I sigh and accelerate with a smirk, enjoying the feel of the pull of the car as we head towards home.
“Plus, I went out with the girl from the club, the blushing brunette? She’s adorable and I just had to spend some time with her. We went for ice cream.”
Daniella laughs and leans forward with a smirk, shaking her head in disbelief. I know she thinks that I’m a bit frivolous with my antics, but I can’t help it; a pretty girl is a pretty girl.
“Wait a second Rafaela; you’re telling me that the girl you picked out was the stammering and nervous little thing from the front desk?”
“Yes,” I say with a chuckle, biting my lip, “And that stammering little cutie’s name is Heather, by the way.”
Apollo snickers and shrugs his shoulders, grinning back at Daniella.
“Maybe it’s just me but I’m not too worried; I can’t see that one keeping up with Rafaela for more than a week, tops. Plus, she seems a bit….”
“Ditzy.” Daniella chimes in, winking. “The word you’re trying to come up with is ditzy.”
“Yeah, there’s no way that she’ll be able to put u with you, Rafael. Good luck, though.”
I roll my eyes at the two of them bantering back and forth about Heather, knowing that I’ve got more important things to think about than whether or not they like her for the competition.
Like how I’m going to convince her to see me again.
We get back home and my brother Stefano is there, immediately jumping down my throat about our family inheritance. It figures. It doesn’t take long for both of us to be screaming at each other, tensions rising higher by the second.
“Listen here Rafaela; you’re too much of a fucking loose cannon to inherit our father’s money and business when he retires, you can’t even take care of yourself or hold anyone down! You can’t commit to one fucking girl, how the hell do you expect to be given a business to commit to?”
Stefano’s words sting and although there’s a tiny amount of truth to it, it’s not to the same degree that he’s making it out to be. After all, it’s not like I’m insane or making things harder for the family or anything like that; so what if I like to party a bit?
I can see Apollo and Stefa
no’s capo eyeing each other up and readying for a fight, but I don’t want it to come to that. Plus, what my brother doesn’t know is that I’ve already got a plan. The fact that I’ve just come up with it now doesn’t matter, nor am I going to tell him that. A plan is a plan.
“Stefano cut it out! It’s not nearly as bad as you’re making it out to be and besides; what you don’t know is that we’ve got a little bet going on.”
I smirk over at my cousins with a shrug and then look back to my brother, grinning.
“If I can keep a girl for at least a month, then I get Apollo’s bike and Daniella’s recipe for Limoncello. So you see; I’ve already got a commitment that I’m trying to lock down, your point is moot.”
Stefano is silent for a second and then he bursts out laughing, making me roll my eyes as his gaze darts from Apollo and Daniella and then back to me, shaking his head.
“You can’t be fucking serious, Rafaela.”
I shrug my shoulders and smirk, nodding.
“Dead serious, brother.”
He sighs and runs his hand through his hair, smirking at me before finally crossing his arms over his chest.
“Fine; if you win this bet then I’ll back you with Father, but if you lose, then you have to back me. Agreed?”
I’m not one to back away from a challenge, especially not one with stakes as high as this one, so I step forward with a grin and shake his hand.
“Agreed. You’re on, brother.”
With that I take my leave, anxious to get back to the club as soon as I can to work things out with Heather. I’m not sure how I’m going to do it yet, but I always get what I want and right now, she’s it. So, for now my focus will be doing my best to get Heather to see me again, whatever that takes.
Nothing is going to stop me.
Seven