A slow sexy smile spread across Kane’s face. “So you have a closet fetish?”
Gigi laughed, feeling lighthearted and sexy. “No, but if it’s the only way to be alone, it works. Here we’d have the whole house.”
Kane bent and pulled his cell phone out of his pants pocket. His rippling muscular back and perfectly toned ass were a joy to watch in motion. “I told Rocco to follow us. I’ll tell him to stand guard.”
Gigi blushed. “He’ll know what we’re doing.”
Kane briefly gave instructions to Gigi’s bodyguard then threw his phone onto the pile of his clothing near the door. “How we feel about each other isn’t exactly a secret.”
Gigi thought of how they’d almost not made it inside the house, and her blush deepened. “You’re right, I guess.”
Kane pulled her gently into his arms, encircling her waist and bringing her full against the evidence of his arousal. “I want you again, Gigi. Right now. But I can wait. What do you want to do?”
There it was, the acceptance that gave Gigi the confidence to drop her inhibitions and be herself. She threw her arms back around him and between kisses said, “Let’s christen every room in this damn house.”
Kane’s eyebrows rose. “A house this big could have quite a few.”
Gigi fluttered her eyelashes at him and gave his cheek a playfully sympathetic pat. “Oh, and at your age, that’s a problem?”
“At my age?” Kane’s smile widened at her challenge. “I’ll show you what someone my age is capable of.” He picked her up and carried her to the first room off the foyer.
* * *
Two hours later, Kane lay beside Gigi in one of the few beds in the mostly unfurnished home. She was cuddled against him beneath a bed sheet. “We didn’t get past the third room.”
Completely disheveled and glowing from their lovemaking, Gigi kissed his shoulder and murmured, “One more orgasm and I’m going to drown in a pool of my own drool.”
He closed his eyes, enjoying how at peace he felt with the universe. “But what a way to go.”
The sound of a helicopter flying over the house broke their comfortable silence. Gigi didn’t raise her head. “Do you think that’s my family arriving?”
Kane groan without opening his eyes. “Probably.”
“Poor Rocco.”
Kane hugged Gigi even more closely against his side. “We can shower and dress quickly if you want.”
Gigi shook her head. “All I want to do is to stay like this for as long as we can. Then I’d like to go downstairs and see what you brought me here to show me.”
What I brought her . . .
“Shit. Gigi. I can’t believe I completely forgot about that.” He’d never felt like more of an ass. “What happens to my brain when I’m around you?”
Gigi traced his lips with a gentle finger. “I don’t know, Kane; I’ve been the same since the first time I met you.”
Kane took her hand in his and brought her wrist to his mouth for a kiss. “I do have something very important to show you.” He yawned.
Gigi closed her eyes and her breathing deepened as she fell asleep against him. He held her for a long time, savoring the feeling of her beside him. Voices outside the house kept him from joining her in slumber. At first it was just a couple, then more until it sounded as if a crowd were gathering outside on the lawn.
Kane slipped downstairs to retrieve his clothing. He sent a text to Rocco and his pilot to have their bags brought inside. Once everything was set, he woke Gigi with a warm kiss and dragged her out of bed and into the shower with him.
A short time later, presentably dressed, they walked hand in hand down to the foyer. Gigi wore minimal makeup, but her cheeks still glowed from their lovemaking, and she’d never looked more beautiful.
He led her to the doorway of a sparsely furnished sitting room and covered her eyes with one of his hands while guiding her forward with his other. “In Edinburgh you asked me for my help with something.”
Gigi pulled at his hand and protested. “Kane, it doesn’t matter.”
He kept his hand over her eyes and continued to firmly guide her until she was standing before a large painting on the wall. “Yes, it does.” He lowered his hand.
Gigi gasped. “You convinced the collector to sell it? He told me he wouldn’t even consider it. Oh my God, Kane, my mother will be so happy. You don’t know what this means to me.” She turned back to him with eyes that were bright with tears.
He took both of her hands in his. “Don’t you dare cry because then I won’t tell you that every single item on the list you gave me is sitting in a warehouse near Venice. I thought this painting would be the perfect way for you to tell your mother that her palazzo will be complete again.”
Tears ran freely down Gigi’s cheeks. She threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. “I didn’t think I could love you more, but I was wrong. I don’t know how to begin to thank you.”
Kane put a finger beneath her chin and raised her face to meet his. “Tomorrow when I ask you to marry me, say yes.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to ask me now?”
A younger Kane would have, but loving Gigi had also taught him patience. “Leora will be here tomorrow. When I first met your mother she asked me for two things. Both felt impossible, but now I see they aren’t. They never were.”
Gigi cocked her head in confusion. “Did my mother ask you to marry me?”
Kane shook his head. “No. She asked me to bring Gigi to her brothers and Gigia home to her. I didn’t understand her request or you much at the time, but now I do. When I asked your brothers if they would be okay with Leora being here, they said they welcomed her into their family years ago because she is part of you. I can’t begin to try to unravel what happened between Patrice and her sons, or your mother and your father, but I know it affected you. My first impression of you at your brothers’ weddings was when I overheard you speaking to the staff in Italian. I glimpsed Gigia that day. You’ve given me your heart and your body, but I’m greedy. I want it all. When you agree to marry me tomorrow, I don’t want just Gigi. I want that strong, passionate Venetian I know is inside you.”
Gigi went up on her tiptoes and rained kisses on his face while saying something passionately in Italian. Kane didn’t understand a word of it, but it didn’t require translation.
Kane’s cell phone beeped with a text message. He paraphrased the message for Gigi. “Rocco said the cleaning staff has also arrived, and people are starting to get antsy. He’s not sure how long he can hold them off. He suggested we either come out and greet everyone or sneak out the back door. I’ll do whatever you’re comfortable with.”
Gigi squared her shoulders and gave him one final light kiss on the lips. “I don’t care what anyone thinks, and I’m never going to hide again. Let’s go greet the family.”
They linked hands and walked out the front door together. A hush fell over the large crowd that was gathered there. Someone started clapping and more and more joined in until their approval thundered over Kane and Gigi like waves crashing on a beach.
Kane spotted Gio standing off to one side with Julia. His friend nodded briefly and smiled down at his wife.
Since the moment Kane had met Gigi he’d felt as if he’d done a hundred things wrong, but suddenly it all felt right. No, theirs hadn’t been the smoothest of paths, but maybe it had taken each one of those challenges to bring them to a place where nothing was impossible.
Chapter Twenty-Five
‡
That evening and the next morning, Gigi and Kane were given remarkably little time together. Gigi was swept off to Gio and Julia’s Slater Island home. Gio invited Kane to stay at Nick and Rena’s. All five of the homes buzzed with staff who were preparing for a party that would rival any wedding, even the quadruple one that had occurred there nearly four years earlier.
Gigi had breakfast with her brothers and their wives. At first she felt badly that Kane hadn’t been invited, but it
gave her a chance to talk about the house they’d given her. At first they weren’t thrilled that Kane had preempted their surprise, but when they saw how happy Gigi was, they couldn’t stop singing his praises.
She wanted to tell them they didn’t have to sell him to her, but she held her tongue. It was sweet to hear even Gio list Kane’s good qualities as if Gigi were still undecided.
Around noon, Leora arrived. Gigi greeted her in Italian for the first time in almost fifteen years and her mother burst into grateful tears and began thanking saints profusely.
“Mamma,” Gigi said softly in her native tongue, “I’m so sorry. I know I said it before, but it needs to be said again. Maybe a thousand more times.”
Leora hugged Gigi tightly. “There is nothing to be sorry for, Gigia. Nothing.”
Gigi clung to her mother. “I judged you, Mamma, and I blamed you for so many things that were not your fault. How can you ever forgive me?”
“Loving you makes it easy,” her mother said before releasing her and wiping the tears from her cheeks. “Enough of this. I didn’t fly all this way to cry. I came for a celebration. Kane is going to propose to you today. Are you ready for this next step in your life?”
“More than I can express in words. I woke up this morning terrified I’d discover it was all a dream. Can life be this good?”
Her mother touched one of her cheeks gently. “At times, yes. You’ll face challenges, Gigia. Even with a strong man at your side. Life is not always easy. Nor is love. But relish every moment of both. The memories you make now will carry you through whatever comes later.”
“You really loved Papa, didn’t you?”
“Yes. I really did. And he loved us.”
In the past, that claim had been an impossible one for Gigi to agree with, but this time she accepted it. Her own experience with love had shown her that in some ways it was more complicated than she’d ever imagined and in others simplistically beautiful at the same time.
It arrived without invitation.
Made no apology for its existence.
And could be a person’s greatest weakness or their greatest strength, depending on whether one embraced or denied it. She met her mother’s eyes and said, “I understand now, Mamma. I would love Kane even without a promise of marriage. In every way that matters, I’ve already said yes to our future together.”
Her mother frowned. “Don’t let my choices be yours, Gigia. You deserve more than I had with your father. Your children deserve a father they can be proud of. Kane is a good man. He can give you all of that.”
Love—so complex and yet so simple. Her mother wanted better for her than she’d had for herself. That realization was humbling. “Don’t worry, Mamma. I doubt Kane will let me leave today without agreeing to marry him.”
Elise and Katrine walked over to greet Leora. They must have overheard Gigi’s last statement, because Elise said, “It’s the sauce. I told you it would work.”
Gigi introduced her mother to her two aunts before saying, “I don’t know if the sauce can be credited for this one.”
Katrine waved a finger at Gigi. “You did give it to him, didn’t you? Just as we suggested?”
Gigi thought back to the night she’d thrown the container of sauce at Kane. “I gave it to him, but . . .”
Elise laughed and winked at Leora. “Oo la la, you raised a wild one.”
“You have no idea,” Gigi said mischievously, and the older women shared a quick look of surprise.
Katrine turned to Leora. “I know that expression. Elise, this one may not need our talk.”
* * *
In the library of Nick’s home, Kane patted his suit jacket pocket to make sure he still had the ring box. He wasn’t a nervous man by nature, but his hands were cold and shaky. He hadn’t been alone with Gigi since the day before, and that had given him time to consider the possibility that he should have proposed before the family descended on them.
Gigi was prone to bolting. What if they somehow sent her over the edge?
His father came to stand beside him. “Are you going to make it?”
Kane patted the pocket of his jacket once more. “Maybe.”
His father gave him a pat on the shoulder. “It’ll all work out. I was a wreck when I asked your mother. Want one final piece of advice?”
Kane nodded.
“There are a lot of people here with a lot of expectations. They don’t matter. You do this the way you want to.”
Kane hugged his father briefly. He hoped he would be even half the parent his father had been. “Thanks, Dad.”
A few minutes later, Kane met Gigi in the hallway. He knew everyone was gathering on the lawn outside of Nick’s house in anticipation of witnessing the proposal.
Kane held out his hand to Gigi. She placed hers in his and smiled up at him. She looked as nervous as he felt.
Following his father’s advice, he pulled her into the coat closet, flipped on the light, and closed the door behind him. Gigi’s eyes were dancing with laughter and his nervousness fell away. He dropped onto one knee and presented the open ring box to her. “Gigia Bassano, I love you more than I will ever be able to fully express. Say you’ll marry me.”
Gigi’s hand trembled in his. “I will. Not only because I can’t imagine spending another day without you, but also because I am more me with you than I have ever been me with me.” She stopped and frowned. “Does that make sense?”
Kane took the diamond ring and slid it on Gigi’s finger. He rose to his feet. “I’m more me with you than I was with me, too.” Then he kissed her soundly.
There was a tentative knock on the door. From the other side of it, Julia called out. “I don’t want to rush you two, but Gio sent me in here to find you, and I’d rather not tell him you’re hiding in the hall closet. I’m not coming in this time, but you might want to come out before people start looking for you.”
Gigi started laughing and Kane joined in.
Their love didn’t need to make sense to anyone else, it made sense to them.
* * *
Hand in hand they stepped out of the coat closet. Gigi held her left hand up to show Julia her engagement ring and received a crushing hug from her.
A moment later Kane was the recipient of the exact same embrace. Gio walked up behind Julia. Gigi showed him her ring and threw her arms around his waist, hugging him as warmly as Julia had her. Above her head, Gio met Kane’s eyes and smiled. It wasn’t his usual restrained expression. His eyes were shining with love for his sister, his wife, and—Kane knew—his best friend. Kane was touched by the sight of his friend finally truly happy.
Before he made an ass of himself and started getting all emotional too, Kane cleared his thoughts and said, “I hear everyone is waiting for us outside. Let’s go make our announcement, Gigi.”
Gigi turned with a teary smile and took his hand again. “Absolutely.” Then she stopped and asked Julia, “Have you seen Annelise?”
With a twinkle in her eye, Julia said, “I saw her outside a few minutes ago. She and Waffle seem to be getting along quite well.”
“Waffle?” Kane asked, not sure he liked the idea of Annelise with anyone named after a breakfast food. “The cab driver?”
Gio put his arm around Julia. “He’s not so bad, Kane. Once you get to know him, he’s actually brilliant in his own way. Max has been tossing the idea around of partnering with him on a pastry business. I’m not sure how profitable it will be, but the kid is convinced it would make the world a better place.”
After a brief laugh, all four of them headed out onto the terrace. Family and friends were gathered on the front lawn. “Look at how many people are here because they love you,” Kane said to Gigi softly.
With her heart in her eyes, she looked up at him from beneath her beautifully long lashes. “I wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t come to Venice to get me. I don’t even want to think about how close I came to missing out on all of this.”
Kane raised one of her h
ands to his lips and kissed it. “You would have gotten here, and we would have ended up together even if you had said no that time. When something is meant to be, life has a way of circling around until we get it right.”
She went up on her tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss. “You really believe that?”
He looped an arm around her shoulder and turned them both toward the crowd that was now hushed in anticipation for their announcement. “I do now.”
Epilogue
‡
A month later Gigi was seated at a long rectangular table in the kitchen of Uncle Alessandro’s house with several generations of women. She wasn’t sure why they were gathered there, but her senses were in heavenly overload from the aromas of Italian dishes being whipped together by Maddy’s very French husband. The irony of it was not lost on Gigi, nor was the beauty of it. The Andrades held to many traditional values, but they easily discarded the ones they considered outdated.
When Gigi had been ordered, rather than asked, to attend one Andrade dinner a month, she’d balked at first. She and Kane had decided to split their time between Scotland and the States, but she didn’t like being told what to do.
That feeling instantly dissolved as soon as she and Kane had arrived that morning and were greeted as if they had been away for months rather than weeks. Yes, this side of her family took some getting used to, but they loved her openly and in a way that left no room for doubt in her heart. Gigi needed that kind of reassurance, and they seemed to not only understand that, but also accept it about her.
* * *
Her cousin Maddy stood and clapped her hands. “Who are we waiting for?”
A simply dressed, beautiful brunette bounced a young girl on her lap and said, “Lil and Jake are running late.”
Maddy looked across at Gigi. “You’ve met Abby Corisi, haven’t you, Gigi? She and her sister, Lil, are honorary Andrades.”
Abby winked at Gigi. “As if this family needs more.”