Arya's POV -

The next morning I woke up at around 8 AM. I tried to fall back asleep for another hour or so since Rome was passed out beside me but I couldn't contain my excitement to meet Rome's cousin and his family.

Normally It was Rome who woke me up but today it looks like It's the opposite.

Turning to my side I stare at his gorgeous face for a few moments before lifting my finger and tracing his jaw.

He doesn't move after I trace his face for a few minutes which means he's definitely in a deep sleep.

Scooting closer to him so our bodies are touching, I begin to pepper little love kisses wherever I can.

His jaw.

His nose.

The small stud piercing on his nose.

His forehead.

His chin.

Anywhere and everywhere.

He makes a small sound in the back of his throat which indicates that he's starting to wake up. I hope.

"Come on," I whine and move my lips to his cheekbones, pressing one there. I then run a hand through his crazy bed hair. The strands are falling all around his face.

My eyes widen when he shifts and wraps an arm around me, tugging me on top of his chest.

"Rome!" I yell and a chuckle escapes his lips, his eyes slowly opening and he gives me a lazy smile.

"I wanna meet your cousin and his family." I tell him and he hums. He moves his head up to kiss me but I turn at the last second making his lips touch my cheek.

"Morning breath!" I flail around and try to escape his hold but he scoffs quietly and grabs my face, tilting my head back to him and connecting our lips.

I groan in disapproval but don't even try to pull away.

After kissing and holding onto each other for 10 minutes we finally get up. I bounce in excitement before making my way to my suitcase and grabbing a fresh pair of clothes.

Taking out one of the long sleeves and a dark red jacket to wear on top, I gather everything I need and head straight for the bathroom.

Quickly changing and then brushing my teeth I pat down my hair to control my curls.

Rome enters the bathroom with nothing on besides his grey sweatpants hanging low on his lips. I try to prevent drool from escaping my mouth.

He eyes the face I'm making as I helplessly stare in admiration. He brushes his own teeth and attempts to fix his own hair.

I leave him to it before I attack him for looking so beautiful. I change my socks and grab a pair of shoes. Glancing out the window I watch as the snow falls, painting the buildings white.

"Ready, sweetheart?" I didn't realize I've been looking outside for so long because when I turn Rome is dressed and ready in his own warm clothes.

Nodding I take his outstretched hand. He presses a small kiss to my knuckles and we head out the door. I watch as he places the key in his jacket pocket.

We meet James and Elijah in the lobby and quickly eat breakfast provided by the hotel. It was delicious.

Our cars are waiting for us out front when we get outside. I waste no time in getting inside the heated car cause It's freezing.

"So Matteo is your cousin and Giana is his wife? And then they have a 5 year old son named Gavino?" I recall Rome's words and hope I got all the names right.

"You're right baby, It'll only be about a 10 minute drive to get to their house."

I smile and look out the car window. The houses out here are so much more different then back home. It's truly fascinating. The way some of them are set up and right on the ocean is so cool.

Soon we pull up to a rather large looking home.

Rome knocks on the door with Elijah and James standing behind us. I felt slightly nervous because this was the first of Rome's family I was meeting.

My boyfriend must sense it because he interlaces our fingers and gives me a look of reassurance.

"Ah è così bello vedervi tutti, è passato troppo tempo!" A woman says when she answers the door. I'm guessing this was Giana. She was really beautiful with her curly black hair falling down past her shoulders and light brown eyes. She was also super tall, way taller then me that's for sure.

(Ah It's so good to see you all, It's been too long!)

She lets us all inside and gives brief hugs to the three men.

"Gianna come stai?" James asks with a smile and her eyes brighten.

(Giana, how are you?)

"Sono stato bene ma Gavino sta facendo impazzire Matteo e io."

(I've been well but Gavino is driving Matteo and I crazy.)

Giana's gaze then moves to me and I give her a small smile.

"È questa la ragazza che ha catturato il cuore del don italiano?"

(Is this the girl whose captured the heart of the Italian don?)

Rome nods and I'm put into shock when Giana pulls me into a hug. However I don't hesitate to hug her back.

"I've heard a lot about you, Arya. You're very beautiful and It's about time someone tames Rome over here." She says and Rome scowls while I laugh.

"Thank you Giana, you look amazing as well."

"Mamma! Mamma!" A boys voice shrieks from in the house and Giana sighs, shaking her head.

Running footsteps are followed and then a small boy is running at us. Well at Giana.

However right as Giana bends to pick him up Gavino races past her and clings onto Rome's legs.

"Roma sei qui!"

(Rome you're here!)

"Hey little man, how are you?" Rome picks him up and my heart swoons. Elijah ruffles his hair while James gives him a smile making the boy grumble.

"I'm good!" Rome places him back down and the boy turns to me, his brown eyes widening.

"Pretty!" He rushes to me and now hugs my legs. I laugh and so does everyone else. Well besides Elijah of course but he doesn't look unhappy which is a good sign.

"Hi Gavino, I'm Arya."

"Arya, pretty." He hugs my legs tighter.

"Where's Matteo?" Rome questions to Giana.

"Ah, in his office like always. That man needs to take a break."

"I'll go find him." Rome says, pressing a kiss to my forehead before walking off somewhere in the house.

Giana turns to me with a wide grin on her face. "He is definitely madly in love with you. I'm so glad he's found you."

I blush.

"Oh yeah he definitely is. Head over heels." James says, picking up Gavino when he makes grabby hands at him.

"So what about you two?" Giana eyes Elijah and James. "Any girls in your life?"

James chuckles, "I don't have a lot of time for a girlfriend."

"Rome does," She gives the man a pointed look. "And he's the don. I'm sure you could find time if he does."

"Fine, I just don't want a girlfriend at the moment."

"Hmm," She hums and then flits her eyes to Elijah who hasn't answered.

"Well?" She places her hands on her hips and I find it ironic for some reason.

"No." He says simply and Giana rolls her eyes.

"You'll both end up alone. You need to find love eventually."

"Find love?" Elijah's face morphs into one of slight disgust.

"That won't happen." He says blankly.

"There's someone out there, trust me boys. You just need to find the one. Just like Rome has." Giana gives me a wink and I bite my lip.

"James, Elijah! It's been a while." Another voice says from the doorway before walking over to us. That must be Matteo because he looks a bit similar to Rome in some ways. Rome follows behind him and comes to my side.

Matteo has green eyes that are a bit lighter than Rome's. However his black hair is just like Rome's except It's more wavy than curly. Matteo is just about Rome's height as well with a few tattoos on his arms.

After they greet each other Matteo looks my way. "It's about time I finally meet you. I'm Matteo, Rome's cousin." Matteo lifts my hand to his lips and presses a small kiss to it.

"It's nice to meet you Matteo, I'm Arya."

"Oh I know." He smiles, "Rome has talked about you a lot."

"Stai zitto." Rome snaps.

(Shut up.)

"Arya! Pretty!" Gavino reaches for my legs again and I smile.

Matteo rolls his eyes and grabs Gavino, lifting him and pressing kisses to his cheeks making the boy giggle.

Giana walks over and presses a kiss to Matteo's cheek.

"You call that a kiss?" He scoffs, pressing his lips to hers and Rome sighs harshly.

"Don't be mean," I scold, lightly slapping his chest and his eyes dart down to mine.

"Gross!" Gavino chirps, watching his parents kiss.

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Giana places down a mug of hot chocolate on the table for me, holding her own in her hand as she sits on the couch next to me.

Rome and the rest of the guys went into Matteo's office to talk about 'business' which means mafia related.

Gavino retreated back to his room doing who knows what.

"Do you like Italy so far? Even though you haven't seen much of it yet."

I take a sip of the warm drink and nod. "I love it, I've never travelled."

"Really?" She looks surprised. "Your parents never took you on a vacation or anything?"

No...

"We didn't really have time to travel, you know with school, work and all."

"Hm, odd." She mumbles more to herself and I quickly take more sips of the hot chocolate.

"So how did you meet Rome? Matteo never told me and I'm not even sure if he knows." She asks and I smile at the memory.

*Flashback*

Suddenly frantic footsteps were heard behind me and my eyes widened as a man sprinted past me and towards the bathrooms. I caught a glimpse of his older looking face and dark brown hair.

I looked around only to see that no one was even paying attention, was I the only one who saw that?

Shrugging it off, I turned back to the menu, only to hear the door jingle again.

I had expected to maybe hear more frantic steps, but I only heard slow, calculating ones.

I swallowed thickly as I felt someone loom over me, maybe they were just waiting in line?

I heard the clearing of a throat, and I swallowed again before slowly turning around to face whoever this was.

And as I did, I felt the world stop and my head spin in circles.

Because in front of me, had to be the most gorgeous man I have ever laid eyes on.

And he was staring straight down at me.

*End of Flashback*

I guess Rome was trying to catch that man in the bathroom back then. Yikes I ratted him out.

"So he was in the middle of hunting someone down and you were caught in the fire?" She laughs and I nod because that pretty much sums it up.

"That's crazy, I wonder if your paths would have ever crossed if you weren't in that place the same time he was."

I guess we'll never know.

"Yeah, I'm really glad I met him that day. Even back then even though he was terrifying he was gorgeous at the same time." She listens intently and grins.

"I'm glad you found each other, Rome needs someone good in his life. Un amante nella sua vita."

(A lover in his life.)

"You all speak Italian and it drives me crazy! Even Gavino." I practically yell and she bursts out into laughter.

"It must be hard."

"Rome told me you and Matteo were put into a forced marriage?" I ask more like a question incase I was wrong.

"We were but luckily we caught feelings for each other quite quickly, that usually doesn't happen in most forced marriages."

"How did it happen?"

"Our parents decided it for us and we didn't have any say in it. We were lucky." She smiles, her eyes shining with love.

"I'm glad it worked out then. I don't think I could marry someone I'm not in love with."

"Well that won't be a problem for you and Rome will it?" She nudges my shoulder and takes a sip of her hot chocolate.

I turn my head away and smile to myself. No, It's not a problem at all.

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Rome and the rest of them finally came out of Matteo's office after what seemed like forever. Giana scolded all of them saying they work too hard.

"The mafia never rests, love." Matteo said to his wife.

We all talked for a few more hours about anything and everything. I loved the Accardi's, which I learned was their last names. They were so easy to get along with, especially Gavino who came back down and stayed near me, stating the word 'pretty' every five minutes.

As we were saying our goodbyes Matteo signaled for me to come over to him.

"Rome's really lucky he found someone like you." He tells me when I reach him.

I smile up at him but feel a bit intimidated. He's as tall as Rome so it makes me look short.

"Just by looking at him I can tell he's happier. His face isn't completely dull anymore. Keep working your magic." He gives me a comforting pat on the shoulder before moving to talk to Rome.

My chest fills with warmth at his words. But I think I'm the one whose lucky. I look over at Rome and he gives me a wink from his position before conversing with Matteo again.

"We'll head to the club a different night since I want to take you somewhere today, yes?" Rome says once we're situated inside the car. "Elijah and James will join us as well."

"Okay!" I say excitedly and then wave out the window towards the family standing at the doorstep.

"Tell me mi armor," He says, turning and I can see amusement dancing in his eyes.

"Do you know how to ski?"