32. Make Yourself at Home
Make Yourself at Home
Salvatore
“Someone made herself at home.” Andrea snickers into his coffee. “How’s having a roommate?”
“A fucking experience,” I mumble.
More deliveries arrived in the last hour than at any of my warehouses in a week. My house is off-limits to the outside world. Now, it’s full of boxes and random shit to fill a market.
Face creams.
Clothes.
Shoes.
“Is that another order?” Andrea lowers his sunglasses at a truck outside the gate and laughs at my groan. “Looks like you made a few concessions.”
I shake my head at the bundles of hair I found on Bianca’s bathroom sink. She traveled with six packs in her luggage and kicked me out for asking questions, in a rant about protective styles.
Bianca’s room is farthest from mine. She likely chose it out of spite when she first arrived, but she sleeps in my room, where she belongs.
I’ll be damned if I’m paying a million for pussy that stays in a separate bed.
She tried slipping out last night, which ended with my dick on her breath and her head on my chest while we slept. My wife sleeps with me.
My wife.
She hasn’t stopped smiling at the citrus grove since her bare toes sank into the dirt.
The grin pulling at her mouth is wider than the sun spilling over the mango trees below the hillside.
Her braids spiral down her back as she tips her head toward the afternoon sky, heat seeping into her honey-brown skin in a blue-and-white sundress.
A breeze passes through the pergola’s crisscrossed beams where Andrea and I sit. The leaves on the mango trees flutter through the light wind to ruffle the edges of her hair.
Hearing Trouble’s voice deflate while talking to Stephanie about our marriage crawled under my skin.
It’s a marriage of necessity to protect her, but I want her happy, like she is right now.
Happy because of me. I never planned to wed for love since joining the Scilari, but I can make it good for her while she’s here.
One of my technicians shows Bianca a mango, like they’re not on every fucking tree.
“Quit growling at Raul.” Andrea laughs.
“I’m not,” I lie.
“Yeah, okay. When are we taking care of the marriage license?”
“Friday.” I follow Bianca out of the corner of my eye. “I’m planning a small ceremony and dinner.”
Andrea’s brows jog up his forehead. “You’re serious?”
I pick at the buttons on my suit jacket. “Nothing big. Bianca enjoys sunsets. We’ll do it then. Keep it a secret.”
“What secret?” Bianca steps onto the back deck, sweat clinging to her brow.
“How deadly you are, cousin.” Andrea grins. He pulls a folder out of his bag. “I completed your profile. You’re from Richmond, Virginia, with rumored ties to big-name operations in the area we’ll call on if needed. People call you ‘The Consultant.’ Your negotiations end in death.”
“Sheesh.” Trouble frowns at her file. “How did you do all of this?”
“I went to school for computers.” He beams like an idiot.
“You’re a hacker?”
“Among other things. I’m still looking into organizations in the area that have ties to the Preda. For now, you’re good to go. Oh!” He snaps his fingers. “I almost forgot. You have a kink for roleplay, which explains why you were at Eden.”
“Right. That’s this one.” She points at me.
“We have a meeting with Renata at Eden tonight. You’re welcome to join,” I say.
“I happen to have plans tonight.” She grips my chin. “Behave. You don’t want to fuck with a don, Benny. I’ll make you disappear.”
My dick stirs at the promise of violence pooling in her stare. She smirks before dropping the folder onto the table to go back to the grove, twirling to wink at me on the way down a dirt path.
Andrea holds his stomach over his polo in a cackle. He wipes his eyes. “We still meeting Luiggi at Eden, Romeo?”
“Yes.” I pull my phone out to log into the program Andrea designed for my drones. He mumbles something about being whipped under his breath, which I ignore. Within seconds, four drones sprout from the ground near Bianca’s feet.
“What in the entire fuck?!” She jumps from foot to foot. “Benny, you dickhead!”
Trouble looks from me to the mangoes on the tree. My brow arches at her smile before she snatches a mango and hurls it at the drone above her head.
Andrea laughs. “Damn, her aim is good.”
“You owe me thirty million now.” The message casts through my phone to the drones still in the air. I remove my shoes and cuff my pants. “I’ll be ready in ten,” I tell Andrea.
Bianca takes off running once I’m off the porch. Her braids slap her back, slick with sweat. She hikes her sundress lined with dirt at the hem and cuts right.
She’s fast, but I’m faster.
I barrel into her and lift her off the ground. She’s weightless in my arms before I flip us to take the brunt of the fall. We land in a patch of grass that softens the impact but not the reminder that people approaching midlife crises have no business acting like fools.
“Are you out of your mind?” She chokes on a cough around the dirt seasoning the air. “It will be a miracle if my guts don’t spill through my ass!” Her attempts to wiggle free from my chest vibrating over her face fail.
I laugh. Hard. A full-bellied cackle that jiggles my Adam’s apple. I don’t laugh, I barely smile but ease into it more with Bianca.
The sun tips over her shoulder onto the smile that found its way through a frown when she tilts her head. Her brows ease, long lashes curtained over her eyes at rest as I roll her over into the crook of my arm. Goosebumps prick her skin from the feel of my fingertips.
“Bedda,“ I say across her temple.
My pulse trips at the breeze carrying her perfume with a braid I curl around my finger.
One tug is all it takes for our mouths to meet.
I lift her chin and hold the back of her neck to brush my lips over hers.
She curls into me, massaging her tongue with mine.
Kissing Bianca always feels like the first time.
“It’s time for me to leave, love.” I lick her lips and plant a kiss on her forehead. “I’ll be out late.”
“Mhm.”
“Jealousy looks good on you.” My grin widens at her eye roll.
“Last I checked, it was a two-way street. Don’t get your feelings hurt, Benny.”
“I’ll kill behind you,” I say, the control in my tone frayed at the thought of anyone touching her. I pull her with me to stand, eyes locked on the woman who activates a need to claim. “Be in my bed before I get back.”
“I’ll think about it.” Blood rushes to my dick at the defiance in her tone.
She switches off, arms crossed over her chest and ass bouncing like basketballs underneath her dress. Marriage might not be so bad.
I text Luiggi.
Have a few stops to make before I meet you at Eden. I want them on their knees when I arrive.
The drones follow me back to the house where they lower into the ground.