Yes, Bali really was heaven, Veronica was sure of it. The warm water felt so good sliding down her body, as she quickly took a shower. She and Nic had spent the whole day touring the island. At the beginning of the tour, he was on his cell phone. At first it bothered her, because he was missing all of the sights, but then she thought about it. He probably did stuff like this all the time. His wife—ex-wife seemed like she had expensive tastes, so this was probably nothing to him. She had sighed and leaned her head against the window as their driver zipped them around the most picturesque locations on the island.
They drove by the native people while in their everyday activities. Working hard...much like she did back home. She wondered if they still enjoyed the beauty of their own home, or if that was only something foreigners could see. Everything seemed more abundant and unrestrained. Just so full of life. They were passing a waterfall when she felt Nic's strong arms gr
Veronica put on the peach colored string bikini, one of the many outfits Nic had snuck and bought her. It was definitely not something she was used to wearing, so she put on a short white ruffled skirt to feel a little more clothed. She pulled her thick curls into a messy ponytail and walked out of the door. She was meeting Nic at an outdoor bar by the beach. He had left early that morning for a run. She wished she could have gone with him, but her body just wouldn't get up. When he had left her, he was shirtless, with just a pair of shorts and shoes on. He had tucked his shirt behind him in his shorts, for later. He had looked so damn fine, that she wanted to pull him back in the bed. But he had kissed her and took off out of the door.Veronica reached the bar and sat down on a stool. She glanced around and noticed the other tourists, along with the locals. Everyone looked so happy and carefree. She knew the feeling. She ordered a pretty pink margarita and wait
She threw the covers from her body and walked over to him. She wrapped her arms around him. She usually wasn't so comfortable with her nudity, but he was rubbing off on her. "What's wrong?" she asked. "Nothing. I just can't sleep." "You wanna talk about it?" "No. Not really," Nic said. "Come on, you can tell me anything. I want to know." "I'm just used to bad things following the good." "What do you mean?" Nic turned around. "Nothing. Don't worry about it. I think it's time for another inspection?" he asked, looking her up and down. "Well, that depends. Are you a harsh critic?" "Absolutely," Nic said, before twirling her around and smacking her ass. Veronica belted out a yelp. "Perfect," Nic whispered, admiring her body more, while pulling her towards the bed. Their last night in Bali, Nic took Veronica to an upscale restaurant. Veronica freaked when there were no prices listed on
Jimmy sat patiently on the couch in Nic's office as Nic dialed Veronica again. The first time she didn't pick up. Jimmy tossed another pecan in his mouth and wiped his hands. He and his wife were supposed to be going to dinner with the new couple as soon as Veronica got off work. He glanced back over at Nic and waited."There you are. What time do you think you'll be here?" Nic asked.Jimmy watched as Nic's brow furrowed."What do you mean, you don't know? I thought you were going to leave early?" he questioned.Nic slowly sat down, and Jimmy saw a blank expression come across his features. Something Nic was hearing was obviously a problem of some kind. "Veronica...what happened?" Nic asked.Then Nic's face turned white. Pale white. Jimmy rose and walked over to the desk. What the hell was going on? Nic leaned over the desk and covered his face with his hand as he listened to whatever Veronica was saying."Are you okay?" Nic asked Veronica,
Veronica winced in pain from trying to pry her puffy eyes open. She sat up in Nic's bed and pushed her wild curls from her face. She glanced at the night stand for the time. 10 pm. She sighed. All the images from earlier that day came flashing back. The loud noise, screams and shattering glass. She was praying that it was just a nightmare, but she knew that wishful thinking was all in vain. But just as suddenly as those visions had come, Veronica couldn't breathe. She quickly grabbed her chest and forced herself to take deep gulps of air to calm her breathing.She finally composed herself, walked out of the room and down the long hallway. When she reached Nic's office door she was about to knock when she heard Nic's voice, more animated than she had ever heard before. She cracked the door open and saw Jimmy and Nic arguing."Nic, all I'm saying is you don't know for sure that Sonny did this. It could have been a number of people," Jimmy said."No. I know it was
In the car ride on the way to...well, wherever she was going, Veronica thought of her morning. She had woken up, had a big bowl of cereal and then went into work. Never in a million years would she have thought her day would turn out this way. One minute she's separating the marshmallows from the other bits of cereal in her bowl, the next she's caught in the middle of some mob war. Life was indeed strange. Jimmy had told her to go to sleep if she could, because they had a long way ahead of them. Her eyelids were heavy, and although she protested, she was asleep in no time.Jimmy glanced in his rearview mirror at Veronica. She had her head resting against the window and her eyes were shut. She was definitely a beautiful girl. And one of the sweetest people he had ever met. He really hated that she was going through this and he couldn't imagine what Nic must be feeling. No one had ever tried to hurt Jimmy's family. Ever. He hoped that Sonny wasn't involved. Because if he was, t
"Mio figlio!" Veronica heard Marianna say, as she walked back into the kitchen, and proceeded to talk to Nic in Italian. So much for eavesdropping."How long do you think I'll have to be here, Jimmy?" Veronica whispered."I'm not sure. Hopefully no more than a few days. Why, is Marianna already getting on your nerves," Jimmy smiled."No! No, I mean, she's great as far as I can tell. She's so friendly. It's just that I miss Nic already. And I'm sure you miss your family."Jimmy patted her on the back. "It should only take a few days to get everything sorted out, and then it should all go back to normal.""Jimmy! Get in here..per favore!" Marianna yelled from the kitchen. "Nic wants to speak with you again."Jimmy laughed. "I love that woman," he said, before he hopped up and walked further into the kitchen.After dinner Veronica could hardly keep her eyes open. She felt like she had already slept most of the day away, but her eyes just
The next morning, Veronica awoke with sunlight streaming down on her. She wiped her eyes and walked to the window and peered through. Her mouth dropped wide open. All she could see was plush green land, a creek and several horses. She saw a stable in the distance and a few other animals. This was a ranch. She had never been to a ranch before. She ran into the bathroom to take a quick shower.When she was done, she finally opened her suitcase. 'Damn Minka,' Veronica thought, as she rummaged through all of the short, tight designer clothes Minka had picked out for her. Nothing in her bag even remotely looked comfortable. But at least she had packed her Converse for her. She put on a cute shirt and skirt, and pulled her hair back into a ponytail.Veronica walked downstairs, to find Jimmy and Marianna sitting at the kitchen table laughing and sipping coffee."Good morning!" Marianna said in a cheery tone, getting up to give Veronica another bone crushing hug and kis
"And this is Juliet, my baby girl. She's a spunky one," Marianna said with a smile. "She travels a lot. She never spends more than a few months to a year in any place. Right now she's backpacking through Europe for the third time with her new boyfriend. And from there she said they plan to settle down for a year somewhere in Australia," Marianna said, rolling her eyes. "I love her to death, but I told her to settle down and find a husband. I'm not getting any younger...and speaking of that, do you want babies?" Marianna asked.Veronica almost choked on her coffee. "Um, I would like to have children some day. I'm not sure--""—how many do you want?" Marianna interrupted."Oh, well I'm an only child, so I guess one.""What?! One! No, Nic's Italian...he's not going to do just 'one'. Nope. You need four or five to have a good size family, you know," Marianna said."Well, I don't think Nic wants kids in his line of work," Veronica said."Oh, tush, he'l