WOLFE #2
“Well, you got shot, so I’m not sure I believe you.”
“I meant what I said—I don’t feel pain.”
“Not possible.”
“Everyone has a different tolerance for pain. Mine is exceptionally higher than everyone else’s.”
“Or your nervous system is suppressed because you’re in survival mode.” She propped her chin on her closed knuckles as she watched me eat. “I imagine you’ve been in survival mode a long time.”
“There you go, being all smart and sexy.”
A little smile moved on to her lips. “Nice try.”
“What?”
“Your deflection.”
I’d already taken a bite, so I finished it as I stared at her, realizing that I’d somehow underestimated her even though I’d been enamored since the moment we’d met. “You’re so fucking hot.”
“Gonna double down, huh?” she said with a smirk.
“I mean it. You’re discerning. And I like that.
” I’d never had a type. If a woman wanted to fuck, I was always game, anywhere, anytime.
But Francesca changed all that. I felt like a different man, when I’d only known her for about two weeks.
Once I’d tasted her fruit, it was the only taste I wanted on my tongue.
I wanted to know more than her body, but her mind, and that was a first for me.
“Did you become a nurse just to help your father?”
“No. I became a nurse because I wanted to help people. Work in surgery or the ICU or maybe peds.”
“Peds?” I asked.
“Pediatrics,” she said. “Kids.”
I gave a slow nod in understanding.
“But my father said he needed me here, so when I graduated, I came back.”
“That’s pretty fucked up.”
She gave a shrug. “I always knew I’d end up back here.”
“Why?”
“It’s in my blood.”
“But it’s not all that you are.”
“I know,” she said. “But this land has been in my family for generations, back to the late eighteen hundreds. We can trace the origin of the Mafia back through my family tree, so I think it started here, on this very land. So, yeah, I think it’s a big part of who I am.”
It helped me understand the Mancini family a little better. “That’s why you do everything old-school. Operate by a code. Keep everything in the family. Because they’re practices you’ve inherited.”
“Yeah,” she said. “If we did business like Cosa Nostra or some of the other organizations on the island and the mainland, I’d probably walk away.
But because we’re one of the good ones, I’m okay with it.
I am proud of my family and my bloodline.
Our plan is for Leo to take over that business when my father is gone, and I’ll continue the winery.
Two very different businesses on the same property.
And at the end of the day, the winery makes millions annually, and I could never make that much as a nurse. ”
“You care about money?”
“Of course,” she said. “Doesn’t everyone?”
I felt the smile return to my lips. “Ambitious…sexy.”
“I thought ambition was a turn-off for men?”
“Yes—for insecure men,” I said. “For assholes who need to make the money to maintain their masculinity. To use it to control their woman so she’ll never be able to leave, no matter how he treats her.
It’s all about power—and men don’t like it when women have it.
” I took another bite of the lasagna, over halfway done with it.
“Let me tell you a secret,” I said as I shook my head. “Men ain’t shit.”
She released a quiet chuckle.
“They aren’t,” I said. “Most of them are a bunch of egotistical narcissists.”
“Well, you aren’t.”
“Oh, trust me, I have the biggest ego of any man you’ll ever meet.”
She continued to look at me. “Now, that I believe.”
I smirked then finished the rest of my lasagna while she watched. I grabbed a slice of bread and dragged it through the sauce left on the plate to get every drop because it really was premium. “You know how to shoot?”
“Yes.”
“Have guns in the house?”
“Of course.”
“Alright,” I said, having some peace of mind.
I sat there and stared at her, captivated by her beauty, how thick and dark her eyelashes were.
She wore makeup, but I’d seen her without it, and she was a bombshell either way.
I’d never been obsessed with a woman, but there was no doubt in my mind I was utterly infatuated with Francesca Mancini.
I felt like an animal that wanted to claim its territory by coming inside her enough times every day that people would start to smell me if they came too close to her. “Ever been in love before?”
Her eyes didn’t flinch in surprise at the question, even though it came out of nowhere. “No.”
Good.
“You?”
My answer was a scoff. “Any long-term relationships?”
“My first year of college, I was seeing someone, but it didn’t last,” she said.
“And then I got older and preferred hookups instead of anything real. Some of the guys I saw wanted something more, but I just wasn’t in that place.
And then Emilio happened and I was pretty shaken up about it, so I went back to the hookups. ”
“So I’m the most serious relationship you’ve been in.”
Her eyes hesitated, flicking back and forth between mine. “It’s only been two weeks.”
“Duration has no impact on depth.”
Her green eyes were rigid in place as she stared at me, somehow surprised by what I’d said when I’d said lots of crazy things before.
“Has any man ever said you’re his?”
She didn’t respond.
“Yeah, this is pretty fucking serious.” The hint of doubt in her eyes made me double down.
When she pushed me away, I pulled tighter.
Something deep within my bone marrow told me this woman was like my flesh and blood.
Something about her made me insane and deranged and brought out qualities I didn’t know I had.
If she said she didn’t want to see me anymore, I wasn’t sure if I could honor that.
Wasn’t sure if she had a say in the matter, that was how fucking crazy she made me. “When did Emilio die?”
It took her a moment to come back to the present with me, like she’d been able to hear all the horrible thoughts that had just run through my mind. “Two years ago.”
“You think your dad would have approved of him for you?”
“Yeah. He asked for my father’s permission before he talked to me.”
And the award for the biggest pussy goes to…
She grabbed the bottle of wine on the table and filled her glass. “What’s the laptop for?”
I opened it and turned it toward her. “House hunting. These are the ones I starred. What do you think?”
She pulled the laptop closer and looked at the homes that caught my interest. I wanted a property that was turnkey, so all the listings were over ten million euros.
I wanted something private and gated, with plenty of garage space for my cars.
All the houses came on acres of land, which wasn’t important to me, but it was the only way to have privacy. “They’re all great.”
“Want to take a look with me in a couple of days?”
She turned her attention back to me. “It’s your home, Wolfe. You shouldn’t listen to anyone else’s opinion but your own.”
“Your opinion matters to me in every way imaginable,” I said as I looked at her green eyes. “I want you there.”
A little smile moved on to her lips. “Alright.”
“I want to know which house you prefer to get fucked in.”
“I’d be just fine fucking in your back seat or in an alleyway in the village or up against the side of the warehouse, so…” She took a drink of her wine then licked her lips before she set the glass down.
I swore my heart stopped when I heard that because she pulled it off so damn effortlessly. Sexy without even trying. Confident without forcing it. Her words were like soft fingertips against my balls—and they made me clench tight.
I shut the laptop with a flick then left my chair before I grabbed her and threw her over my shoulder.
“Oh shit.” She grabbed on to my hips to steady herself before her world turned upside down on a dime.
My arm was hooked over the back of her thighs to keep her in place. I walked into the living room and grabbed the bag I’d dropped in the armchair, carrying it upstairs into her bedroom. I rolled her onto the bed before I tossed my bag on the floor.
I’d already fucked her several times, but I stared down at her as I undid my jeans and stepped out of my boots like it was the first time I had the honor.
Sweat broke out on my arms and chest, not from the walk up the stairs, but the dump of adrenaline she gave me.
I felt like I was going into combat when I was about to be inside a woman.
I’d never felt that way before—like every moment with her was life and death.
She lay there propped up on her elbows, a slightly breathless expression on her face, like she was a little afraid of me.
She should be—because I was going to fuck her until she cried.
I finally dropped my bottoms then moved to the bed to undress her.
I hooked my fingers in the waistband of her shorts, caught the strap of her thong too and yanked that down her long legs and over her cute feet.
I grabbed her sports bra and pulled it over her head, snagging her hair a little in the process.
She separated her thighs like she expected me to move between them, but I took hold of her hips and forced her onto her stomach. “Ass up, face down.” I tugged her up by the hips then shoved her face into the bed.
She gasped in the sheets but did what she was told like a good girl.
I noticed the standing mirror she had in the corner of her bedroom, attached to a base so the mirror could change angles as it tilted on its axis. I picked it up and placed it in front of her before I tilted it slightly down.
I got behind her again, held the back of her hair like the reins of a horse, and then shoved myself inside her. “Look at me.” I tugged her back gently, forcing her eyes up to the mirror to meet mine.
She did as she was told.