113: Official

Jon couldn’t be happier, he thought with his feet planted wide and arms crossed while watching the counselor receive one bone-crushing hug after another from her family members.  She was beautiful tonight, anyway, in that sexy pantsuit thing of hers with loose hair swaying over her nearly bare back, but now that Owen and his undoubtedly broken nose had been escorted out of her life for the last time, she was radiantly ethereal.    

Her brothers weren’t far off that mark, either.  They were all emanating their own waves of happiness, but it looked to Jon as though they were more into their sister’s wide smile and bubbling laughter than giving a rat’s ass what happened to Owen.  He knew from talking to Vince earlier that all the Del Vecchios were only interested in whatever was going to boost her quality of life to a level she deserved.

When Vince quietly voiced his appreciation for Jon’s actions, he’d even gone so far as to say Chiara deserved the best and was lucky to have found him, no matter what the underlying circumstances.  Jon was flabbergasted by the approval from the hard-ass cop, and when Dom later approached with a similar verse to the same song, it was clear that these men were not only going to be the counselor’s family, they were going to be his friends.  He was grateful and told them both as much. 

“I can’t believe you broke his nose,” Lilah murmured from Jon’s left elbow, arching one eyebrow cattily as she sipped her champagne.  “I thought fame made you soft.”

Grinning down at his kooky sister-in-law, he looped an arm around her shoulders and confided, “Only in so much as I have to protect my hands and my voice.  Been a long time since I threw a forearm into somebody’s face, but it’s not something you forget how to do.  There sure as hell isn't anybody who deserved one more.”

The tinkling laughter washed over him along with her heavily drawled, “Ayy-men to that.  Can I just tell you how tickled I am for you?  And for Charlie, of course.  Y’all think you can manage to get along without fightin’ or some life tragedy to cope with?”

“I’m sure as hell looking forward to finding out.”

“Mm.”  Twisting her neck to peer up at him, she quietly ventured, “I bet if you asked her to marry you now, she’d do it without a second’s hesitation.  You hung the stars, moon and every single planet in Charlie’s universe today.  She wouldn’t refuse you anything.”

Lilah was probably right.  Chiara wouldn’t refuse him anything, and that’s why Jon wouldn’t ask for something he wasn’t damn sure he wanted.  It was too soon for marriage, and the counselor deserved some freedom before any man tied her down again – even him.

“Don’t push, Kentucky,” he advised while removing his arm from her shoulders.  “Nobody’s in any hurry, and we’ll get there when we get there – if we get there.  You’ve done enough busybodying.”

“I s’pose you’re right.  I was just wonderin’ to myself how this day could get any better, and that’s what I came up with.”  With a light hand against his chest to brace herself, she popped up to dust a kiss over his jaw.  “I’m glad you broke his nose.  Any man worth his salt woulda.  Isn’t that right, Matty?”

“What?” his little brother asked as he and Desiree joined them. 

“Lilah thinks Owen deserved getting his nose broken.”

“Oh, that.  Damn straight.”  A massive paw smacked him on the back of the shoulder before giving a quick squeeze.  “Made me proud to be your brother.”

“Speakin’ of your brothers, I’m gonna hug on Charlie and find my husband.  Y’all excuse me.”

She said it as though finding Tony was going to be a difficult feat.  There were only about three dozen people left in the room, so it wasn’t as if he’d get swallowed by a flash mob.  Then again, who knew how Lilah’s mind operated?  He sure as hell didn’t.

“I’m the family member who makes the least effort to put my nose in your business…” Jon turned his eyes to Desiree from where they’d once again landed on the counselor.  “But with you looking at Charlie like that, you’ve got all the markings of a proud parent.”

A fleeting frown crossed his face, and he shrugged.  “I’m sure as hell not her parent, but I’m absolutely proud.  She made a huge step tonight, and I’m excited for her.”

“So am I.  And so is Matt.” She nudged her husband with an elbow.  “Aren’t you?”

Scowling down at his better half, Matt rubbed at his ribs.  “Yeah.  Of course I am.  She got her life back and all that.  I hope she does amazing things with it.”

It was obvious that little brother still wasn’t charmed by Chiara, and his indifference was starting to grate on Jon.  “Get over it, Matt.”

“I am over it.”

“Really?”  The words were right, but they weren’t exactly bathed in sincerity.

“Swear to God,” he vowed with an upraised hand.  “I don’t know how she kept from killing that fucker, but she’s got my respect.” 

Contemplatively scrutinizing him, Jon wasn't so sure but found no visible reason to doubt Matt's word, so he let it go.  “Good.  I’ve got a date, so do me a favor and tell Tony I owe him.”

“Never fear.  Lilah will make you pay.”

“Probably so,” Jon chuckled with a thump to his brother’s back.  He was finding himself less and less annoyed by his Southern sister-in-law, so if she wanted to collect the debt, that would be okay with him.

He was crossing the fifty feet of obnoxiously colored carpeting to where Lilah was just parting ways with the counselor, when a familiar voice beckoned him from behind.  The affectionate smile on his face faded when he turned to find his ex-wife casually striding toward.  It looked as though she'd just left Tony, who was disconnecting audio-visual equipment.   He'd always been her favorite of Jon's brothers.

He was probably Chiara's, too, come to think about it.  God knew Matt hadn't offered her any reason to warm up to him.

"Hey," Dorothea greeted with her signature hand-through-the hair move that sent it tumbling in disarray around her face.  He'd once found it sexy.  Now it was just one of her familiar habits that he realized he hadn't seen in a while

"Hey."

"That was..."  Brown eyes that were a similar shade to Chiara's, but looked nothing like them in Jon's mind, darted in the direction of the counselor's unfettered laughter.  "A little intense.  I had no idea she was an abuse victim."

Frowning at his ex, Jon slowly shook his head.  "She was manipulated, taken advantage of, blackmailed, extorted and emotionally mistreated, but she does not have a victim mentality.  She did what she had to do for her boys and will call you crazy if you try to to stick that label on her.  Fair warning."

"Okay.  I guess it's hard to see yourself that way, so I get it.  I also get why you're so enamored with her."

"Do you?" he inquired skeptically at the unexpected statement. 

Inviting his ex here tonight had nothing to do with illustrating his interest in the counselor, but revealing the reasons for her continued marriage.  Jon didn't need Dorothea's understanding on his choice of partner, although it may make things easier in the long-run.

"Yes.  She needs you, but she's not needy.  I think that may be the magic combination you've been looking for all along."

Was it his imagination or was that observation made with a tinge of wistfulness?  If so, Jon wasn't going to validate it.  Hell, he wasn't even going to consider whether she was right or not.

"I don't know about that.  I just know I love her."

With a definitive nod, she stepped in to brush his cheek with a kiss that was much like the one Lilah had bestowed just a few moments ago.  "And that's definitely love shining in her eyes right now.  I wish you both happiness."

"Back at you, Dottie," he murmured before turning in the counselor's direction to find she was watching him with an affection-filled smile while listening to the Del Vecchios talk around her.  "I'll see you later."

Drawn to her glow like a moth to a flame, Jon continued his trek across the room to the woman who floated just above it.

Logic told him that there was still the whole matter of getting through a trial and a divorce that may take months, but that was a concern for the morning.  Tonight, Chiara deserved to celebrate and he planned to make sure that she did. 

“Counselor,” he greeted, his palm coming to nestle into the bare dip of her back while warm lips glanced against her temple.   “You want to hang out here and party with your family a while?”

Earthy brown eyes glittered with flakes of gold as she beamed up at him, and Jon's hand developed a mind of its own, shifting to skate a thumb along the softness of her cheek while she asked, “I thought you had plans for us?”

“I do, but there’s no hurry.  Tonight is yours.”

“What about you?  Are you mine?” came the coyly posed question, accompanied by batting eyelashes and all. Magic combination, phase of the moon or just the age-old mystery of love itself...  It didn't matter.  The only thing Jon needed to know was that he could effortlessly fall for this woman all over again.

“I’m included in the ‘tonight’ package,” he confirmed as at least one of the brothers groaned. 

“For cryin’ out loud, you’re gonna make me puke with all the love and affection.”

The counselor was completely unaffected and didn’t even bother looking Dominick’s way before pleasantly ordering, “Bite me.”

“Don’t listen to him Charlie,” Vivi’s eyes bored holes into her husband’s.  “Every woman should be lucky enough to have a man undress her with his eyes while his heart beats in her hands.  It’s been so long since I’ve seen it, I wasn’t sure such a thing still existed.”

“Aww, Vivi, you know I’m just kidding.”  Pulling his wife into his embrace, Dominick whispered something that made her giggle. 

“Being single sucks.”  Luke’s dark eyes lifted pathetically to the ceiling as he stepped in to take Jon’s hand and offer a one-armed hug.  “But it has served it’s purpose well.  If I wasn’t pathetic enough to escort my sister for a night, we sure as hell wouldn’t be here now.  I’m gonna go find my own non-family date for the night, but thanks again, man.”

“You’re the one who kept throwing her at me, so if I can help you out with a hook-up, say the word.  I know a few women.”  The offer had no more been issued when Jon was grunting at the force of Chiara’s elbow in his ribs.  “Jesus, Counselor, relax!  If I’d wanted any of them, I would’ve had them already.  I play for Team Monogamy, now.  Remember?”

His protest was growled with annoyance, but on the inside he was smiling.  Later tonight, she’d be crowning him MVP of that team.  

“Just making sure you remember.” 

While she may not have been impressed with the size of Jon’s… contact list, Luke clearly was.  “Let me get back to you on that,” he said thoughtfully.  “It’s almost like asking Santa for whatever you want, and I don’t wanna screw it up.”

“He just wants to screw,” Vince snorted with waggling eyebrows. 

“Fuck you.  You have no idea what it’s like to come home to a dark apartment every night.”

It was presented with a healthy dose of Italian sarcasm, but Jon sensed that there was an underlying sincerity to those words.  Luke envied the relationships his siblings had, and it had Jon speculating long and hard about who he knew that might be in the market for something more than a hook-up.

“I might have a couple of suggestions,” he told the man responsible for introducing him to Chiara – as Chiara, for that matter.  “If I can beg a very small favor, I’ll let you know.  Maybe not tonight, but soon.”

Another twenty minutes of shooting the bull with the counselor’s family and meeting some of her other acquaintances, and he was done.  He’d accepted too much thanks for something that had very little to do with him.  Jon was more interested in expressiong his own appreciation to the woman who’d leapt buildings in a single bound tonight.  Fortunately, when he sought her eyes, she was in the process of seeking his to mouth, “Let’s go.” 

That’s all the encouragement he required to drop an arm around Chiara’s shoulders and scuttle her out of there, stopping only long enough to pick up her wrap and his sports jacket.  In under two minutes, he was impatiently stabbing the elevator call button with a cuddly woman plastered to his side. 

“In a hurry?” Her murmured question was delivered with a warm smile as he sent out the one-handed text to the driver.

“Kind of.  You want to go out to dinner?  Drinking?  Dancing?  What would you consider the perfect celebration?”

Stepping between the open elevator doors, she twirled on her high heel and slipped a hand into his as the doors eased shut again.  “I haven’t been in the same bed as you for almost a week.  My vision of perfection involves a naked New Jersey Adonis between my legs, making me scream so loud and often that I have no voice in the morning.”

That pretty well fit his version of perfection, too.  There was only one slight enhancement he had to add, and it was a safe bet that she wouldn’t complain. 

“Spend the night with me at my place?”

“We’d have to go get Nana.”

Jon bussed a kiss over her knuckles before relaying the favor he'd mentioned earlier. “Luke said he’d take her to his place for the night.”

“Oh.”  A grin settled comfortably in place and a careless shrug pushed her shoulders up.  “Then your place it is.”

“Good.  There’s just one little thing to take care of first, so bear with me for a minute,” he requested as they arrived on the ground floor.

“Okay.”

A quick glance around confirmed that they were inside the hotel doors that emptied onto Broadway , and he strolled purposefully toward the exit as his eyes scanned the busy street outside.  When he spotted the black Lincoln sliding up to the curb, he halted their progress just short of the double glass doors.

“Wait here for just a second.”

The quiet command caused a miniature frown to mark her features, but even as she drew her brow down with confusion, dark hair bobbed along with her nodding head.  “Alright.”

Gracing her with a smile of appreciation, he intentionally left his ever-present sunglasses in his jacket pocket and pushed one of the doors open without passing through.  It took only a split-second for Jon to find what he sought, and he lifted his fingers for a sharp, shrill whistle that split the air. 

Every head in the vicinity whirled his direction, and with a nod of satisfaction, he turned back to the hotel lobby. 

Extending a silent hand of invitation to the woman inside, he smiled when she willingly accepted his grasp.  It took only the slightest tug of encouragement before Chiara allowed him to guide her through the throng of pedestrians cramming Broadway on a Sunday night to the car door that stood open for them. 

Instinct had her ducking to climb in the back seat, but another slight tug of her hand conveyed that he had slightly different plans. Her happiness and utter contentment were evident in the way she obediently remained on the sidewalk with him, without argument, and he took further advantage of that when her question-filled eyes lifted to his. 

Gently - ever so gently - he tucked a hand under the delicate point of her chin, urging it toward the New York skyline.  Doe-like eyes softened as he took full advantage of his acting lessons to dramatically prolong the moment, his lips resisting gravity by hovering above hers for untold moments until the magnetic pull would no longer be defied

The expected flashes of light registered behind closed lids as his tongue slicked inside her mouth and swallowed the sultry sigh of acceptance.  The counselor's acceptance shifted into possessiveness with the fingers knotting in the back of his hair, and the seductive scratch of nails over his nape invited the kiss to go deeper. 

To his vivid songwriting imagination, not only was her heart and countenance lighter tonight, but so was her flavor.  Buoyant and crisp like his favorite wine, she tasted of the same joy that lit her eyes at the end of their clinging kiss.

“Now,” he murmured with his own share of joy as cameras continued capturing the moment.  “Now, it’s official.”