ELENORA

"He is just scrumptious!" Mrs. Jones gushes as she holds Matty on her lap. "How's he sleeping?"

"Really good; six hours through the night, sometimes up to eight. But I read once he turns four months, there's a chance of sleep regression." I take a bite of my club sandwich.

"Ah yes, that's the cycle of life right there; just when things start going good, something always changes," Mrs. Jones tells me before she blows raspberries on Matty's stomach; he chortles, not quite a laugh, but it's still dang cute.

"Ruben, what are you up to these days?" I look over at him, he's got his face scrunched up as he texts on his phone.

"Well, up until eight seconds ago, I would have answered: you mean, who am I under these days? But the asshole just broke up with me."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know you were dating anyone." I rub his shoulder as he sulks and shoves a couple of my fries in his mouth.

"It was going to be a month next week but apparently I'm too gay for him," Ruben says now grabbing my chocolate milkshake to help himself.

Mrs. Jones chuckles. "I'm sorry, but is that even a thing? Ease up, Ruben, you've been doing good eating healthy and now you just practically ate all of Nora's lunch."

"I just got dumped over text, Viv, I think I'm allowed to drown my feelings in a chocolate milkshake and fries. Are you going to finish that?" He asks me, pointing to the other half of my club sandwich.

"Go for it." I slide my plate over to him.

Ciccio places another shake in front of me with some cheese fries.

I smile up at him. "Thanks, Ciccio." He nods and walks back to where he was standing guard.

"Hmm, must be nice to have gorgeous, giant, Italian meat heads, anticipate and give in to your needs, 24/7," Ruben says with bitterness in his voice.

I laugh. "Stop! You'll find someone, Ruben. Someone who deserves you; and it will happen when you least expect it."

"At this point I'm just going to sit on a corner somewhere and put a sign on myself, 'house trained, free to a good home'," He tells us miserably.

Mrs. Jones and I lock eyes and burst out laughing. He looks back at us annoyed. "You guys think I'm kidding?"

Mrs. Jones wipes tears from her eyes. "I'll let you mope for a couple of days—a week tops, but then you gotta pull yourself together, Ruben; He was a douche. There I said it," She says.

"You could have told me before I fell in love with him," Ruben confronts her.

"In love? Come on, Ruben," Mrs. Jones sighs dramatically as she holds Matty over her shoulder. "You were infatuated, not in love with him, you barely knew the asswipe. Oh sorry, Nora."

I waive her off. "You're fine. I'm pretty sure Matty's first words are all going to be cuss words because of Rico and the guys." I smile back, eating my cheese fries.

"Not gonna lie, that would be both hilarious and cute," Ruben says and tries to hide a smile while eating my sandwich.

"So," He says between his chewing. "What's the difference between being infatuated with someone and being in love?"

I sit there eating my fries watching the crowds walking by us. We're eating out on the sidewalk of the restaurant when I feel Ruben nudge me with his elbow. "That was for you."

"Oh, I thought you were asking Mrs. Jones."

"How did you know you were in love with papi chulo instead of just being infatuated with his godlike good looks and body?" Ruben asks me again, referring to Rico.

"I don't think I'm the right person to ask; I hated Rico when I first met him, he insulted me remember?" I take a drink of my milkshake.

"Okay, but how did you know you were in love?" Ruben questions.

Matty babbles; he's fascinated with a pigeon that is perched on the fence near our table.

"Hmm," I think back to the early part of our rollercoaster of a relationship. "I started thinking about him a lot."

"Okay, you were fantasizing about him, got it, what else?" Ruben states as he comes around and takes Matty from Viviene even though it's obvious she didn't want to let him go.

"I didn't fantasize about him per-se, I didn't realize it was him I was dreaming about until later, actually; I mean he was on my mind a lot and not just because he was making me angry or annoying the hell out of me."

"I think the more he tried to impress me, the more of a fool he'd make of himself and that made him more vulnerable and easier to get to know." I smile remembering some of the things he'd do.

"Listen, Ruben, I'll make it simple for you," Mrs. Jones says, setting her cup of coffee down. "You know when you're in love with someone instead of just being infatuated when you know and see the bad side of the person you're with and you love them regardless. And frankly, you didn't know assface long enough to see all of his bad or ugly sides. Were you infatuated? Did you care about him? Of course, but not in love, honey," She tells him.

"Who are you not in love with, Ruby Tuesday?"

Ciccio opens the gate for Rico to walk through. He takes long strides toward us and I admire the way he looks in his blue dress shirt and suit vest. My heart picks up as he winks at me.

"Dammit, he's using my nickname now," Ruben mutters under his breath and I chuckle. "Apparently, no one, papi chulo," He answers Rico. Matty turns towards Rico and starts moving his arms and legs eagerly.

"Da da da da da da."

I look over at Rico in shock and his face breaks into a huge smile. "Did you hear that?" He asks, rushing toward Ruben and takes Matty into his arms.

"He said dad."

"He's probably just babbling and combining consonants with vowels, watch. Matty say ma ma ma ma ma," I tell him and he looks at me for a moment before patting Rico's face.

"Da da da."

Rico laughs. "Mamma thinks you can't say dadda, Matty; say it again," He holds Matty up above him and Matty drools, giving Rico a gummy smile.

"Da da da da da."

"That's my boy," Rico's face radiates with pride before kissing him.

Rico leans down to kiss me and Matty grabs a hold of my hair and shakes his little fist vigorously.

"Da da da da"

I take my hair out of Matty's little hand, smirking at Rico. "Well, it looks like we're both dada to him."

"Sure, if you say so."

"Viviene, you look radiant, today," Rico walks over to kiss her face and she smiles appreciatively at him as he leans up against the fence.

"Why thank you, Federico," She sponges her curls in her hand, "You look rather dashing yourself; fatherhood has done you well."

He turns Matty and nibbles on his neck, his stubble tickling him and Matty giggles.

Ruben sighs next to me. "Is it too much to ask to have someone do that to me?" I shove him, chuckling.

"So, what are you three gossiping about?" Rico asks.

"Oh, just trying to help Ruben through his latest heartbreak. The asshole broke up with him during our lunch through a text, can you believe that?" Mrs. Jones, fills Rico in while Ruben groans next to me and sets his head on the table.

"Ouch, that's brutal. Sorry to hear that, Ruben. You want me to take care of him?" Rico asks. The seriousness in his voice has me looking at him; he grins back at me.

Ruben lifts his head from the table. "You'd do that for me?"

"Of course, just give me his name and where he lives. I'll make it look like an accident."

Ruben stares at Rico in a daze and I can see the hearts in his eyes. I snap my fingers in front of his face and he jolts.

"Wait, what?"

I laugh and look down at the table when my phone rings.

"Hey pop." I listen to him as he speaks hurriedly. I glance over at Rico, but he's playing with Matty.

"Okay, we'll be there in twenty minutes give or take considering traffic."

I hang up the phone, but then it rings again and this time it's Luna.

"Hey Luna."

"Nora, we need to plan out what we are going to give mom and dad for their anniversary. Can you come over today or tomorrow? Plus, we haven't seen Matty in forever," She tells me.

"You guys were just at the house the other day," I laugh. "But I'm actually on my way over, so I'll see you soon."

"Sorry to cut lunch short, but we need to head to my parents house. You guys should come to dinner at our house. I'll call you to set it up," I tell them as I gather up my things. "Ruben, keep your head up, call me later if you want to talk, okay?"

He stands and kisses both sides of my face and then hugs me. "Thank you, Norita."

Mrs. Jones stands to hug me too. "I'd love to watch Matty for you sometime, not that you need a sitter since you have your family and a house full of maids and what not, and I can't forget the Golden Girls that you found to replace me with."

"She's right, one crazy vieja wasn't enough for you, you had to go and find four of them!" Ruben adds. (Old lady)

I laugh as I squeeze Mrs. Jones in our hug. "I could never replace you, Mrs. Jones," I kiss her cheek and she cups my face and kisses my head. Rico says his goodbyes, too and we get into the SUV.

"Where's your car?"

"I told Mostro and Domani to head back to the house and I'd ride back with you two," He turns to me and he leans to kiss my neck.

"You've been on my mind all morning. I can't stop thinking about how you looked or the sounds you made this morning, sprawled naked on the bed," His voice sends a shiver through me. I cross my legs as a pulsing begins in between my thighs. "It was very hard to focus today."

His hand rests on my thigh and then slides it up higher. I'm grateful I decided to sit behind Ciccio as he drives.

"Ciccio, radio—eyes front," Rico orders.

Ciccio turns the car radio on and raises the volume up, but not too loud for Matty's sake.

"Rico." I hold on to his hand.

"You know you like it." His fingers brush up against me through the material of the leggings. He's right, I do, but the fact that we are not alone keeps me from going further.

However, that doesn't stop me from teasing him in return. I turn to kiss him and palm him through his pants and he chuckles against my lips. "See, mia patatina, you want it as much as I do."

"You're right." I kiss him, squeezing him in my hand before I turn back, sighing. "But I need to tell you why my dad called."

"I assumed it was to see Matty," He runs his hands through my hair and continues playing with it.

"No, he said he was trying to get a hold of you. I'm guessing your phone was off because of your meeting," I tell him and he pulls his phone out and he's missed six calls from my dad.

"Is something wrong?" His dark eyebrows pull together.

"No, not really. But," I sigh as I look at him. "Gabriel, Renzo and Angela are at their house."

His eyes darken. "What?"

"Don't go off the deep end. They came to apologize to my parents for what happened—for everything," I explain. "But they want to see us, too and figured it was better for us to go there than to have them come to our house again."

Matty babbles, rattling one of his toys and grabs our attention. I know we're both thinking about the last time we were in the same room with Angela, Gabriel and Renzo. Matty giggles as he bangs the rattle on the side of the carseat.

"Look at him Rico. Look at how happy he is. Let's just focus on how happy we all are and move forward, okay?"

I hold his face in my hands and kiss him. "Fine, but I'll meet with them first."

I roll my eyes before I focus on Matty again.

Rico grips on to the back of my neck, since his hand was still in my hair. The hold is not painful but firm enough to turn me to face him. "Did you just roll your eyes at me, Elenora?"

His eyes are intensely dark, but I'm entranced by them and then I watch as his tongue peeks out slowly in between his lips.

I lick my own lips while watching him. "It's not the first time I've done it, so...What are you going to do about it?"

His hand squeezes my neck and I raise my eyes back up to his. "How about I tell you..." He brushes my hair back over my shoulder and leans in. He inhales deeply and his warm breath blows on my ear and travels down my neck; my body shudders against him.

"You're going to forget your own name by the time I'm done with you," He whispers as his hand grips my hip turning me more towards him and then his hand finds its way back to my inner thigh and then he trails his fingers over me. I bite my lip to keep from moaning out loud. He licks and kisses my neck, taking his time savoring me.

His hand moves up and then under my shirt, sliding up over my bra and tugs one of the bra cups down, freeing my breast as his large hand covers and massages it. It's full since I need to nurse Matty.

It's like Rico can read my mind and he groans against my neck as he feels some wetness in his fingers when he pinches my nipple and before I can stop him, he dips his head, lifting my shirt before his mouth covers my nipple.

"Rico," I gasp, he only groans in response as he suckles my breast. I squeeze my legs together feeling my arousal soak into my panties.

His hand slips inside the waistband of my leggings and then my panties and begins moving over my clit.

"Rico, I can't handle it." I'm panting but then his finger slips inside of me, knuckle deep and pumps in and out of me.

"You're so fucking wet, amore," His voice is thick with lust. "But you're not going to come until I say."

"Rico..." My legs are already shaking.

"Don't you fucking dare." He growls against my ear and I struggle to maintain control as he withdraws his finger. "Open your mouth."

I do as he says and he holds his finger up to my lips. "You know what to do."

I bring his finger into my mouth and lick it, tasting myself and then suck as hard as I can.

His jaw muscles tense and twitch as I clean off his finger, but he stops me and then licks his finger and knuckles. I pull him by his shirt and kiss him hard.

"That wasn't telling me, Rico."

"Can't help it, I lose control around you, baby."

"Well, let's make a deal not to do things in front of little Matty," I tell him.

"I covered you, he couldn't see anything, see." He leans back and Matty is gnawing on his rattle and then shakes it hard.

We both chuckle watching him. He looks up and the way his little eyebrow lifts reminds me so much of Rico, even more so when he smirks at us.

"He literally is a carbon copy of you, mio polpetta." I lean into Rico hugging him.

"Yeah, but he has cooler hair than me," Rico smiles down at Matty who lifts his rattle to him.

We pull up to the gate of my parent's home and Ciccio announces our arrival through the intercom.

The gate slowly opens and Rico pulls his gun from his back and cocks it. Matty watches him curiously, his head bobbles following Rico's movements.

"You don't think you'll need that do you?"

"I'm not taking any chances after what happened last time."

Ciccio parks near the front door of the house and then opens the door for me, helping me out. "I need to feed Matty and then put him down for his nap. I'll meet you afterward."

"Ciccio is going with you. I'll let him know when I'm finished," Rico tells me, holding Matty.

He holds his other hand out to me. "Ready?"

"Ready," I take his hand and we walk towards the front door.

***

Only a couple of chapters left and an epilogue! Thanks for making it this far with me! ♡    Xx LJ