Princesses of Italy

Eight

It was silent.

We all made it back to the house, including the grey-eyed man whose name I found out was Nikolai.

All the boys were glaring at Nikolai as he rubs his nape. "Stop glaring at him, you fools." Momma walks in with a trey of mugs. Steam exiting out the mugs.

They stop glaring and mutter under their breath. "What were you even doing at the mall Niko?" Emilio grumbles at Nikolai. He laughs lightly. "I was getting some things for mama. She wanted some sweats." Everyone seems to relax at the mention of his mother.

"Well, let's introduce you too. Nikolai, this is my daughter, Tehlani Isabella Catteneo. Tesoro, this is Nikolai Alexander Bianchi. A family friend of ours." Papa introduces us as I shake his hand.

"It's nice to meet the princess of the house." He smirks and I nod shyly. "Stop it, Niko!" Ciro shouts and blocks Nikolai's vision from me. I giggle as Emilio and Ottavio nod their heads proudly.

"Zio, move. I want see daddy." Zara shouts and pouts, crossing her arms. Ciro snaps his neck at her. "Daddy?! That's not your dad baby." Ciro whines and scoots over to me to "scold" Zara.

But it ends up making her get teary. "B-but, that's my d-daddy." Her bottom lip wobbles and Ciro's face turn into panic. "Fucking Ciro, you made my niece cry." Ottavio spits out as Giovanni and Fabrizio shake their head in disappointment.

"Baby, please. No crying mama." I try to soothe her but more tears escape her eyes. She shakes her head and wiggles out my embrace.

She then runs over to Nikolai who stands up and wraps his arms around her small figure.

She sniffles and looks up at him. He smiles as he kisses her forehead. "Ciao Bella." Everyone watches their interaction. Zara giggles and wraps her arms around his neck. "Ciao papà." I can't help but smile.

I feel my eyes fill with tears just watching my baby be comfortable with someone she just met.

"Was Ciro being mean to you?" He playfully looks at Ciro with a smirk. Zara lifts her head and looks at Ciro. She tries to glare at him but it looks more of a pout. "Ciro big meany." Ciro gasps and puts his hand on his chest dramatically.

He then pretends to pass out and falls on the floor. Zara giggles and wiggles out of Nikolai's grasps. She runs over to Ciro and gets on top of him before pushing her small hands against his chest. "CPR, CPR."

Everyone laughs at the interaction. The boys begin to be doctors play pretend with Zara to "revive" Ciro.

While they do that, I head outside on the balcony and look up at the night sky. I feel goosebumps rise as it gets chilly. I shouldn't have took off my hoodie earlier.

I wrap my hands around my arms and rub them up and down to get warm. I then feel a jacket being placed on my shoulders and I look over at the culprit.

Nikolai.

He looks at me and smiles. "It's quite cold out here bellissima." I nod my head and smile. It gets quiet as we both view of the sky.

"I'm sorry about my daughter. If it made you uncomfortable I do apologize." I look over at him to see him already staring at me. He shakes his head. "It's alright. You have a beautiful baby." My smile gets bigger as he mentions Zara.

"Thank you." He nods his head. "So, Tehlani. Tell me about yourself." I hum as I pull the jacket tighter around me. "Well, I'm 20 years of age. I turn 21 in March. I have a 3 year old daughter. I love to read and I do ballet, sometimes. And I love my daughter with my life." I look up at him and see he got a bit closer to me.

He nods his head and leans his back against the rail, still looking at me. "I'm 28 years of age. I have 2 younger siblings. 17 and 10. I like racing and getting tattoos. And I think your daughter's growing on me." I laugh lightly at the last part.

He chuckles and puts his hand in his pockets. "Thank you." He furrows his brows in confusion. "For earlier. Thank you. Really." He shakes his head. "Don't. I would do the same for anyone." I look at him with raised eyebrows. "Nevermind. No I wouldn't." I laugh and nod my head. He smiles.

"But still, your family has been nothing but kind and loving to mines. So as respect, I did what was right." He looks at me with seriousness. I look over his face before they go down to his lips.

I look back up to see him staring at my lips. "Don't do that." He mutters underneath his breath as he walks right in front of me. His body close together with mines.

I feel his thumb pulling my bottom lip away from my teeth. I didn't realize I was doing it until now.

He caresses the side of my face and stares deep into my eyes. "I know I just met you but fuck, you've got an affect on me already bambina." He whispers lowly and deeps his face closer to mines.

The fuck am I doing?

I just met this man.

Hot, attractive, sexy man that's for sure.

I snap out of it as I feel his breath hovering over my lips. His free arm was now wrapped around my waist pulling me closer to his body. My hands were rested on his chest.

I look into his eyes. He looks at me almost asking for consent. So I nod my head believing that's what he wanted to see. I'm surprised to see him smirk and lean closer.

Our lips close to touch..

only for us to be interrupted.

The balcony door slams open with a loud, overdramatic may I add, gasp.

I push Nikolai away from me, blushing a deep red as I look at Ciro who has his mouth wide open. "Oh my god. You two were going to kiss." He whispers out. I shake my head and open my mouth but he runs inside.

Shit.

I chase after him as he runs into the living room. "Dad, Nikolai was going to ki-," I jump on his back and cover his mouth. "Shut up, Ciro!" I scream as he tries to move my hand from his mouth. Everyone stares in confusion as we struggle. He wiggles and eventually tickles my side making me squeal and protect my sides.

"Dad, Nikolai was going to kiss Tehlani." Ciro blurts out and I groan covering my face. A bunch of 'what's?!' were yelled as they search for the culprit.

And he walks in right on time. I look at him to see him have a smirk on his face. "Nikolai, you dare try and kiss my sister?" Raffaele says calmly but you could tell he was very much furious.

Nikolai looks at him and gulps. "Look bro," He looks at me and back at Raffaele. "You have one fine ass sister." He smirks at me. "Nikolai?!" Papa yells and that's when hell went loose.

The boys, beside Ciro, chases after Nikolai as he tries to avoid them. Momma laughs at them as she holds a giggling Zara. I slap Ciro back as he smirks in triumph.

I feel someone hold my shoulders and try to block my brothers away from him. "Let go of my sister fucker." Ottavio spits out. I cover my mouth to hide my laughs. "Okay, look I'm sorry. I won't do it again." Nikolai says behind me chuckling out of breath from running.

"I don't care. I'm still going to kill you." Fabrizio threatens Nikolai and the boys including papa laugh, nodding along. "Fine. But can I do something real quick?" The boys look at him confused.

I'm confused too before I feel a hand wrap gently around my neck and moved slightly to the side. I look up and see Nikolai smirk before kissing my cheek.

"You stinky bitch!" And the chase continues.