nimo ⭐️ > Recent Status Updates

“You don’t know a damn thing about me yet, and I don’t know much about you. I want to change that,” I say, putting it all out there.
“And I’m supposed to care about what you want?”
I nod. “I’d prefer that, yeah.”

“Well, how old are you? Twenty-three?” I ask slyly, shifting the smallest bit closer to her, just enough to face her more fully. Her cheeks pinken up at my question, and my chest lurches.
“Not even close.”
“It doesn’t matter either way. Twenty-three or thirty-three, my interest stands where it is,”

“It’s a big deal to me that you’re here.”
“What’s your play?”
“My play?”
“Yeah. The reason for the flirting and interest. Is it a bet or something?”
“I’m not a teenager, darlin’. I don’t make bets where women are involved.”
“How old are you?”
“22.”
“You’re a baby.”
“How does the saying go? Age isn’t anything but a number?”
“Yeah, and 22 is a very low number.”

“It’s a big deal to me that you’re here.”
“What’s your play?”
“My play?”
“Yeah. The reason for the flirting and interest. Is it a bet or something?”
“I’m not a teenager, darlin’. I don’t make bets where women are involved.”
“How old are you?” I wrangle back a smirk at her interest. “Twenty-two.” Her lips part, a quick inhale following closely after. “You’re a baby.”

I’m rolling my lips, struggling to keep my laugh inside, when I see her. Suddenly, laughing isn’t a concern for me. Breathing is. 😩
I wasn’t expecting her to come tonight. But I was hoping she would. I’m already desperate to dance with her again. On the dance floor or in the aisle between tables again, it doesn’t matter. I’d even settle for a single song out back behind the bar.

“Guess you’ll have to give me a try. Let me prove that I’m serious.”
“Do you know anything about cars?”
“Enough to know where the door hinges are so I can oil ’em for you.”
“You’re such a smartass,” she blurts out before clamping her lips shut and glancing guiltily at everyone watching on the porch.
Poppy’s the one to reply.“Don’t look so guilty. You’re not wrong. He is a smartass.”

“Do you like coffee?”
“What?“
“I’m wonderin’ if I should have brought you some.”
“I don’t need coffee. I don’t need anything.”
“That your coffee on the desk there?”
“Don’t touch that! God, you are relentless,”
It’s already in his hand, he reads the printed white label stuck to the side of it.
“A caramel macchiato with extra caramel, you got a sweet tooth just like me.”

“…managed to push my start time at the ranch this morning just in time to make my appointment.”
“Appointment?”
“My hair appointment, Rory,”
“You’re here to get your hair cut?”
“Course I am. Did you think I came here just to see you?”
“No.” 🙄
“Well, I won’t lie. It was actually a bit of both.”
“You weren’t on the schedule.”
“Were you looking for me on there?”

Hhhmmmmm 🧐🧐🧐
Did he get his memory back in ch17??? 🤨🤨
Idk.. im hyper suspicious of everything he does now.

I think- no i do for sure love this new version of luka… the “post accident version” is much better tbh 😗

“Rosa’s waiting for us inside.”
“How… how do I call her? Do I have a pet name for her?”
“You call her ‘piccola,’” I choke out and take his hand in mine.
“And you?”
“Me?”
“Yes,” he says and passes his free hand through my hair. “Do I have a pet name for you as well?”
“You sometimes called me ‘tesoro.’”

I am done.
Fucking done with pushing Isabella away, every time I see her, I want to envelop her in my arms and never let her leave my side.
I’m calling my mission of waiting for her to turn twenty-one a failure.
I can’t keep her at arms length anymore.
And I fucking don’t want to.
Tonight, when I get home, everything will change.

Am I falling in love with my wife?

“Dad? Can I pierce my eyebrow?”
“What? No, you cannot pierce your anything. Are you watching that TikTik again?” I’m going to uninstall that shit from her phone. It’s a bad influence.
“It’s TikTok, Dad.”

“Damian will show you around the house before dinner.” “Your brother?”
“Yes. I have work to do.”
“Oh? I don’t remember marrying your brother, Luca.”“What does that mean?”
“It means that you will be the one to show me the house and introduce me to your staff,”
I say in a cold voice and enjoy the way his eyes widen in disbelief. Didn’t expect me to have a backbone, did he? Well, surprise.

“Who am I marrying then?”
“You’re marrying Luca Rossi,”
“But… he’s already married,”
“He and Simona are divorcing. I know you’re only nineteen, and he is so much older than you...”
“I will gladly marry Luca, Nonno.”

I wonder how it would feel to have him walking toward me for once…
I’ve often feared he’s forgotten I exist.

She separates the two cookies.
“First, you have to lick the frosting off.”
“Just give me the damn cookie.” I snatch it from her and shove it into my mouth.

Natalia is teaching me there’s more to life than being the head of the Marchetti family.
I am a father, a son, and soon, a husband.
And an Oreo fan, goddammit.

I bow my head to kiss the top of hers.
She holds an Oreo out for me.
I shake my head.
“Have you ever had an Oreo, Cristian?”
I glare at her.
“Seriously?! Were you deprived of tears and Oreos growing up? Now, I understand why you’re so damn cranky all the time.”
“I doubt the lack of Oreos affected my childhood much.”
“It definitely did.”

“Want to watch a movie with me?”
I’m quiet.
“Friday night movie night.”
Movie night? I’ve never had a movie night in my life. Not even with my children when they were younger.
“Please,” she says in a begging voice. A begging voice that nearly kills me.
“I’ll grab some snacks and popcorn. It’ll be fun.”

“I have to go back to work today, Cristian.”
“I’ll go with you then.”
“Go with me to work?”
“Yes.”
“As in sit there and hang out?”
“Why not?”
“Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. It won’t be fun.” “Sweetheart, do I ever have fun?”
“You do when you’re with me.”
“Fucking pain in my ass.” He kisses my forehead.

“What will happen after you kill him? Do we divorce?”
“Divorces don’t happen in this family.”
“Don’t you make the rules?”
“I do make the rules. But that’s not a rule I’ll break, There hasn’t been a divorce in our family in ninety years. I won’t be the man to break that streak.”
“To clarify, divorce isn’t an option once we get married?”
I nod. “Till death do we part.”

Ch24 made me feel so warm inside

“Thank God your dad jumped on top of me. I guess he does have a little humanity behind that evil exterior.” “He what?”
“He saved me.”
“What do you mean, saved you?”
“He tackled me to the ground until the shooting stopped.”
“He wasn’t supposed to do that.”
“What do you mean?”
“We shoot back at the enemy first. Then, we worry about others. It’s the Marchetti way.”
“Oh…”

He downs the whiskey before violently shaking his head, as if wanting to throw any emotions off his face.
“I shouldn’t be worried about you dying, you’re making me break my rules, Natalia. Making me do things I normally don’t.”

-THEN HE METICULOUSLY CHECKS HER BODY FOR INJURIES AND KISSES EVERY SCRATCH!!!!😩😩😩

I can sense gunshots from miles away.
But today, my guard was down.
All my thoughts were on Natalia as I watched her walk to the car.
How is one woman consuming me?
Making me cause scenes at lunches to prove no one disrespects her?

“Say something like that about my future wife again, and I’ll slit your fucking throat and watch you bleed out.”
I push the glass harder into his neck.
“I won’t leave until every ounce of your blood is gone from your lifeless body.”

Iwill end up killing this pain-in-the-ass woman before we even make it to the altar. Natalia irritates every single one of my goddamn nerves.
Hell, even nerves I never knew existed. And that’s saying a lot, coming from a man like me.
But I won’t kill her. At least, not right here.
Under us is a one-of-a-kind rug imported from Italy. Even the best dry cleaner in the world can’t clean blood from wool.

He has a passcode for his bedroom… 😐

“My father not killing you doesn’t mean you’re protected.”
“That’s not what your father said,”
“We protect no one unless they’re family.”
“Can’t you.. adopt me or something?”
“I’d never have a daughter stupid enough to date a Lombardi, try again.”
“You can marry into the family, though,”