Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 87704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
I bark a laugh. As she stares at the ceiling, her face lights up with a wide, pleased smile.
“You did,” I tell her. “But it wasn’t the sex that did it. From the moment I saw you, I was ruined.”
She twists to look at me better, and her dark eyes are soft. “Antonio Venturi. I never would have imagined you were such a romantic.”
“I’m Sicilian. We’re born with nothing but passion in our veins.”
“Passion, yes, but sweetness?”
“I eat a lot of cannoli.” I pat my trim belly, and she laughs, stroking my cheek, my brow, my temple. It’s been a long time since I let a woman close to me like this, and it feels good in a bone-deep way I don’t want to lose.
“Do you like Maryland?” I ask as my mind becomes a runaway train.
“It’s nice,” she says. “Safer than here.”
“The people?”
“We live outside of Baltimore, but there’s a big Italian American community there.”
“But you miss this city?” The hope in my voice is pathetic and needy.
Her expression turns serious. “I don’t know, Antonio. This city… it comes with a sickness that makes it impossible for people like us to escape. All I wanted was to waitress enough to feed my family and look where I’ve ended up.”
“In my arms,” I say, my hope turning bitter.
“That’s not what I meant.”
I know what she means. She’s fallen into a hole of her father's making, unable to escape the ripples of the past. “You wouldn’t have to worry about that with us,” I say.
“Us?” Her eyes search my face.
“How I feel about you, Aemelia. What I want. My brothers feel the same.”
She blinks a few times and then closes her eyes. “It’s easy for a man to want a woman’s body,” she says.
I take her face in my hand, gripping hard enough to make her open her eyes. “If we wanted a body, Aemelia, there are others who come with far less complication.”
“Luca wants to break me, and Alexis wants to make me beg,” she whispers.
“And what do you want, my sweet girl?”
It takes her a long time to answer and when she does, I feel as though my heart will break. “Love,” she says softly. “The kind of love that will burn cities to keep me safe. I’ve spent my whole life fighting my own battles, and I’m tired, Antonio. So damned tired. I don’t want to fight anymore.”
“Then let us do the fighting for you, sweet girl. Let us be that for you.”
She smiles a watery smile, and I hold my breath for her answer, wanting more than anything to keep her and never let her go. “Maybe.”
“There’s no maybe, kitten. You can fight me, scream at me, hate me. I’ll still hold you when you cry. You can push me away, but I’ll always come back. I’m not a man who walks away from what’s his.”
I kiss her, deeply and possessively, wanting to make her see how twisted up I am over her and she moans, her fingers tugging my arm and my back. When I pull back to gaze down at her pretty face, she shivers, and I suddenly remember my gift, relieved to have another way of showing her I care. I reach for the bag, finding her staring at my half-hard dick with fascination. I get the feeling she’s had no experience of a man’s body before mine.
“I got you something,” I say, pulling out the robe. She smiles and reaches for it, bringing the soft fabric to her chest and pressing her chin into it.
She smiles shyly. “This is perfect, thank you.”
I help her push her arms into the sleeves, but she leaves it untied, her body still bared for my touch, and I gather her into my arms, holding her close, kissing her softly, wanting to make the moments after something she’ll remember. Because as much as I want to keep her, I know what the world is like.
The people we love who we wish could be with us forever can be taken from us when we least expect it.
27
LUCA
WHAT IT MEANS TO BE OURS
Antonio and Aemelia don’t appear until midnight is closing in, and Alexis and I are half asleep on the couch. Antonio’s pants are half undone, and Aemelia is wrapped in the thick, plush robe he bought her which swallows her small frame. Her cheeks are flushed, her lips swollen, and Antonio… he looks different. More at ease than I’ve seen him in years. The sharp edges of his face are smoothed by a rare, satisfied smile that’s shaved years off him.
“You almost took off the roof,” Alexis murmurs sleepily, holding up his thumb in approval.
“No sex talk,” Antonio says, shooting him a warning look that’s only fifty percent menacing. “You’ll embarrass the girl.”
“Nothing to be embarrassed about.” Alexis rubs his face, swiping away the last traces of sleep before straightening. “Nice robe. Antonio fingered a lot of them before he found the perfect one.”