26. Unapologetically, Yours
TWENTY-SIX
UNAPOLOGETICALLY, YOURS
Lake
Alessio remains in my mouth while looking down at me with heat in his blue eyes the likes of which I haven’t yet seen from him. There’s a dangerous glint there. It’s almost as if he’s smirking the way a satisfied lion might.
He strokes my cheek, then steps back and tucks himself into his pants.
I sit up on the bed and wipe the corner of my mouth.
“Your eyes are out of the picture. It’s a mouth with a dick inside,” Alessio says.
I touch my hand to my forehead. “I can’t even begin to process what you did.”
Alessio hands me my phone. “Here you go. You can see where I sent it.”
The image went to Landon, my ex, who’s been blowing up my phone. I scroll back and see the last message Alessio sent him, which warned Landon to stop texting. Of course, Landon didn’t listen.
“A picture seems a little excessive,” I say.
“Excessive would be a bullet in the gut and a push into a soundproof coffin in an already-dug grave, where he’d suffer for five, maybe six hours before suffocating or bleeding out. A picture reminding him you’re with another man is the least I can do.”
Alessio isn’t for the faint of heart. “We broke up.”
“He doesn’t understand that. Let me deal with him since however you’ve been dealing with him isn’t working.”
I hate that Alessio is right. My ex and I agreed to remain friends, but every now and then, he tries to get back with me. Like now. He’s using my uncle as an excuse to reconnect with me.
“Given how you two parted, meaning you didn’t fall out of love with him, but you couldn’t put up with his drinking and drug habits anymore, he seems to think that now that he’s a few months sober, he can have you back. I need him to understand you’ve moved on.”
Alessio goes back into the bathroom, and I follow, not looking up from my messages and the heated exchanges between Alessio and my ex. Landon called Alessio several bad names and pretty much severed the dialogue that way. Alessio sent him the picture.
“This is—” I glance up when the shower turns on. Alessio’s naked and adjusting the water, and I look away. “Sorry.”
“Join me if you’d like,” he says.
“Please stop acting like sending my ex that picture isn’t a big deal.”
“I don’t act, Lake. It’s a big deal that I sent him the image of our intimate exchange, and I understand why you’re upset. But as you can read in the messages, he thinks you’ll forgive him and move back with him. Sending him the picture was necessary. The visual will smash some of the delusions he’s having about you and him. Every time he manages to show up for work three days in a row, you reply to him with little smiles, which gives him hope.”
Under the shower, Alessio wets his hair, then shakes it out like an animal before facing me in all his masculine glory.
I hold his gaze. “He’s trying.”
“He’s doing the bare minimum.” Alessio pauses because I winced. He’s right, but I don’t want to hear that I spent years with a man who gave me the bare minimum.
“Undeniably,” Alessio continues. “I’m a better lover, better provider, better in just about everything. You might be nonconfrontational with him because he’s a loose cannon, but you confront me just fine. You know why that is, Lake? Because you know that no matter what you say, I’ll never put my hand on you in a way you won’t like. For all those reasons, even if you don’t choose me, you can never go back to him or anyone like him. You’re a smart woman. Respect your choices. Breaking up with him was a solid one.”
“How often do you do these pep talks?”
Alessio smiles. “Not often. Only the people I care about get them. There’s more. I told you that if your ex calls again, it’ll be the last conversation he’ll have with you. Since Landon texted about your uncle, I made an exception. I don’t usually make exceptions, but I would do many things for you that I wouldn’t do for other people.”
He disarms me when he says things like this. “Let me deal with Landon.”
“A month after you broke up, he stayed the night at your place. A pity fuck was it?”
Now, I want to slap him over the head with a wet towel. “I’m not going to answer that.”
Alessio shrugs. “Our background check is thorough. We check everything, including the partners of anyone we hire.”
“That’s overreaching.”
He pours body wash into his palm and lathers it over himself. “You’re the governess of my nephew. Nothing is overreaching. Check on him on your way out, would you?” He steps back under the water stream.
I keep waiting for an apology for sending that picture, but I doubt I’ll get one. I check the picture again, and while yes, my eyes aren’t showing, it’s clearly my mouth and Alessio’s fat dick inside it.
“You like it?” he asks as he gets out of the shower.
I throw a towel at him. With a smirk, he ruffles his hair and wraps the towel around his waist. While I’m still examining the picture, Alessio lifts me onto the counter. He spreads my knees and stands between my legs.
“Leo!” he calls, startling me.
“I’m not drowning, Uncle!” Leo calls back.
The kid knows Alessio well. Suppressing laughter, I pinch my lips. But it doesn’t last. It bursts out of me, and Alessio smiles.
“He’s being a smartass.”
“You’re very good with Leo.” It’s true. Leo’s probably the only person in the world who gets Alessio’s softer side, and that side of him is devastatingly attractive.
“Listen to me, Lake. That man is no good for you or you wouldn’t have left him. Later, you’ll thank me for getting rid of your ex for good.”
I side-eye him. “Get rid of him for good?”
Alessio nods. “He must stop coming on to you. Unless you still love him.”
“I don’t love him,” I rush to say, way too eagerly.
“You sure?” Alessio’s so still, he’s not even breathing.
“I swear.”
“Good. Because you know how serious Noah was about his pets. He locked them up in the ark and didn’t let them out until it was safe.” Alessio steps back and sets me down. “Check on Leo before you go shopping.”
“I will.”
On my way out, I stop at the closet. The golden gun is in the holster on the top shelf. I wonder how the sadist knew Alessio brought the gun. I need to think about that. The most obvious reason is that they’re watching him.
I doubt they can watch him inside the house, because if they did, they’d have no need for me, so they’re watching him from the outside. The airport? Did someone watch Alessio when security inspected his two guns, and that’s how they knew?
“Lake,” Alessio says softly behind me, but I jump as if he shouted. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah, yeah. I was just thinking…” I swallow and point. “How come you carry two guns instead of just one?”
Alessio follows my gaze. “I have many enemies. One won’t do.”
Weapons make me nervous. Thinking about touching this gun makes me want to throw up.
Alessio cups my face and kisses me. “Do you want one?”
“Nah, I’m good. Curious is all.”
“Is there anything else you’re curious about?”
Everything. But the next time the sadists point a weapon at one of my family members, I’ll spill whatever Alessio tells me, so I don’t want to hear anything more about him. “Only the credit limit you have in mind for my dress and whatever else I need for the evening.”
“You can’t spend the amount of money I’m willing to pay to see you in that dress.”
“Your request is oddly specific.” Alessio said to buy a short black dress with a dramatic plunge in the back. I think I know what he has in mind.
“I like the curve of your back.”
“Guys!” Leo shouts from the other side of the apartment.
“Coming!” I answer and return to governess work.