The Accardi Twins: A Mafia Romance Duet

Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

Caleb

I hang up on security and review the state of my living area with mounting panic. “Shit!” It’s a complete mess, and I don’t want Lili seeing it like this. Racing to the kitchen, I grab a trash bag from under the sink and run around my kitchen and living room, scooping all the empty bottles and takeout cartons into it. I should have implemented Joshua’s suggestion and asked the cleaning company to come by every day. I make a mental note to call them later.

The bell chimes as I stash the bag in the hall closet, cringing at how messy the place still is. But there isn’t anything I can do about it now. I’m not leaving Elisa at the door to change her mind.

Striding down the hallway, I grin to myself. I knew she wouldn’t stay mad at me for long. She never does. Lili is just too sweet and kind. Ignoring the strange sensation whirling in my chest, I swing the door open sporting a wide smile. I stumble back as her small fist lands squarely in my nose, shocking the shit out of me. Pain radiates from my nose and across my cheeks. There was nothing feeble about that punch, and I’m feeling the consequences now. “Ow.” I dab at the tiny trickle of blood seeping from my nose. “Who taught you to throw a punch?”

“Alesso,” she says, storming past me into my apartment.

I don’t know whether to thank him or kill him.

“I know you’re angry I lied to you, but?—”

She twirls around, fixing me with a poisonous look I’ve never been on the receiving end of before with her. She looks fucking gorgeous in a flower-patterned, knee-length skirt and a fitted black top under a black leather jacket. Her hair is down, just how I like it, with wavy strands tumbling over her shoulders and down her back. Her stunning hazel eyes are ablaze with indignation, matching the pink flush on her high cheekbones and the pouty jut of her full lips.

Lili is exquisite.

Prettiest girl I have ever seen.

I have always known this but refused to admit it because then I’d have to confront the feelings I’ve pushed away and shoved deep down inside for years.

But the lid is off, and I’m denying nothing anymore.

Even though I’m most likely all wrong for her, I want her too badly to do the right thing and walk away.

I’m going to be selfish to my core and fight like hell to reclaim her heart.

“You, you—” She jabs one slim finger in my chest. “How dare you pull a gun on my boyfriend!” she screams, glaring at me like she’d love to chop my head off my neck. “You had no right to show up at my place and threaten him.” She throws her hands in the air. “What the hell is wrong with you?” She shakes her head, briefly looking around, and her face contorts in a grimace. “Seb doesn’t know anything about la famiglia , and I want to keep it that way. You showing up and shoving a gun in his face isn’t fucking helpful.”

“Damn, your cursing really gets my juices flowing.” I waggle my brows and move in closer. My gaze drops to her tempting lips as my dick stirs to life. “Angry Lili turns me on like you wouldn’t believe.”

Her eyes pop wide. “What?” she splutters.

I risk moving a step closer until there’s only scant distance between us. “I like this side of you.” I reach up and thread my fingers through her hair before leaning into her ear. “I like every side of you. You’re perfect, Lili.”

“What are you doing? What even is this?”

“I like you, Lili. I like you a lot.” She stares at me with confusion etched all over her face. I need to do better. Swallowing a sudden bout of nerves, I force the words from my mouth. “I think I love you.”

She blinks rapidly, shock written all over her face. I spot the moment she snaps out of it. “You think you love me?”

I nod, clasping the back of her head and drawing her face closer until our mouths are only a hair’s breadth apart.

“What…what are you doing?” she whispers, watching me devour her lips with my eyes.

“I’m going to kiss you.”

She shoves me so hard I stumble over my feet.

“Like hell you are!” She steps around the kitchen counter, placing a solid barrier between us.

“I’m putting the cart before the horse, I know, but this doesn’t have to be complicated. You like me. I like you.”

She snorts out a laugh, muttering under her breath. “Are you seriously for real right now, Caleb?”

I frown. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

She throws her hands in the air as anger replaces the dazed look on her face. “Oh, I don’t know. What about how you’ve ignored me for years while you screwed your way across the city? Or how you’re suddenly interested in me now I have a boyfriend.” She leans her palms on the counter and glares at me. “Or how about the fact you only think you love me?” Fire dances in her eyes, and I’m seriously aroused. I adjust my dick behind my jeans, purposely not disguising the motion.

Elisa glances briefly at my crotch before lifting rage-filled eyes to meet mine. “And let’s not forget the biggest reason of all. You had sex with the girl who’s made my life a living hell at NYU, or did you forget you let her take a ride on your dick?” she shouts.

“I didn’t know she was that girl, or I never would’ve fucked her.”

“The reason how it came to be really doesn’t matter. It doesn’t change the facts.”

“She set it up to cause you pain, and I am going to make her pay.”

“If that’s true, it only worked because you fell for it. If you weren’t such a fucking manwhore, she never would’ve been able to hurt me like that. So who is really at fault, Caleb?”

Shock flitters through me at her words and the venom laced behind them. Worry creeps up my spine. “I wish I could take it all back.”

“But you can’t, and it’s irrelevant now anyway. I have moved on. I’m over you,” she says, emerging from behind the protection of my island unit. “I am sooooo over you.” She looks at me like she means it.

Panic jumps up and slaps me. “I lied about how it went down. I didn’t know who she was, who they were. They tricked me.”

“And you lied because my dad told you to cut me loose. I know, and I don’t care anymore.” Resignation threads through her tone, and my panic accelerates a few notches.

“I want to take you on a date,” I blurt like a thirteen-year-old geek with his first crush.

Sadness shrouds her beautiful face. “There was a time that would’ve made me ecstatically happy, but that time has passed.”

Remembering what my brother said in the car on the way to Cartier yesterday, about making myself vulnerable and showing her the real me, I prepare to admit some truths. “I’ve never been on a date. Never asked anyone out. You’re the first. Deep down, I was saving this for you. I don’t know the first thing about being in a relationship, but I’m willing to try for you because you mean everything to me, Lili.” Raw sincerity bleeds from my eyes and my voice as I open myself up in a way I have never opened myself up to any other woman. “I’m sorry it took me so long to get on the same page, but I’m there now.”

Her jaw momentarily trails the floor before she picks it back up. “I wish I could believe it, but I don’t believe a word that comes from your mouth anymore, Caleb.”

“Please, Lili.” I tentatively step toward her. “I know I have fucked up real bad when it comes to you, but let me make it up to you. At least let me try.”

“You can’t undo the fact you had sex with my enemy. And you’re too late, Caleb. It’s just too late. I’m worn out from the effort involved in loving you. It took too much from me, and now it’s time I put myself first.” She steps right up to me with defiance in her eyes. “You’re not good for me, and I don’t want to be an experiment. I want to be with someone who loves me for me. Someone who doesn’t deny the truth for years while screwing around with anything in a skirt. I want someone who would never hurt me like that. Someone who puts me first, and I will never come first in your life. Someone like me could never satisfy someone like you, and vice versa.”

“That isn’t true.” I snatch her hand as she moves to walk away from me. “You are all I need and want. My past, the way I’ve behaved, it was never about you. It was always about me. I never believed I was worthy of you. Of love. Of having the things my brother craved, but I was wrong. About a lot of things.”

“If you’re having some kind of epiphany, I’m glad for you because you deserve to be happy, Caleb.” She yanks her hand out of mine. “It just won’t be with me.”

Pain infiltrates every nook and cranny as I watch her walk down the hallway and out of my life. She stops with her hand curled around the handle, casting a glance back at me. “I like Seb, and I’m committing to my relationship with him. If you think you love me, you won’t mess this up for me. Leave him alone, Caleb. Let me be, and maybe in time, we might be friends again, but that’s all we will ever be.” Steely determination resonates in the look she gives me. “You had your chance, and you blew it. Now you get to watch from the sidelines while I’m with someone else. Let’s see how you like it.”