Initiate Me(4)

It was wrong.

Yet nothing had ever felt more right.

Milan took a step closer, and I fought the urge to take a step back in retreat. “She is like a sister to me, so if you hurt her, I will hunt you down and take great pleasure in hurting you. Badly.” She smiled at me, her lips turned up as she issued her warning. "And you’d better believe I’ll keep you alive just so I can send her brothers over, one being your best friend, to finish you off.”

She cleared the expression of fury from her face before saying, “Now, let's walk back inside together and watch the throwing of the bouquet. You can even pretend to like me. I don't bite, you know.”

Milan slid her hand around my arm and pinched me. Hard. This chick is a bloody nut job. Like I needed a reminder to steer clear from Mia.

I watched the whole process of the bouquet throwing.

Oh, shit, I was in big trouble. If Mia caught the bouquet, she’d set her claws into me even more.

Please, please don’t catch it.

She caught it.

And she was grinning from ear-to-ear.





Chapter Two


ZANE

I continued to scowl at my drink. I scowled at everyone at the whole damn wedding. Why the hell did I agree to be Max's best man? Fuck, she just had to go and catch the bouquet, didn’t she? No fucking way I was going to be a part of catching the garter. They’d probably make me put it on the maid of honour! Wasn’t that the Italian tradition? The chair next to me squeaked as Marco sat down wearing a shit-eating grin.

"So, you see any piece of arse that tickles your fancy? All except Milan, of course; she's off-limits," Marco warned me. He had it bad for Jada's almost-identical younger sister, but Milan always gave Marco the brush off. I had no idea why; I was pretty certain she had the hots for Marco, too, but she avoided him like the plague and treated him like crap.

"Fuck off, Marco. You come here with a date and yet you ban me from one of the most gorgeous women here at the wedding. She's always off-limits, yet you never do anything about it. I’m interested in angel over there; she's always tickled my fancy."

Marco choked on his drink and splattered his beer all over himself. "My sister? Squirt? You mean Mia?"

"Well derr...you only have one fucking sister, don't you, dickhead?"

"No fucking way did I see that coming," Marco confessed. "Holy shit, Max will hang you by the balls if he knew you wanted to bang Mia."

"Oh, so it's okay with you if I bang Mia, but not okay with Max? Great big brother you are."

"Stop putting words into my mouth. I never said it was okay. You've just bowled me over with that admission and it’s taken me by surprise. You've never, ever expressed any interest in my sister in the past. And for the record, Zane, you’ve never mentioned anything about banging my fucking sister before, you arsehole!"

"Yeah? Well, guess what? I’m not asking for your permission or Max's for that matter. She's all grown up now and an adult. Mia can do what she wants."

My scotch stopped halfway to my mouth. All my attention wandered to Mia as she was swinging her hips on the dance floor.

Oh, yeah, I'd bang her in a fucking heartbeat. I didn't need permission from Marco or Max. Holy hell, her legs went on forever. My gaze started at the bottom of her high-heeled silver stilettos, gradually travelling up along the sexy line of those shapely legs, ending at her luscious arse barely hidden beneath an extremely short, red chiffon garment you could call a bridesmaid dress. Who the fuck picks bridesmaid dresses that short? I will never understand women. When she twirled around, I caught a glimpse of a scrap of lace and satin.

Lust overcame me and hit me in the gut. I'd been so busy checking out her arse I hadn’t noticed she was dancing with some guy. Her backside faced me—not that I was complaining. Her tanned arms were entwined around the wide shoulders of the lucky bastard as she sashayed closer to grind her pelvis against his. Fuck! He clamped his hands on her arse in a dirty dancing move, and a burst of jealousy hit me full-bore.

Nonchalantly, I asked, “Marco, who’s that bloke Mia's dancing with?"

"You jealous, Zane?"

I squinted and sneered at him.

"Fine, don't get your dick in a twist. It's some young guy who works under Blake Ross, the head winemaker of the Sinclair Winery. Max hired him when we took over the winery."

"Are they seeing each other?" I asked, curious as to why she'd flirt with me one minute and go dancing off with another guy the next.

“Nah, are you kidding me? I’ve never known Mia to date anyone. She’s as sweet as pie, you know that. How Milan hasn’t corrupted her yet is beyond me," Marco said, exasperated, his eyes feasting on Milan as she laughed and danced with Blake.