Chapter 14
ETTORE
Iwake in the night to take a leak, then see that I’ve got a text from Mara, sent only a few minutes ago. I open our message thread.
Mara: Livia came to talk to me earlier. I can’t stop thinking about what she said. I don’t want to betray any confidences, so I won’t go into details. But it made me think about my place here.
I quickly reply.
Ettore: She told me she was going to talk with you. I know she told you about Vera, about that messy dynamic. I know she asked you to make a decision for Sylvie’s sake.
Mara: What do you think about it?
I get an image of her sitting up in bed, biting her lip, beautiful face tight with emotion.
Ettore: I want you to stay.
Mara: Were you lying earlier when you talked about heaven and hell?
I push down the instinct to be offended. She has every right to ask this. She was in foster care. She was abandoned. She’s smart to keep her guard up, even if I know I’m telling the truth. I don’t hurt innocents. I try to do my best, as much as this wicked city will allow.
Ettore: No. I won’t lie to you, Mara. You deserve the truth. You deserve respect.
Mara: Good. Because I’ve decided to stay. Maybe that makes me crazy. But I want to do my best for Sylvie. And I want to keep digging into you.
Ettore: You’ve already gone deeper than anyone ever has.
Mara: That’s a shame, Ettore. You shouldn’t have to spend your life locked inside yourself.
Ettore: I was used to it before you came along. But we need to be careful. Sylvie has to come first. You’ve challenged me, made me understand I need to put more time into her, more care, more attention. But when we’re together in person, I forget all that.
Mara: You’re a good dad. When you’re around.
That one hurts, but she’s right.
Ettore: Sometimes I’m scared that the hell we talked about might infect her, that it would be better for me to stay away.
Mara: That’s never the case. She loves you. She needs you.
Ettore: Which is why I need to learn to keep my hands to myself around you.
Mara: What if I don’t want you to?
My manhood floods with heat. My tip pushes almost painfully against my briefs. I’m leaking almost instantly, head hazy with memories of how she felt. How hot she felt through her clothes. My hands on her curvy hips as our tongues danced together.
Ettore: It’s going to get messy fast. I’m already starving for you again. One touch wasn’t enough.
Mara: What do you mean—starving?
I clench my jaw. Hard. Is she asking for specifics? Does she want to know the details of how rock-hard I am, how difficult it’s been not to touch her?
Ettore: I’m aching for you. I’m hard in bed, alone, just thinking about you. Your wide hips. Your beautiful face. Your eyes with that glint of sass in them. Your big, gorgeous, flawless ass. Your silky, wonderful hair. All of you, Mara, every inch. I want you so badly.
Mara: Keep going.
Oh, fuck.
I pull down the sheets and free myself from my pants, taking my base in my hand. The touch is electrifying with Mara in my thoughts. I see her in her gym gear, in her underwear, in sweatpants, in anything at all. Perfect no matter what her outfit is.
Ettore: Only if you tell me why you want me to keep going.
Mara: You know why.
Ettore: I need you to tell me.
Mara: Because I’m getting hot. And I need a release. I’ve needed one for weeks.
Ettore: Me too. So I’ll keep going, Mara. I’ll tell you I’ve got my cock out right now and I’m stroking it thinking of you. I’m imagining you that time I found you in your underwear, all those juicy curves on display, flushed and excited.
I click send, stroking hard, struggling to type one-handed. But there’s no way I’m taking my hand off my throbbing shaft.
Ettore: I wish I’d dragged you to the bed, put you on your back, torn off your underwear and feasted on you.
That I’d given into the lust that gripped me the first time I saw you.
I wanted to taste you so fucking badly. To put my tongue inside you.
To bring you to an orgasm so you were soaked for me, then, and only then, get ready to drive deep inside you.
I’m stroking faster now. Her next text is gibberish.
Mara: Keefrtadcp goigacs
I think she means, Keep going. But she can’t type because her hand is busy.
Ettore: I’m thinking of you in bed now, rubbing yourself, picturing me on top of you, sliding in and owning you.
Claiming your slit and your goddamn soul.
I’m so close to exploding. I can barely type.
But I’m not going to blow until you tell me you’ve come.
I need to know. I need to think of you shivering and quaking in bed.
I need to think of your toes curling and your vision burning with white-hot lust. All while you imagined me buried deep inside, where I belong.
I stroke slowly, struggling to hold back, my mind in chaos as the images clash together. I’ve never been this horny in my entire life.
A minute later, she texts back.
Mara: I just came so hard.
I let my head fall back and stifle a roar as a hot steam of pleasure bursts out of me, hot wave after hot wave, making my stiff shaft feel electrified. When it’s done, I stand, going into the ensuite. The come is dripping down between the gaps in my ab muscles.
I clean myself, then return to bed.
Ettore: Me too.
Mara: We shouldn’t do that again.
Ettore: I know we shouldn’t.
I put my phone on the bedside table and try to get some more sleep before I have to wake in a few hours.
The next day, Bastian Calvi, Ruggero’s nephew, is waiting for me outside my office. He leans against his car in the no-parking zone, gesturing to me. I approach with Mark at my shoulder. I nod to the approaching security guard, so he knows to back off.
Bastian looks baby-faced and ridiculous as he tries to affect a swagger of authority.
His usual collection of goons sits in the car, grinning in my direction.
I pretend not to notice, because that would mean taking action against them.
The alliance between our Families feels more at risk than ever with all this bravado.
He walks toward my building, away from the flow of pedestrians and his car.
“Morning, Ettore,” he says.
“Morning,” I reply tightly, thinking I’d much rather be with Sylvie and Mara than dealing with this kid.
“I’m here to explain that my uncle had nothing to do with the little mix-up about the meeting yesterday. I was the one who arranged it.”
“The mix-up being that you tried to force me to go on a date with your cousin,” I say coldly.
“I was trying to put the Families first, as I’m sure you can understand.”
My hand twitches. I want to slap the taste out of his mouth. I’m tempted to accuse him of wrecking my store. But without proof, it will only cause problems. Mark is currently chasing leads, trying to connect Detective Tuffin – the one with the disappearing act – to any of our enemies. Or friends.
“Please.” He places his hand on my chest. “Accept my apologies.”
I take several steps forward until I’m crowding him against the wall. I can tell he doesn’t like this, but he can’t do a damn thing about it.
“If you weren’t Ruggero’s nephew, I’d have your hand,” I growl. “Stay out of my business, or your name won’t mean a fucking thing.”
“Take it easy,” he says tightly. “We need an alliance. People are getting anxious.”
“Plenty of Families survive without marriages.”
“And always, always they go to war. That’s not how we’ve done things. We’re smarter than that. Think. If not you—”
“If you mention my daughter, I’ll kill you here on the street.”
He pales in terror. “I—I wasn’t going to say anything about your daughter. What the hell?”
He’s lying… isn’t he?
“What were you going to say, then?” I growl.
“I won’t stand here to be insulted.” He pushes past me, walking toward his car.
“What were you going to say?” I roar.
“Boss,” Mark says tightly, gently touching my arm when he realizes I’m going to follow. And spike him on the concrete. “Not here.”
I curse and stride into my office, my head spinning.