Chapter 19
Chapter nineteen
“Are you sure nobody is going to see us?” Dominic adjusts his sunglasses as we step out onto my front porch.
I look out at the five mansions on the cul-de-sac.
“Yes. Gigi is out with that dumbass Elio again. Lucia is in her house, but she doesn’t care.
Matteo is working. Nonna is at the Italian club playing bocce.
Mama is going to lunch with my cousin Franco at the French restaurant across town.
Jimmy at the gate told me he saw her drive out fifteen minutes ago. ”
“Franco didn’t ask you why you wanted him to do that?”
“No. He knows better than to ask questions, and he owes me a favor.” I tap my foot and glance at my phone.
“Is Jimmy going to tell her about our plan?”
“Jimmy’s loyalty is to me. He isn’t going to say anything.” I look at my phone again. I’m waiting for AJ’s text. He’s going to turn off the cameras briefly. That gives us twenty seconds to run across the cul-de-sac and get into Mama’s house. Her key is clenched tightly in my hand.
My phone pings and AJ’s text appears.
All set!
“It’s go time. Hurry!” I grab Dominic’s arm and we dash across the street to the front door. I jam the key into the lock and we’re in the house in less than fifteen seconds.
Slamming the door shut, I look around at my childhood home. There are so many memories in this house. Both happy and sad.
“Where do we start?” Dominic takes off his sunglasses and puts them in his suit pocket.
Panic fills me. Our time here is limited and this place is huge. “The last time I remember seeing that chess set, it was on the coffee table in the living room. I don’t remember how long ago that was. I don’t come over here often. I make everyone come to my place.”
“Why?”
“Because coming here reminds me of my father and how he isn’t here anymore.”
Dominic is quiet.
Glancing into the living room, I see that a basket of flowers is on the small circular table by the window and not the chess set.
“Could your mom have packed it away in the attic or the basement? You did say she put a lot of your father’s things in boxes.”
I shake my head. “No. She would never pack it away. It was Dad’s favorite, and for many years after he died we still played. It has to be here somewhere. Let’s spread out, I’ll look in Dad’s study, you look in the den.” I pause in the doorway. “You remember your way around here right?”
He grins. “Like the back of my hand. You brought me over here enough times that I have the place memorized.”
I roll my eyes and head to Dad’s study. My chest tightens as I open the door and step inside.
I haven’t been here in forever and the place has been frozen in time.
The desk is gone but I pull open the cabinets, dig through the drawers, and push aside figurines and old photo frames.
I even check the mantle on the fireplace and the secret compartments.
There is nothing.
A lump forms in my throat as the memories flood through my mind.
I still can’t believe he’s gone.
“There’s nothing in the den,” Dominic’s voice floats through the open door. “I’ll check the library.”
I spend a few more minutes in the room reminiscing about Dad. The doctors said it was the stress of the job that induced a heart attack. Somehow I always doubted that, but science said otherwise.
Walking back into the hallway, I see Dominic come out of the library.
“Nothing.” He wipes his forehead with the back of his hand.
“I’m going to check upstairs.” I head to the curved banister.
“Wouldn’t it have been easier just to ask your mom where she put the chess set?” Dominic follows.
“And answer a million questions? No, thank you.” I reach the top of the stairs. “I’m going to check my parents’ room. You look in the guest rooms.”
I open the door, take a quick peek, and shut it. “It’s gone. Someone stole that chess set. And it can only be someone very close to us.” I take a long glance down the hallway to the ivory door at the end. “Let’s look in here.”
“Where?”
“My old bedroom.”
“Why would your mom put the chess set in there?” Dominic follows me.
“She wouldn’t, I just want to see the place again. I never go up here. Every time I come to visit I stay downstairs.”
I wrap my fingers around the knob and take a deep breath. This place is loaded with memories: the good, the bad, the ugly, and too many of them feature Dominic.
The door creaks when I push it open, and I feel like I’ve stepped back in time.
Pale lilac walls, a vanity table, and a purple canopy bed greet me. A perfect little museum of my childhood before the underworld swallowed me whole. Dad always said I was a princess and this room is fit for one.
“I forgot how innocent this room looks.” Dominic walks over to the window and pulls back the curtain.
“Oh the old tree is still here. You didn’t cut it down.
I remember what a pain it was climbing that thing every night.
I still have the scars to prove it. I don’t know how your parents never found out. ”
I sit on the edge of my bed, the old mattress groans under my weight. “Thank God there were no security cameras back in the day. I think my parents may have suspected, but they liked you.”
Dominic turns around and leans against the wall. “True. Until I became everything they hated.”
“My dad didn’t hate you. Neither did my mom. I mean you never came after us…”
“I would never hurt you, Cipi.”
We stare at each other. Butterflies flutter in my stomach. For a moment I have a flashback of him as a teenager climbing through my open window. Now here he stands before me. A man with a fitted jacket that highlights all his muscles and a grin that can make me melt.
Seeing him back in my old room stirs something in me.
Anger. Frustration. Longing. Desire.
All the raw emotions that only Dominic can ignite.
Dominic moves toward me.
Before I can process what’s happening, he leans down, and kisses me.
Again.
Fuck.
This shouldn’t be happening.
But I kiss him back nonetheless.
I let him pull me to my feet as I wrap my arms around his neck and open my mouth to let his tongue play with mine.
Slowly I turn him toward my bed. Stepping forward, I push him gently until the back of his knees hit the edge of the bed, but he’s still standing. I break the kiss.
“Cipi, what are you doing?” He hisses.
I drop to my knees. “It’s my turn to return the favor.”
“What are you talking about?”
I lock eyes with him. “I never did thank you properly for what you did the other night in the limo. You were right, I needed to relax and enjoy a night out.”
This is the first time I’ve mentioned the limo incident. By the look on his face I know he remembers it too.
My heart pounds as I undo his belt.
What the fuck am I thinking right now?
“Cipriani…” His voice trails off as I wrap my hands around the top of his pants and boxers then pull them down to his ankles, exposing him.
“Turned on are we?” I tease.
“With the way you look, how could I not be.”
I take a moment and stare at his hard cock.
So many memories.
This is a bad idea.
I lean in and kiss the top of it.
Really bad idea….
I wrap my mouth around him and his entire body tenses.
“Fuck, Cip…”
His skin smells like an apple and citrus combination from his body wash.
Placing my hands against his thighs, I move my lips down his length, pressing my tongue against him.
I hear him groan as I move into a rhythm of short and long strokes throwing my hands into the mix.
He swears and his hands find my hair, massaging my scalp as I move faster.
“Fuck…Cipi…Fuck.”
He’s unraveling for me and I’m loving every minute of it.
As I press deeper, I feel him at the back of my throat and suppress a gag.
Drawing back, I wrap my lips around his balls, while continuing to work my hand back and forth across his cock.
A low groan rattles in his chest as I suck gently, swishing my tongue around his sack.
“Yes, baby...”
I return to his cock and continue pleasing him with my mouth.
His hands touch my cheeks. “Look at me, beautiful.”
I do.
His fingers move back to my hair and the grip turns possessive.
“God, you’re so fucking beautiful…so perfect.”
I move faster, my hands firm against his thighs.
His hips move with me, matching my rhythm.
“Don’t stop,” he growls. “Don’t you fucking stop…”
Ding!
The sound slices through the room like a gunshot and I freeze.
Dominic curses. “Ignore it.”
I wish I could but I can’t.
Continuing the motion, I reach with one hand and grab my phone that’s on the bed.
AJ: Your sister is coming! Get out now!
Fuck.
I pull his cock from my mouth and look up at him. “Gigi is coming.”
“Shit!” He zips up and helps me to my feet.
We race down the stairs, hoping to make it to the back door before she enters.
Too late.
We had just reached the bottom of the steps when the front door flings open and there is Gigi with Elio on her arm.
“Cipi?” Gigi stops. Her eyes widen as she catches sight of Dominic behind me. “Dominic?”
“Hello, Gigi,” Dominic replies.
“What are you doing here?” Her eyes flick between us and then they light up like a Christmas tree. “Oh My God. Are you two…?”
“It’s not what it looks like,” I lie.
“In Mom’s house too.” A wicked smile crosses her face. “You always did like to spice things up, didn’t you?”
“Gigi,” I snap, my tone a warning.
“What?” You think I don’t know that look of someone who’s just been…”
“Gigi!”
“When did you two get back together? You weren’t at Cipi’s birthday party?”
“Gigi! Shut up!” I yell. I thought she would be upset because of how things ended between me and Dominic but she looks positively overjoyed at this.
Gigi adjusts her fur coat and smirks at me.
“What are you doing here?” I attempt to change the subject.
“Well, we weren’t coming here to fuck if that’s what you’re asking.” Gigi flounces past me and walks to the kitchen. “We already did it in the car and my house.”