One Night Stand With The Mafia Boss
Chapter 34

New York is everything everyone always tells you. It’s busy, loud and doesn’t seem to sleep.

The hotel we are staying at was extremely over the top, but I am a little more used to it than that first time. I still feel a bit out of place though.

As it was only 1 in the afternoon, I thought it best I didn’t have a nap or anything. I did get a bit of sleep on the plane as well, since my men kept me up half the night.

We got to our Penthouse suite but didn’t really get settled as Landon and Leo said they needed to head off almost immediately. As the staff unpacked for us, I also didn’t have to worry about that, so Maxine suggested we start with lunch as the “men do their thing”.

“Sounds like a plan. I’m guessing you have somewhere in mind? I am happy with even the good old New York street vendor. Whatever you want.”

She snorted “Sorry no street vendors today. Today we are dining in style. I used some connections to get us into the hottest restaurant around. Did you want to change first?” she asked nonchalantly.

I was wearing a $2,000 designer dress for god’s sake. Should I be insulted or does she think I just naturally wear around such expensive dresses? Landon suggested I change into it before we started to land. I am sure he knew I was about to be dragged around the rich end of town.

“No. I changed into this just before we landed, so I’m ready to go.”

“Well let’s blow this joint.” She flipped her hair and linked her arm with mine, making me laugh.

“I don’t need to quickly catch up on any s*x In the City episodes to know what I’m getting into, do I?”

She cracked up “Of course not darling. We are going to have some fun.” She looks at me as we all pile into the elevator. “You know you’re not what I expected.”

That had me laughing “I’m sure I’m not. Which were you expecting, Bimbo Gold Digger or Dangerous b***h?”

“A bit of both, a Bimbo that would destroy anyone that got in her way.” I heard Gio cough to try and cover his laugh from behind us.

“Well, sorry to disappoint, I can try and do Bimbo for a bit but I would want to slap myself within a minute.”

“Oh, there are enough bimbo’s, unfortunately, where we are going, so get ready for the fakeness overload.”

“Oh good. You sure we can’t do a street vendor in Central Park?”

She laughs again and shakes her head.

“So am I what you expected?” she gave me a teasing smile.

“Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect, so I had no expectations. Sorry to disappoint. Did you want me to make something up though?”

“Oh, let me help with that. Fake t**s, yes….”

“What! No! Honestly, they look real!”

“My plastic surgeon is amazing! Next, face plucked and pulled to the wa-zoo. No, but lots of facials and Botox”.

“Love a good facial but haven’t tried Botox… yet”.

“Really? How old are you? Wait, sorry biggest phopar”. She puts up her hand to wave the comment off. “I will just say you look amazing and don’t need it.”

“Thank you. You definitely don’t need any either, by the way.” I fumble out as I’ll always struggle with compliments “Next one… wig or hair extensions?”

“Oh good one! Yes to the hair extensions. I haven’t been able to live without them since I was 21. If you say you don’t have any, I am sorry, but we cannot be friends.”

“Sorry you have to drop me off at the street vendors then.”

She grunts “Once again, you are so not what I expected at all!”

“And you definitely haven’t said as many ‘likes’ as I would expect someone of your age in America to say.”

She cracks up and pretends to mock horror “You like insult me!” then flips her stunning hair, extensions and all, as I have just learnt.

The rest of the ride to the restaurant is actually pretty fun. She was born and bred in the rich Upper East Side, New York but travelled a lot with her Pilot father and Socialite mother, who came from old money. She and Ben only got married 2 months ago but have been together for 5 years.

The wedding was what you would expect, huge! She was going to show me photos another day as she had just got back all the albums and large Photos that had just been placed around their home. They had been ‘living in sin’ for the last 3 years even though they were engaged as her Grandmother is Italian, so she was very unhappy about the arrangement.

She was very easy to talk to, even though I made sure most of the conversation was directed at her, I wasn’t sure what she would think when she heard I was a country bumpkin. We were having a lot of fun chatting until we got to the restaurant. WOW! She did warn me! We walked into what I could only describe as pretentious land.

There were lots of air k****s, fake OMG’s and the good old ‘we so have to do lunch’ and that was all on the way to our table!

Every inch of me was evaluated and scrutinised by every single person we came across.

“This is my good friend Kate RINALDI over from SICILY.” She emphasised Landon and Leo’s last name and Sicily to them. You could see when they got the hints and it was either a look of shock with a WTF moment, some showing a hint of fear before covering it or their brains suddenly went into scheming mode as I was going to now be their best friend to give them power. So they definitely know who she is married to and now who I am supposedly married to.

Landon and Leo will love that, me being known as their wife.,. Or maybe the women think of me as their sister or cousin since I don’t have a ring on my ring finger.

The ones that didn’t have a clue what the hints meant just gave me their big smiles and said hello. I prefer them actually!

We finally sat down at our table. The Matradee was very patient and didn’t say a thing even though I swear it took 15 minutes to take 20 steps. Then again, I am sure he would be too scared to.

We ordered our drinks and Maxine told me what was good on the menu.

“So you aren’t going to order a salad and eat only 1 piece of lettuce before being too full to finish the meal?” I joked.

“Of course I am. I have a reputation to uphold here.” She smirked back. “Warning. Everyone is currently Googling you.”

I laughed “Good luck to them since my last name isn’t Rinaldi”.

“You do know you do come up though, since you are the famous girlfriend?”

“Really?”

“Absolutely!” She winks at me.

“Did you google me?” I sat back and smiled.

“Of course.”

“Should I be worried about what it says?”

“Oh please, as if they would say something too bad and go against the wrath of the Rinaldi family!”

So it turns out I am on some Italian social pages as the woman who stole the most eligible bachelor’s hearts. It just says Landon and Leo are Rich Powerful Entrepreneur Brothers who own many companies, Vinyards etc and not the head of the Italian Mafia.

Supposedly, it just says I am a mysterious Australian business woman that appeared one day and they aren’t sure if I was with Landon first or not, as the men are secretive about their personal lives. The articles, of course, ask if I entrapped them through pregnancy or if I am secretly married to one of them.

I’m not sure how I feel about being on the internet or on social pages, but I should have seen that coming. Right? I know I am not going to be able to help myself and will look it up later.

A waitress appears with an expensive bottle of Champaign complements of the women we spoke to before. Yes, the scheming ones.

“Oh how unexpected.” Maxine gave me a knowing grin “Be sure to do the same please and put it on my tab.” We then ordered lunch.

“I’m surprised they didn’t try and squeeze us on to their table and smooze up to you.” She whispers to me over her glass once the waitress has left.

“I’m sure they are coming up with another plan. Is this what I have to look forward to while I’m here?” I whispered back.

“Sorry yes, except for when we dine with the men, Ben always makes sure we have a private room, especially with everything that is going on. Actually, he will probably suggest we dine in a lot.”

YAY! This is going to be fun!

I was happy that the ladies actually let us eat our lunch before making their way over. It was all just as fake as you would guess. I let Maxine do most of the talking or answering questions, just enjoying sitting back and watching the show.

The only things they got were that “we” were only in town a few days, no mention of who exactly, that Maxine is my excited tour guide with a very full schedule of amazing attractions that are a surprise and that we may be available for lunch. She just has to see if she can move the schedule around.

Oh and, of course, they asked what made me move to Italy from Australia. “My gorgeous men, of course. Who wouldn’t?” they all did their best fake laughs and agreed that I was so lucky.

Luckily, it was only a quick chat before they said they hoped to see me soon and left.

“Thanks for taking the reins” I heaved a sigh of relief.

“I know what they can be like. Don’t worry Darling, I know I’m on b***h patrol as well as tour guide duty.” She smiled and laughed.

“I really do appreciate it.”

She shakes her head, looking at me confused “How the hell did someone as… nice as you end up with them?”

“I ask myself that question all the time. Landon calls me his light to his darkness.”

She nods as she thinks about it. “I get it now. The beauty between 2 beasts. I imagine they had never met anyone like you before.”

“They say that as well.”

As we make our way out I can’t help the yawn that is trying to escape me and hide it the best I can.

“I saw that. How about, since we are not really in walking shoes, we just head to my place for some quiet time and I am dying to show you my wedding photos.”

“Sounds great!”

Their house is a palatial 3-story home with the big pillars out the front and perfectly manicured grounds hidden behind large walls and iron gates, funnily enough exactly what I expected.

We go in through the massive double doors as a maid approaches to take our bags and coats before we sit down in the large sitting room. It’s mostly white and cream but feels homely from all the photos and nice little homely touches here and there.

We spent the next hour looking through her album, her asking me what my thoughts on marriage are. I accused her of being a spy for Ma when that came up, making her laugh.

“Ah the infamous Ma. I haven’t yet had the pleasure but I hear she is a force to be reckoned with, like any Italian Mama. Trust me, I know from my Grandmother. Ben’s parents were actually easier to deal with than her before we got married.” She shakes her head and laughs. There is definitely a story there!

Before I could ask her, the doorbell went.

“Excuse me a moment.” Maxine gets up and goes to answer the door.

I pull out my phone and see if I have any messages from the boys or any emails I need to deal with. I did cancel all my meetings for the next week and Gi said she would help for the next week, but best to check as well.

The conversation at the door doesn’t sound like a pleasant one. I can’t hear what they are saying, but I can guess by the fake pleasantries and the fact the people haven’t come in yet.

After only a few moments, Maxine comes back and sits down before pulling out her phone quickly. She makes a call “Babe, detective douche was here asking after Landon and Leo. He said he just wanted to make sure they weren’t here to make trouble. I didn’t let him in.” She looks at me with an apologetic look. “No he didn’t… Will do… Love you.” And she hangs up.

“So I am guessing we have a problem?”

“Of course not. Well, nothing the boys can’t handle anyway. We may just have some tails over the next few days and don’t be surprised if he tries to corner you. Man’s a snake but I suppose that’s his job.” She takes a sip of her drink. “So it looks like you’re stuck here until the boys get back. Just to make sure he doesn’t try and ambush you at the hotel.”

Ok! So I’m guessing whomever Detective Douche is is the head of the organized crime division in the New York Police Department. I know the poor man is just doing his job and knows that us arriving means there are about to mean a lot of problems for his department. He is probably just trying to make his presence known to try and deter anything.

I am really not looking forward to him trying to corner me though, as I doubt he believes I know nothing, even though I don’t. He will probably try the whole ‘you are an accessory’ or ‘are in danger and we can protect you if you tell us everything you know’.

So not quite the first trip I thought it was going to be, but should I really be surprised? Really?

The men arrive at about 8pm, just as tea is being served. I am guessing that is planned by the timing. I am pressed between 2 bodies within seconds of them entering the room.

“Did you have a good day Amore?” Landon asks while searching my eyes.

“Yes. Maxine was an amazing host. Are you two OK?” They both chuckle with nothing but smiles on their faces. I searched both of their faces but I knew they would never let anything slip around me intentionally.

“Never better, my love.” Leo k****s my neck as he holds me tight.

“OK but you know I can see both of your knuckles….” Landon takes my mouth to shut me up before a throat is cleared somewhere in the room.

“Sorry to interrupt, dinner is served.” Ben gave me an almost shocked grin before leading us all into the beautiful dining room. I should be used to that.

Everyone was shocked the first time they saw how gentle and loving Landon is with me. Now with Leo and Landon, of course, he would be shocked. Ben is probably very used to the playboy Leo and the man-whore Landon. You couldn’t really call Landon a play-boy as he was very straight forward with there being no intimacy, only f*****g, whereas Leo had always loved a game.

We sit down with me in between my two men as always and start to eat enough food for 10 people. I really hope they believe in left overs, as I would hate to think this much food goes to waste.

We had only just started when the doorbell went off again. Ben tells us to continue while he goes and gets it.

It doesn’t take long before there is laughing and heavy footsteps that seem to be coming back to the dining room.

We all look up to see 2 men in their late 40’s, I would say, with greying hair and expensive suits walking through the door behind Ben. One of them looks familiar, but then again, he has the very typical Italian American look, I bet he just looks like one of the guys on those trashy reality shows or something I see adds for.

Ben calls for 2 more places to be quickly made up for the men as he introduces them as Nico, his cousin and Gabe, a business associate.

The conversation turns to the 2 men and what is new with them so you can tell they are keeping it general since Maxine and I are in the room.

“So Kate” Nico sits back and takes a sip of his wine as he observes me. “Australian huh, what’s your background?” Oh, he is one of those. Not even Ben had started the 20 questions. Yes, Maxine and I have talked and she asked me about where I grew up and everything, but this was not one of those questions. Which way should I play this?

“Yes, born and bred. Worked mainly as an Assistant in the Corporate world, I now look after the Exporting of Wine, Olives and Olive Oil for the family business.”

He nods while studying me, “Corporate…” I am very aware that everyone else has stopped talking and Leo and Landon are staring coldly at Nico, knowing what he is doing. “Ever go to College?”

“I went to Uni for 1 and a half years before I realised I really didn’t want to become an Accountant, so I dropped out.”

“So your good with numbers?”

I shrug. “I’m not bad, I prefer organising things though I found like Events or now Exports.” I squeeze my men’s hands that are on my thighs to tell them to calm down. “What do you do?”

“I manage a number of our clubs. Ever do anything naughty at Uni?” he raised an eyebrow.

I went to say no before Landon’s spare hand came down on the table. “ENOUGH! If you wish to keep your tongue or your head on your shoulders, you will NEVER speak or look in Kate’s direction again.”