4. Four

Val

“Aunt Gloria, Uncle Vincent. This is Chase Knight–”

“Explain yourself, young lady. You just walked away from your only chance at getting married.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Chase says casually.

At his words, both my aunt and uncle glance his way. I watch my aunt’s lips tighten even further when her gaze rakes over Chase’s biker leathers and boots.

“Explain what you mean by that remark,” my aunt states waspishly.

Chase takes his time answering as he looks from one to the other; he then wraps his arm possessively around my waist and pulls me close to him.

“Val and I are getting married. We’d invite you to the wedding, but it will be very small and intimate. Probably just us two.”

I see my aunt’s eyes narrow as she looks at Chase with a suspicious look.

“And just what are you getting out of this deal? What did Valentina promise you? Money, I suppose?” she questions with a sneer.

“She’ll be promising to love, honor, and cherish me. I would go with obey, but that’s too old-fashioned,” Chase states with a smirk.

“Humph, I doubt those are the only reasons a man that looks like you would be marrying my niece.”

I squirm at my aunt’s scathing words. Chase probably thinks she’s cutting down his biker leathers, but I know she thinks he’s too handsome to be attracted to someone like me.

Chase narrows his eyes and gives both of them a stern look.

“Why wouldn’t a man like me be interested in Val? She’s lovely. Not only on the outside but on the inside as well. She’s kind and thoughtful and would do anything for a friend.”

“Why was she all set to marry Anthony Bernardi if she has you?” My aunt asks in a sharp tone.

“We’ve been practically living together for over two years. But Val and I had a fight and broke up about six months ago. Learning she was going to marry someone else made me come to my senses,” he looks down at me and pulls me even closer, then he looks back up at my aunt and uncle, “Quite frankly, she is a hell of a lot better off with me than any other man.”

My uncle looks down at my aunt with a confused frown, “Val has talked about some biker named Chase, but I thought he was just a friend. I didn’t know they lived in the same house.”

My aunt ignores my Uncle Victor’s words and instead looks at me and says accusingly, “You are the most ungrateful young lady. Look at everything your uncle and I have done for you since your parents were killed. Why, we’ve deprived our own daughter just to provide for you.”

I shrink a little at those words, but I feel Chase tighten his arm around me as he steps slightly forward and states, “Really? I thought Val’s trust fund specifically paid benefits for her well-being.”

He doesn’t wait for my aunt to reply and continues, “Anyway, we have to be going. We’re off to pick out our wedding bands. By the way, you might want to ask Tony and Cristina when they’ll be getting married after their consummation at the church.”

At my aunt’s horrified gasp, Chase just turns us toward his truck as he says a cherry, “Goodbye.”

Chase leads me over to his truck parked on the side of the house. He opens the passenger side for me, and I climb in.

He then slams the truck door and walks around, ignoring the shocked expressions on both of their faces after he dropped that bombshell. He cranks the engine, and then we’re off down the street.

I make a noise, and he looks over at me. I’ve got my hand over my mouth, but I’m sure my eyes are sparkling.

“Oh my gosh. I can’t believe you told my aunt and uncle that. My aunt looked appalled. I almost feel sorry for them. Cristina is their little princess and can do no wrong.”

Chase shakes his head, “They’ll have to get used to me calling them out because I won’t stand for their condescending attitude toward you. Val, I’m sorry you have to put up with the likes of them.”

I realize that Chase truly means what he’s saying. We’re silent on the way to the local jewelry store because, in my head, I’m going over every nice thing that Chase said about me.

I couldn’t believe it when he said he thought I was lovely, inside and out; I give a small smile. I didn’t know he thought of me like that. It gives me a warm feeling inside.

I glance over at Chase. I doubt if anyone ever thought of him as less than drop-dead gorgeous. In his biker leathers, he’s got a dangerous, bad-ass vibe. When you combine that with his good looks, he can get any woman he wants. I sigh. Chase has the sexiest lopsided grin, and when he forgets to get his haircut, like now, and his hair falls over his eyes, I want to reach out and push it back into place.

He makes all my girly parts tingle. I remember once he was putting up the new grill in our backyard, and the temperature was in the high eighties. You could almost cut the humidity with a knife. He took off his T-shirt to cool off. I turned around and almost fell over. For a minute there, I forgot even to breathe.

Chase has a chiseled body and hard abs. He also has a sexy-as-hell black tribal tattoo over one shoulder and down his arm. Chase may have a few more tattoos, but I was worried he saw me drooling and turned away. Hopefully, he was too busy putting the grill together to notice my reaction.

The next day, I went on a diet, trying to get smaller than my size fourteen, but after a few weeks, I gave up trying. I’m Italian, and I love to eat. My curves are permanent. I’ve learned to accept them, even if that means a guy like Chase, who seems to only go out with thin model-type girls, wouldn’t think of dating a girl my size.

I learned to like and appreciate my body a long time ago, which was not an easy thing to learn, living with my aunt. My Aunt Gloria believes every girl should be a perfect size six. But not every guy wants a slim girl; if he doesn’t like me the way I am, it’s his loss!

When we get to the jeweler, Chase has me pick out the wedding rings; I see a gorgeous set that is gold and silver entwined into one band. The engagement ring has the perfect-sized diamond, which is not too big and not too small. But when the saleslady explains the rings are made of platinum, I try to pick out another set.

“No, we’ll take this set,” Chase tells the sales lady, ignoring my protests.

He pays for the rings, “We’ll be back in about an hour to pick them up.”

Now we’re eating lunch while we wait for the rings to be sized.

“Chase, I should be the one paying for the rings and any other expenses that have to do with us getting married.”

“No. I’m the man, Val,” he says immediately without even considering my suggestion.

At my raised eyebrow, at his caveman thinking, he signs and says, “I understand what you’re saying, in theory, about splitting expenses, but frankly, it’s totally unrealistic.”

“How so?”

“I’m a guy. I wouldn’t feel comfortable if you paid.”

“But–”

“No, you will not be paying when you’re with me. Look, you can call me a chauvinist or old-fashioned; I really don’t care. This is non-negotiable, Val. So, let it go.”

As I continue to frown at his words, he points out, “We didn’t have a problem when we fixed up the backyard.”

“That’s because you paid for most of the renovations,” I say with an eye roll.

“That’s not true. I wanted the grill, so I paid for it. You bought all those plants and flowers.”

“Hmmm. Good point. Okay. I guess.”

We get back in Chase’s truck and pick up the rings from the jeweler.

“Next, we’ll need to stop by the Clerk of Courts to register for a marriage license.”

“We need to do it today because there’s a wait time of three days.”

“Shit. We have to wait three days?” At my nod, he adds, “Or we could drive to Georgia tonight and be married by tomorrow.”

“What do you think we should do, Chase?”