“Thank you, baby,” she says.
“You’re welcome, Mama,” I say as Luca and Marco mimic me. I take a long swig before glancing over at my brothers. “You two are dead to me.” Marco and Luca totally set me up to look like a damn idiot, so it serves them right that they’re about to get in trouble with Mama.
Mama’s gasp has my smirk widening. Fair’s fair. Her eyes narrow on the two of them.
“What did you do, Luca?” Mama’s stern voice asks.
Luca feigns offense. “Mama. Why do you automatically assume it’s me? Maybe we actually helped him.”
She narrows her eyes, and I grin because that look has had our father quaking in his boots, and he’s the most strong-willed man I know. There’s no way Luca can hold out under the intensity of Mama’s gaze.
“In my defense, we had Gio’s best interests at heart . . .” There’s no one else in this world who could have Luca Rossi nervous other than Mama. Then again, it’s the same for all three of us brothers.
Mama’s hands move to her hips and she quirks a brow, an invisible red warning sign flashing above her head. “Again, Luca, what. Did. You. Do to my boy?”
I can’t stop the snorted laugh that escapes me.
He doesn’t answer, and Marco doesn’t say a thing either, choosing to stay quiet with his arms wrapped around Renee’s waist. To her credit, Renee looks clueless, which means she wasn’t in on my brothers’ ruse.
I continue my quest to decimate my brothers with death via Mama. “Ma, I have a new roommate. Her name is Alex—Alexandra.”
Mama’s face brightens immediately, and I inwardly groan at my mistake because one of her goals in life is to marry off all of her children.
“Ma . . .” I warn her but she waves of her hand.
“That’s good news, Gio. Very good news.” Her voice is soft and warm. I’m going to have my work cut out for me when it comes to making sure Alex isn’t railroaded. Then, Mama frowns. “Wait . . . what do Marco and Luca have to do with this?”
“Oh, now I can help with this one,” Cohen announces from the back door, where he’s leaning against the frame, his son and my nephew, Austin, cradled in his arms. “Alex is the station’s new transfer from Iowa, and we all stupidly assumed that Alex was a man . . .”
“Which she’s not,” I add.
Cohen nods, his lips curving up. “Definitely not. Anyway, your sons thought they’d help out and suggest Gio’s place when she told us she was looking for a place to stay. And I’m guessing that Marco and Luca failed to tell G that Alex is, in fact, Alexandra.”
Mama shakes her head and looks at me. “I don’t understand. Why would her being a woman be a problem? You’ve lived with your sisters before. A woman’s touch around the house might be nice.”
“It will be, Ma. But since your sons didn’t tell me I’d be meeting a woman, our first encounter was a little awkward.”
“How awkward?” Cohen asks.
“There was a weird moment. And I may have had my gun on display,” I reply.
Her eyes widen, as Cohen’s low chuckle fills the air. Renee whirls around and stares at Marco, who—to his credit—holds his hands up in the air.
“Don’t look at me like that, Princess,” he says. “We didn’t tell him, but that’s because he assumed Alex being a firefighter meant she’d be a dude.”
Unfortunately, he’s not wrong . . .
Everyone’s eyes turn to Luca, who just shrugs. “What? Why are you all looking at me? I didn’t pull a gun on an innocent woman who’s new to the city and has probably never seen a gun in her life.”
“Nah, she’s from Iowa. No way she hasn’t seen a gun,” Marco adds.
“Not with all those hogs roaming the streets,” Cohen says with a nod.
“Wait . . . they don’t just have pigs walking down the road . . . do they?” Renee asks.
I snort and shake my head. “There’s more to Iowa than pigs.”
“There is?” Luca, Cohen, and Marco ask in unison, all of them with shit-eating grins on their faces.
“They also grow the most corn in the entire country,” Mama replies, grabbing the attention of everyone in the room. “What? I watch Jeopardy. It was one of the questions last week.”
I quirk a brow. “There was a topic about Iowa?”
“It was about grain production,” she continues. “Did you know that most of it isn’t even edible; it’s for stock feed. Anyway, enough about that. Tell me about this Alex.”
Now I’m the one with everyone’s attention. Sheesh, what is this? Interrogate Gio hour? “Um . . .”
“Wait . . . so even you don’t know much about her? Jeez, G. What if she’s a serial killer or something?” Val asks.
“She’s not a serial killer. She’s working on my truck, remember?” Marco replies.
Val doesn’t look convinced. “And? All you know is that she’s a girl, she’s a firefighter, and she’s from Iowa.”
“She’s got a twin brother,” I offer up, kicking myself for not asking my new roommate more questions. Then again, I was more focused on making up for my bad first impression than interviewing her.
Renee giggles and shakes her head. “That’s not much to go on, G.”
I shrug. “I got a good feeling from her. Besides, the Captain wouldn’t have approved the transfer if she wasn’t good people, right?” I ask Marco.
“Right. But still . . . what if she’s,” he whispers with a smirk, “a vegan?”
“Oh, she won’t be a vegan. She’s from pork country,” Luca says in a ‘duh’ tone.
Cohen arches a brow at my brother. “There are probably plenty of vegans and vegetarians in Iowa, Luc. The pig-to-person ratio doesn’t dictate whether people actually eat pork or not. Besides, even if she is, doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with her.”
“Who knows? I just know that I could never live without meat. More meat, I say!” Luca sends puppy-dog eyes Ma’s way. “Especially when it’s Mama cooking it.”
“Suck up,” I mutter against my bottle as Marco groans, Renee snickers, and Val rolls her eyes. Cohen just chuckles and shakes his head.
“Boys . . .” One look at Mama’s amused expression and warm gaze tells me she loves us bickering now just as much as she did when we were growing up. All we need now is for Skye to come in from outside where she’s helping Dad with the grill, and it would be like we were kids again.
“Shit,” Val groans. “You’re letting a complete stranger move in with you. This is going to be a disaster. She could be a con artist, or a complete crazy woman, or worse . . .” My sister drops her voice to a whisper. “She could be messy . . .”
I suppress a shudder. God, I hope Alex likes living in a clean house like I do. It’s bad enough when Luca comes over; I’m not sure I could handle a roommate who wasn’t tidy too. It’s not like I’m a complete germophobe. I just like to keep my space, my sanctuary, clean and ordered, with everything living in its rightful place. There’s nothing wrong with that. “We only just met a few hours ago and she’s moving in this afternoon. We’ll get to know each other as we go.”