11. Dario #2
“It is,” I agree, and then push things just a bit by adding, “Six months is a long period of transition, especially when coupled with these unsafe times.”
He raises a brow at me throwing his earlier words back at him, but doesn’t say anything.
“And Don Esposito?” I ask. “Are things well with him?”
“As well as can be expected,” Giuseppe says. “His wife still nags him every chance she gets, his ungrateful brat of a son is still gambling away all their money, but they haven’t been attacked if that’s what you’re asking.”
“The first part is unfortunate, but I’m glad to hear they haven’t lost any men.” I take a drink of the sparkling water while I look out at the sea view that I’ve missed so much.
“Dominic has a good head on his shoulders,” Giuseppe says, pulling my attention back to him.
“I’m not going to pretend I understand his desire to go to America instead of running the family from here like his father did, but I always respected his decision, and he’s done an admirable job of making this work.
He’s always been reasonable and never once stuck his nose in where it didn’t belong or try to take more than was his due. ”
“He’s a good don,” I agree, meaning every word of it.
Giuseppe meets my eyes and says, “Leonardo hasn’t earned that kind of respect from me. ”
I nod, recognizing the gift he’s just handed us.
When the time comes, Don Santoro will side with the Alessi family, and if we have his support, then it’s guaranteed we’ll have Don Esposito’s as well.
As soon as we can prove Leonardo is behind all this, we can take him out without risking a war between the families.
Sandro and I both thank Don Santoro and politely decline the offer of lunch.
We still have to talk to our men and run a few errands and I’m anxious to get back to Mia.
Marcello is waiting for us in the hall, and we manage to get our weapons and step outside before I hear the one voice I was really hoping to avoid.
“Goddammit,” I hear my brother mutter before we both turn around to face Bianca. She’s slightly winded, and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if she’d been secretly watching us from the balcony and then ran down the two flights of stairs to reach us before we could make our escape.
“Bianca,” I say, giving her a polite smile.
“Hey,” Sandro says, briefly catching her attention before she puts her focus back on me. That’s the problem with Bianca Santoro—once she has her eye on something, she’s impossible to sidetrack. It’d be an admirable quality if she applied it to anything other than me.
Her dark eyes run over me, and out of respect for her father and the fact that we’re guests in his home, I don’t tell her to fuck off, even though I really, really want to.
“I heard you got married,” she says, and her tone is full-on accusatory, like I’ve severely wounded her by daring to marry another.
When we were younger, she’d tease me about the two of us uniting the families.
That was my first clue to stay the hell away from her, and I’ve never been so grateful for my past restraint before, because if I had fucked her like she’d begged me to, she would’ve gone to our fathers and demanded I marry her.
Even though I’m technically not married to anyone, the thought of wearing this ring for anyone other than Mia makes me feel like I can’t breathe.
“I am married,” I tell Bianca, “and I need to be getting back to my wife.” I force myself to add, “It was nice seeing you again. ”
“Yeah, sorry we can’t stay longer,” Sandro says, sounding not even slightly sorry.
Bianca narrows her eyes at us, but unlike when Mia glowers at me and it turns me on and makes me want to dominate her cute ass, this just leaves me feeling annoyed and put out.
“I look forward to meeting your wife tomorrow night at the party. I’m sure she’d love to hear some of the stories I have about you.”
Her threat has my hands curling into fists as I take a step closer.
“What stories?” I ask, noticing the way she quickly takes a step back and then darts her eyes to my brother for help.
I don’t need to look over my shoulder to know she’s not going to get shit from him.
“The stories where you begged me to fuck you for years, and I always turned you down? Are those the stories you’re talking about? ”
Her face flushes at the harsh truth, but I don’t give a fuck if she’s feeling uncomfortable. Leaning down, I make sure I have her full attention before saying, “Don’t ever threaten my wife again.”
“I was just going to tell her about the kiss we shared,” she says, looking thoroughly offended while trying to save face.
I bark out a harsh laugh. “Jesus Christ, Bianca, we were fifteen, and calling it chaste would be spicing it up.”
Sandro leans in to add, “I’ve seen him kiss his wife. Chaste is not a word I’d ever use to describe it. Those two should come with a mature content warning.”
Bianca isn’t thrilled with the news, especially when I can’t help but smile at the thought of kissing Mia and the way she always fights me for dominance.
My brother and I turn away, leaving Bianca pissed off and standing on the steps while my brother yells a cheery, “See you at the party,” to her.
He’s still laughing about it when we get into my car and drive off.
“I kind of hope she still says something to Mia,” he admits, “because watching Mia kick her ass would be awesome.”
“Mia can’t kick her ass,” I remind him. “She’s not a trained fighter, remember? Just a docile wife, eighteen and clueless about the dangers around her.”
“Yeah, that’s her in a nutshell,” he says, making me grin as I speed around a corner and head towards the closest town. When I pass the turnoff to get back home, he looks over and asks, “Where are we going?”
“We need to stop at the store.”
“Why? One of the guys can grab anything you need.”
I hesitate, not wanting to tell him, but knowing I have no choice, I finally say, “I need you to buy me some condoms.”
By the time he stops laughing, I’m pulling into a parking spot near the front of the small shop.
“Are you too embarrassed to get them? God, that’s funny.”
Turning to him, I ignore the obvious glee that’s written all over his face and say, “I can’t go in there and buy them because if I do, the whole fucking town will know that I’m buying them.”
“Yeah, and then they’ll know you’re having sex. Best we keep that under wraps for sure.”
“You’re such a smartass,” I tell him. “They’ll wonder why I’m using condoms with my wife.
You know how it is around here. They’ll become suspicious.
As soon as you get married, you’re supposed to start making babies.
Anything other than that is suspicious, and we don’t need rumors flying around about us right now. ”
“Fine,” he says, but he’s still grinning.
“I usually get the big ones. You okay with that, or do I need to embarrass myself by buying the smaller ones? You’re my brother, so I’d do it, but it would be a massive blow to my pride.
” He gives the building in front of us a wistful look.
“Of course if Angela still works here, she’ll know it’s a lie. ”
When he turns around and sees the look I’m giving him, he stops talking and instead laughs. “Married life was supposed to loosen you up. Fine, extra big condoms for the extra big dick.”
“Are you calling me a big dick or are you saying I have one?”
He grins and opens the door, leaving without giving me an answer.
“Jackass,”’ I mutter, but he’s impossible to stay mad at, especially when he’s doing me a favor.
While he gets me the condoms I wish I didn’t have to use, I check my phone to see if Mia’s texted.
I’m not surprised when I see she hasn’t.
She’s as independent as Bianca is clingy.
There is a text from Tony, though, and when I click on it, I can’t help but groan.
TONY:
I forgot to mention that oral sex should absolutely wait until at least six weeks, maybe even eight to ten. The human mouth is filthy.
I let out a harsh laugh at the memory of Mia biting me, but then a ridiculous sadness washes over me at knowing I won’t be able to bury my head between her legs for another few weeks.
ME:
You’re killing me, Tony.
TONY:
I could say the same thing about you right now. I’m going to forget we had this conversation.
ME:
That’s probably for the best.
While I wait for Sandro, I type a quick text to Mia
ME:
Done with the meeting. We need to do a few other things, but I’ll be back as soon as I can.
MIA:
Sounds good.
That’s it. No asking me how it went, no demanding I tell her exactly when I’ll be there, and no giving me any details about what the fuck she’s been up to. Just a simple sounds good , and I’m not sure why that irritates me so goddamn much. Unable to resist, I type a response.
ME:
The meeting went well, in case you were wondering.
MIA:
Cool.
ME:
That’s it?
MIA:
Was I supposed to say more?
ME:
What have you been doing?
MIA:
Snooping around your massive family home. I found some old photos of you when you were my age. You were really good looking. I’m sorry I missed those years. Of course I’d just been born, so that’d be kind of weird. It’d be like that photo Dominic has where he’s holding Nat when she was a baby.
ME:
I was a cocky bastard at eighteen.
MIA:
It’s impressive you never grew out of that.
ME:
I’m going to enjoy taming that smartass mouth of yours.
MIA:
You can certainly try.
I grin at the idea of taming that vicious tongue of hers with my cock and put my phone away when I see Sandro coming out of the store.
As soon as he gets in, he tosses the bag at me.
When I see the enormous amount of condoms he’s bought, I look back up at him with a what the fuck look on my face.
I plan on fucking Mia a lot, but this is insane by anyone’s standards.
He shrugs and says, “I have a reputation to protect. The women around here expect nothing less of me.”