Chapter 31 RóISE

Before I can decide if I should head back up to the house, or stay and see if Miceli comes back, the door opens and he's there.

With a present in his hand.

Heat flares in his eyes when they land on me, but he banks it almost immediately. Like it was never there.

He crosses the room, grabs my wrist in a gentle grip and tugs me to the armchair. Where he sits down and pulls me into his lap.

"You're going to give me whiplash," I complain.

"Here." He thrusts the gift at me. "Open it."

"What is it?"

"Your birthday present."

"You already gave me one. The cats, the shelter, any of this ringing a bell?"

"Catalina bought and put that together." He doesn't sound even a little ashamed that his sister-in-law bought my birthday gift.

But then the present he's holding says maybe she didn't?

And in our world, it wouldn't be something to be embarrassed by.

I shift a little. It's weird sitting in his lap with no underwear on. Okay, sitting in his lap at all is odd, but the lack of panties adds to the oddness.

In a sexy way? Or in a I really need to finish getting dressed way?

Embarrassment warring with arousal says both.

"I knew you didn't pick out that pink cat bed." I try to scoot a little further back on his thighs so maybe my cooch isn't pressing down on his hard muscle.

I mean, it's not really. There's the French terrycloth between me and his leg. Not to mention his slacks. And my butt isn't exactly flat .

But it feels that way, okay?

"Stop squirming, or you'll never get to open your present."

"Why?"

The look he gives me.

"Oh." I do my best to stop moving. "What did you get me?"

"Open it and find out."

I slide my finger under the flap of the beautiful wrapping paper covered in roses. Portland is the City of Roses. Is there meaning to him choosing this wrapping paper?

No, of course not. That's too big of a stretch.

I get the present open without tearing the paper and pull it off the box before neatly folding it.

"I don't remember you being this careful on your birthday."

"That was for show. Not real."

"This is real."

I shrug, but don't disagree. "The paper is pretty too."

"Roses for when we first met."

Why did he have to say that?

Pretending I didn't hear, I open the box and peel back the layers of tissue paper to reveal a Barbie pink taser and a keychain with a pointy metal stylus on it.

"Um…thank you?"

"I figured if they're pink you won't mind keeping them on you."

"You want me to carry a taser?" Why? "I have bodyguards."

Two more than I want because of him. And even my dad didn't think I needed to carry a taser.

"You need to be able to protect yourself. If you don't know how to use the kubotan I'll teach you."

"What's a kubotan?"

"This." He lifts the keychain. "The sharp point will shatter glass that hasn't been reinforced to repel bullets. More effectively, hitting the right pressure points will incapacitate an attacker."

I examine the kubotan with interest. "Okay."

"It opens like this to become a knife." He twists the pointy end off, pulls and a thin sharp blade emerges.

"I'd probably cut myself." That's something my dad never tried to train me with.

"I'll teach you how to use it. How are your self-defense moves?"

"You're assuming I have some," I tease .

"Damn your uncle's Stone Age ideas about women. You need to learn self-defense."

He's right about my uncle, which is why he never trained my cousins. "My dad taught me, but I haven't had any more training since his death."

I try to keep up with the workouts, but my uncle's soldiers are forbidden from sparring with me.

"Will you teach me more?"

"I'll help, but you should have an ongoing instructor to work with a couple of times a week."

That sounds good, especially if my cousins join me, but this feels really domestic. "You're acting like a real fiancé."

And I'm not sure I like it.

"I told you. It's my job to protect you." He puts the kubotan down and picks up the taser. "My cousin has a guy who makes special cattle prods for him. He designed this and it will take down an assailant three times your size."

"Wow. Okay. Not asking why your cousin, who presumably lives in Manhattan like the rest of you De Lucas needs a cattle prod."

Miceli nods seriously. "Yeah, best not to ask." He prods the box. "There's one more thing inside."

Hoping the one more item is not a gun, even if that's the one weapon I'm trained to use, I dig through the tissue. Under the last layer, I find a phone.

It's pink.

I pick it up and turn it over. There's no manufacturer's logo. Instead there's a rose where the familiar apple usually is.

"It's shatterproof, waterproof and has satellite capability. The encryption is currently unbreakable."

"You sound like a salesman." The hand currently cupping my waist is distracting. "Why should I change my phone?"

"Because this one isn't monitored by your uncle."

"Just you."

He shrugs. "Part of keeping you safe."

"You don't need to read my messages to keep me safe."

"I won't. I would only use the full access function if you were in immediate danger."

"Why should I believe you?"

"Why not believe me?" It's a challenge.

And reminding him that he's Cosa Nostra is just going over the same ground again .

"I won't lie to you." The hand on my waist squeezes. "You won't always like the truth, or the answer I can't always tell you, but what I do tell you will be true."

He hasn't lied to me yet. Even when he told me his name was Ares, it wasn't a lie. It wasn't the whole truth, because although Mars and Ares are the Roman and Greek side of the same coin, Mars is still a different name.

But it wasn't a lie either.

"Changing phones is a pain." It's a weak argument and I know it.

"Everything is already loaded onto this one."

"I suppose Allessio stole my current phone to make that happen."

"Cloned it."

This man. "That's intrusive."

"If you say so."

I contemplate the phone.

"Put any finger on the screen to turn it on," Miceli urges me.

"That doesn't sound very secure."

"It's not touch activated. It only responds to your fingerprints. To access the phone, you need to hold it so the camera can capture your face. The phone uses a combination of facial recognition and a retinal eye scan to open."

"So, no sunglasses?"

"Just for the fraction of a second it takes for your retina to be scanned."

"Complicated."

"Give it a try."

I pick up the phone, my thumb pressing against the screen and it lights up. Then I lift it toward my face.

It opens to a screen set up almost identically to my current one.

There's an app I don't recognize. "What's this?"

"It's like social media, but it's a private app for my family."

I click into it. There's a newsfeed like I've seen on my friends' phones. It has pictures, and comments by different people in his family.

The latest picture is a little boy scowling at the camera. The caption says, "Like father, like son."

"That's my nephew, Neri."

"In Las Vegas?" His sister married the underboss to the Vegas Cosa Nostra.

"Yes. Tap the other feed."

I see what he means and do it. Suddenly the feed is filled with celebrity gossip and news out of Hollywood.

"You can personalize that with keywords and you'll get the most popular posts and videos curated from public social media. Your comments on them are only seen by the family but it allows you to stay current with the topics that interest you."

I can't believe he's serious. "You mean I can watch funny cat videos for hours if I want to?"

"If that's how you want to spend your time, but I think Pusheen might get jealous."

"She has too much self-confidence to be worried about video cats when she's here in person," I say loftily and then ask with little hope, of hearing a yes, "Could my cousins be on here?"

When Miceli nods, I throw my arms around his neck and kiss him.

After an interlude that leaves me breathless, he says, "We have a secure version of the app with limited access they can use."

"But my access is unlimited?" How am I any more trustworthy than Kara and Fiona as far as the De Lucas are concerned?

Is it because I put my bloody thumbprint on that contract in Don De Luca's office?

"All the features are accessible on your phone."

When he says I'm family already, Miceli really means that. Why does that make me feel warm and gooey inside?