17. Francesca
FRANCESCA
I slept like a rock.
Slept like Warren hadn’t tried to steal me from my home a few nights ago. Slept like my father hadn’t taken away my inheritance when I didn’t comply with his demands. Slept like I didn’t have a care in the world.
When I woke up in the big, comfy bed, there was a gorgeous man beside me, and the first thing he did when he looked at me was smile.
His big hand slid my shirt up and over my hip as he snuggled closer to me.
His fingers grazed over my ass and gave it a squeeze before he brought his caress down my thigh. “Morning, baby.”
“Morning.” The drapes were closed, so the room was dark even though it was probably late morning outside. Hints of light came in through the gaps above the floor, so it was enough to see his handsome face next to mine.
“Want to take a trip?”
“To where?” I asked.
“Palermo. I can show you my place. Take you to all the hot spots.”
I’d been to Palermo before, but just for a weekend trip here and there. Hadn’t spent as much time there as I’d like.
“Wear a skimpy little bikini at the beach.” His wide grin was visible in the dark.
“You don’t care if men look at me?”
“They can look all they want.” He grabbed my leg and hiked it over his hip as he started to roll me onto my back.
“But only I can touch.” I wore no bottoms, so he squeezed between my thighs as he settled over me, his big dick nudging my entrance like it knew exactly where to find it.
He sank inside me slowly, giving me a second to adjust since I’d just opened my eyes minutes ago, and he moaned when he finally gained entry. “Only I can have you.”
We left his home and made the drive across the island to the northern coast. It was a long drive, but his hand rested on my thigh throughout the journey, and he glanced at me from time to time, and whenever he did, he smiled.
I’d never seen Wolfe smile so much. He wasn’t exactly a smiley kind of guy.
When we arrived at the coast, the city was congested with tourists, but Wolfe didn’t show his frustration when traffic impeded our journey.
Palermo was different from Taormina because the city was mostly flat before it reached the ocean, but he had a unique property that was slightly uphill on one of the streets.
A three-story villa with an underground parking garage and a terrace on top, it was beautiful.
Gated with no way to reach the entrance without passing through the iron gate, it was somehow secluded even in the middle of a bustling city.
The house was close to the water too, a short distance to the dock and beaches.
We took the elevator to the ground floor, and I was immediately mesmerized by his property.
With dark hardwood floors and colorful sculptures and paintings, it had Sicilian pops of color.
There was a large statue of Medusa in the foyer, the snakes radiating from her head, made of a cerulean blue marble.
His other home was far more modernized, and while a dream house for everyone, it was mostly muted in colors and flair.
But this house felt cozy and warm, Wolfe’s presence noticeable even without him standing right beside me.
The downstairs had a large sitting room and a couple of rooms, along with a chef’s kitchen.
There were three main floors to the place, and I assumed his primary suite was on the top floor.
I examined the bright-blue plates set around his dining table and the bright-red cast-iron pot on top of an eight-burner stove.
“You like it?” he asked as he looked at my face.
“I love it.” It was about half the size of his other place, which was still enormous for me, and I loved how much cozier it felt. Felt more like a home than a mansion. I loved seeing people walk past the window on the sidewalk and cars in the road. It had this energy that I loved.
He smirked. “Come on. Let me show you the rest.”
He took me to the second floor, which had his private gym, another sitting room, and an office, and then the top floor seemed like an apartment.
It had a primary bedroom, a sitting room, another kitchen, with an expansive terrace outside that had a dining table, lounge chairs, and terra-cotta pots that held red geraniums.
I stepped onto the terrace and felt the warm sun strike my skin, felt the sea breeze enter my lungs and cleanse me of the final drops of despair. The summer sunshine hit the surface of the Tyrrhenian Sea and made it sparkle like diamonds. “I can’t believe you left this place.”
He came to my side and looked out at the view with me. “It was easy.”
“How can that be possible?” I loved the vineyards and the smell of jasmine and the hot summers in the center of the island and the rolling hills and the sight of Mount Etna in the distance, but this was like a dream.
“The second I looked at you, everything was easy.”
He took me out to dinner at Ristorante Quattro Mani in the historical center of Palermo.
It had outdoor seating in the walkway between the buildings, so we sat outside on the well-lit street.
Picture frames were hung on the wall of the restaurant, and there were pots of cacti growing.
It definitely felt like a place for locals because it was a few blocks back from the water.
The waiter came over with the biggest smile on his face. “Wolfe, it’s been a minute.”
Wolfe grinned and embraced him with one of those hand grabs that men did. “Been too long of a minute.”
“How are things?”
“Good. I was in Caltanissetta for work for a bit.”
“Well, I hope that job’s done because we need you to keep us in business.”
Wolfe laughed at the joke. “You got it, man.”
“I’ll bring you two some wine.”
“Zorin.”
He turned back before he left the table.
“This is my woman, Francesca. Baby, this is my friend Zorin.”
“Lovely to meet you.” He shook my hand then waggled his eyebrows at Wolfe before he walked back inside the restaurant.
I wouldn’t have cared if Wolfe hadn’t introduced me, but it did make me feel special when he did. Like he was proud that I was his woman. “So, you come here a lot?” I teased.
“Used to come here every week with the guys.”
“What guys?”
“Cosa Nostra.”
“Oh.” I should have figured that out. “You think word will get back to them that you’re in town?”
“Probably, but I don’t give a damn. This is as much my town as it is theirs.”
“Now that you aren’t working for my father, you think you’ll take their offer to come back?”
“No,” he said with a slight scoff. He grabbed the menu and took a look at the entrées. “They can fuck right off.”
I ignored the tension my questions created and looked at the specials menu. “What’s good here?”
He set the menu aside like he already knew what he wanted, even though he’d barely had time to look. “The citrus-crusted swordfish. That’s what I always get.”
“That does sound good.”
“The only thing that would make it better is if you made it.”
I released a quiet chuckle as I looked at the menu. “I don’t have a lot of experience with fish.”
“Well, this is the perfect place to learn. We can go down to the market in the morning and grab fresh fish every day. That’s what my maid does for dinner.”
“Will I meet her while we’re here?”
“No. I gave her the week off. Don’t want any interruptions.”
Even though my eyes remained on the menu, I could feel his hot stare on my face. It was hard to fight the grin as it stretched my mouth wide. “It’s nice how your top floor is separate from the rest of the house.”
“She knows not to go in there when I’m in residence.”
“A house with two kitchens…what a dream.” I set the menu on the table.
“What are you getting?”
“Couscous di pesce.”
“That’s good too.”
“You’ve had it?”
“I’ve had everything.”
I flipped to the dessert menu. “I might have to get this chocolate cannolo.”
“Do it.”
“It’ll make me bloated.”
“I won’t notice.”
I smirked slightly before I set down the menu. “I doubt that.”
“Hard to notice something like that when I’m busy looking at other things.”
He was strict with his diet and worked out every single day, had so much muscle on him that he was like a furnace constantly burning fat before he had the chance to store it.
The epitome of fitness and health, but he never cared about my love for sweets and the little belly I had.
I wasn’t sure what I’d done to earn a perfect man, when I was so flawed and imperfect.
I’d never worked out a day in my life. The most exercise I got these days was riding his dick, and even then, he did most of the work.
“You look really hot in that dress, by the way.”
It was a little black dress with a deep cut in the front that showed my cleavage. I wore a little gold necklace too, the pendant stopping a few inches above the plunge. The dress had been sitting in my closet forever. I’d bought it on a whim but never had a reason to wear it—until now. “Thanks.”
“I doubt we’ll make it home before I fuck you in it.”
At that moment, Zorin returned with the bottle of wine and a basket of bread. He filled our glasses before he placed the bottle on the table. “The swordfish?” he asked Wolfe.
“And the couscous for Francesca.”
“Absolutely.” He walked off to take the order to the kitchen.
It was just the two of us again, dining over candlelight in a beautiful city.
The only time the two of us had gone out together was at the beginning of our relationship when he’d wanted to take me out.
We hadn’t even made it through dinner before we’d hooked up in a little boutique hotel across the street.
Since then, we’d spent our evenings together at home, the two of us having dinner together like a couple that had been together for years instead of weeks and months. We didn’t go out anymore, not because we were afraid to get caught, but because we were happy just being together.