15. Amici… With The Benefits
Chapter 15
Amici… With The Benefits
Giordano
I fix the buttons on my shirt in the kitchen before heading out to work early Monday morning. All I can manage to think about is the expression on Antonella’s face when she orgasmed all over me last night. It’s a sight I’ll hold in my memory forever. In fact, it keeps replaying in my mind over, and over, and over again.
Pure torture.
The gentle padding of footsteps coming down the stairs pulls me out of the little daydreaming. Pity . Although, the real thing is much better than the fictional mind. I glance over to the gorgeous creature. Her hair’s up in a high ponytail—perfect for pulling.
I clear my throat, giving her my pathetic attempt at a smile. “Good morning.”
She stops dead in her tracks, eyes wide like a deer caught in headlights. Her face drains of all color—as if she isn’t expecting to see me this morning. As if she doesn’t want to see me this morning. Interesting.
“Good morning,” she mumbles.
“Did you sleep well?” I pull on my suit jacket, then fix the cuff links.
“Yes. ”
I bet you did, naughty girl. Cumming all over my hand the way you did —is what I want to say. Instead, I simper at her while fixing the cuff links. “Good.”
Her plump lips part slowly. “Last night wa?—”
I cut her off. “Shouldn’t have happened.”
My poor choice in wording smacks her in the face. I hum, stepping closer to her, place my hand under her delicate chin, and tilt her head up. Directing her attention to me, allows me a brief moment to ogle those beautiful honey brown doe eyes. They have some flecks of gold when the sunlight hits them.
Bellissima.
“But I desperately want it to, amore,” I whisper.
“What?” Her head tilts slightly in confusion.
“Please, allow me to finish.” I sigh, not wanting to hurt her.
She nods in agreement, saying nothing.
My good girl. So obedient.
“I wasn’t expecting to walk into what you were doing. So, allow me to apologize. I should’ve knocked.”
She nods, again, though this time in more of a sassy manner.
Naughty girl.
“Next time, I will knock. But hopefully, next time, I’ll already be in the bed with you. If you’re not ready to take it to the next level and have a relationship with me yet, I can wait. Call it… delayed gratification. But goddamn it, Antonella Marie Vitale, I want you. I need you. I crave you. Your touch , your taste , your smell , your voice. It’s all I can think about anymore. You consume me. The worst part about it all is you haven’t even been trying.” I hold my hand out for her to take.
She takes it instantly without hesitating this time. Is she finally warming up to me?
Fuck. I hope so.
Her breathing hitches and she bites down on her lip. I place my thumb on her bottom lip, pulling it out from between her teeth. I trace my thumb across it and place her hand on my rapidly beating heart.
“Please tell me you feel my heart.” My usual, confident and demanding voice comes out as a mere whisper. “What you do to me.”
Her eyes glass over, almost as if she’s about to cry. A small little smirk spreads across her lips. “We met two weeks ago. Last night was…” A light pink blush spreads across her cheeks. “ Not a mistake. I’d love for it to happen again. But also—” She places her other hand on my sharp jawline, trailing the bottom of my scar slightly with her fingertips.
Her touch sends shivers straight to my cock.
Cazzo.
My entire soul feels like it’s about to jump out of my body. Full grown men can’t make me feel as terrified as she does. Never in my life .
“I can’t pretend anymore,” my voice cracks.
“We need to take it slow. I’m not ready for—” She gestures around us. “It’s a lot.”
“I’ll wait as long as you need to if that’s what you want, amore.” I simper, pleased with myself at our progress. Slowly, but surely—she’s easing her own way into being mine.
“Friends with benefits, then?” she asks quietly, as if she’s not sure of herself.
“Friends with the benefits,” I agree. This could work; it means I get to hold her. She’s about to discover a whole new side of me. I’m not planning on staying with the label for long. Absolutely not.
“It’s with benefits, not with the benefits,” she replies sarcastically.
“Either way, beneficial for both of us, no?”
“I have to leave for work now, or I’m going to be late,” she whispers.
“Would you like to take the car?”
She shakes her head. Stubborn woman. “Let me drive you? It’s a far walk from here and I’m headed in the same direction. You can make me a cappuccino the way you always do. With the little heart, amore.”
She tilts her head, exhaling a large, annoyed breath. “Fine, you can take me to work.”
“With pleasure, amore.” I wink and slap her ass as she turns to walk away from me.
She spins a one-eighty, giving me a scowl, with her right hand on her hip.
Just because she isn’t ready for a full blown relationship, doesn’t mean I’m not going to torture her. I respect the hell out of her—in a teasing way.
“Now, give me a kiss.” I tap my cheek three times. She rolls her eyes and presses her plump, soft lips against my cheek. “Good girl.” I gesture for the door. “I don’t appreciate the eye rolling.”
“Eye rolling?”
“Yes. When you—” I pause my sentence to imitate her sass. With my hand on my hip, I copy her scoff and roll my eyes. “The rolling of the eyes.”
She blinks as her lips tighten into a flat line, clearly unamused.
“Andiamo, amore.” I stretch out my elbow for her to take. She slides her arm in mine, allowing me to escort her to the garage. My sweet girl.
I squint in irascibility at my laptop screen. My fingers tapping against the meeting room table as this man continues to talk to my girl.
I keep my eyes locked on the particular smile on her face. The one which should be reserved for me.
And me alone .
What does this guy have that I don’t? Huh? Why’s he so funny? Sure, I tapped into the café’s security system. And every single camera. It’s not hard. No. They made it too simple to get through the firewall. So simple, I figured it out on my own. Usually, I need Xander.
The man’s hand slides on top of Antonella’s, in a flirty way. Not in an accidental brush of hands when she’s handing coffee cups directly to the customers—though I’m still not particularly fond of that, either.
My eyes follow his hand as it trails up her arm slowly, and she’s not doing a damn thing to stop him, either. My jaw clenches tight. Any harder I’ll break a tooth.
He touched her.
He.
Touched .
Her.
He touched what’s mine.
I glance back up at the two men sitting at the board meeting room table, Giacomo and Xander.
“Giacomo.” I wave two fingers at him.
“Yeah, Boss?”
“Whack him.” I point to the man talking to Antonella on the computer screen.
“Him?”
“Did I stutter?”
“No—”
“Yes. Him.”
“Alright.” He pulls the gun out from his holster and checks the chamber, making sure it’s loaded.
“I’ll be back in—” He peeks down to the watch on his other wrist. “Thirty minutes.”
“Thirty?”
“Since you’re sending me out that way, I’m going to pick up a prescription for Nonna. ”
“Give her my sympathy.” I wave. The countless floral arrangements I’ve sent have shown sympathies enough, and how I covered the cost of his grandfather’s funeral for them.
“Boss?”
“Che?”
“Stop sending flowers, please. She doesn’t remember, and it’s confusing her more.”
“I’m sorry, that was never my intention. Consider the flowers done.” I gesture toward the door. “Twenty-nine minutes.” He’s gone instantly. And it doesn’t take me long to follow him.
I’m going to be making a special visit of my own.
I saunter into the coffee shop, however, my smile quickly fades as I find the man still here. I scan the room, spotting Giacomo standing in a corner. It’s not as easy for him to whack in public spaces, but a job’s a job—and he needs to fucking finish it already. He’s got twenty-two minutes.
Antonella hasn’t noticed me yet.
Why doesn’t she?
The second she spins around to make a drink on the other counter, they’re both gone. How he does it, I’ll never understand. And when she finally turns back to face all the customers, I’m standing where he once stood. As I should be—here to replace any man who so much as thinks he has a chance with her.
She gasps when her eyes meet my own. “Oh, merda! Did you see the guy I was just talking to?” She searches around me.
This is what she asks me? Not about why I’m here? Well hello to you too, sweetheart .
“What guy?” I grin from ear to ear. Gaslighting her isn’t my strongest moment, I’ll admit. But he’s as good as dead. He can’t touch what’s mine and live to tell.
Dramatic? Sure. Possessive? Sure.
She’s mine. Fuck if I care.
“I swear he was right there a minute ago. And you were not . Where did you come from, anyway?” She awkwardly laughs.
“Came through the door. Wanted to pop in and ask how your day’s going.” I wink. “And order a small cappuccino. Please, amore.”
“Another? Fine.” She shrugs her shoulders and gestures toward the pad. “Three-fifty.”
I tap my phone against the screen, and step to the side, waiting for her to make the drink for me.
“So, you’re just here for a cappuccino?” she asks under her breath.
“Well, I did ask how your day was going… but you didn’t answer,” I retort.
“Hmm.” She squints, placing the hot to-go cup in front of me on the counter.
Oh, so she doesn’t want touch me like she did the other guy, huh? What’s this about?
“Well… work was going peachy, until a six-foot-five, broody man showed up and took away the man I was talking to. He was about to ask me out on a date.” She glances over at the door.
“Pity.” I swipe my cup off of the counter and bring it up to my lips, inhaling the aroma of the coffee. She didn’t do a little heart this time. My stomach rolls into a tight knot. Did I take it too far? Who am I kidding? Of course not. “Sorry you didn’t get your date, amore. Maybe he had an emergency.”
He has a date alright—one with death.
Score one for me—no dates for Antonella. I don’t care if I said no strings attached, or if I agreed to not interfere in her love life. Fuck that.
“Sure.” She shrugs .
“Ciao, amore.”
Satisfied with the outcome, I leave the cafè. Though, I don’t go back to the office. Instead, I sit in one of the chairs, outside next to one of the iron wrought tables, working on my laptop. Most of the day, images float through my mind about how she looks when she orgasms.
A day well spent, I’ll say.
I wasn’t lying when I said she consumes my mind. I need to be near her. She has no idea. Is this going beyond obsession now? This is stalking.
Two in the afternoon, she finally walks out of the front doors of the café. She’s not paying attention to her surroundings as well as she should. She needs to stop looking at her phone when she’s walking outside—not safe.
I clear my throat to get her attention. She peers up from her phone and jumps when she spots me.
My amore’s easily scared. The slightest pick up of the wind can make her scream. Is she not expecting me to pick her up? I’m not going to let her walk home by herself. Not when Cillian can be anywhere at any time. Another reason she needs to be more aware of her surroundings. But, how can I tell her without giving away too much information?
I can’t.
She sighs walking over to me. “What are you doing here?”
“Bringing you home.”
“Oh.” Her tone’s a little forlorn.
I hum. “Were you… going somewhere else? I can take you. It’s no issue. You can call me when you’re ready, and I’ll come?—”
“No! It’s fine. I was planning on walking home. I wasn’t expecting you to leave work for me, is all. I don’t expect you to be at my every beck and call.”
I want to laugh at her idiom. If only she knew how whipped I am for her already—dropping everything for her. She’ll never know, of course.
Though, I’d love watching her submit to me .
“Amore.” I stand, hovering over her. I reach out and cradle her warm cheek in my hand. I’m not going to tell her I never left the front of the café today. “I’d leave anything for you. You cannot walk from here. It’s not safe.”
Oddio. She already has me wrapped around her pretty little finger. She’s getting a ring on her finger next. I don’t care if people, or even she, thinks it’s too soon.
Her eyes widen as she gasps. “Thank you.”
“ Every time.”
“Could you do me… another favor?” One of her perfectly arched dark brows hikes up.
“What is it?”
“Help me with my résumé, please? I mean… I’m no expert barista, but this isn’t exactly my line of work.” Her melodious laughter warms my heart as she gestures to the café behind us.
“ Absolutely , amore.” I take her arm in mine.
As long as you let me taste you again soon… I’ll do anything for you.
“How was work for you, by the way?”
I never made it back to the office.
I can’t stop thinking about you.
“Assuming I got anything done—mundane. You?” I ask.
“Extremely busy. Monday morning rushes.” She laughs. “I made another cappuccino today and I thought of you.”
She’s thinking of me, too? “Did you?” A grin spreads across my face involuntarily.
“She wanted it extra hot and it reminded me of last night.” Her face becomes red as a tomato. “I’d love it again, please.”
Not at all what I expected her to say.
I tuck some loose strands of hair behind her ear. “Such lovely manners. Your wish is my command, amore,” I whisper into her ear.
I tap against the wood of the dining room table with my index finger, glaring at the computer screen. “Is there anything else you think you can add to this?” I wince. The page is almost a blank one. There’s not many jobs she’s going to get here. It’s extremely competitive unless you know someone. Practically no experience, less than a year, won’t stand out.
Lucky for her, I am someone.
“I have a Zio Alessandro. He works in head-hunting. Although, he divorced from my Zia Alessandra. So, I’m not sure how talking to him is going to work out. We all took her side during the divorce because he cheated on her with an eighteen-year-old gold digging—” She rambles.
“Oddio, Alessand ro and Alessand ra ?” I chuckle.
“Sì, it made remembering them easy until, well…” She snorts. “She got the house, the car, and the kids.”
Her family dynamic is becoming more peculiar by the day. I squint, wrapped up in the gossip. “Wouldn’t it make it easier for him to be with the other girl?”
“Huh.” She relaxes back into the chair. “You would think. But no.” She waves her index finger. “Once the divorce happened, the shame became too unbearable. He flew back to Lucca.”
“Is that where your famiglia is from?” I raise a brow. I suppose I didn’t dig far back into her history. I got easily distracted.
“Sì. I was born here, but Mamma and Babbo immigrated here after they got married.”
“Sei bella,” I blurt out.
Her blush spreads across her face as she tucks a loose strand behind her ear. She whispers, “Bugiardo.”
“No, no. None of that, now.” I kiss her forehead. Never about her beauty. I clear my throat getting back to the original topic. “I have many connections. Let me help you.” I scratch my chin, glancing over her résumé on her laptop again. She’s had only one job in her field.
“Are you saying my lack of experience… sucks?” She scrunches up her cute nose.
“Not exactly. ” I give her a pathetic attempt at a smile. She crosses her arms and tilts her head. Sorry, amore. “But generally speaking… sì. It sucks.”
“Wonderful.” She rolls her eyes.
“Do that again, and I’ll be taking you over my knee. Capisce?”
Her brows shoot up. “E-excuse me?”
“Listen. There are going to be a few ground rules here, amore.”
She scoffs. “ Rules ?”
“Clearly, you need some—an attitude adjustment and all.” I laugh. “We’re friends with the benefits, after all.”
“Oh, truthfully?” A bright light flares behind her eyes. My girl likes handing over control, does she? Brava ragazza. “It’s friends with benefits,” she retorts. “Why do you keep adding the extra the? ” her voice is now a whisper.
I take a sip of my wine, choosing to ignore her sass—wishing I could see her ass.
I should be a poet.
“It’s about the way you reacted last night, amore. You want someone to take control of you.” I stand and hover over her.
Her pupils dilate, filling with lust as I cup her chin in my hand, tilt her head up toward me, and lean in close to her face. My lips barely brush across hers, a tiny little shock.
I whisper, “To dominate you.” I plant a kiss on the corner of her mouth.
She giggles, confidence sparking within her while she leans back. “Is that what you think?”
I wrap my fingers around her neck, gripping tightly as I pull her back to me. “It’s what I know, amore.” I press my lips against hers and wrap my hand around the length of her ponytail a few times. I tug on it gently while keeping my grip steady on her neck, feeling her swallow against the palm of my hand.
She moans quietly into my mouth. Sending blood straight to my cock. She has the tendency to do it with zero amount of effort.
Unfair.
I break apart our kiss, leaving her gasping for air. “Let me show you.”
“If you’re going to do some kinky shit, I know what I like.” She huffs out a laugh, taking a lengthy sip of her white wine.
“Oh?” I sit back in the chair next to her, raking my fingers through my wavy, relaxed, ear-length hair. “Do tell.”
Show me what you got, amore.