Chapter Twenty-Three
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
LUCIANO
Palpable relief sweeps through my body at the sight of my wife seated at the top of the stairs, and her name leaves my lips as an impassioned growl. “ Viviana. ”
Her head snaps upright, and she uncurls herself from the little ball she reduced herself to. Even in the shadows, I see a faint silver gleam over the surface of her hazel eyes. A single strobe of moonlight illuminates the shine of a tear as it falls away from her cheek.
Panic rises in my chest. I don’t wait a second longer, taking the stairs two, three at a time to reach her. “Are you hurt?”
She scrambles to her feet, steadying herself on the railing just as I arrive. She sniffs once, holding her chin high. “I’m fine.”
The two words are thick with emotion, but cold and stiff in the same breath. She sounds anything but fine.
I capture her with hands on her biceps, searching the darkness for any sign of injury or harm. Physically, she appears unscathed, and my sky-rocketing pulse eases. I lift a hand to brush away the remnants of the tear from her cheek, but she swats my hand away.
I frown. “Your mother and father—I saw you speaking with them. What did they say to you?”
I’ll kill them. No matter the fact that their blood runs through Viviana’s veins—I’ll snuff the life from their lungs. Not before they suffer. They’ll weep, just as they’ve brought my little spitfire to tears—
Viviana scoffs, and the sound is uncharacteristically cold. It reminds me of the first night we met, and my entire being recoils at the wrongness of it. “Nothing. They didn’t say anything. Their words stopped being able to hurt my feelings a decade ago.”
I believe her, and my chest caves in because of it. A person can only take so much pain before they become numb to it, and I’ve known since our wedding night that Pietro and Gia Russo inflicted years of verbal abuse on my Viviana. They failed their youngest daughter, but she’s mine now.
“Then why did you run away?” Despite her iciness, I take a step closer. Like a repelling magnet, she shifts back, and pain splits me down the middle. “Why are you crying? Tell me, Viviana.”
“I wasn’t feeling well.”
She’s a convincing liar, but not convincing enough.
“You’re lying.”
Viviana holds my gaze, hard and unrelenting. “Okay.”
Okay? My temper flares, but only because I’m desperate to tear down the walls that she is rapidly constructing between us. I can’t imagine what could’ve possibly happened in the last ten minutes to cause such a drastic shift, except…
“Is this because of the dance with Gabriella?”
A muscle in her jaw twitches, and I know I’ve struck a nerve. “No, it’s not because of a dance, Luciano. It’s a me problem, okay? Whatever emotions I’m feeling right now are my own issue to deal with.”
My brows pull together at the riddle of her words. “Talk to me about it, then. Don’t ice me out.”
“I—” Her mouth opens and closes again, and she wets her lips with her tongue, as if preparing to speak. In the end, she just shakes her head and drops her gaze. “No. I’m fine.”
She’s absolutely not fine.
I want to take her by the shoulders and shake until she realizes that I want to help her. She was close— so fucking close—to opening up her heart to me. In the blink of an eye, it seems the progress we’ve made in the last month is gone.
Scrubbing a hand over my face, I turn away from her and sigh. “Okay. Next time, please don’t go anywhere without me or Lex. Even within the estate. It’s for your own safety.”
There’s a beat of silence, and I’m about to suggest that we return to the party or head back to our own home when she speaks, every word bitter and cold and sad.
“Why don’t you just let them kill me?”
I freeze, the muscles lining my spine going painfully stiff. Slowly, I face her again, and my voice is deadly calm. “What did you just say?”
“The people that killed Elenora,” she breathes, though her words lack the same bite and confidence as before. “Why not let them have me, too? Then you could find a more suitable wife… I don’t know. I just don’t believe an alliance with the Outfit is worth it.”
White hot anger pumps into my veins. I’m shaking.
“Worth what?” I ask, though her answer will merely be a confirmation at this point.
A small, broken sound escapes Viviana’s lips, and she rips her eyes away from me, blinking several times to stave away the tears brimming at their rims. “Please don’t make me say it.”
I take a deep pull of air into my lungs, and it cools the fire brimming in my blood—hardens it. “You think that I’m so unhappy in this marriage that I should let my enemies fucking kill you?”
Viviana shakes her head. Her bottom lip trembles before she pulls it between her teeth. “You deserve someone that makes you stronger. Someone like Gabriella o-or Elenora.”
Seeing my little spitfire in pain hurts more than any bullet or physical blow, ripping through my chest and leaving an empty void-like feeling within. How could I have been so blind to her hurt? How could I have allowed her doubt to fester into this gaping wound?
“You’re wrong,” I whisper after several moments of strained, heavy silence.
She looks up at me. “Sorry?”
“You’re wrong, ” I repeat, taking a slow, small step forward. This time, she doesn’t retreat. “I’m not unhappy in this marriage. In fact, I’m the happiest I’ve been in… well, as long as I can remember.”
It’s the truth. From a young age, I learned that our world punishes those who feel. If you love something, it will be used against you. Emotions are a weakness that the future don of the Cosa Nostra cannot afford, and I’ve lived my life according to that rule. Every conversation I’ve had and every relationship I forged, I maintained cold, professional detachment. That’s why my engagement to Elenora worked so well. There was no risk of love or affection growing between us.
I always intended for my relationship with Viviana to be the same.
But then, she made me laugh. She challenged me. She decorated my walls with bright paintings of oceans and traversed my halls in her baggy artist t-shirts. She adopted a dog the size of a pony and made me love the mongrel. She teased me. She laid her head on my chest and held me.
And suddenly, my world became a bit brighter. I had something— someone— to look forward to every morning. For the first time in my life, I opened my heart to another being, and it feels good.
“ Do not ever presume to think that you are not worth it to me,” I warn. We stand face-to-face now, so close that I can smell the sweet scent of orange blossoms and lavender and feel her cool breath against my lips. “This— our marriage —is what I want.”
Her wide, round eyes draw me in, and her breasts rise and fall in rapid breaths. When she whispers a reply, her words tremble. “You don’t want… more ?”
“More?”
Her cheeks flush pink.
“Our marriage,” she begins, throat bobbing once. “It’s in name only. ”
Ah. Now I understand. It’s a simple question with an easy answer.
If it were only up to me, Viviana would spend every day in my bed, spent and satisfied and worshipped like the little goddess she is. She wouldn’t be able to rise without my cum dripping down her thighs, and she certainly wouldn’t be questioning whether I could ever desire anything more than her.
But my desires hold no consequence. I’ll take whatever she is willing to give me. Viviana herself must answer the question she’s asked me.
My tongue darts out to swipe across my bottom lip, and I inch infinitesimally closer, cocking my head to the side.
“Do you want more, Viviana?”
“I—” She releases a small, shuddering breath, a darker blush caressing her skin. My blood warms. “I was asking you—”
I cut her off with a hand on the side of her throat, slipping to the nape of her neck and tangling in her honeyed brown waves. Her pulse flutters erratically beneath my fingertips.
“Say the word, cattivella. Say it, and I will claim you in every way possible. You’ll finally be mine in every facet of the word.”
Her lashes flutter closed, and I don’t know if she realizes that she shifts forward. The tips of our noses brush, her lips mere centimeters away from mine. She’s so close, I can practically taste her. Every breath draws her deep into my lungs, and I pray the summery scent of her ingrains itself in my flesh until the day I die.
She swallows, and I feel the movement of her throat beneath the palm of my hand.
At last, she dips her chin in a nod and opens her eyes to meet my gaze once more. She whispers her earth-changing answer, and my world tilts on its axis.
“I want more.”
Thank God.
Unwilling to endure another second without tasting this woman, I lower my face to hers and claim her lips with mine.
She gasps into my mouth, and I swallow it up. The kiss is deliberate and slow— thorough , offering Viviana the chance to grow accustomed to the feeling of our lips joined, my beard scraping against her chin and our mouths gliding against one another’s.
Her inexperience shows, and arousal consumes me because of it. She responds to the kiss with hesitant pecks, keeping her lips’ movements soft and sweet. Yet, with every passing moment, her uncertainty melts away.
I fist the hair at the back of her neck, tugging her head back to gain easier access to her mouth. My tongue dares to swipe against the seam of her lips, and the little moan she emits nearly makes my knees buckle. Viviana’s palms drag up the planes of my chest, rising until her fingers tangle in my hair.
Desperate to be inside of her mouth for the first time, my hot tongue laps at her bottom lip, begging for entrance. She parts her mouth to let me in, and she tastes better than I ever could have imagined. A broken groan rips from my chest, and her own lips become more fervent. She starts to mimic my movements, licking and sucking and grappling with my tongue. It all becomes quite messy and wet, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Luc…” She gasps my name without lifting her mouth from mine, though I sense the doubt creeping in. “Anyone could see us.”
“Let them see us,” I growl, busying myself in her neck. “I need you.”
If Viviana considered from pulling back, my lips skimming down the length of her slender neck stop her. She tilts her head to the side, and I dip my mouth to her chest, to the delectable neckline of her deep red dress. I tug at the bodice, lowering the fabric until her breasts heave and spill beyond their confines.
Dark pink nipples peek from behind the dress, and it’s one of the most erotic things I’ve ever seen. My lips envelope one of the rosy buds. I suck her deep into my mouth like a starving babe, and her palms land on the back of my head, holding me there.
“Oh!”
My cock hardens to the point of pain and strains against my zipper. Forgetting myself, I grasp her hip and haul her against my front, thrusting my own hips forward to grind against her warmth. She feels like fucking heaven.
I want more.
For weeks, I’ve imagined burying myself inside of her. Feeling her walls clamping down, protesting my size. Breaking through the thin barrier of tissue that represents her purity and bottoming out, filling her to the hilt. The archaic, primal part of me wants to see her virgin blood staining my cock.
My hips start rocking against her of their own accord, and pressure builds at the base of my spine every time my cock rubs against her pliant softness through our clothing.
“Tell me—” I release her nipple and capture her lips with my own again. She accepts me immediately. “Tell me to stop, and I’ll take you home. We’ll find a bed and I’ll be gentle. We’ll go nice and slow…”
“I don’t want you to stop,” she whispers against my mouth. Her hands caress my jaw, and she shakes her head, our noses brushing. “I don’t want gentle, either.”
Our gazes meet, and her eyes shine with sincerity beneath the haze of lust. I believe her.
It’s the only confirmation I need.
There will be time for slow exploration later. Endless days and nights for me to learn every curve of her body, to discover every spot that makes her squirm and scream. I’ll spend hours— days— mapping her body with my mouth. Between her legs, tasting her release as it coats my tongue and drips down my chin. When we’re both tired and spent, we’ll sleep with our bodies still connected, and I’ll wake her with shallow, slow thrusts as the sun rises.
But right now , we simply need the surety that she is mine and I am hers.
I peck her swollen lips one last time before taking a few steps down the staircase. She still stands at the top, a disheveled beauty plucked straight from my grandest fantasy. My eyes have adjusted to the dim lighting, allowing me to bask in her presence.
Jerking my chin toward the steps behind her, I unbuckle my belt and pull down the zipper of my pants. “Sit down and lay back.” I pull my shirt free from my pants and shrug out of the suffocating blazer, tossing it aside. My cock, now barely restrained by my boxer briefs, rejoices at the freedom. “Dress up to your waist.”
Viviana stares at me, lips parted and skin flushed. The bodice of her dress is rumpled and half-pulled off her body, and, as she slowly lowers to the steps, I admire her. Modest breasts that fit perfectly in my palm, slightly wide-set and rounded to absolute perfection. Those dark, hard nipples grace their peaks.
My little vixen of a wife never looks away from my heated gaze. When she’s settled on the steps, she leans back against the stairs behind her, and her delicate fingers gather her dress. Higher and higher, the dark red satin creeps up her legs, revealing miles of golden, bare skin.
I almost fall to my knees when the fabric bunches at her waist and she spreads her legs wide. Nothing covers her glistening sex, and neat dark curls grace her mound. Absolute perfection.
I touched her the night in the club, but I didn’t see her. And, God, she’s the most beautiful woman.
“Well?” She prompts, though her voice shakes with nerves.
Words fail me. I’m breathing through my mouth now like a feral dog. Eyes glued to her sex, I drop to my knees two steps below her. One hand grasps my cock over my briefs and pumps from root to tip. The other lands on the inside of her thigh, spreading her impossibly wider.
“I’ve wanted this from the moment I laid eyes on you. I hated myself for it,” I murmur, allowing my hand to drag up her mound and back down again.
She’s propped up on her elbows, hooded hazel eyes watching my every move. Her breasts rise and fall with every deep inhale, and I can’t stop myself from pinching a hardened nipple. She whimpers, her teeth dragging against her bottom lip.
My palm rubs against her clit, and her slick heat coats my skin. A smirk curls on my lips. “You’re wet for me already, cattivella? ”
Viviana shoots me a glare and answers by rocking her hips forward, and her naked flesh rubs harder against my palm. I chuckle and extend my middle finger until it’s notched at her center. She’s wet enough that, with a tilt of her hips, it easily slips inside, just to the first knuckle.
The whites of her eyes expand, and a grunt of approval rumbles from my chest. “That’s a good girl.”
“Luc,” she pants, wiggling her hips in an effort to take my finger deeper. “I need to feel you inside of me.”
“My needy little wife.” I give her what she wants, adding my index finger to her opening and plunging both in to the hilt.
“ Oh!” Viviana’s body jolts at the intrusion. She sucks in a harsh gasp, and her walls clamp down on my fingers.
I severely underestimated how tight she’d be. A hissed curse escapes my lips, and, suddenly, I can’t wait to replace my finger with my cock. I begin pumping my fingers in and out of her, adding a centimeter more to the movement each time. All the while, my thumb circles her engorged clitoris.
“When we get home tonight, I’m going to take my time devouring you,” I promise, using my free hand to push her hips down when they start to buck. “There won’t be a part of you I haven’t tasted.”
Viviana’s gorgeous, lithe body starts to tremble. She clamps her eyes shut and throws her head back, and my ministrations on her clit grow more demanding. I need her to orgasm. I need her muscles relaxed and wrung out if she’s going to take my cock without too much pain.
She’s close. So fucking close.
Her walls begin to twitch and seize, and I decide to push her over the edge with brutal efficiency, finger-fucking her hard and fast. Seconds before she falls, I stretch my body over hers, pressing her back against the staircase and sealing my lips over hers in a kiss. When she spills over the edge, I swallow the sound of her cries.
Her orgasm lasts. I kiss her and whisper nonsensical praises as she comes down from the high. Her heartbeat pulses against my own chest, slowing down with every deep breath she pulls into her lungs. At last, I pull my fingers out of her core, and she whimpers at their abrupt absence.
“Viviana,” I murmur, peppering kisses to the corner of her mouth, down her neck and back up to the tip of her nose. “You’re the single most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
Her lashes flutter open at that, and a silver sheen glosses over her eyes. “Luc... I’m scared.”
Immediately, I lift my weight off of her. Fuck. It was too much, too soon. “We can stop.”
“No!” She protests, her hands flying to my shoulders to hold me in place. Both of her legs hook around my waist, realigning our hips. “No, I want this. I want you. That… That’s not what I’m scared of.”
“What’s on your mind? Let me help you.”
“I’m not used to this,” she whispers after a pause. “Being close to another person. Allowing myself to be vulnerable. I—” Her eyes trace my face in the dark, and when they meet mine again, I’m terrified of the intense wave of devotion that crashes over me. “Please don’t hurt me.”
She’s not talking about physical harm. I know that.
“Never,” I vow, dragging my hand over her cheek. “I just need you to trust me.”
She lifts her head up and connects our lips, heartbreakingly tender. “I do.”
Our kiss deepens, and we slowly melt back into one another. I lower my weight on her again, covering her little body. I cradle the back of her head with my forearm, allowing her to relax. My length nestles against her core, and a combination of her arousal and my own pre-cum drenches my briefs.
She moans against my lips. “Luc. I’m ready.”
I give her one more long, thorough kiss, reaching between our bodies to free my cock from its last barrier. It springs out, and fiery anticipation takes root in my groin.
My sweet wife cranes her neck in an effort to peek at my manhood. With our bodies pressed so tightly together, her attempts are in vain. Later, I’ll let her have her fun with me. Right now, I’d rather keep her blissfully ignorant of my length and girth. It would only make her nervous, and I need her relaxed.
My hand guides my tip to her entrance, and I rub my throbbing head up and down her slippery lips, taking extra time to circle and jerk against her sensitive clit. Viviana’s lofty moans mingle with the wet sound of my movements, a symphony of sin.
When I’m sufficiently lubricated with her arousal, I notch myself at her center and pause. “Take a deep breath for me, baby.”
She does, and I push in an inch—maybe two, considering the way her entire body seizes up at the intrusion.
“Oh.” Viviana gasps.
“Fuck,” I swear, closing my eyes and dropping my forehead against Viviana’s.
She’s too damn tight, and if I drive even a centimeter further, it’ll cause her pain. Her nails already dig into my biceps, and, even through the fabric of my dress shirt, they slice through skin. My body trembles with the need to push forward—to bury myself so deep in her sex that she’ll be molded for me forever.
“Keep going,” she prompts, her words a whispered breath against my lips. I open my eyes to find her already staring at me with a watery gaze.
I dare to thrust an inch further, and Viviana’s eyes clamp shut.
“You’re in pain.” I shake my head, our noses brushing. “We’ll stop—”
“ No. Please,” she begs, tightening her hold on my biceps. “Please don’t stop. I want this.”
I study her for one long moment and find nothing but determination written across her features. There’s no longer any pleasure on her face, but that’s to be expected. No matter how much I prepare her, the first time was bound to hurt. And yet, if I take her home and lay her down in bed, I can dedicate hours and hours to readying her…
She must read my hesitation. One of her hands lands on my cheeks, and her thumb strokes the corner of my mouth. “I can take it, Luc. Please… I want to be yours.”
Mine.
It’s that word that I repeat in my mind as I push all the way in. There’s a fraction of resistance, but I drive through it.
A sharp cry tears from Viviana’s mouth, and I try to distract her with my lips and touch. Gentle caresses. Nipping at her bottom lip then soothing it with a kiss, all while she adjusts to our joining. Her body simultaneously welcomes and protests my intrusion, squeezing my cock to the point of pain.
“That’s it, cattivella,” I pant, focusing on anything but the ecstasy tangling at the base of my spine, building at rapid speed from simply being sheathed in her heat. “You’re taking all of me. You’re doing so well. So, so well.”
For the longest time, I don’t move. I remain seated between her thighs, our bodies united in the simplest form of the word. It’s surreal. My body shudders, and my hips thrust forward on their own accord. It’s a shallow movement, but Viviana moans, nonetheless.
“S-so full.”
“The pain?” I prompt, arms shaking as I hold myself up.
“It’s getting better.” Her teeth drag over her lip. “Try moving again?”
I give another shallow thrust, and she flinches, but the vice-like tightness surrounding my cock relaxes. I take that as a sign to withdraw again, before slowly re-sheathing myself. We repeat the process, each time I push deeper and deeper until she’s taking my whole length again.
When we’ve built up a slow rhythm, Viviana wraps her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck. Every time I bottom out, I take extra care to grind my pelvis against her mound, brushing her clitoris.
Now, pleasure laces the little sounds escaping my wife’s lips. “Yes, yes, yes. Luc, I need…”
I know what she needs, but I want to hear her say it. “What do you need, cattivella. Use your words.”
Our eyes lock, and determination blazes in her hazel depths. “Fuck me, Luciano.”
I love when she calls me ‘Luc,’ but hearing her use my full name while I’m balls-deep in her pussy, begging me to fuck her, pushes me over the edge.
I pull my hips back and drive them forward with newfound intensity, and I swear the earth rattles around us. One of my hands wraps around her neck, but I only apply a slight pressure, just enough to hold her in place while I fuck her.
“You’re incredible.” It’s rough praise, but goosebumps pepper her skin in response. “Better than I ever could’ve dreamed. Like this cunt was made for me.”
She whimpers, her fingers clawing at my back through my shirt. “Luc… I-I’m going to come again.”
“Were you made for me, Viviana? Say it.”
“Yes,” she breathes, rolling her head back. “Made for you.”
“Made to be fucked like this,” I grind out from behind clenched teeth. I’m actively fighting against the pressure at my hips. “Every. Day. For the rest of our lives, Viviana. You won’t remember what it’s like to not be stuffed full of me.”
Viviana starts to tremble, her hips struggling to match my intense pace. With more practice, it’ll become second nature to her.
My breathing comes hard and fast, and my thrusts become harder to control. I release her neck and hoist one of her legs up, stretching her until the back of her calf rests on my shoulder. The new angle stuns me, and I nearly spill prematurely.
“ Oh!” Viviana’s mouth falls open as I hit that new spot, again and again.
Her core tightens, pulses, and I’m barreling toward a release that will ruin me. When her orgasm hits, Viviana’s walls clamp around me, sucking me deeper, deeper, deeper. I see stars. I erupt, giving over to the most intense orgasm of my life. Wave after wave crash over me, and my hips jerk, spilling streams of milky seed into her body until there’s nothing left. I collapse on top of her.
By the time we’ve both come down from our highs, we’re little more than a jumble of sweat and skin and wrinkled clothing. I push onto my hands and peer down at my wife, our bodies still connected at the hips.
“How do you feel?”
The smile that she gives me makes the organ in my chest swell. When she speaks, I’m ready to live and die for this woman alone.
“Like I’m yours and you’re mine.”
Finally.