Chapter 31 #3
Like the stars on a cloudless night, his irises sparkled in the darkness.
Shining bright with the same hazy, lust-laden addiction that wrapped around my soul and bound me to him.
“Your pussy is better than the finest wine, uccello. I could drink from you daily and never tire of the taste or forget the blood of the covenant between us. I’ve found a new religion in you. One there is no escaping.”
I groaned and nipped his bottom lip. His nostrils flared. I rolled my hips and did it again. His fingers dug into my asscheeks. The third time, he deflected and pinched me—hard. A rush of heat surged up my spine, shaking my shoulders.
“Are you going to play with me or fuck me?” he goaded.
I shifted up by an inch and fell back down. Pure bliss shot through my veins.
“Both,” I whispered and then kissed him.
Softly. Demurely. Primly. A brush of skin against skin.
His lips parted and his grip tightened. I pressed my mouth to his, a light touch, while rising onto my knees.
His tip was barely inside me when I sank slowly onto him.
I drank in his groan and deepened my offering, kissing him with wet, lazy swipes of my tongue.
Teasing Luca was just like playing with fire, but this time, I wanted to feel how hot he burned for me.
His nails scraped up to my waist, and he held me in place. I grinded onto him, swiveling my hips and working myself up. Fiery butterflies swooped and dove in my stomach. Pressure built again. I whimpered again. My fingers tightened in his hair, and I was close again.
As I opened my mouth to tell him so, he flipped us, and I was on my back, pinned beneath him.
My God. His weight made me delirious with want, except I couldn’t move or grind or wiggle.
He pushed up onto his palms, holding my hands above my head while his languid gaze fell over my body, fire and ice, melting snow on hot skin.
My breasts ached. My nipples throbbed. Every part of me vibrated with need.
He’d taken over, and this was his game now, but I took the moment to appreciate my view. Luca sculpted from sharp lines and defined muscle, an arrow of tightly cropped hair leading to his dick disappearing inside me.
“I need,” I whined.
A rough sound scraped from his throat. “Say it again.”
My eyes shot to his, a smoldering blue with a flash of vulnerability that melted through my frost. “I need you,” I whispered, sure that the supplication would cure his uncertainty.
His hips pressed harder, a merciless weight building the ache, but he still didn’t move. “Why?” he asked through his teeth.
“Because I love you.”
The muscles in his jaw went rock-hard. “Tell me why.”
I tugged my hands free from his and held his cheeks, stroking my fingers over his scar. I hated that he had doubts. That he hadn’t known love and somehow doubted mine even when I gave it so freely.
“Why?” he pressed again, just as his thumb found my neck and the pulse thrumming beneath his touch. The world’s best lie detector.
“Because…” I leaned up and kissed him, just the soft brush of my mouth against his, with our eyes connected so he would see the truth, feel it, as much as he would hear the words.
“Your darkness shines so bright it’s the lightning in my storm.
My tether in the eye of the hurricane keeping me grounded.
Because when we’re old and gray and we read over the book of our lives, the pages will be stained by tears and peppered with regret, but every single one will be filled with love.
Because there is no denying that your soul is the other half of mine.
Because if I only have one last breath, I want to breathe it with you.
” I relaxed into the cushions, staring up at the god pinning me down and holding me together.
“I’m not sure of anything except this. God made you just for me, and I’m keeping you forever, Luca Mancini. That is why I need you.”
A tortured groan vibrated between us. Our mouths collided, tongues tangling.
My hands gripped his hair, and he reared back, only to shove into me with a punishing thrust. I pulled away for a breath, but he swallowed my gasp, kissing me until I couldn’t breathe in anything but the sun, the sweet scent of sweat and exhilaration. Him.
I was consumed.
Liquid heat pooled in my core. Pressure built with every vicious stroke. A tremor shook my shoulders, and his mouth slid to my chin, then my neck, the kiss turning sloppy and loose because… my God.
“Luca,” I gasped.
He was both rough and gentle. With his mouth on my pulse and his needy sounds in my ear, he pinned me beneath him, almost as if he thought I would disappear if he didn’t. Almost as if to prove that he was all I would ever need. That together we could be free.
When I fell asleep tucked into the crook of his neck, I almost believed that was the truth.
?
BY MORNING THE inferno Luca had created with our bodies, smoldered into ashes.
Though his warm presence was a balm to my aching heart, I woke up shivering.
A dream about living in this house and following my father’s rules for the rest of our lives left me cold.
Luca deserved a home of his own, with children and puppies and laughter around every corner.
Everything he missed after his birth mother left him in a damp church and a big world.
But our escape from this hellhole was dependent on the information Mama collected, with no time to decode the clues.
In the hazy mist of dawn, I slipped from my husband’s arms for a quick swim.
His men guarded me carefully until my limbs were loose and my mind was clear.
When I returned, Luca leaned against the sliding door, watching me approach with heavy-lidded eyes.
He held an espresso in one hand, while the other was in the pocket of sweatpants, barely clinging to his hips.
The rest of him was bronzed skin and rippling muscles.
“Buongiorno, amore mio,” he said, his tone so deep and rough that fiery butterflies fluttered in my stomach.
I stepped closer, rising to my toes to meet him for a kiss.
He tasted sweet and smelled like pure temptation that I didn’t have enough time to enjoy.
I groaned, then pulled away and stole his cup.
As I sipped, his gaze dropped to the gleaming gold signet ring on my finger, and the blue burned. Fuck responsibility.
“Let’s forget the world exists and spend the day naked and sweaty in bed,” I insisted.
The corner of his mouth curled up, just as his fingers curled around my waist. “I live to fulfill your dreams, uccell—”
A crack of thunder cut him off. I winced and groaned again—for all the wrong reasons. “Sofia’s going to be a nightmare about this weather.”
“Hmm,” he murmured, staring into the darkening sky. “When will she and her entourage invade our privacy?”
“In an hour or so. Join me in the shower?”
His gaze dropped to mine, and the small smile returned, drawing my attention to his scar. I traced it, and he kissed my palm. “I like when you touch me there.”
“Does it hurt?”
“No, but somehow you ease the painful memory that caused the injury.”
“Tell me how it happened.”
A fat raindrop burst on my shoulder. He pulled me inside and guided me to our en suite bathroom. “From an ambush.”
“While you were in the Navy?” I prompted.
“Sì, my team was on a humanitarian mission, but we stumbled on a high-stakes weapons sale. The terrorists attacked, and I was cornered by a guy with a knife. That’s all it was.”
My blood ran cold thinking about Luca at war.
But he turned the water on hot, and under the thick steam, he stripped off my suit.
I lost my train of thought after that, especially when his joggers landed on the floor and his hands found my ass.
For the next hour, we didn’t think about anything but pleasure.
I had just zipped my jean shorts when a knock cracked through the apartment. Luca’s brow rose, a devilish smirk curling his mouth. He was naked, but for the towel wrapped precariously around his hips.
“Want me to get that, uccello?”
I laughed and moved over to where he stood, looking up into the blue. “You’ll give poor Sofia a coronary if you open the door like this.”
His fingers slid underneath my tank, warming my skin as he bent to kiss me. “Seems fair,” he murmured against my lips. “She’s trouble.”
“She’s my cousin.”
“Then I’ll deal with her, because you are worth all the trouble in the world.”
I lost myself in his kiss, long and deep, until the ruckus Sofia created couldn’t be ignored. I smiled against his mouth. “I’ll let them in.”
He smacked my ass on my way out, and my grin grew. So did the noise. “Coming,” I called.
“Vivi!”
“Sofia!” I cried, yanking open the door.
“Mio Dio.” She rushed in like a hurricane, a whirlwind of girls on her heels. Twelve to be exact. Some were family, most were her best friends forever. “It’s my wedding day. What in the world could you be doing that you’d lock me out?”
“Me.”
Heads swiveled. Jaws dropped.
Luca sauntered in, barefoot, with a T-shirt in hand and jeans clinging to his hips just as precariously as the towel had been.
My heart thundered. The heavy weight of his stare was centered on my face, warming my blood.
He stopped with his chest to my back, arms wrapping around my waist, and drawing me against his heat. Good lord.
“Amore mio,” he said into my hair. “Grazie per essere tutto ciò di cui avrò mai bisogno.” Thank you for being everything I’ll ever need.
Gwen, Sofia’s ride-or-die bestie, openly gaped.
Sofia swallowed a lump. “What the fuck, Viv.”
I bit back a laugh, then threaded my fingers through his on my stomach, so my ring was on display, brighter and better than any diamond. “Mio caro cugino. Incontra il nuovo membro della nostra famiglia. Mio marito, Luca.” My dear cousin. Meet the newest member of our family. My husband, Luca.
“What the actual fuck,” she breathed.
Her shock tickled my insides, and I laughed outright.
Then I turned into flames when Luca’s hand brushed the underside of my breast as he eased away to put on his shirt.
I loved him more for the perfect spectacle.
For letting everyone know he was mine and for leaving Sofia speechless—at least for the minute it took for the hair and makeup professionals to arrive.
Three photographers followed. After handing over a double espresso, Luca left me with a wink and a kiss for courage.
A deep kiss that involved tongue, panting breath, and pink cheeks when he pulled away.
Sofia and her entire entourage froze and watched. I let them wonder.
Over the next few hours, everyone bewailed the rain.
It was chaos. I cut fresh oranges to serve with the mimosas, and Francesca was on speed dial for Xanax.
She also dropped off the gift I’d asked her to pick up in the city.
I tucked it away in my dresser drawer and then managed the latest complication.
Each minute, it seemed, brought a new one: a late florist, soaking wet chairs, a change to the ceremony site, only to have it moved back to the beach when the sky cleared.
The last issue—missing waitstaff—was fixed by Francesca, who called in a favor.
That left me with twenty minutes to wrap my hair in a bun and slip into a dress.
The spaghetti straps were daring, as was the wrap style that highlighted the long line of my cleavage and my bare leg.
Luca’s searing look singed my skin, and I knew it was the perfect choice.
His muscles flexed under the slim fit of his dress shirt as he tugged a sleeve into place for the cuff link.
“You’re stunning, uccello.” His tone was deep and dark, and it spoke to my body as though he’d touched me between my legs.
“As are you,” I said, walking to stand in front of him.
I took the ends of the tie hanging around his collar, twisting them into a knot. He ran a finger along my scandalously low neckline.
“No one will see Sofia. All eyes will be on you, il mio bellissimo uccello.”
Something like pride flashed in his eyes, though his voice turned bitter as if the words tasted like jealousy.
His gaze followed his finger, tracing the swell of one breast, then the other.
My nipples went tight, poking into the fabric.
He kissed my shoulder, and when he did, his hand fell to the opening on my thigh and then slid up, tucking beneath my lace thong.
“Luca,” I hissed, scraping my nails along his neck to hold him in place. Sparks flared in my core. They burst into flames when his finger dipped inside my channel and retreated in a teasing rhythm.
“Wet,” he murmured into my ear, his teeth nipping my lobe. “This cunt is always so eager and wet. And it’s for me?”
I clung to him, rolling my hips. “I’m always wet for you. Only for you.”
He rewarded me with a rub and a pinch, circling my clit until my mind spiraled and my core clenched. “That’s right. Because you’re mine and no one, no one, will ever touch you as I do. I own you and this exquisite body.”
God knew it was the truth, and I shivered under the pressure of his playful tap.
“Keep my pretty cunt wet, little bird, and I’ll make you sing all night. Can you wait for me?”
I scraped my nails through the rough scruff on his chin, up his jaw, and to his hair, where they fisted to bring his forehead to mine.
“I prayed for love, and I love. I also pray for patience, and He gave me you to satisfy both desires. You are worth the wait. You are worth every dark day and lonely night. You are worth everything, il mio amore.”
A rough sound rolled through his chest a second before his mouth crashed into mine. A kiss deep enough to wipe away the past and the gloss I’d applied to my lips. We clung to each other, only breaking apart when Zia Beatrice’s shrill cry for help pierced our serenity.