Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
My eyes flickered open to see a beautiful wash of orange and yellow beaming through my window. It took a moment to get my bearings and when I did, my first thought was of Nicolette—had she behaved, or gotten into trouble while I’d slept? An urgency to check on her had me grabbing the first available item of clothing, a pair of silk pajama pants. Throwing them on, I made my way down the hallway to where I’d last seen her.
The apartment was way too quiet. Panic settled in my gut, and I raced for her room to find it empty, and her bed untouched. Shit! Had I lost her already? On the dresser sat an open duffle bag that had seen better days. Strewn around its battered frame were a host of used ballet shoes and ribbons. Their worn appearance told the story of the person who had worked them so thoroughly— dedication, passion and hard work were all evident in the duct-taped, sweat-stained slippers.
The patio door, which had been closed and locked when I showed her the room, was now open. She must have gone out to the deck. I stepped to the side of the open doorway and spotted her in the center of the stage. I should have known she wouldn’t be able to resist it.
I could just make out the white tails of the air pods she wore in her ears as she spun on one foot. She looked so powerful spinning graceful arcs on the tip of her toe shoe. I counted the revolutions. One, two, three, four, five. She landed on the sixth, and dipped into a perfect plié . That was one of the few ballet terms I still remembered from back in the day. She switched legs and repeated what she’d just done on the other side, performing it equally well.
When had her body turned into a work of living art? She’d always been a dancer, but she’d become so much more, and I couldn’t help but admire the dichotomy of her delicate fragility and strength.
Even the sweat that covered her body seemed like a magical elixir, and it was hard seeing the real Nicolette at that moment. Memories assaulted me and my thoughts drifted back in time to when Nicolette was accepted into the performing arts program.
“What’s taking so long?” Marko demanded in my ear. “Maybe we should go back there.”
My entire family had come out to see Nicolette’s first performance. She wasn’t the only one performing of course, but the audience was waiting for her solo which was the final performance of the night.
“Relax, she’ll be on in a moment.”
And almost like I’d flipped a switch, the lights dimmed, and the music came on.
Nicolette’s costume consisted of a skintight white tunic and shorts. There wasn’t much hidden from view, her beautiful muscular legs seemed impossibly long as she leapt across the stage. I quickly looked around to see who was staring, but everyone was, including my brothers. Romeo caught me glaring, and smirked defiantly.
Bastardo! He knew exactly what I was going through. Marko was glowing like a proud Daddy, and I wanted to punch him so hard. Didn't he see how everyone was coveting what was ours?
“Stop trying to threaten everyone and watch her. She’s amazing,” he chastised me.
I swiveled my head back to the stage in time for her movements to shift from classical to modern style dance. She swirled her hips and performed impossible bends with her body that had everyone in the audience gasping. She was a star, and I decided right there and then that I would do whatever it took to get her on every stage in the world if that is what she wanted.
I’d beelined to the backstage the moment her dance ended and found her bent over, trying to catch her breath…
Niki had stopped dancing and was leaning on her drenched thighs just like she had been backstage that night, her breath no less labored than it had been back then. She’d never looked better than right now, her body slick with sweat, and her chest heaving from exertion. I was reminded of the similarities with a long night of me and Marko putting her through her paces…
My cock thickened in my silk pants, remembering her on her back instead of her feet. Back in the day we could go all night, and I wondered if that magic was still there, or was it destroyed along with the plans we’d made?
The pain I’d buried and hadn’t felt in years erupted in my chest. What I’d worked so hard to forget slammed into my consciousness like an anvil. Memories of my broken heart that I’d worked hard to subdue, and had successfully shuddered, all came to light as she ripped all my carefully laid band aids to shreds.
The words my father said in the wine cellar that night came back to me like it was yesterday. “When she returns, try not to be too harsh with her. Listen with an open mind before you demonize her, but also make it clear that it will never happen again. Vitale women don’t run. Capiche?”
To hide both my wounds and my appreciation of her, my face remained neutral when I reached out my hand to help her hop off the stage. “Amazing, Niki, great job.” The praise came out so naturally it took a minute for my carefully crafted fa?ade to drop back into place.
She placed her delicate hand in mine and stepped down. “Thanks. Don’t worry I’ll quickly get cleaned up and be ready for dinner.”
Dinner? Right, I’d said dinner was at six.
“Don’t be late, tesorina, or there will be consequences.” I quickly stalked away before I said anything else that could get me into trouble. We hadn’t even kissed and already I was done for. Her presence chipped away at my resistance.
I placed an order for her favorite dish at Vincenzo’s restaurant and had one of my men pick it up. I was just uncorking a bottle of red from my family's vineyard when she entered the room dressed in a body-hugging white minidress with no bra, and it was all I could do to keep my jaw from dropping.
Her long hair was dry and hung loose in silky waves down her back. Her expression was a 180 from when I’d slammed the door on her earlier. Her practice session had revived not only her body, but her spirit as well.
I was contemplating kissing the smirk off her face and sending her back to the bedroom to put on more clothing when the elevator pinged with the arrival of dinner. I moved to grab the bags of takeout from my guy, but instead of Alfonse, my youngest brother, Vincenzo, stepped out, holding the takeout bags in his hands.
“What are you doing here?” I blurted, completely surprised to see him.
He smirked. “I’m here to see the fair Nicolette of course.” He pressed the bags into my hands and caught my Niki when she came barreling from the dining room and leapt into his arms.
I couldn’t help rolling my eyes at both the welcome he gave her, and her enthusiastic response. If things were different, I’d be the one holding her right now. I pushed that thought away, and suppressed the desire tenting my pants.
“Vincenzo. Oh my god, look at you. You're so big!”
He laughed and kissed her on the cheek before lowering her to her feet. I stood there with steam practically coming out of my ears. How dare they look so comfortable with each other while I was a bundle of nerves; a pile of anger with a heap of desire inside chafing me raw. ‘Traitor’ I tried to impart with eyes as I glared at my younger brother.
“You were just a kid when I last saw you, and now look! You're a handsome man. I always knew you’d turn out gorgeous.” She winked at him, and my heart rate spiked up.
“If you two are done fawning over each other, it’s time to eat.” I jostled the bags in my arms impatiently.
“Oh no. Don’t go!” Nicolette pouted at my brother. “I want to catch up.”
I was ready to tear Vinnie to pieces if he didn’t stop eyeballing my woman. My Niki.
“Mama wants you to come to the house on Sunday for dinner.”
Son of a ? —
“I’d love to! See you then,” Niki replied with way too much enthusiasm.
Vinnie took in my murderous expression and smirked even more. Bastardo! He was purposely egging me on and about a breath away from eating that smirk he wore.
He hugged her one more time, keeping his eyes on me and was almost laughing when he pulled back and got in the elevator.
“See you Sunday, Nicolette. Oh, and I guess you and Marko will be coming too, brother?” His wide, innocent eyes burrowed inside my wound and deepened the hole that used to be my heart.
“You can count on it.” I gritted the words between my teeth just as the door slid closed. I’d always kept my head and considered myself the cool one in the group of Vitale men as nothing could get me riled up, at least not on the outside. My little shit of a brother must have enjoyed watching me struggle to keep it together.
Vinnie had a habit of thinking he was an angel—perfectly innocent—and played that card whenever it suited him. Being the baby in our family, it always worked, even with me. But that was coming to an end. Sometime soon, he’d receive his comeuppance.
I stalked to the dining room and took the food out of the bags. Nicolette had taken her seat and was gazing at me politely, like nothing had happened. Like she hadn’t been fawning all over my baby brother just now.
I didn’t dare let her see how much their little reunion pissed me off and kept my attention on getting the food sorted.
I placed half of Nicolette's meal on her plate, wishing to give her double to make up for her being skin and bones, but knowing she’d fight with me if I did.
After a few bites, she pulled her old habit and pushed the plate away. “Thank you, that was delicious.”
“You’re not finished, Niki. Eat the food.”
“Or what?” She lifted her chin, her eyes bright with challenge. Did she not remember I was in charge?
“Or I’ll force-feed you.” I didn’t hide the threat in my tone, and when she didn't comply, I lifted her from the chair and placed her on my lap, banding one arm around her ribs and placing one leg over hers. I shoveled some food on my fork and held it to her lips. “Open!”
“No!”
“Nicolette,” I growled, “you're pushing me. I said open, now do what you're told.”
“You can’t boss me anymore, Giovanni.”
“That’s where you're wrong, sweetheart.”