Just as Vince had said, a couple hours after he left, an older woman arrived at the house with a few different bags, dressed in an exotic outfit that was several different patterns, with a smile plastered on her face. "Hello! You must be Ezra, it's so nice to finally meet you! I'm Kathy, a longtime friend of the families!"

"Hi, nice to meet you." I greeted shyly, this was my first conversation in a week that didn't consist of my husband grunting back demanding responses.

"Those guards outside, they don't mess around!" She joked, taking off her coat. "Basically wanted me to squat and cough!" She laughed out, making me laugh in return.

"Oh my, you are just as beautiful as Vincent described you sweetheart!"

I couldn't help but blush at the thought that Vincent found me pretty, but also at the fact that he told other people that I was.

Of course he finds you pretty, you idiot, he married you.

I cleared my head of the thoughts, "Thank you!" I gushed sincerely. "You are very beautiful yourself."

"Oh now you stop that!" She giggled, "You ready to have that husband drooling by the time he sees you?"

"Like that'll happen!" I joked.

The thought that Kathy seemed to think he would, made me think that Vince had led people to believe he likes me more than he does.

"Ready to try on these dresses?" Kathy was beaming with excitement.

I shook my head in excitement, trying on several different dresses, but ended up picking a black floor length dress that had thin spaghetti straps showing off a slight amount of cleavage.

Not that I had much to begin with.

Kathy had lightly curled my blond hair, and pined half of it back, then applied a light makeup, which is what I had picked since I'd never worn makeup a day in my life.

I had always wanted to, Alice and I both did, but our father demanded that his daughters would never look like whores while living under his roof. So we never got the chance too.

Makeup had nothing to do with being a whore, but okay.

I wonder if Vince felt the same about makeup, would he think I was a whore trying to seduce him? Your not a whore for seducing your husband, and being a whore isn't a bad thing, I reminded myself. I quickly brushed away the thoughts when I heard a firm knock on the door, knowing it to be Vince.

"Come in!" Kathy hollered, as she was brushing out my curls with a comb, saying what she felt was the "final touches."

Vince walked in with his suit jacket hanging over his arm, face stoic as it usually was, until we made eye contact through the full length mirror that I was standing in front of. Vince took his time trailing his eyes all the way down my figure, and I watched him the whole time. I couldn't help the shiver that ran through me.

I felt something very unfamiliar course through my veins, but I needed to stop because Kathy was standing about two feet to my right, a smile so large taking over her whole face that I assumed it had to hurt. I needed to stop staring before I jumped his bones.

Jump his bones? Who am I?

"Kathy. Leave." Vince ordered out, face unmoving, and eyes never leaving mine.

Kathy didn't look even the slightest offended, and her smile faltered not one bit as she reached out to hug me, "Goodbye, thank you so much for the dress and everything. I really appreciate it, Kathy."

"You are very welcome my dear," She pulled away and smiled, "try not to mess up your hair and makeup." She winked and I put the pieces together instantly, blushing at the indication.

Kathy picked up her things and walked by an unmoved Vince, and she shut the door behind her. I could hear her giggles fading down the hall.

I didn't really know what to say, so I stuck with a neutral, "Hi."

He finally started walking toward me, slowly, pressing the front of his body to my back and kept eye contact through the mirror.

He reached out and lightly touched the top of my bicep, running his middle finger down until he reached the palm of my hand, bringing it back up, antagonizingly slow a couple of times, feeling his breath on the side of my neck as he leaned down. Goosebumps immediately peppered my skin, and my breathing became heavier. I couldn't even think.

He lowered his head down to mine, and lightly whispered in my ear, "C'mon, little one, we don't want to be late."

I nodded my head, still trying to formulate a coherent sentence, and he grabbed my hand and interlaced our fingers, leading us to the black suv waiting outside.

Well that shut me the fuck up.

Vince opened my door for me, and reached over and buckled me in, before shutting my door and climbing into the drivers seat and driving off.

We pulled up to the mansion where the gala was hosted, and a valet immediately greeted Vince, giving him a card. Vince walked to my side of the door, opening it and holding a hand out for me, which I immediately grabbed.

We walked inside and instantly were met with several people, people who were clearly dying to speak to Vince. I'd never really been around a crowd this big, and as if Vince could feel my hesistation, he brought my hand up to hold onto his bicep, my fingers instantly curling around it, leaning into this body, as he led the way up over to a group of two people.

Vince spoke first, "Ezra, this is Donnie and Lucas Marchetti-"

"His best friends." Lucas interrupted, which I know for a fact that Vince hated.

The duo in front of me looked nothing alike, Lucas was tall, standing around 6'3, with black hair and a very dark complexion. Donnie on the other hand was smaller compared to the other men, around 6'0 with sandy hair, with a playful look in his eye.

The pair looked at me, waiting for me to answer, "Vinnie didn't tell me he actually had friends." I joked, blushing slightly at the fact that I subtly made fun of Vince to his employees, but also called him a nickname was that certainly not pre-approved by the man himself.

Vince stilled next to me, obviously hearing the nickname and joke that carelessly rolled out of my mouth.

ah shit

Lucas spoke first, "Well Ezra, I for one am glad to finally meet you. I never thought 'Vinnie' here would let you out of the house." He jabbed.

Are you trying to get me murdered?

"We would've met you at the reception, but Donnie stubbed his toe and had to get stitches, but don't worry, 'Vinnie' wanted very badly to introduce us." He laughed out, rolling his eyes.

I knew he was teasing Vince with the nickname, probably thinking that he'd been letting me call him that, but Vince had 100% not approved it, in turn, making me want the ground to swallow me whole.

I smiled lightly, letting out an "it's fine" trying to be polite, my blush deepening by the second.

"Lucas, babe, don't embarrass the poor girl." Donnie spoke from beside him intertwining their fingers and leaning his head onto his shoulder, "See! Your making her red." He gushed.

Great. Thank you for pointing that out.

Vince made no move to correct me or the Marchetti's, so maybe he didn't hear it?

There's no way he didn't.

Donnie spoke next, swaying the discussion which made me love him with my whole heart, "Vincent here has asked me to take you shopping tomorrow, Ezra."

"He did?" I questioned, looking up at Vince, who nodded his head confirming, so Donnie continued. "Yeah I figured I'd pick you up around 9 or 10, that okay with you, boss?"

"Yes." Vince clipped out.

He is being even more quiet than usual.

Donnie went to speak again, but Vince interrupted him, "Donnie, Lucas, excuse us for a moment." My question was finally answered when Vince grabbed my hand, interlacing our fingers, and pulling us away from the husbands.

Vince pulled me behind him until we reached a hallway that was vacant, pulling me into the first room, and leading me in, shutting the door behind me.

He turned around and began walking toward me, in long confident steps and I stayed rooted to my spot like a freaking idiot.

He looked down at me meeting my eyes, large hand cupping my jaw and using his thumb to tilt my head up, "Vinnie, hm?" He drew out, eyes darting between my eyes and lips.

Is-is he teasing me?

"It slipped."

It slipped? I'm a mess

Vincent's next words caught me by surprise, "I want you to call me that. Only you." He declared, while rubbing the pad of his thumb over my bottom lip in a soothing motion.

I nodded my head, unable to form an actual response without sounding like a discombobulated halfwit, but then realized he hated when I did that, so I decided to take it one step farther, "Okay, Vinnie."

He gripped my waist with his free hand, inching his face closer to mine, his lips slightly brushing mine, before asking, "Can I kiss my beautiful wife, hm?"

"Yes." I whispered and he closed the space between us. He pushed his lips onto mine slowly, and I started threading my fingers into his hair, tugging at it, resulting in grunt out of him.

what a first fuckin kiss

He started trailing kisses down my jawline, and he hit spot behind my ear, eliciting a light moan from from me while I grabbed the sides of his suit jacket.

Holy fucking shit I've never made that noise.

Noticing my reaction on that spot, he kept going. After a minute, he brought his mouth back up to mine, and several minutes later, we heard a knock on the door. He pulled away slowly, never breaking eye contact, disconnecting our lips.