Chapter 5 Sara
SARA
Ten minutes later, we are standing outside Romeo’s door. He lives in a little walk-in basement suite under one of the many businesses owned by the Rossi family. This one has a tin can emblazoned on the outside, so I’m assuming it’s a cannery.
Romeo fumbles with the keys. His big hands, so strong and capable, are shaking as he tries to put the key into the lock.
His nerves make my heart squeeze.
I never thought that this scary guy would be so… sweet.
Thoughtful.
Attentive.
I knew he was hot as hell, but that seems kind of secondary now. Romeo’s personality shines like a lighthouse beacon through all the roughness. It calls to me like I’m a ship in a storm, seeking safety in the chaos around me.
Romeo finally manages to unlock the door, and he shows me in, switching on the overhead light, and scanning the apartment as if frightened he might’ve left a mess that would make me bolt before I even toe off my sneakers by the door.
He has already removed his shoes and they’re now sitting smartly beneath a coat stand hung with jackets for every season.
The apartment is small but clean. Neat. I make a mental note to tidy my place up before I invite him over.
He’d freak out if he saw the crumby plates on the floor by the couch and the stained coffee mugs.
Not to mention the pile of laundry that lives on the bathroom floor because I never got around to buying a hamper.
Romeo’s couch looks as if no one ever sat on it.
The kitchen counter gleams beneath the spotlights set into the ceiling.
The shelves on the wall are stacked neatly with books in color order, and there’s an old record player on a low wooden table with a stack of vinyl records placed neatly beside it.
“It isn’t much,” Romeo says.
“It’s lovely. It’s very… you.”
He grins. “I can’t help it. Years in the Marines. And my mom,” he adds.
“Are you a mama’s boy, Romeo… Gosh. I don’t even know your last name.”
“Andretti,” he says softly.
Sara Andretti, my mind says. Because of course that’s where this is going after two dates.
I quickly shut it down. “So. Romeo Andretti. Mama’s boy?”
He chuckles. “I respect the hell out of my mom, and I love her deeply.”
“But?”
“But she doesn’t know everything about my life.” He takes a deep breath. “She thinks I work for Rossi Shipping and Exports.”
I suck on my top lip. “And she doesn’t know what that means?”
“She wasn’t born into this life. She’s from Ireland.”
“Ireland?” I have an instant vision of a red-haired beauty with a lilting accent. And a horse. As if everyone in Ireland rides horses.
“Long story. But she came here when she was sixteen and that’s when she met my dad.”
“Ah. And Mr. Andretti was born into this life?”
He gives me a cautious smile. “Went to jail with the De Lucas who got caught in the 80s.”
I’ve heard the story. Caterina’s grandfather and uncle had been among those arrested.
She told me about it one day, sitting in her huge pink bedroom drinking mugs of hot chocolate piled high with marshmallows.
She never told anyone else about her family’s dark history, and I felt privileged that she’d told me. As if I was the chosen one.
Caterina had almost been embarrassed by her legacy.
But not Romeo. That’s not to say that he wears it like a medal. He simply accepts that’s it’s a part of what makes him the person he is.
Romeo takes my hand—I’ve already noticed that he likes to be always touching—and guides me into the compact kitchen.
Here, as in the rest of the apartment, everything is so clean and neat, you could eat off the work surface.
Not that I would suggest doing that. I don’t want to embarrass him, bad enough that I just called him a mama’s boy.
“Coffee?” He fills the coffee machine with water and switches it on, then stares at my lips. “You look like you need warming up.”
I move closer and lean against him. His hands hover near my face, then he tucks a damp lock of hair behind my ear for something to do with his fingers.
“I could think of other ways to get warm,” I say.
“You could?”
My heart is pounding, running a mile a minute. He’s so close and all I can think about is what he’s going to look like naked. I mean, I’ve pretty much seen all of him already in his wet swim shorts. But if the parts I haven’t seen are in proportion to the rest of him…
Perhaps now would be a good time to tell him that I don’t make a habit of going back to guys’ apartments on the second date.
I don’t do this, period.
But he speaks first. “Sara, I have to know something.”
“O-kay.”
This sounds serious. Is he going to ask me if I use birth control? Or maybe there’s a skeleton in his family closet that he thinks might scare me away, and he’s giving me the option to cut and run now before we’re both in too deep.
When he responds, it’s with a growl that makes goose bumps break out over my whole body. “What did you think when I asked you out in the salon?”
I bite my lip. That’s what’s got him looking so sheepish?
“That you were out of my league. That Gia would warn you to stay away from me because I’m not good enough. That my lactose intolerance would be a red flag. Hey, she can’t dairy, Romeo, so you might want to rethink the whole date thing. You know?”
Romeo’s green eyes go wide. He raises an eyebrow, but smiles. “Oh, baby. That’s so far from the truth you’re on a different planet. You’re way out of mine. I mean, look at you…”
Then he leans down.
When he kisses me, my heart beats so hard I think it stops.
Romeo’s hands creep up, fisting my hair and tilting my head to deepen the kiss. I moan, melting against him.
He’s everything.
I’ve been kissed before. Ronnie Carlucci. Seventh grade. Tommy Gianetti. Sophomore year.
But this kiss blows them all out of the water.
Romeo kisses me like he can’t get enough. Like I’m going to disappear. His hands curl around my neck, so tender, gently caressing my skin.
I’ve never been kissed like this. His tongue explores my mouth, not intrusive, but as if he’s committing it to memory.
He closes his eyes, and my heart performs crazy somersaults at the sight of his thick dark lashes, before I give into the moment and close mine too.
I can taste coffee and chocolate. I breathe in his coconut smell that will always conjure up memories of this moment and relax against him.
“I’ve never met anyone like you, Sara.” His voice is husky when he pulls away.
He nibbles my bottom lip, tugging it between his front teeth, and when I moan, he responds with a hungry noise that makes my heart catch in my throat.
Romeo scoops me into his arms as if I’m weightless.
I feel weightless. I feel fragile. I feel like every nerve ending in my body is suddenly and electrifyingly alive.
He nudges open a door with his elbow and carries me through sideways, careful not to catch my legs on the doorframe. Then he lowers me onto the bed.
I barely have time to check out the room before he leans over me and kisses me again. His kisses are hungrier now. Demanding. Lips and teeth clashing in our desperation to consume one another.
When he pulls away, we’re both breathless.
“I want to undress you,” he says.
I almost remind him that he has already seen me naked. But my voice got lost somewhere between the kitchen and the bedroom, and even if I could find it, I’m not spoiling this moment. Because now that I’m here, I can’t wait to find out what Romeo Andretti is going to do with me.
“Please,” I say in a tiny voice.
It’s all he needs. He holds my hand and sits me upright then takes off my hoodie and T-shirt.
I’m not wearing a bra; too difficult to navigate when your body is damp from swimming.
He pulls me against his chest, my nipples tingling when they graze his warm skin.
His hands are back in my hair, my head tilted backwards, exposing my neck to him as if I just went back to Lestat’s lair.
“You’re shivering,” he murmurs against my lips. “I knew I should’ve gotten you out of the water sooner.”
“It isn’t the cold, Romeo.”
“What is it?”
“It’s you. This. All of it. No one ever tried teaching me to swim before.”
“Is it a good thing?”
I smile. “It’s the second-best date I ever had.”
He sits back, his hands still entwined in my hair, eyes uncertain. “What was the best? Just so I know how to beat it.”
I lean in and nuzzle his nose. “Yesterday was the best.”
His pupils blow, swallowing most of the green. “Skimming stones?”
“Not exactly.” I trace a line across his jaw to his earlobe with my tongue, and whisper in his ear, “It was this.” I move down to his neck and nibble his skin. “And this.” Down further to his small erect nipple. I lick the tiny silver hoop through it, liking the way it feels on my tongue.
Romeo pulls away and gently guides me down onto the bed. “My turn.”
I smile. “I thought you said that you were awkward and rough.”
His face floods with heat. “I am. Mostly. Am I doing it wrong?” His eyebrows almost meet in the middle. “Do you want me to be rough?”
There’s panic in his voice and I reach up and cup his face with one hand. “I want you just the way you are.”
“You’ll tell me if I’m too much.”
“Romeo, you could never be too much.”
He nods, fighting the thoughts that have been at home in his head his whole life. You’re too big. Too tall. Too much. When he opens his mouth to protest, I press a finger on his lips.
“You wanted to undress me, remember.”
“How could I forget?” He allows his gaze to roam my breasts, reaching out and stroking my nipple so softly it tickles. “I wanted to touch you earlier. At the beach.”
I swallow hard. I don’t tell him that I’ve been dreaming about him touching me for the last six months. “Why didn’t you?”
“It felt wrong. Not like that. I…” He licks his lips. “I don’t want anyone else to see you naked. Is that selfish?”
“Very.” I move his hand down to the waistband of my sweatpants. “But I’ll let you into a secret. I don’t want anyone else to see me naked either.”