Chapter Two
Luca
Matilde Marino has cast a spell on me.
I fell under that spell six months ago, the day I stepped into her uncle’s kitchen to escort a wedding cake and found her there—face dusted with powdered sugar, looking like everything I never knew I wanted.
She welcomed me in, offered me coffee and the most addictive sugar cookies I’ve ever tasted.
And when her bitch of an aunt stormed in and tried to make her feel small, something protective reared up inside me that hasn’t settled since.
Then came the wedding. The garden. The hedge maze. The taste of her lips and the sounds she made when she came apart in my arms.
And then she ran.
Whatever the case, I haven't been able to break that spell.
For six months, I've pinned after a girl who has done her best to avoid me. Perhaps I would stay the fuck away if her lips and body didn't speak different languages. From the way she anticipates my touch when I close the distance between us to the way her eyes run over my form when she thinks I’m distracted…I can’t fucking ignore that.
Still, something has been holding her back. For six months, I've stayed by her side, waiting for her to open up as she did that night in the garden. But…
Goddamnit. No matter how many times she checks me out or how intense the chemistry is between us, she's never allowed herself to cross that line again. But I'm nothing if not patient.
Just like those sugar cookies that are most definitely not good for my health, I can't quit her.
When Matteo told me that he was hiring private security for the Marino women, I thought he was going a bit overboard.
Surely, not all of them were under threat.
But despite my reservations, I had every intention of using it as an excuse to get close to Matilde, so I volunteered to be her personal bodyguard.
Hell, I had to promise Matteo that it wouldn’t interfere with my other duties.
And so far, it hasn't. Besides, in the age of modern technology, my job as a capo is not nearly as exciting as the old films make it appear.
I don't have to follow our rivals around when I can easily bug their cars and track their movements from the comfort of my own office. In the last few months, I’ve made a corner of Matilde's bakery my personal office. Much to her obvious annoyance.
Still, I couldn't stand the thought of someone else guarding her. Couldn't trust anyone to.
She's mine to protect.
Mine.
And now, it looks like someone with a death wish is threatening the peace of the woman I have decided belongs to me.
“Show me the damage,” I tell the contractor.
He nods and steps out the door. I wait for Matilde to lock up the front of the bakery, and together, we follow the man up to the third floor.
His crew is already there, milling around the hallway with coffee cups and concerned expressions.
I make a mental note to run a background check on every single one of them.
“This way,” Mr. Davis says as he leads us down the hall and to an open door. The second I see it, I understand his rage. I don't have to like that it was directed at Matilde, but the mess in the apartment explains his rage.
“Oh my God,” Matilde gasps, her hand grabbing my arm as we step into the room.
It's a mess, alright.
The floorboards have been pulled up haphazardly as if someone was looking for something underneath, and there are new holes in the old drywall throughout the apartment.
This wasn't simple vandalism.
"Matilde," I say, turning to see the fear written all over her face. “I need you to think really hard for me. Did you hear anyone on the stairs last night? Any sound at all?”
She shakes her head, her face pale. "Without Ari here, I couldn’t fall asleep, so I took something to help. I was out cold. I didn’t hear anything.”
My stomach twists at her words. She was sleeping while some bastard tore apart the floor above her head. Alone. Vulnerable. All night.
“Wait here,” I tell her, grabbing my phone and stepping outside. I walk down the hall and away from the door before dialing Lorenzo Rossi, the tech genius in the Rossi family.
“What's up?” Lorenzo's voice breaks through the second the call connects.
“I need a favor,” I say, getting down to business. “Can you come down to Matilde Marino's bakery and install a security system? Someone broke into her place last night and caused a mess.”
“Is she alright?” he asks, instantly alert.
“She didn’t even know it happened—took a sleeping pill and was out cold. But it looks like whoever came in was looking for something. They ripped out the flooring, and I'm pretty sure they didn't find what they were looking for?”
“How do you know that?”
“There are holes in the drywall, foot prints that suggest someone kicked the walls in frustration,” I point out. “Whoever it was, they might come back. I need to know who the fuck they are so I can deal with them.”
“Understood. I'll be there this afternoon.”
I don’t immediately walk back to Matilde, first texting one of my men to meet me at the bakery in an hour.
When I return to the apartment, I find Matilde staring at the ruined floor, fear written on her face.
It only works to enrage me. I don't like seeing her like this.
Happy, annoyed, aroused—but never scared.
I wrap an arm around her shoulder and pull her to my side before turning to Mr. Davis. "Lorenzo Rossi will stop by to install a security system,” I tell him. “Let me know if you notice anything else.”
Matilde stiffens at my words but doesn't speak until we're back in the bakery.
"What was that?” she hisses, turning those stunning blue eyes to glare at me. “What do you mean that Lorenzo’s coming to install a security system without even discussing it with me?”
“You were sound asleep last night when someone broke in. I'm sure you'd appreciate the extra security measures I’m putting in place to ensure your safety.”
“That’s my call to make,” she rages, her eyes firing up.
I’ve never seen Matilde this worked up. Usually, she’s the calm and shy sister.
This is out of character for her—and so goddamned sexy.
My dick hardens in seconds as I watch her pace.
“I get to decide what happens to this place!” she hisses, stopping to stab a finger at my chest. “I will deal with the intruder my own way.”
“And how do you intend to do that?” I ask, snagging her finger and backing her against the glass display counter. She gasps when I cage her, those livid eyes growing alarmed. “Tell me, biscottina. What’s the plan?”
“I…I’ll call the cops," she whispers, her breathing growing choppy. "Then I'll hire my own security guy to install the cameras and everything.”
“Or you could just let me take care of you,” I rasp, my eyes dipping to her mouth. I watch the way her cheeks deepen from light pink to apple red. “I'll be more effective and faster than the cops.”
“I don’t need you to take care of me!”
“Oh, but you do,” I whisper, watching with amusement as those eyes fire up with heat.
Christ above, she’s a sight to behold. More than anything, I want to touch and kiss her, but I’ll be damned if I make the first move.
This stubborn woman has made it quite clear for months that she doesn’t want me close, despite her body saying differently.
If she wants my touch, she’ll have to ask for it with that same sexy mouth that’s been pushing me away.
“It’s my job to protect you, Matilde. I’ll deal with whoever broke into your place before they have a chance to do it again. ”
“I don’t need your help,” she says stubbornly, placing her hands on my chest. I wait for her to shove me away but groan when she runs them down my chest instead. I can tell the action takes her by surprise too, but she doesn't pull away. “I…I can deal with it on my own.”
“You sound even less convincing now,” I rasp, dipping my head lower until my lips are almost touching hers.
I swallow down the need to push in and kiss her, my breathing ragged as I drag my nose along her jaw, getting drunk off the sweet scent of her.
“I would never hurt you, Matilde, and I damn well won’t let anyone else do it either. ”
“Why? Is it because you’re my bodyguard?”
“Is that really what you think?” I say hoarsely, touching the tip of my nose to a sensitive spot behind her ear. “You’re not just an assignment to me, biscottina.”
She shivers against me, her fingers clenching over my T-shirt.
“I like the way you smell,” she says after a long beat of silence, her voice dipping low.
I can feel her visibly fight the heat burning between us, and when she loses the battle with herself, her hands move to my shoulders. “Luca, kiss me.”
I push back to look at her, biting back a growl when I read the need in her eyes. Her pupils are dilated, watching me in a way I haven’t seen since that night in the garden. Her sexy little mouth is begging to be kissed, but I made myself a promise.
It doesn't matter that I want to slide my hands under her blouse and touch the pebbled nipples pushing against her top.
Or how hard my dick aches with the need to be inside her.
Christ, how many nights have I spent jerking off, picturing my tongue buried in her wet pussy, tasting her, pleasuring her?
But I refuse to touch her any further. For all the walls she’s built between us for months, it’s her call to break them first. “If you want to be kissed, you know what to do, Matilde.”
She bites her lower lip, her hands sliding up my neck to cup my jaw. There is need in her eyes as those pretty blues meet mine. “You’re bad for me,” she whispers, her eyes dipping to my mouth. “But I can’t stop wanting you.”