The Truth About De Campo(63)

Matteo froze. “Have they made a choice?”

“Si.” His elder brother swirled the amber liquid around the base of the crystal tumbler. “Want to know?”

His heart stalled in his chest. “Dammit. Do not play with me, Riccardo.”

A wide smile split his elder brother’s harshly carved face. “You did it, fratello. The Luxe contract is ours.”

He felt the ground sway under his feet. Three years he had worked to put the past behind him. And just like that, it was done.

“Driscoll said you were brilliant.” Something like pride glittered in Riccardo’s eyes. “That you made it impossible for them to choose anyone else.”

Matteo’s heart jump started again. “So we’re even then?”

His brother inclined his head. “You were right. I should have let you do it your way.” He paused. “Maybe that’s the way I should have played it from the start.”

“And upset your idea of how the world should be?” Matteo lifted a brow. “Surely not, oh, powerful one.”

Riccardo smiled and nodded toward Quinn. “You didn’t waste any time putting a ring on her finger. She must be good in bed.”

Matteo’s fist was cocked and ready to strike when his brother held his up his hand, laughing. “Mine was, too. She was also a hell of a lot more than that. Really, Matty, when are you going to learn I’m just pulling your strings?”

Matteo lowered his fist and scowled. “Maybe if you chose your moments with a bit more finesse...”

“What fun would that be?”

Matteo went off to join his fiancée rather than spar with Riccardo. “Where is buffer brother?” he asked Alex. “He’s needed. Badly.”

“Getting us something to drink.” She jabbed him in the ribs. “Nice work on the photo. It was drop-dead fantastically romantic, Matty. Phone’s been ringing off the hook.”

They could all wait. He drank his fill of his ridiculously beautiful soon-to-be wife in the cherry-red cocktail dress she wore. It fit perfectly with the third part of his proposal plan that included Quinn alone in his rose-strewn loft Lilly and Alex had done up, with her wearing the ring and nothing else.

Quinn flushed, as if she knew exactly where his head was. “He has a way with words. I think the little old lady watching would have dumped her husband for him.”

Gabe came outside, a bottle in his hand. “Congratulations,” he murmured, giving Matteo a hug. “I heard the news.”

Silence fell over the group. Lilly gave Gabe an expectant look. “I think we should do the toast.”

Gabe handed Matteo the bottle. He felt the blood drain from his face as he read the label. Bianco Frizzante Giancarlo.

“You finished it,” he said slowly, his fingers caressing the elegant slim cylinder.

Gabe nodded. “It’s magnificent.”

Matteo blinked back the moisture that stung his eyes, his heart feeling too big for his chest. “I need a moment.”

He walked to the side of the terrace and looked out over Lilly’s wildflower garden. The wine had been his and Gabe’s tribute to Giancarlo. They had created it together. But to open it meant acknowledging his friend was gone. To finally let him go.

He wasn’t sure he could do it.

Quinn appeared at his side. Took his hand in hers, pried his fingers open and wrapped hers around them. “You loved him, Matteo. This is such a beautiful thing you and Gabe have done for him. Open it and let him go.”

His fingers tightened around hers. She was right. It was time. And he could let go, he realized, because Quinn was his future.

They walked back to the others. Gabe uncorked the wine and poured them all a glass. Matteo lifted his. “To my past, to my brother, Giancarlo, who will always be with me.” He swallowed past the thickness in his throat. “This one is for you.”

The wine tasted fruity and life-affirming on his tongue. Perfetto.

He shifted his gaze to the woman at his side. “And to my future. The woman I want to spend the rest of my life with. Tu sei il mio cuore.” He leaned down to kiss her. “You are my heart, Quinn Davis.”

She gave him a misty-eyed smile. “Really, Matteo De Campo. You are much too silver-tongued.”

But she kissed him anyway, her lips clinging to his in a promise of forever. Because for him and Quinn, the journey was just beginning.

 * *

Keep reading for an excerpt from SHEIKH’S SCANDAL by Lucy Monroe.





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