Chapter 34
FRANCISCO
It took all my self-restraint to sleep beside her without coming on to her.
That beautiful body pressed up against mine, all its seductive curves legally mine for the taking.
I fell asleep hard, and that’s never happened to me before.
I’m not even sure how I did it since it seems like something that would be physically impossible.
I managed not to take her when I woke in the middle of the night. And it took me nearly an hour to fall asleep again because I had to fight my natural instincts tooth and nail. When I woke, I was still hard, but instead of waking her, I took a cold shower.
Now I’m gazing at her across the aisle on the airplane, and she looks even more beautiful than she did in my bed.
I’ve got a bad case of blue balls, and it’s beginning to cause me pain.
I’m not sure how I’m going to survive if I can’t have her.
The fact that I promised to wait until she is ready weighs heavily on my mind.
How rude would it be to nudge her in the right direction?
She seemed open to having a normal marital relationship.
I could just remind her of what she said before passing out beside me.
But the plane is full of people. There are my men, plus ten additional people Carmine sent.
Luca himself is seated near Marlena, monopolizing her time.
She laughs at something he says and tosses her head like a wild mare.
I long to get up from my seat and go to her.
Luca won’t mind. As the boss, I could probably get away with making love to her out in the open, but I doubt she’d agree to that.
Dammit. I cross and uncross my legs, my swollen cock getting the better of me.
I can’t wait for this flight to be over.
The moment I get her home, I’m going to suggest that we go to bed.
If I read the situation correctly, the problem last night was just that she was tired.
I cling to the hope that is all it was, and that she’ll be refreshed and eager to fuck me when we’re finally alone.
I can’t believe we’re married. If I’m being honest with myself, there’s much more to my desire for her than simply to help her avoid a painful death. I’m not ready to say that I’m falling in love, but my heart is leaning toward that conclusion.
My phone rings—Giovanni. “Hello?” I say as I pick up.
“Congratulations,” Giovanni says.
“Thank you,” I reply. “How are things going at home?”
“As well as can be expected,” he complains. “Do you have an ETA?”
“Four hours,” I answer. We’re halfway across the Atlantic Ocean.
“I’ll have your driver meet you when you land,” Giovanni promises.
“Luca’s here,” I say.
“Luca!” Giovanni shouts.
From the other side of the plane, Luca hears his name. I hold out the phone and explain that I’m talking to Giovanni. Luca stands, climbs across the outstretched legs of the men between us, and takes the device from my hand.
He has a one-sided conversation with Giovanni in Italian.
I can easily understand that he’s giving my brother a hard time for never learning the language.
We spent summers in Italy when we were kids, and Giovanni never picked up Italian the same way I did.
Everyone gave him a hard time for being monolingual, though I never joined in the insults.
Luca hands the phone back to me and returns to talk to my bride.
“Always busting my balls,” Giovanni grumbles.
“I’ve also got ten new men from the Rocca family.”
“Got it,” Giovanni says. “I’ll send more than one car.”
“Send three,” I command. “I want a private one for Marlena and me.”
“You got it,” Giovanni agrees.
“And I want you to assign a few more people to her detail,” I say, watching her interact with my cousin. I know her well enough by now to be worried about what she might do. I can’t watch her all the time, and I know she’s worried about her brother.
Part of the reason I took her to Italy in the first place was to discourage her from going off on her own looking for him.
I know she thinks it’s her responsibility, but that will only get her in trouble.
I want peace of mind knowing that she’s safe and not walking into the lion’s den.
I’m not going to accuse her of lying to me. I just want to remove any temptation.
“No problem,” Giovanni agrees. “See you as soon as you land.”
I hang up and go back to my daydreaming. I think about Marlena and nothing else. I know there are probably tons of problems waiting for me back home. All the things that I left to Giovanni to take care of will need to be discussed. I’ll have to let all my capos know that I’m back in the country.
But none of those things are even remotely as interesting as the woman sitting across from me.
I like the way her hair flows freely across her shoulders.
I like the way her eyes light up when she smiles.
I like the tiny, flirty dress she’s wearing, and wonder if it’s something she picked out or something that one of my shoppers bought for her.
I glance around the cabin to make sure no one else is too interested. But they’re all either sleeping or playing with their phones. There’s a card game going on in the rear of the plane, near the bathroom. And Luca is telling her some story about me as a kid.
It almost feels like paradise, except for this painful boner I have. I almost wish that this plane ride could last forever. I want to get back home so that I can get Marlena alone, but I know that there is a lot of business I’ll have to attend to first.
I tear my gaze away from her and look down at my phone.
Maybe if I can answer a few emails and make some calls, it will minimize the work waiting for me when we land.
I spend the rest of the flight buried in my device.
There’s no end to the work, and I’m surprised when the pilot comes on the intercom to say that we’re starting our descent.
I check in with Marlena. She’s strapping her seatbelt on. Luca is nowhere in sight, and it takes me a minute to locate him in the back with the rest of the card players. I squandered a perfectly good opportunity to talk to my bride, and I kick myself.
She smiles, noticing my attention. That will never get old. I’ll never get tired of the warmth in her eyes. It’s something I don’t feel like I deserve, but I’ll fight to the death to defend.
The plane touches down, and we step outside. Marlena and I are first, as it doesn’t matter where we sat. Everyone moves aside so we can leave the plane at our leisure. I see my regular driver waiting beside a limo, and a collection of other smaller cars around him.
“We’ll touch base back at the mansion,” I tell Luca when he descends from the staircase.
“Right,” he agrees.
The muscle splits up into various cars, leaving Marlena and me alone at last. I help her into the backseat and take the added precaution of sliding the privacy window shut. There’s a lot of space for us to stretch out, and yet we’ve just gotten off an eight-hour flight.
Marlena takes her shoes off and puts her feet up on the opposite seat. Without even thinking, I pick one of them up and begin massaging it. The things I do for this woman amaze even me.
She moans with pleasure, which gets me thinking about all the other things we could potentially do in the limo. Of course, I need her permission, and I don’t want to pressure her by asking.
She does me a favor, and after I’ve fully destroyed the tension in her toes, she moves closer. I pretend not to notice, pouring a glass of champagne for each of us. She takes one sip of hers and then sets it down in the cup holder.
If I’m not mistaken, she’s as eager as I am to rekindle our marital relations. I watch her over the rim of my glass until she loses all inhibitions and climbs onto my lap. This is what I’ve been waiting for. This is the signal that I need to allow myself to take what I want.
I set my glass down, reaching around to cup her sweet backside. The dress she wears is thin, allowing me to feel her heat. I brush it aside so that I can connect with her skin.
She bites her lip, looking at me with a gaze that would melt metal. She kisses me once, twice, and then settles down for a decadent exploration of my tongue. I run my palms back and forth across her ass, slipping my hands beneath her panties.
She sucks my bottom lip between her teeth and nibbles gently. God, she’s amazing. I slide my hands up her torso as far as they’ll go before the dress stops them. I want her out of this thing immediately so I can have free rein to stroke her.
She doesn’t provide me with an opportunity, but instead, grinds her pelvis into mine. She arches her back and presses her breasts against me. I’m nearly mad with passion, and she’s not making it any easier.
I want to dig myself into her pussy, to feel her closing around me. I grasp her by the sides of the head, kissing furiously. She adjusts the angle of her hip so that we fit together perfectly. But I’m tired of this position, and I’m tired of all these clothes.
I lift her up and lay her down on her back, crawling up her body until I’m stretched out on top. I haven’t given myself space to remove any of the offending items, but I can’t seem to pry myself away.
I kiss her again and again, finally moving away from plump lips, down a heated chin to her delicate neck.
She throws her arms around my shoulders and hangs on as the limo drives through traffic.
The tinted windows hardly let any light in, so we’re surrounded by mood lighting and the soft leather interior.
I plant one hand beside her head and reach down to tear off her panties. As I grasp the material at her hip, I realize these aren’t the practical ones I purchased for her before we left the States. She’s wearing the bottom half of her bikini bathing suit as if in anticipation of this event.