Wildflower Chapter 4 (New)

Chapter 4

 

Wildflower was exhausted by the time she got home. Working and having sex 3 times in one day was enough to drain you. So she headed up to her room as soon as she stepped in the house. She loved kids but there were 7 currently in the house. Her mother watched Iris' kids as well as Ariela every day. Kids made a lot of noise and had a lot of energy. There was no energy left in her, she didn't even bother to get undressed. Just fell into her small twin bed, if only she was in one of Nicolas' beds both were amazing. Before Ivan came into her room she sensed him, he tried to be quiet and sneak up on her. He never succeeded but it didn’t stop him from trying.

               “I would know you were coming from a mile away,” Wildflower said without opening her eyes.

               “One day I will get you,” he replied. He then came in and sat on her bed but she stayed curled up with her eyes closed. “Why are you so tired?”

               “Why do you think? Nick pretty exhausting,” she said.

               “I was hoping that he was gay and that was why he wouldn’t have sex with you,” he said.

               “Sorry, he’s very not gay trust me, we had sex 3 times today,” she said.

               “Weren’t you at work?”

               “Oui, it was cedo and I went to his office at lunch. Soy très exausto,” she sighed.

               “You are speaking in Span-Fren-Port-lish again,” he laughed.

               “There has to be a more pleasant way to combine those,” she replied.

               “I’m lazy and you are smarter than me,” he said.

               “Oui,” she agreed and then opened her eyes to look at him.

“Are you going to move in with your boyfriend?” He asked suddenly very serious.

               “I don’t know, he wants me to like a lot but I haven’t decided. We’ve never lived apart you and I, everything is changing so much. No matter what we will always still be connected,” she said.

The very idea of them not living together freaked them both out but she decided either she was going to live with her boyfriend or her friends not her brothers. She loved her brothers more than anything and would have loved for things to stay the same forever but it couldn’t. If she moved out into an apartment with her twin they would never end up separating. Being together was easy, they both had to grow up just hopefully they would never grow a part. Becoming some weird brother and sister that lived together forever wasn’t an option for her. But there was always the option of living in the same building. To her it just seemed weird for the two of them to get a place together but it was fine for him and Jay to do it. Maybe she wasn’t making sense but even so at least understood her.

“We’ll be ok, but I don’t like your boyfriend,” he replied.

“Ivy, I’m in love with him,” she admitted.

“Yeah I know, I could tell,” he said. “I was waiting for you to figure it out.”

“Can you try to like him? He tries really hard and he is a good person.”

“Maybe I will consider it, there’s just something about that guy I don’t trust.”

“To be fair Ivy you don’t trust anybody, especially guys I associate with.”

“Oh that’s what you call it now? I have the right to worry about you, but I’ll probably never trust any guy you date,” he admitted.

“There’s no way I will ever love anybody like I love you, we are part of each other," she told him.

“I know, just be careful whatever you decide to do,” he replied. “Sleep, I go s**t to do.”

Ivan hugged her close and kissed the top of her head, this was going to be a huge adjustment. He wasn't going to be down the hall anymore and they would probably never live together again. When they were younger they use to sleep in the same bed and it wasn't because they didn't have enough beds. They had a connection words couldn't describe and most people could never understand. Now that they were two instead of three the connection just got stronger. With Daisy gone it was like a piece of them was ripped out and the void could never be filled. Wildflower hugged her brother back and tried not to be sad about life changing.

Change was inevitable, it had to happen but it didn't mean she had to like it. The worst thing about growing up was that you had to leave a lot behind you and you could never really go back. Everybody had to move forward and this was forward.

 

When someone opened her bedroom door Wildflower opened her eyes. The sun was setting outside so it was getting darker and her mother was standing in the doorway. As a child she was more of a daddy's girl and Daisy was the mommy's girl. Wildflower was very much the tomboy despite her mother's best efforts to change her. So eventually her mother gave up on her and they were never particularly close. Marguerite was in and out of their lives since she lost the love of her life. Losing him destroyed her and the stress was too much plus she was pregnant and left with 11 other kids. That was her first nervous breakdown and it was understandable.

Marguerite was a housewife for 16 years and then the bottom fell out of her world and everything was chaos. Ricky held everything and everyone together but she was beyond his help. After Evan was born was when she officially checked out of life and into a hospital. Once Daisy was gone was when she took an interest in Wildflower so sometimes it didn't feel genuine. She had almost nothing in common with her mother but she did make an effort. Lately Marguerite was more pleased with her but Nicolas was the reason, not because he was rich but because he was a man. All she wanted was to marry off her eternally single daughter. Wildflower was only 23 not even old enough to be a spinster yet. But her nonexistent love life and lack of potential suitors and general disinterest concerned Marguerite a great deal.

“Why did you disappear in the middle of the night?” Marguerite asked when she entered her daughter’s room. Wildflower had been enjoying the silence in her empty room and was still exhausted. A moment was always too much to ask for in this house, she moved closer to the wall so that her mother could sit down.

“Nick felt bad for canceling so he showed up and I slept at his hotel. He dropped me off this morning, I wasn’t even late for work,” she replied closing her eyes.

“So are you getting serious with him?” Her mother asked and she opened one eye to look at her. This wasn’t a conversation she ever expected to have with her.

“I don’t know,” she said honestly. After lunch she didn’t hear from Nicolas again so she wondered if she was even going to see him before he left. Things with him were serious from the start or at least it felt that way.

“Why don’t you leave here? I know he wants you to stay with him. Why do you stay in this dump when you can finally get out of here? Even Ricardo has moved out now, you should go too. Do you love him? It really seems like you do,” her mother said. Wildflower sat up and stared at her mother, though she wasn’t exactly that surprised. Marguerite was married as a teenager, so she didn’t get why her daughter was single so long and never in relationships.

“I just met him,” was what she said to her mother for lack of something better.

“That didn’t stop you from going home with him and all that the day you met him. I’m just saying that this could be good for you and I know you feel like staying here is helping. But you should get out of here while you can. How many times in your life is a man going to come around willing and ready to take care of you? Just give it more thought,” she urged.

“I think about it all the time, but everything just moves so fast with him,” Wildflower admitted.

“Sometimes that happens, your father and I married very quickly we wanted to start a family. Just go give it a try what can it hurt? Things are different than when I was young, your father would never have permitted you to live with a man you aren’t married to. Times have changed and well you aren’t getting any younger. You don’t even try to meet good men or work towards your future,” her mother said. And here it was the lecture, it always came.

“I’m 23 I don’t need to be married or have kids; I’ve had enough kids in my life. All I want is a little freedom,” she said honestly.

“Nicolas is older than you are and he is a man that can have any woman, he won’t wait for you forever. What will you do once the boys are all grown? Will you sit here still? Are you going to continue to refuse to start your life? And who will you be with then? You hide behind your brothers so you don’t have to live,” her mother told her.

When had Marguerite Laiez become insightful? But she wasn’t completely right, there were a lot of things holding Wildflower back. She had no intention of basing her life on the whims of a man. If she didn’t move in with him it didn’t mean she was staying. Wasn’t it best to be ready for that first? And if she was honest she wasn’t sure that she ever wanted to get married or have children of her own. The truth was that her mother needed to grow up, not her. Maybe she would always hold on to some resentment with her mother but she did try. Everybody tried and they were always disappointed in the end. A knock on her door made her look up; Nicolas was there in the doorway.

“I’ll leave you two alone,” her mother said removing herself from the room.

“When did you get here?” Wildflower asked when he came over to sit on the bed with her. He was way too big for her bed and he always looked out of place in this house.

“Awhile ago but you were sleep so I was letting you rest but I have to head back. I just wanted to kiss you goodnight,” he explained.

“You should have woken me up, you’re leaving for a week,” she said.

“Come with me now then,” he suggested.

“Ok, I miss your bed,” she replied.

“Well I miss you being in my bed, but we don’t have to talk about that. I have to pack though, when Gloria asked if I did I lied. You can rest up and look sexy in my bed while I do that so she doesn’t kill me. Oh and by the way she was really happy to meet you today,” he told her.

“Yeah, she’s nice and she told me how you met.”

“No she didn’t,” he said looking amused. “That is a story for another time and only to be told under the influence of alcohol. She just told you we met in college which we did; both of us went to Columbia. I promised her if she stuck it out and graduated I would help her out. She wasn’t even supposed to be my assistant she just decided to start managing my life. Anyway, let’s go so I can get you back in my bed.”

“Ok,” she agreed because she did like getting out of the house sometimes.

Some women might feel threatened because of how close he was to his assistant. Wildflower didn’t get jealous and wouldn’t tolerate a man that wanted to cheat and she wasn’t fighting over any man. No matter how she felt about him she wasn’t that type of girl. She was no doormat or pushover and she was pretty certain he knew that. Part of her wanted to just go ahead and move in with him but she was still unsure. Mostly she was unsure of the future and for the first time in her life she was trying hard to look forward to it. Until she was certain where this was going she couldn’t do it, she wasn’t expecting marriage and babies but she wanted something. It was hard to explain but she figured she would know it when it presented itself.

 

 

                Wildflower woke up the next morning in Nicolas’ bed at the hotel and he wasn’t in bed with her. Almost every time she slept with him he wasn’t there when she woke up. Maybe for once he could have been, but nope. The room was not however empty, there was a man in the room. He was sitting in a chair and smiled at her like this was normal. By no means was she shy or prudish but she was an exhibitionist either and under the blanket she was naked. There wasn’t much she could do; modesty was difficult in this situation. Looking on the floor beside the bed she found that the only clothing close to her was Nicolas’s shirt and thankfully her panties. She dressed showing hopefully the least amount of skin she possibly could.

               “You didn’t have to get dressed on my account,” said the man that watched her the whole time. Something about him was attractive and frightening at the same time. “Nicky had to run to the office so I thought I might keep you company. I’m his brother Delanoz.”

               “You’re Sammie and Jordan’s father,” she said and he nodded.

               What did she know about him? Angel hated him so she never said nice things about him. Then again Angel’s daughter use to call Wildflower “mommy”. That was the reason she started calling her “Tia”, the Spanish word for aunt. There might have been a time when she saw this man but she had been a child herself so of course he wasn’t paying her any attention. All she really knew about him was that he was the epitome of a player and he had lots of kids and baby mamas and child support payments. All that being said she could see some appeal to him; he was a good looking guy. But there was something different about him that she couldn’t put her finger on. And well since she knew how he neglected his children she was put off by him.

               “Yes that is me and you are the sister of that guy Angel stalks,” he replied.

               “You know about my brother?” She asked surprised and he shrugged.

               “More or less, I knew she had some guy around my kids so I looked into it. He was her high school boyfriend that dumped her, right? That was how we crossed paths,” he said. “I know he was with her when my kids were born, but hey I don’t do births. Isn’t your brother gay?”

               “I guess you could say that,” she shrugged. It wasn’t really his business and he didn’t even know Ricky and it was a long story.

               “What do I care if he is or isn’t? I feel bad for him; Angel is a crazy a*s b***h.”

               “Why you are here?” She asked, the way he watched her was getting to be uncomfortable.

               The way he looked at her was like he had x-ray vision and could see through anything she put on. Wildflower had a good bit of unwanted attention in her lifetime. Despite her past efforts to be more boy than girl guys still found her attractive. Daisy use to complain because essentially she was Ivan but with unfortunate girl parts and though she purposely did her best not to get noticed, she was. She liked sports and wore basketball shorts more often than not, it really made no sense. In some ways she grew out of being a tomboy but not completely. Delanoz looked at her like he was a starving animal and she was a nice cut of meat. She was sitting on the bed with her legs tucked under her so there was no chance he could peep at her panties. Where was his damn brother?

               “Just wanted to see you myself,” he said and nodded at her like he approved.

               “Ok, what have you heard about me?” She asked deciding that the only way to make him go away was to give him whatever answers he was looking for.

               “You are Nicky’s most prized possession and most well guarded secret,” he replied. “I don’t think I have heard enough about you.”

               “I don’t belong to your brother,” she replied.

               “Don’t you? Well I guess that will be news to him, he’s a sucker for a sad story. Like his pet Gloria, he collects people. Mostly women of course, like her and that niece of ours. What do you really know about my little brother? Not enough obviously, but you’ll learn and you are his new favorite toy,” Delanoz said amused.

               “I am nobody’s toy or possession,” she said now she was getting annoyed.

               “Of course not,” he said dismissively. “If you ask my darling sister Kitty Kat she would say you are a manipulative gold digging tramp that is using the girls to get to Nicky. Naturally when I heard that I had to meet you, I’ve never seen a woman have Nicky wrapped around her finger. He is completely obsessed with you, it’s so crazy. Did you enjoy letting him bang you on his desk yesterday? Obviously you are good at whatever you do for him because I’ve never seen him like this before.”

               First she took a deep breath so that she didn’t get up and punch him in the face. The only reason she didn’t was that he was bigger and stronger than her and they were alone. So it appeared she was a joke to Nicolas’ family, that was ok, so what? Oh right, last night she might have agreed to move in with him. At the time she was a little dazed but that was probably his intention. Right now she wanted to get away from all of this and forget meeting this repulsive guy. Katrina didn’t like her, she already knew that but she didn’t know anybody else in Nicolas’ life or family. Just a couple teenagers and there was Jason who happened to be Delanoz’s oldest son. Maybe this was a sign that she was making a mistake.

               “Before you get mad, I think you are good for Nicky. He needs to get laid more and then he would quit being so damn uptight. Have fun with him, marry him if you want, it would at least be interesting. You probably think I’m an a*****e and you’re probably right. And you think I neglect my kids but that isn’t true they are provided for. What am I supposed to do travel around with 11 kids? I work to provide for them, I can’t be around all of the time. That is why they have mothers, its women’s work raising children,” he told her.

               “You should leave,” she said.

               “How did you and Nicky even meet? No offense but I doubt your paths crossed socially,” Delanoz said like she hadn’t spoken.”

               “We met in a bar,” she answered. Obviously he wasn’t planning to leave.

               “A bar? Nicky? Well he did good, you are quite the delicious little treat aren’t you? Either you are the best actress ever and you deserve an Oscar or you are a sweet naïve little thing. I’m not sure which yet but I like you and you should continue whatever you are doing with Nicky. You do know he’s completely in love with you, right? Even admitted it to me, that wasn’t what I expected. And you do look much sexier than in your picture.

“There’s a picture of you on his desk, you were probably too busy to see. Since our parents don’t know you exist I’m guessing pet Gloria removes it when he’s out of his office. Who knew somebody you screwed in college could be a great assistant. He paid her tuition you know and helped her to have a modeling career then when she was done playing model he let her live with him and then got her a place of her own. She gets paid for a job where she does nothing and yet has her own assistant. I’m surprised that she would tolerate you being around at all. But they never admit to screwing each other but think about those long hours he keeps and she’s coming with us today,” he said.

               “Are you done? I don’t get jealous so you can shut up about that. And you are right I don’t know their history but I don’t care either. I also don’t care what you think or what your b***h sister thinks. This conversation is really boring me and no I’m not going to have sex with you so don’t look at me like that. What goes on between me and Nick isn’t your business or anybody else’s. If you are going to continue to bore me then I suggest you just be quiet. Or you can leave,” she told him.

               Maybe later she could sift through all his blathering but not now. He was doing this on purpose to mess with her and it was obvious. Delanoz clearly lacked any kind of subtly and he was a pretentious self-important jackass that thought he was entitled to the world. It was weird because Nicolas was nothing like him or at least not that she knew. Some of the things he said tugged on her unfortunate insecurities. Later she could ponder over if her relationship was real or not. It was possible that Nicolas was just playing with her, anything was possible. If that were true then well that saying that started out “hell hath no fury” was going to come into play. His brother knew him better than she did and she already suspected there wasn’t much of a future for them. Having it confirmed sucked but maybe she needed a reality check.

               “Delanoz, what the hell are you doing here?” Came Nicolas’ angry voice, they both turned to see him in the doorway. If looks could kill, his brother would be dead.

               “Just keeping your girl company,” Delanoz shrugged and winked at her. “I’m leaving don’t worry, just remember wheels up at 1.” At that he got up and waved as he headed out of the room like nothing was out of the ordinary.

               “What did he say to you?” Nicolas asked her when they were alone, his anger was still lingering. Now he had an accusatory expression as he looked her over.

               “If you want to speak to me, I suggest you change your tone,” she replied. For a moment he stared at her so she stared right back.

               “Sorry,” he mumbled shaking his head. “You aren’t wearing much and I don’t like the way he was looking at you.”

               “Well whose fault is that? I was asleep and I wake up to a man I don’t even know. Would it kill you to ever be around when I wake up?” She asked, she was still pretty annoyed.

               “No, I wanted to be but I had to get something,” he said. Now he looked like he felt guilty and in her current mood she felt like he deserved it. “I’m sorry; I will make it up to you I promise. When I get back and you move in I will be there and I won’t let him bother you again.”

               She wanted to stay mad but he came over and he pouted at her and she was done. Why was she so easy for him? Literally he could melt her resolve in seconds; it was ridiculous and so not her. He kissed her and the mood was suddenly very different. With him she went from zero to sex in 5 seconds. Once again she was forced to remember that this man was dangerous and she should stay away. The more she tried to resist the more he pulled her in, it was crazy. Last night he did whatever he could to get her to give in and say yes to moving in with him. And the man had a good number of things he was good at.

               “Shouldn’t you be leaving?” She asked trying not to get pulled back in under his spell.

               “Not without first properly giving my woman some love,” he replied. “Oh but first we need to talk about something.”

               “What?” She asked, he sat down on the bed beside her suddenly serious.

               “I want you to stay here while I’m gone, and we can move into the house when I get back. When I left I had to pick up the keys I had made for you. You can come and go here or in the house as you please and use any of my cars. And I wanted to give you this,” he said. He handed her a credit card and she stared at it then at him.

               “No,” she replied and he shook his head.

               “Stop being so damn difficult, I want to take care of you and I won’t be here. It’s just a card I mean it has no limit; you literally could buy anything on it,” he said.

               “Nick, you don’t have to take care of me I can take care of myself just fine.”

               “I know, but what if you really need something and I’m not here? If you don’t take it I might have to give it to Brooke to make you keep it. Go buy yourself something nice or your brothers or your mom. Don’t worry about the money, its just money I have more than enough,” he told her.

               Normal girls would take the card and head to the mall but she didn’t get why he hadn’t figured out that she wasn’t like other girls. No, actually he knew it and still he proceeded with this behavior. If she never needed a man to take care of her before why would she now? Wasn’t it bad enough she agreed to move into his mansion? Having the use of his car or cars as the case was happened to be the most appealing part of this. Ok the cars and this bed, she would be able to hide out here all week in this heavenly bed. But she wasn’t going to his mansion with his caretaker that was suspicious of her. Nicolas knew what her reaction would be to this gesture and she knew he wouldn’t relent.

               “We can argue about this or we can spend what little time we have left together. Make a choice, cause I have some things I want to do to you,” he said then paused. He took both of her hands in his and looked at her a moment before continuing. “I want to take care of and spend time with the woman I love.”

               There he said it, Saturday May 15, 2010 Nicolas Capriani told her he loved her. It was different than just saying he was in love with her. Wildflower just stared at her and he stared back. Those blue eyes held a question in them, but words weren’t coming from her mouth. The question was if that was how she felt about him. Weren’t you supposed to say it back? This was why she always avoided this type of thing but there was no avoiding it. Did she love him?

What did it mean to love? Was it wanting to see him all the time and wanting to hear his voice when he wasn’t around? Was it the way she felt when he kissed her? Was it how she couldn’t picture her life without him anymore? Or was it maybe how she wanted to think of a future with him despite what common sense and his siblings told her? She knew about love in her family but not outside of it. But from the moment she met him she wanted to know, wanted to learn. In the past she never really did, she’d considered dating before but never really did it. No instead she’d found herself a new friend with benefits and then sort of ended up with two at once, but that was another story.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that I’m not trying to bribe you into doing what I want. We can just forget it,” Nicolas said. She never once saw him so uncertain about anything. Granted it had been 3 months but he was always sure of himself.

“You should only take it back if you don’t mean it, do you mean it?” She asked, it felt like in this moment it was the most important question ever. Maybe it was, it could potentially change everything.

“Oh I mean it, I love you, I just don’t know if I should be saying it to you,” he explained. “Baby, I know you are scared and I feel that way too but I can’t deny how I feel. Maybe things between us have moved fast, more so than you are comfortable with. You are just everything to me; I see a future for us. For me you aren’t just someone I want to screw around with, you are someone I could see myself marrying.”

“Nick,” she whispered. “I love you too.”

His lips were on hers before she could take a breath and it was ok. It was true, she loved him and now he knew it. No more denial and no self preservation left, it was all out in the open. If love was the way she felt when she was with him than she was in love with love. Nicolas was also quite in love with her body. He made quick work of getting her naked again. And he kissed down her body and buried his face between her thighs. So apparently things were settled, no more talk about living arrangements. No more talk about anything at all, it was all about pleasure and love. It was about love.

 

 

Nicolas was in a very good mood on the drive over to the airport. Wildflower was good at keeping a smile on his face. He never told a woman that he loved her before, not like this. For a moment he had been worried that she didn’t feel the same but thankfully she did. Now his plan could progress the way he needed it to. If only he wasn’t going to waste a week of his life in New York when where he needed to be was here with her. She was all he could really think about, he was never distracted but now he was. As long as he made it through this inconvenient conference he would get back to her.

               The family business wasn’t just one thing it was a lot of companies all rolled into one. Mainly it was pharmaceuticals and research but there was a software and security company, a whole legal firm and a few other things. They came a long way from a horse ranch. Once upon a time he wanted to be a doctor and his major was pre-med and biology with a minor in business. Instead of following his own dreams he became a business man. Both were demanding jobs and well at least this way he sort of had a hand in the medical field. Business he found was more cutthroat than being a doctor. His talent for getting revenge would have been wasted as a doctor but was useful in his current job. His family had a reputation and it was deserved, they crushed anyone in the way.

               “You gonna let me meet your girl?” Jose asked, they were all in a limo heading over.

               “No,” Nicolas replied. Of his brothers he would have chosen Jose to meet her but Delanoz nearly screwed everything up.

               “Nicky, you are insane; you give this girl house keys and a credit card. You think a poor girl with nothing isn’t going to take you for everything she can?” Delanoz asked staring at him like he was crazy. It was something one of them would do but not Nicolas.

               “You let this jackass meet her but not me?” Jose asked feigning his offended look.

“Oh I didn't let him, he just did it,” Nicolas said still annoyed over that incident.

“That girl is going to rob you blind, I would and we are brothers,” Delanoz said.

              “Not everybody is a thief,” Gloria pointed out without looking up from her Blackberry.

              “The help is supposed to be seen and not heard,” Delanoz replied and she looked up.

              “You are just mad I won’t give you the time of day,” she replied. “Get over it and stop being so negative and for once be supportive of your brother. Would that kill you? God only knows all that he has done for you.”

“Gloria, I love you, marry me,” Jose said and she laughed.

“Hell no, I know way too much about this family to actually want to be a part of it. But if I was interested of course it would be you Jose,” she said.

“And yet you cash Capriani checks and pretend to work every day. Why bother to show up at all? After all you are just a stray Nicky picked up,” Delanoz said.

“Leave her alone,” Nicolas said.

To say that his brother and assistant didn't get along was a huge understatement, they despised each other. Gloria because she knew the type of person Delanoz was and was disgusted by him. And for Delanoz it was because she knew who he was and refused to sleep with him. Most of the time Delanoz ignored women when they said no, in his mind they were playing a game. Sometimes they were, but sometimes they weren't and he never got difference. In Gloria's case Delanoz would never touch her because Nicolas made the consequences clear. When he found his brother alone with Wildflower he was ready to commit a murder. Wildflower had been naked when he left and he wasn't going to ask anything about that to keep his temper in check. Had his brother touched her he would have killed him and that wasn't an exaggeration.

Gloria, he didn't have to worry about, she had been with him 6 years she knew how to deal with Delanoz. And despite the way he acted Delanoz knew Gloria was off-limits. Nicolas wasn't her keeper he didn't care who she dated but he felt responsible for her since he brought her here. What his brother didn't get was that he never had a romantic or sexual relationship with her. It was more of an intellectual thing, she was smart and ambitious and she really was just a friend. Being his assistant was her choice and she did it better than anyone else could. He didn't have many friends so he was good to the ones he had. Gloria did a lot of things for him but she was also honest with him without fear unlike most people.

Wildflower was an honest person and she probably would fear him if she knew everything about him. Right now she admittedly loved him and he needed it to stay that way, and it hopefully would. Thinking of her put him back into that good mood, a week without her wasn't going to work for him. Naked and writhing and completely at his mercy, yeah that was something nice to think about. Waiting made it better, who knew? Once again he found that he was never going to get enough of her. Just yesterday he had sex with her 5 times, something he never recalled doing. When he left she was in bed resting after the work out he gave her. He liked her in his bed and she was even wearing one of his shirts. Oh he had it bad for her, he felt almost obsessed but it wasn’t his fault she was so addictive.

“Always defending your little pet, teach her better manners or I will,” Delanoz grumbled.

“D, be nice you just can't take it when a woman stands up to you, makes you want her more,” Jose said. “Anyway let's get back to how Nicky is going to let me meet his future wife. It’s only fair, besides I'm way more trust worthy than D is.”

“Why do you want to meet her so bad?” Nicolas asked his brother but he already knew why, he knew his brothers well.

Of his four siblings he was close to two, he had two brothers and two sisters and unfortunately he was the youngest. Being the youngest was annoying at times like when they called him Nicky, he hated that. His family wasn't like Wildflower's by any stretch of the imagination. No, Caprianis did believe in loyalty but not always to each other. He didn’t always like his siblings but they were loyal to each other. His cousins however weren’t, the family could be a bit cliquey for lack of a better term. He learned early on that your cousins might stab you in the back worst than a stranger. You always had to stay alert and never completely trust anybody. He learned to observe and read people; he spent a lot of time studying human behavior. His family defied all logic and reason and that was why he kept Wildflower away from them. 

“Because you are in love with her and this is a miracle, who knew you could love?” Jose replied, he was eternally amused by everything and everyone. Even when his girlfriends threw bricks at his head, Jose was good at getting out of trouble with women. Women would do anything for him, he was the charmer.

“Carmen will kill you if you let that happen and she’s last to know,” Delanoz pointed out.

Their sister Carmen lived in New York and had her own fashion company. She was a designer and had her own lines of clothes and she had several stores all around the country. Carmen was quite the business woman despite the sexism in the family that kept women at home as housewives. When she first started out she was a young mother in the middle of a messy divorce. She left her daughter behind with their grandmother and went off to New York to make a life for them. Now she had three daughters and two messy divorces but her oldest Lexy was following in her footsteps. Lexy was 13 and already designed clothes and had her own line of fashions. Nicolas was his sister’s first investor because their father refused and she proved him wrong.

Nicolas and Jose both went to college in New York, only one of them graduated. The two of them and Carmen all lived together; they were the only two he could stand for long periods of time. Of his siblings Carmen was the one that would be most useful in his current situation. They had been through a lot together, including a kidnapping involving one of Carmen’s daughters and her loser ex. Carmen would be kind to Wildflower she was less snobby and judgmental than say Katrina. Delanoz was right that she was going to be very angry with him that she didn’t know about Wildflower. But he was under time constraints so he tried not to let anybody know to keep out interference and then nobody got hurt feelings. Katrina kept his secret in an effort to wish it away.

The summer was coming and that was when his family would descend on the house as they did every summer. It started as a way to get Delanoz’s orphans together since they lived all over the world. His grandmother started it, she wanted to keep the family together as much as possible. Even though she was gone now everybody still came out, for the whole summer. In a month they would be here, his mother included and she was where Katrina learned to be a snob. Time was not on his side but maybe if his siblings were then he’d have a better chance. His parents had to be kept in the dark as long as possible, they would ruin everything.

“Carmen will forgive me,” Nicolas said dismissively.

Maybe his sister would but would Wildflower? She had no idea what she was in for and he didn’t know how to tell her. How did you tell the woman you saw as your future wife that your family would do anything short of murder to get rid of you? Actually, he wasn’t 100% certain that murder was out of the question. He wanted her but his family would take more convincing than hers. Compared to his family hers was easy, both families were difficult but for different reasons. It was funny that his grandfather’s will was potentially what would stand in the way of him having the wife he wanted. And he had to get married there was no was no way around that. His good mood was fading when they arrived at the airport.

“Nicky, you have to let me meet your future wife before Mother blows in and scares her away,” Jose said. He wasn’t going to let up, so there was no choice and it could be beneficial.

“Maybe when we get back,” Nicolas replied.

They all got out of the limo then and preceded to the plane, flying private was better than commercial. It was very rare for any Capriani to fly commercial, it just wasn’t done. His family was full of snobs and they were all entitled and elitist and everything Wildflower’s family was not. It was selfish for him to ask her to put up with his family but he had no choice. No matter what he did he couldn’t escape his family. Wanting to run away and hide was how he ended up in that bar and how he met her. For once he’d had anonymity, she didn’t care about money and that was what he needed. She was real 100% of the time and that he wasn’t use to, she had high morals and values it was amazing.

“So you know everything will be perfect at the property by the time we get back,” Gloria said in a hushed voice as they walked.

“Good, I give it 24 hours before she talks herself out of moving in with me,” Nicolas replied. He knew his woman well and he knew it would take more than pleasure and her word to get her to live with him.

“Did you tell her you love her yet?” Gloria asked and he nodded and then she squealed a little. “What did she say?”

“What do you think she said? At first she stared at me and I couldn’t read her so I thought I made a mistake. But yeah she said it back,” he admitted. She looped her arm through his and gave him a squeeze.

“I’m so happy for you; I wasn’t sure what to make of everything in the beginning but this is amazing. It will be different to not be your only wife,” she said. Basically she had become his “work wife” or so Jose liked to say. She really did run his whole life and if he was working 24 hours and 7 days a week so was she.

“Maybe now you can get some time off,” he said.

“What and have a social life? That is a crazy idea I don’t know if I can handle it,” she replied dramatically.

“My boys,” his father called when they were closer ending his conversation.

Emilio Capriani stood there waiting for them; he didn’t look bad for 57 years old. His father worked 25 hours of the day and 8 days of the week most of his life and nearing 60 wasn’t slowing him down. What did he have to show for slaving away and being a workaholic? Several failed marriages, no life and no real joy or happiness. Currently he was married, but he was notoriously unfaithful and barely saw his wife. They lead separate lives and stayed married mostly for appearances. That wasn’t the life Nicolas wanted, he was cutting back his hours and going to devote his time to more important things. Wildflower was important but she wasn’t the only lady in his life that he planned to take care of. Once Sugar moved in for the summer he planned not to send her back to Katrina at all.

“Good to see you Father,” Delanoz said and the two stared at each other. They didn’t get along and hadn’t in years.

“I’m surprised you even showed up,” their father replied. Then he turned to his youngest son before speaking again. “Ahh Nicky, my boy, I wish your brothers could be more like you.”

“There isn’t room for so much perfection in one family,” Jose said.

“Sarcasm Joseph only gets you so far in life, its time you got more serious. I wouldn’t want you to end up like your older brother,” he said.

With their father Nicolas was the favorite, Jose was mostly ignored and Delanoz got contempt. It was something they just had to deal with, complaining wouldn’t change things. In this family you had to have tough skin and never let anything or anyone get to you. Emilio looked over at Gloria who was always careful not to look directly at him. He made a face; he always believed that Nicolas was secretly sleeping with her. Nobody in his family seemed to be capable of comprehending that they didn’t have that type of relationship. Just because he treated her with respect and not like “the help” everybody thought things were going on. Why was it so hard to believe that they were just friends?

“We should go,” Nicolas suggested sensing the coming tension.

“Of course,” his father replied and he boarded then ahead of them.

“This is going to be the longest week of my life,” Delanoz grumbled as he headed up.

Nicolas completely agreed with his brother for once. A long week it would be indeed, he wanted to leave and not board this plane. Gloria headed up ahead of Jose who shamelessly flirted with her. Reluctantly Nicolas headed up; he couldn’t afford to draw attention to himself by not going. He was going to keep her, someway somehow and he already had his next plan in play. Soon enough he would have everything he wanted, soon just wasn’t exactly fast enough.