“Baby, give me your eyes.”

He was talking sweet.

I heaved a sigh and gave him my eyes.

“So, I want a stay-at-home mom and you give me a badass PI. You accepted a wiseguy and got whatever I am. We’re a f**kin’ pair.”

We were.

I looked into his eyes and wondered how on earth we were working.

Then it hit me I shouldn’t think on that too much. We were. That was all that mattered.

“I suppose I should thank you for giving up your six figure part of a criminal empire for me,” I said somewhat ungraciously.

This made him smile and pull me closer as his eyes dropped to my mouth and his lips murmured, “You’re welcome, honey.”

“Now, I need to go out and run off my French toast,” I informed him.

His eyes came back to mine just as his lips hit mine and he replied, “Oh, we’ll work it off.”

A shiver slid over my skin and my happy place got happy.

His head slanted, his lips pressed to mine and his tongue slid inside.

We then proceeded to work off the French toast and the sausages.

I wasn’t sure what we did would help me stay in shape should I have to outrun bad guys.

But it was a whole lot better than running.

Chapter Twenty

Welcome to the Family

“You good?” Ren asked, and I looked from my place in the passenger seat to him behind the wheel of his Jag.

“I’m good,” I answered. “You good?”

He grabbed my hand, gave it a squeeze and rested it on his thigh. “I’m good.”

I looked out the windshield.

Even though we were heading to have dinner with Mom and Dad, I was good.

This mostly had to do with the fact that Ren instigated Operation Two Year Fuck-a-Thon today. Ren got out of bed to make us these awesome toasted roast beef sandwiches with peppers, mushrooms and melted cheese for lunch, and we both got out of bed about an hour and a half ago to take a shower. The rest of the time was in bed making love or holding close, touching and whispering, or snoozing to prepare for more making love.

It was righteous.

So since we had no fights or breakups and nothing exploded, but I’d had seven orgasms, I was all set for dinner with my man and my parents.

“Date night tomorrow night, baby,” Ren said on another hand squeeze, and I looked at him.

“Okay, but I have a meeting at Lee’s office to discuss my future career plans tomorrow evening, so we’ll have to go after that.”

“What the f**k?” he asked, eyes narrowing on the road.

“It’ll be cool,” I assured him. “I’ll talk them around but if I—”

“No, babe,” he bit out. “What the f**k?”

I looked forward.

My parents lived in Bonnie Brae, which was just off the very popular ‘hood where I lived, Washington Park. Wash Park surrounded a massive park-slash-hotspot that even in the winter was teeming with activity. It was practically impossible to find a parking spot in Wash Park. Bonnie Brae, unless you were close to Bonnie Brae Tavern, didn’t have the same problem.

But lining the curbs outside Mom and Dad’s house were not only Lee’s Crossfire and Hank’s 4Runner but also a shiny black Caddy, a semi-sporty Hyundai coupe, a Chevy SUV, a Honda Accord and a GMC Acadia.

“There’s a space in front of the Acadia, Zano,” I pointed out, and it was only two car lengths down from Mom and Dad’s, so I wasn’t certain what the big deal was. Still, maybe Ren was feeling nervous so I said, “Sorry that Lee and Hank are here, even though we didn’t know they were coming. But they’ll be cool. And all these cars mean one of the neighbors is having a little get-together.”

“One of your neighbors isn’t having a get-together, babe. The Acadia’s Dom’s. The Honda is Connie’s. The Chevy, Jeannie’s. Hyundai, Ma. And the Caddy belongs to Vito and Angela.”

I stared at the lineup of cars.

Holy shit!

Ambush!

“Are you serious?” I asked, sounding like I hoped to God he wasn’t, mostly because I hoped to God he wasn’t!

“Yes, unfortunately,” he answered, putting on the brakes to swing in in front of the Acadia, which would mean he intended to park.

“What are you doing?” I yelled.

He stopped the car and looked at me. “Parking.”

“Don’t park. Do not park. Drive on. I just got a really bad headache, period cramps and I think that French toast gave me food poisoning. I’ll text Mom. She’ll understand.”

Ren didn’t listen to me. He swung into the spot, and while looking over his shoulder to reverse closer to the bumper of the Acadia, he spoke to me. “Of all that, I really hope you’re kidding about the period cramps.”

Like I’d have sex during a bout of food poisoning.

“Zano!” I snapped.

He put the car in park and turned his attention to me.

“Is this my Ally, scared of nothing?” he asked, sounding slightly pissed, but also slightly teasing, and I knew the former was for his family, the latter for me.

Still, I gritted my teeth.

He reached out a hand and curled it around the side of my neck, and when he spoke again there was no more teasing. “Do you think your mom planned this?”

“Absolutely not,” I answered.

“So I mentioned to Dom at the wedding yesterday I was havin’ dinner with your folks tonight. Dom opened his mouth and Vito did what Vito does. He horned in,” he deduced.

“Probably.”

His voice was just pissed when he said, “Don’t worry. I’ll get rid of them.”

“Do that fast,” I ordered, then explained my eagerness for him to be rude, “See, Mom and Dad will be cool with you because I love you. I don’t love Vito and Angela, and Dad really doesn’t love at least Vito. So he’s probably in there, about to have an aneurysm because Mom won’t let him be mean to guests. Even surprise ones. Even ones who engage in criminal activities. And anyway, knowing what you mean to me, he definitely won’t want to be mean in front of your mom and sisters. The problem is, Mom likely instigated the Lee and Hank being here thing without telling us, which means Dad also doesn’t have the upper hand. So he’s screwed, and he won’t like that.”

To all that, Ren’s answer was simply, “Like I said, Ally. Don’t worry, I’ll get rid of them.”

He let me go and turned to his door, but a thought occurred to me, I grabbed his wrist and yanked.