and pushed into me.

I cried out from the pleasurable shock, my nails gripping his collar. Deep into me he pushed, driving me against the long mirror running the length of the counter.

I said a quick prayer, hoping the mirror wouldn’t shatter. After that there was no more space for thinking. Angelo grasped my hips and rammed into me harder, sending a quick succession of pleasurable waves through me. They culminated in an orgasm, and soon I shook and cried out his name, the moment of passion making me not care if anyone heard us.

Angelo’s breathing got heavier. He growled and pulled me closer to him. His tongue swept across my lips as he pressed his forehead against mine. For a moment, just stayed there, peaceful as we caught our breaths.

“I’m afraid I’m going to fall,” I whispered.

Angelo chuckled and swept his arms around my waist to gently lower me to the ground. He picked up my panties and slipped them into his pocket.

“You’re better off without these,” he explained. “Especially if I want to have my way with you under the dinner table.”

The danger of the idea made me grin like a buffoon. I straightened my skirt and turned around to check my reflection in the mirror. A bit of hair was out of place, but other than that you couldn’t tell I’d just been banged in a restaurant bathroom.

Angelo watched me in the mirror, a sly smile on his face. “Do you think Sophia will be pissed?”

“Sophia! I forgot all about her.”

“Maybe the appetizers have come to keep her company.”

I turned around and placed my hands on his chest. “We should get back.”

“Yes,” he growled.

His hand moved around in his pocket, retrieving something. “I have something for you.”

Out came a small plastic snow globe. I had to smile. “That’s cute, but why…”

He held it up to my eye level for better inspection then shook it just enough to make the little white flecks torpedo around. In the center of the globe a beach house sat, next to it a sign saying Atlantic Beach.

Unable to hold back my gleeful smile, I took the globe in both hands. “Atlantic Beach?”

“Best weekend of my life.”

He said it so seriously the smile fell right off my face. “Even with the asthma attack? Even with a whole day spent in a hospital room?”

“Even with that. It made me see I couldn’t go on in life without you.”

My palms grew clammy. Angelo reached up and ran his fingers along the side of my face.

“Sophia,” I softly reminded him.

“No. You’re Paige,” he seriously replied. “I know you’re identical and all...”

I chuckled, swatting his shoulder.

“It’s her birthday too,” I pointed out. And then, “Are you going to give her the same thing you gave me?”

“A romp in the bathroom or a snow globe?”

I threw back my head in laughter. “She’d probably punch you in the jaw if you tried to pass her the first one.”

Angelo wrapped his arms around me and nuzzled his face into my hair. “Good. As far as I’m concerned there’s only one woman for me.”

His words filled me up and set me buzzing. Up and up I went, flying high on the promise of the future. Flying high with the man in front of me.