Wolfe
I drove down the dirt road that led to her villa on her father’s land. When I pulled up in front of her house, I didn’t have the chance to get out before she came down the stairs and hopped into the passenger seat.
It was a warm day, so she was in a white dress and jean jacket with gold hoops dangling in her ears.
Fucking fuckable.
Her dark hair was straight and shiny, and she already had expensive sunglasses on. She was in nude heeled wedges too, so her legs looked unbelievable. Everything about her was unbelievable, and sometimes I couldn’t believe that she was mine. That she put up with my chaos with such grace.
Before she put on her safety belt, she leaned over the console to kiss me. “Hey, babe.”
Ooh, loved it when she was all over me.
I kissed her then smirked, putting my hand on her thigh and sliding up her dress until I felt the soft fabric of her little thong. “You look really hot.” With one hand on the wheel, I backed up and took the dirt road back to the main street.
“You always say that.”
“Because I’m always thinking it, baby.” I gave her thigh a gentle tap as I pushed the pedal, and we took off down the road.
We were looking at houses today. The real estate agent was going to show us the ones that we’d liked online, and hopefully we’d find one we loved and I would make the offer.
I’d been staying at her place a lot, so not wasting my time commuting, but it would be nice to have a place nearby.
I wanted her to stay with me, have someone cook for her, be in my space so she would know me a little better.
We met with the real estate agent, and we checked out a couple properties, seeing them in person before we drove to the next one. We spent a few hours doing it, and then we arrived at the last property, driving through the open iron gate onto a property with a roundabout fountain in the center.
It was the most expensive one, and right off the bat, I could tell it was my vibe. I wished we’d seen this one first.
I parked the Range Rover, and we got out to view it.
A paved road wrapped around the house, probably leading to a garage that was somewhere else on the property.
It was a three-story villa with lush gardens that had been maintained by a property manager even though the place was vacant.
Lots of cypress trees and gardens and perfectly manicured lawns.
Stone statues depicting ancient Roman philosophers stood among the trees, and that wasn’t really my style, but it actually worked on the property.
The real estate agent escorted us through the large, fifteen-foot-tall entry doors, ushering us into a fully furnished luxury home with a tiled floor, paintings on the walls, sculptures on the tables, high-end furnishings like wood panels and coffered ceilings.
It was eight thousand square feet with a chef’s kitchen and staff quarters in a set of buildings hidden from view by the landscaping to grant privacy and a place to do the laundry, cooking, and ironing off-site.
It had a pool and lots of land and pretty much anything I could ever need.
My hand remained at the small of her back as we toured the other floors, the primary suite, the extra bedrooms, the office and the gym…every amenity.
“So I know we’ve seen a lot of properties today,” the real estate agent said, a man in his fifties who seemed like he’d been selling real estate for a long time because he was able to answer every question I had, even knew everything about the different kinds of marble found throughout the home.
“I’ll give you two a couple minutes to discuss.
I’ll wait for you by the cars.” He smiled and let himself out the front doors.
I appreciated the fact that he didn’t try to sell me on anything. His office required proof of funds to tour these kinds of properties, so once he had that, he assumed I was a serious buyer who could buy any of these houses in cash.
The property was only a few years old, so it had modern touches that other homes lacked, something else I liked.
We stepped onto the back patio of the house and looked over the rest of the grounds.
It was secured by a twelve-foot stone wall that completely surrounded the property, so while it was easy for someone to climb over with a ladder, it would be much harder to drive onto the property.
Or for lots of people to drive onto the property and try to spray me with bullets.
“What do you think, baby?” I asked as I looked at her.
“Oh…I don’t know,” she said as she looked at the pool. “It’s really nice.”
I stared at the side of her face, her height a little higher than usual in her wedged heels. She was tall for a woman but still short-as-fuck to me. “Do you like it?”
“Well, of course I like it,” she said with a laugh. “It’s beautiful.”
“So you like it more than the other properties?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Then could you tell me?”
She finally turned to look at me. “Look, this is your house and it’s a huge investment, and I don’t want to sway your opinion in any way—”
“I want to know what you think.”
“Why?”
“You really want to know why?” I asked as I stared her down. “Remember what I said—don’t ask questions if you can’t handle the answers.”
She stilled like I’d just threatened her. Looking away, she stared at the pool and then the trees for a while. And then she looked at me again and spoke, quiet as a whisper. “Why?”
“Because it’s gonna be your house too.”
She didn’t give a visible reaction, but there was a definite rigidness to her, as if every muscle in her body clenched tight.
Her eyes dashed away for a brief second before they came back to me.
Her throat shifted when she swallowed. Her eyes drifted away again. “Um, yeah… This is fast…really fast.”
“Fast is the only speed I know when it comes to you,” I said. “So, is this the house?”
It took her a second to come back to the conversation. “I don’t want you to buy something on the assumption that this is gonna work out, when my father doesn’t even know about us.”
“Do I strike you as the kind of man that needs someone’s permission?” I asked incredulously. “If he doesn’t like me, that’s too damn bad. I’m your man. He’ll get the fuck over it.”
“You don’t know him the way I know him.”
“And you don’t know me the way he knows me,” I snarled.
“The only way this ends is if you walk away—and that’s a big if.
Because there’s no way in hell I would ever let you go.
I would hunt you down to the ends of the world and drag your ass back—over and over—until you finally gave up and stopped running. ”
Now she looked at me differently, her eyes wide and her tanned skin suddenly pale. Her lips parted slightly, but not in the way they did when she wanted me to kiss her. More like she wanted to gasp, but there was no air in her lungs.
I’d scared her.
Fuck.
“Um…I, uh, need to go home.” She turned around and walked back into the house like she couldn’t get away from me quick enough. Like I might grab her and do something I couldn’t take back.
That fucking killed me, because I would never hurt her.
I followed behind her and out the front door, where the real estate agent waited.
He was on the phone. “Let me call you back in a few minutes.” He hung up. “So what did you think—”
“Wolfe has an emergency in Palermo,” she said in a rush. “Would you mind giving me a ride home? I live just down the road.”
Cristo, I’d fucked up bad.
I knew she’d turned to him because I wouldn’t have let her call anyone. He was her lifeline to get away from me.
He hesitated, his eyes shifting back and forth between Francesca and me.
“I’ll take the house,” I said. “Give them the asking price—all cash. But yes, I have a family emergency in Palermo, and I’d really appreciate it if you gave my woman a ride home.”
Once he realized everything was okay and he was getting the sale, he dropped his discomfort. “Of course, no problem,” he said quickly.
The breath of relief Francesca released was so loud I could hear it.
It was hard to let her go like this, but I knew I needed to do it.
I walked off and got into my Range Rover, smelling her perfume in the car. I started the souped-up engine then left the property, watching her watch me drive away in the rearview mirror.
I pulled onto the road and headed to Palermo like I said I would.
I let her go…just to prove to her that I could.
I didn’t text or call.
She didn’t either, not that I expected her to.
I stayed at my place in Palermo since Don Mancini had given me a couple days off after I’d saved their asses. It was a shame because I’d planned on spending that time with Francesca. I’d intended to invite her to my place, cook for her, show her my favorite spots in the city.
But it was what it was.
I met up with Santino for a late dinner, sitting on the terrace with the flowers growing on the trellis overhead.
“Haven’t heard from you in a while,” Santino said. “Where’d you end up?”
“The Mancinis.”
“The arms guys?” he asked before he took a puff of his cigar.
“Yeah.”
“They have a winery, right?”
“Yeah,” I answered automatically, my energy not in this conversation at all. “What’s new with you guys?”
He shrugged, took another drag, let the smoke out, and then gave a bullshit answer. “You know…”
Not that I expected him to give me more than that since I wasn’t in Cosa Nostra anymore. In fact, I’d joined a gang they considered an adversary more than an ally, so definitely a conflict of interest.
“You alright?” he asked. “You seem, I don’t know, off?”
“It’s been a rough couple of days.” I didn’t lose sleep over anything, but I’d definitely lost sleep over Francesca. My instinct was to show up at her house and demand that she speak to me, but I knew my typical approach would just push her further away in this instance.
“Who got shot?”
“My relationship.”
Both of his eyebrows cocked.
“I was—am—seeing someone.” I grabbed my old-fashioned and took a drink. “But I nuked it.”
“She caught you with someone else?”
“No. I don’t fuck around like that.” She was the only relationship I’d ever had, but I wouldn’t be in one if I weren’t fully committed. If I wanted to stick my dick in other people, I would just tell her that.
“Then what happened?”
“Came on too strong. Said some things I shouldn’t have said.”
“Then why don’t you just tell her you didn’t mean it?”
“Because I did mean it,” I said with a painful laugh.
“Oh, I fucking meant it…” I grabbed my cigar from where it rested on the ashtray and took a puff.
“I know I’ve got to give her space right now, but it’s really fucking hard.
Not my style to avoid something and hope it gets better. I like to come at my problems head on.”
“With a knife in your hand. Yeah, I know,” he said. “Then why don’t you text her something?”
I shook my head as I let the smoke out of my mouth.
“What the fuck did you say to her, then?”
I smirked as I tapped the edge of the cigar on the ashtray. “That we’re gonna end up together because I’ll never let her go, and if she tries to run, I’ll never stop chasing her…forever.”
Santino couldn’t keep a straight face when he heard that. “Cristo.”
“Yeah.” I brought the cigar to my lips again.
“A little intense.”
“Yeah, a bit,” I said. “She asked the real estate agent to take her home—that’s how scared she was.”
“Real estate agent?”
“We were looking at houses. I need a spot closer to work.”
“Selling this place, then?”
“Nah, I love it here,” I said. “I don’t know what else to do but let her go…so she knows I’m capable of it.”
He gave a slow nod in understanding. “How long have you been seeing her?”
“Like three weeks.”
He released a quick outburst. “No wonder she’s scared.”
I shrugged in response.
“Why are you so into her?”
“Just am.”
“So what’s your plan?”
I gave a slight shake of my head. “Wait for her to reach out.”
“And what if she doesn’t?”
That was an outcome I didn’t want to entertain. I knew I’d fucked up, but I hoped she was into me enough that she’d reach out after she had some time to cool off. That she’d start to miss me whenever she saw me at the vineyard.
Or maybe the damage I’d done was simply irreparable.