Control Me(19)

She gave me her finger and closed her eyes as I slid the six-carat platinum gold, square-cut diamond ring on her finger. I could tell she was pissed at me; I could hear it in her breathing. Bloody women and their dreams of a perfect marriage proposal!

“You can open your eyes now, Princess. Are you scared to look at it or something? Where did you think I’d go buy it from, the local pawnshop in Tanunda? Jesus, Princess, give me some credit!

Her stunned gaze met mine.

“I don’t know what to say, Max. I mean…it’s not exactly how I imagined my marriage proposal would happen when the supposed man of my dreams asks me to marry him. So, you will have to excuse my behaviour. However, this is the most spectacular ring I’ve ever seen. When did you have time to organise this?”

“I set the wheels in motion last night. Let’s just say I’ve got contacts in the right places and an extremely-efficient personal assistant. My brother picked it up for me this morning in Sydney, flew down earlier today and dropped it off at my penthouse.”

“What?” she shrieked. “Your brother Marco is here, too?”

“Ah, yeah, and so is Mia. They’re all here, babe, even Milan and your parents.”

Before she could respond, there was a loud knock on the bonnet of my car. My brother Marco stood there slamming his hand down on my Porsche. I’m going to kill him. I love the bastard but if I see a dent on my car, he’s a dead man. “Hey, are you two lovebirds coming in or what?”

I kissed the inside of her wrist and mouthed ever so softly, “Its show time, Princess.”

***

JADA

Never in a million years did I expect everyone to actually believe us. I mean, were they stupid or something? I’d told the odd little lie here and there, but to come right out and say, “Max and I are in love and we are getting married!”…Well, I would have thought it ludicrous. But they all fell for it.

Mia was the first to run up to me and hug me, screeching, “Oh, my God! How on Earth did you hide this from me? I can’t believe it, but I knew you two were always meant to be together!” Mia gushed and hugged me tightly. My sister remained quiet and not as enthusiastic.

“All I want to know is why the hell you just didn’t tell me last night that you were dating Max, Jada?” she challenged. “I even asked you if—”

I stopped her in mid-sentence. I knew Milan was quite forward, and I did not want her to say anything out loud in front of everyone that would embarrass me further, especially the advice she gave me, suggesting I have sex with Max to save the winery.

“Well, a girl has to have some secrets. I can’t tell you everything, you know, even if you are my sister.”

She grinned at me, happy with my answer, for now.

At first, both sets of parents took the news just as I had expected, with complete and utter disbelief. Of course, my mother was in absolute awe over Max wanting to marry me. She’d always loved Max and was very happy about her eldest daughter marrying the eldest Brunetti son.

My father seemed over the moon and was beaming from ear-to-ear. “Why, you sneaky little buggers! You both kept this secret so well. I mean, just the other morning at breakfast the two of you acted like strangers, like you haven’t seen each other in years, but in reality you were already a couple.”

“Yeah, well, sorry about the deception, Michael, but we wanted to keep it under wraps because the both of us are in the public eye a lot. I wanted to wait until Jada came back to the Barossa so I could propose.”

God, he was sharp. Everyone seemed to buy our story, all except his father. Pep was very quiet and didn’t ask any questions. He looked happy enough, but there was a strange look on his face that made me think he needed a bit more convincing. His mother Rosa embraced me in a huge hug and welcomed me into the Brunetti family. I hated lying to these people.

Marco was lounging against the wall, ogling my sister Milan in her tight jeans and t-shirt that displayed her midriff as she moved. I knew she’d never go for him; he wasn’t her type. He was too much of a player for Milan. From what Mia had told me, he was even more of a playboy than Max was reported to be.

He pushed himself off the wall and tactlessly asked, “So, you didn’t happen to knock Jada up by any chance, did you, Max?” My face flamed with embarrassment. Everyone stared at me. Well, at least I thought they were only staring at me.

Max noticed my sharp intake of breath and held me closer to him. His hand was rubbing my back and moving dangerously close to my butt. Even with all these people staring at me and interrogating us, all I could imagine was Max touching me there and how wicked it felt.