25. Casey
“You’re smiling at nothing again.”
I glance up from the coffee machine to find Elena leaning against the kitchen island, watching me with entirely too much amusement for a Tuesday morning.
“I’m literally making coffee. Why would I not smile at the nectar of the gods?”
“You’re smiling at the coffee like it personally proposed to you.”
“If it did, I’d definitely say yes.”
“It’s not that. It’s him.”
I narrow my eyes. “You’re all very nosey people.”
“That’s because we love you.”
The words are said so sincerely they catch me slightly off guard.
Before I can answer, Letty appears at Elena’s side wearing mismatched socks and absolute determination.
“Daddy says I’m not allowed glitter before school anymore.”
“I’m sure your dad has his reasons,” I say carefully.
“He said he’s sick of finding it on his big work clothes.”
I roll my lips to hide my smile. “Well, he needs to look a certain way, so people know he’s the boss.”
“But shouldn’t bosses sparkle too?”
Elena presses a hand dramatically to her chest. “Finally, someone understands. I’ve been saying for years that all bosses should sparkle.”
The kitchen dissolves into chaos after that.
Matteo arrives with Rossi to pick up Adi so they can go to some meeting together, already arguing with someone on speakerphone in rapid Italian.
Rossi steals half a piece of toast directly from Elena’s plate and nearly loses a hand for the effort, and somewhere in the middle of all of it, Adriano walks into the room, adjusting the cuffs of his shirt and every coherent thought immediately leaves my body.
It’s deeply embarrassing at this point.
Two weeks together and apparently, all it takes is rolled sleeves and smiling eyes for me to forget how to speak.
His gaze lands on me instantly across the kitchen. Then softens into something deeply personal and just between us. A hundred words are unsaid, but none are needed anyway.
Warmth blooms low in my chest anyway, heat working its way over my skin. How is it we had sex a few hours ago, and I want him again so soon?
“Morning,” he says.
The word is simple. The look accompanying it absolutely is not.
“Morning,” I manage, trying and failing to keep up the charade that I didn’t wake up with his head between my legs this morning.
Matteo glances between us once before muttering something in Italian under his breath that makes Rossi laugh into his coffee.
I’m choosing to ignore all of them.
Adriano crosses the kitchen toward me without hesitation, one hand settling automatically at my waist as he leans down to kiss me softly.
Not rushed or hidden. It seems he’s given up the pretense and I’m ok with it.
Kissing me in front of family should make me feel awkward but it doesn’t. It makes me feel like his. “You’re staring again,” I murmur softly against his mouth.
“You’re wearing my shirt again, Tesoro.”
I blink once and glance down.
Right.
I stole this from his room three days ago and have zero intention of giving it back. It’s soft and smells like him. “So, we’re kissing in front of your family now?”
His lips dip to my ear, and he bites lightly on the lobe, making me shiver. “It will have to suffice. What I really want to do is strip you naked and eat out your pretty little cunt until you scream my name.”
Oh my.
Adriano chuckles and kisses my shoulder. “I love making you blush, Tesoro.”
“See?” Matteo says loudly. “This is exactly what I’m talking about. You’re both disgusting now. You and Nico are all loved up and gross.”
“Jealousy is unattractive,” Adriano says calmly without taking his eyes off me.
“It’s not jealousy. It’s the gratuitous PDA I’m being subjected to,” Matteo replies.
“Believe me, it’s not gratuitous. Adi does this thing with his tongue…”
Matteo clamps his hands over his ears. “No, stop.” Matteo sighs dramatically. “I’m going to need to up my therapy at this point.”
I laugh quietly as Adriano’s thumb brushes once against the bare skin at my waist beneath the hem of the shirt.
This man has somehow made touching me feel addictive.
“You’re smiling again, Adriano,” Elena says accusingly.
“I’m leaving.”
“Coward.”
“Survivor.”
Adriano’s low laugh follows me all the way toward the hallway.
By six o’clock that evening, snow is falling steadily again over Manhattan. This winter has been long and relentless, but it’s allowed life to slow down a little too.
I’m curled sideways on the couch in the annex under a blanket, trying to answer emails when there’s a knock against the frame of the open door. This little annex gets less and less use these days, but when Adi is out, I usually retreat here, still not quite sure of where I fit.
I look up.
Then immediately forget what I was typing.
Adriano stands there in a dark charcoal coat, one hand tucked into his pocket while the other holds two takeaway coffees in a tray.
“Hi,” I say slowly.
His eyes move over me once, warm enough to make my pulse stutter.
“Get your shoes on.”
I blink. “That sounds suspiciously like an order.”
“Will you please put your shoes on and come with me?”
“Are you trying to lure me away with coffee?”
Adi shakes his head in mock exasperation. “Of course not.”
“That’s exactly what kidnappers say.”
A faint smile appears.
God, I’m obsessed with making this man smile now.
It feels like sunlight aimed right at my heart.
“Woman, will you please do as I ask?”
“What are we doing?” I ask, closing my laptop.
“You’ll see.”
“You’re very bossy lately.”
“You like it.”
He sounds entirely too confident saying it, and he should because he’s right. I love it when he gets bossy with me. I especially love it in the bedroom. But what I love most is that when I push back, he folds like a deck of cards, but only for me.
I narrow my eyes. “That’s not the point.”
“It sounded like the point.”
I throw a cushion at him.
He catches it one-handed without looking and even manages to not spill a drop of coffee.
Infuriating man.
Twenty minutes later, we’re stepping into a warm studio tucked above an old jewelry shop in SoHo while snow drifts softly outside the windows.
I stop dead in the doorway.
Long wooden workbenches fill the room beneath hanging pendant lights, scattered with tools and trays of gemstones, while soft music hums quietly in the background.
At the far end, an elegant, silver-haired woman looks up from arranging delicate chains and smiles immediately. “There you are.”
I turn slowly toward Adriano. “What is this?”
“You said your mother used to make jewelry with you.”
Emotion catches me unexpectedly somewhere behind my ribs.
One stupid story about glitter glue and plastic beads while we were half asleep in bed.
And somehow, he remembered.
Of course he remembered.
“You said you missed it,” he says quietly, suddenly looking almost uncertain for the first time since I’ve known him. “I thought maybe you’d enjoy this more than dinner.”
God.
My heart actually hurts. “It’s perfect,” I say honestly.
Relief flashes briefly across his face before it disappears beneath something warmer.
The woman approaches then, introducing herself as Celeste before leading us toward one of the workbenches near the windows. “You’ll be designing simple custom pieces tonight,” she explains smoothly. “Nothing too intimidating.”
“You’re seriously overestimating my design abilities,” I mutter.
Beside me, Adriano removes his coat before helping me out of mine automatically.
The domestic ease of it nearly kills me on the spot.
Celeste smiles knowingly like she’s seen right through both of us already.
For the next hour, the room settles into warmth and quiet conversation and constant, accidental touching. It’s like the jewelry-making version of the scene from Ghost with the pottery wheel, but with an audience, so slightly more PG.
At least—
I think some of it starts as accidental.
Eventually, Adriano’s hand just seems to remain at the small of my back permanently while we work, his thumb moving over my hip.
“Not helping my concentration there, big guy.”
“Now you know how I feel when you walk in a room.”
I try not to let him see how much his words get to me. Ever since the night of the gala, he’s been all in. No games, no hesitation, just honest devotion and seduction.
I glance at his attempt at jewelry making and bite my lip. “You’re terrible at this,” I inform him as he squints suspiciously at a pair of delicate pliers.
“I run multinational corporations. My hands weren’t designed for this.”
Oh, I know exactly what his hands were designed for. Driving me wild. “And yet this tiny gold clasp is defeating you,” I tease.
“It’s badly designed.”
Celeste laughs softly from across the table. “That’s exactly what my husband says every time he loses an argument.”
Adriano looks entirely unimpressed by this betrayal.
I grin openly.
God, I love seeing him like this.
Relaxed.
Warm.
Happy.
Not the cold, controlled man the rest of the world gets.
Just… him.
At some point, while I’m concentrating on fastening a small stone into place, Adriano’s fingers slide absently along the back of my neck, brushing loose curls aside before his mouth presses softly against my shoulder.
The tiny, intimate gesture sends heat rushing through me instantly. “You’re distracting me,” I murmur.
“That’s not an accident.”
I turn my head slightly.
Big mistake.
He’s already looking at me with that dark, focused expression that always makes my stomach tighten.
“You know,” I say carefully, “most people would probably classify this level of obsession as unhealthy.”
“Most people don’t get to touch you.”
The quiet possessiveness in the words hits low in my belly. Making me want to tear his clothes off and show him exactly what they mean to me.
My pulse stumbles slightly. “Adriano…”
His thumb brushes slowly beneath my jaw.
Then he kisses me.
Softly at first.
Slow enough to feel intimate rather than heated.
But the second my fingers slide instinctively into his hair, the entire thing deepens immediately.
By the time we finally pull apart, I’m breathless and very aware Celeste is pretending not to watch us with visible amusement.
“I liked you both better when you were concentrating,” she informs us dryly.
I laugh helplessly while Adriano looks entirely unapologetic.
An hour later, we leave with two finished pieces.
Mine is a delicate and imperfect bracelet and probably slightly uneven.
His is a significantly cleaner necklace that’s technically a lot better.
But when I glance over in the car afterward, I realize he’s already wearing the leather bracelet we made to get started around his wrist beneath the cuff of his coat.
Something warm and helpless blooms through my chest because it’s the one I made for him. “You actually put it on.”
His eyes flick briefly toward me. “You made it for me.”
Like that alone makes it obvious.
Like there was never another possibility.
God help me.
I’m falling completely in love with this man.
The second we get home, I let my coat fall from my shoulders and kick off my boots. Letty is at a sleepover with Nico and Izzy, so I don’t worry about being appropriate.
“What are you doing, Tesoro?”
I wiggle my jeans down my hips and toss my sweater over my head, leaving me in just a bra and lace panties as I sashay into the living room. Adi stalks me like a man possessed.
I turn around and drop to my knees. “Thanking you for my date tonight.”
His pupils are blown wide as he approaches me slowly. “Is that so?”
He stops in front of me, the cold from his outdoor coat cooling my heated skin. I reach for him and he watches intently as I unbuckle his belt and ease his zipper down. His cock is already hard in his pants as I wrap my hand around his length.
Adriano has a perfect cock. Long, thick, and slightly curved. I pump his shaft and a hiss falls from his lips as he gently grips my hair and holds it back from my face. A bead of precum falls from the tip and I catch it with my tongue as it rolls down the angry length.
“Fuck, that feels good.”
His taste on my tongue sends a flood of heat to my pussy as my empty core pulses. Wrapping my mouth around the head, I suck him down slowly, using the flat of my tongue to drive him wild.
“You’re a naughty little thing, aren’t you? Acting all sweet and innocent, when in fact you’re my dirty girl.”
I moan, taking more of him in, his words making arousal soak my panties. I hollow my cheeks, taking him until he hits the back of my throat, and pull back until I’m sucking gently on the tip.
“Fuck. You’re so good at that, Tesoro.”
I do it again, alternating between deep sucks and slow licks. His hips pump as he grips my hair harder now, his control losing its leash.
“Show me your perfect tits, Tesoro?”
I go to unhook my bra, but he stops me. “No, push the cups of your bra down and show me.”
Something about that feels dirty and sordid. Him fully dressed and me not naked but half-dressed and disheveled. My clit pulses with need as I do as he asked.
“So fucking beautiful. I could come from just looking at you.”
A whimper leaves my lips, my whole body desperate to make him fall apart. I bob my head as my other hand works between my legs to give myself some relief.
“Casey, look at me.”
I look up and he’s watching with so much heat I almost combust.
“Make yourself come as you suck my cock and keep your eyes on me as you do it.”
Normally I’d be too shy to look at someone and do that, but he makes me feel a hundred feet tall. My gaze is glued to his gorgeous dark eyes as I use one hand on my pussy and the other to pump the base of his cock.
I watch his expression change as his hips begin to move more. My climax is building and I can feel the familiar pleasure ripple through me.
“I’m close, Tesoro. Where do you want it?”
I pull back and pump his cock as I rub my clit.
I point his cock at my tits and he groans, his length thickening in my hand as his seed lands on my breasts in warm jets.
The feeling of his hot come on my skin makes me come and I moan as I ride my hand.
I feel his fingers on the mess he made on my breasts.
His finger and thumb tweaking my hard nipples.
Before I can stand, he swings me into his arms and kisses me hard. His tongue dominates me in the way I love. Adi kisses like he’s declared war sometimes, and I fucking love it.
“You, Tesoro, are the biggest surprise of my life and I have no idea what I did to deserve you.”