22. Alessia
Chapter twenty-two
Alessia
“ I ’m telling you. He’s definitely skimming some off the top, Massimo. These numbers do not add up,” I repeat myself for the third time. It's the same result after we’ve gone round and round with the reports from one of his illegitimate businesses.
“He’s been working for us for a decade. He’s never skimmed from us.”
“That you know of,” I mutter, and he gives me a look. “I know it’s hard to believe he would cross you, but like every man out there, he’s capable of it.”
Sighing, he pinches the bridge of his nose. “Get him to the warehouse, Vinny.” Vinny is his second most trusted next to Monte who is currently on sabbatical. He shakes his head at me when I fight back a smirk. “Don’t get excited, my little psycho. You will not be kneecapping him.” He chuckles when I curl my bottom lip out in a pouty face. “Maybe just one if I do find him guilty.”
“Oh, darling,” I say sweetly as I make my way over to him. “You’re too good to me.” He turns in his chair as I place my hands on either side of his face and lean down to peck him on the lips. “Oh!” I squeal when he yanks me down to his lap and deepens the kiss.
Since the whole debacle with the bedroom situation, he has not been shy with his affection. If I’m anywhere near, he has to touch me profusely. It’s getting more difficult to avoid my feelings from burgeoning. I feel like I’m going to fall headfirst one day, and that scares the shit out of me.
“I think we should take a trip,” he murmurs as he makes a trail of kisses down my face and to my neck.
“A trip? Where to?”
His hand starts at my knee, sliding up my thigh, dipping under my dress. “Anywhere. Just get away for a few days.”
“Could you really get away for a few days? The wedding is in less than twelve weeks.” Massimo abruptly picked a different date last week, saying he wanted to be married by September.
“I’m sure everyone can handle things while we’re gone.” He nuzzles my neck with his facial hair while his fingers play with the hem of my panty line. “I want a few days with you uninterrupted.”
“You could just cuff me to your bed and demand that I stay like that for days. I’m sure something you’ve done before,” I muse and berate myself inside when he pauses.
I hate the fact that the things we do together, and the toys he uses on me, he’s shared with other women. It’s bratty of me to hold his past against him in any way. I know it is. But I cannot seem to help myself. I wish I could eliminate every female he has ever been even remotely intimate with.
“I’ve never wanted a woman like I want you, Alessia.” He squeezes my ass cheek. “I never not want you.” He kisses my collarbone.
“I’m going to go make some coffee. Do you want anything?” He lifts his head with a stare. I know he sees right through me. Whenever he says things like that, I flee. “I’ll be back.” I peck him on the lips and go to get up, but his grip around me tightens. “Mass—”
The door to his office opens aggressively without warning. Angelo . The distaste for me is immediate as he glowers at the two of us cozied up. Massimo isn’t ignorant of the tension as he rubs a soothing hand up and down my thigh.
“Something urgent?” No warm greeting between the two.
“I need to speak with you.”
Never being one to be ignored as if I’m not even there, I slap a cheerful smile on, not letting his unwelcoming gaze deter me, and get up from Massimo’s lap. “Angelo. So good to see you. Come sta ?” I reach up, and he actually leans down for me to place a kiss on each cheek, and he might as well be on his knees for me right now. He reeks of cigar smoke and cologne—nothing like his son's familiar scent.
“ Bene ,” he grumbles and looks past me to his son as if seeking assistance.
“Well, I was just leaving anyway.” I keep my voice pleasant. “I’ll leave you boys to it.” I smile over at Massimo, and he flatly stares back. Obviously unhappy that I used this as an excuse to slip away. “I’ll see you later, Massimo.”
“ Ciao, bella .”
Turning my back to them, I remain poised as I make my exit. When I close the door behind me, I hear, “She’s certainly made herself comfortable,” in Italian from Angelo, and I decide to stick around for a moment.
“She’s my fiancée. She should be comfortable.”
“So, she already has you under her spell. She’s nothing but a malediction where nothing good will come from it. Her and the rest of the Bonetti’s.”
I stand there unmoving, waiting to hear what kind of response my fiancé will have. And it better be good or I’ll go back in there to tell them both to fuck themselves. Disrespecting me is one thing, but disrespecting my family name is a death sentence.
“She’s harmless and will soon be my wife.” Harmless?! “Now, what did you need to speak to me about?”
I command my feet to move before I really do lose my temper and charge back in there. Harmless? Is he for real? I’m sure it was just an attempt to sway the conversation away from me and to placate his father, but harmless ? I guess I could be presumed harmless when those who don’t know me see me, but anyone who does know anything about me, harmless is not the word that comes to mind. Bold, audacious, psychotic, crazy…
How is the audacity of his father’s slander taking a backseat for the stupid jealousy to seep back in? I’ve always been possessive but never jealous. It’s making me feel petty, and I hate it. I know he has a lot of years on me, so of course, many women came before, but I loathe the thought of being anything like them.
Okay, not like them, but I guess our relationship being anything like he’s had before. More specifically, our sex. I don’t want cuffs he’s used on someone else, or sex toys, or even the same damn bed.
His father accused me of having Massimo under some spell, but it’s me who’s struggling with the rooted hold he has on me.
The smell of rich coffee fills the kitchen as it brews from the fancy machine. The maids now know not to insist on doing every little thing for me. I am not at all helpless and enjoy doing things like making myself some coffee.
We grew up with maids and staff who did most things for us, but if I were thirsty, I’d go to the kitchen and get myself something to drink. Here? You’re expected to pick up a phone and tell someone to deliver it. It feels like you’re staying at some resort, as if this place doesn’t already lack life.
It only took Massimo about ten minutes to seek me out. Knowing he isn’t the type to let anything go, I had a feeling he would. The question is, did I want him to?
The firmness of his body presses up against the back of mine, pinning me to the counter. The nearness of him gets my heart rate going, and my body tingles all over. His fingers toy with my hair before moving it away from my neck, and he replaces his mouth there. “You should know, cara , any woman before you might as well have never existed.”
I swallow hard. How does he always know exactly what is happening inside my head? It’s invasive, and I’m not even sure what’s going on up there half the time.
“You don’t have to do that,” I say quietly, heart pounding.
“Do what? Tell you how I feel? I know I don’t need to.” He kisses my neck, and my eyes flutter shut. “Feel free to let me know what’s inside this beautiful head of yours at any time.” I swallow hard again. Afraid to move or speak. Unsure of what will come out of my mouth if I do. I’m not ready to make myself so exposed to him, especially since I am still trying to process it. “Stop running from me when I do tell you what’s on my mind, gattina . I’m not going to stop, so you better get used to it.”
“I don’t mean to hold the past against you,” I whisper.
“If it makes you feel any better, I want to murder any man who has ever touched you. If I come across any of them, I might.”
I grin. “Does that mean I can kill anyone who has touched you?”
“If it’ll make you feel better.”
“Even Arianna?”
He chuckles and spins me around. “Not that I would care.” He tucks some of my hair behind my ear. “But you know that would mean war.”
I pout. “Fine. But if she ever touches you again, I will have to pop her.”
He snorts and props me up onto the counter by my waist. “I’ll even hand you my gun.”
“You know I carry my own.” I wrap my arms and legs around him. “All this talk about whacking ex-lovers turns me on.” I kiss him on the lips.
His lips respond immediately, kissing me harder and hiking up my dress around my waist. He said he doesn’t ever not want me, and I can say for sure that I feel the same. Even when I’m sore as hell and exhausted, I want him inside of me, pounding me into the mattress. Or behind me, pounding into me so hard his balls slap my pussy. And when he leaves marks on my body, I want to look at them and admire them for hours. Little reminders of what it feels like to be seized by Massimo.
“Are you going to fuck me or what?” I tease.
“After I indulge myself first,” he says cheekily and drops to his knees. Having Massimo on his knees in front of me is otherworldly.
My panties come down my legs gradually until they make their way into his pocket, and I know I won’t be getting those back. Dirty little man . He probably takes them out to smell them when he’s alone in his office.
Prying my knees apart and wide, he hooks his hands underneath my thighs and jerks me to the edge of the counter. My palms slam down behind me to steady myself, and he’s already savoring me.
Moaning, I rake my nails through his hair, and he grunts. I love how his facial hair rubs my skin raw when he does this, adding sensation.
Sucking my entire pussy into his mouth, I gasp and begin riding his face. Fucking him right back. It eggs him on as his breathing becomes erratic, and he pushes my thighs back to spread me wider.
Spots dance around in my vision as I explode in his mouth, and I’m eager to feel him moving inside of me. When he stands up and starts undoing his pants, I go for the buttons of his shirt. I love the feel of his muscles and scars under my fingers.
Tugging his arms free from his shirt, my hands immediately start roaming his body as he lines himself up with my entrance. My head falls back as he bottoms out inside of me, and he takes that opportunity to start kissing my neck as his hips begin to move. My nails dig into his strong shoulders, and my back arches to get as close to him as possible.
“Boss—” I gasp and hide my face into his neck as he stills. Then a gun pops off only a second later, making me jump a little and cling to Massimo.
Glancing over, I expect to see a dead body lying there in the entryway to the kitchen. “I missed,” he rumbles against my neck and moves his hips again. Picking right back up where he had left off.
Giggling, I find his lips with mine, and I can’t wipe the grin off my face as I kiss him. “You’re crazy.”
“You’re one to talk, bambina .”
Giggling some more, I start attacking him with kisses, totally enamored with him.