Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
GAbrIEL
“ S o then you simply roll them. Like this.”
“Like…this?”
“ Hmm …not exactly. Try again.”
“Okay.”
Standing outside the kitchen door, I listened to the voices inside. Letizia was teaching Liv to bake—cornetti by the sound of it. Even though I’d only been listening for the last five minutes, it sounded like they’d been at it for a while.
And that Letizia had her hands full with Liv as her student.
“So…like this ?” Liv asked again.
It didn’t matter that I couldn’t see around the corner where the two women were working the dough to see how this attempt had gone. Letizia’s disappointed groan was all the answer I needed. The woman famously had more patience than anyone in the whole history of this house, and I could hear by her voice that even she was nearing the end of her rope.
“My dear,” Letizia said with a sigh. “They are called cornetti because they’re supposed to look like little horns. Not like flaccid penises.”
I couldn’t stop the laugh that burst out of my chest at the image.
“Oh God!” Liv shouted. A second later, she rounded the corner clad in a flour-covered apron and with fire in her eyes. “Gabriel! What the hell are you doing, spying on us?”
“A man can’t spy in his own home,” I tried, but she was having none of it.
“The hell he can’t,” she scoffed. “These were going to be a surprise for tomorrow’s breakfast.”
I stepped through the door and looked down at the tray of misshapen dough phalluses on the baking tray.
“You’re right,” I laughed. “These would have definitely been a surprise.”
“Be nice,” she said, grabbing the dish towel off her shoulder and thwacking me in the arm with it. A puff of flour exploded in the air as it landed.
How long had it been since anyone other than Letizia had teased me physically like that? So long that I couldn’t remember.
Still, I didn’t say a word, worrying that if I mentioned it, she would tense up and never try it again.
“This was my first attempt at baking,” she continued.
My brows rose. “First time ever ?”
“From scratch, at least,” she said. “Everything before this came out of a box or a can.”
“Which doesn’t count,” Letizia broke in, waving her spoon judgmentally in the air.
Liv waited until the housekeeper’s back was turned before leaning in and whispering. “They sure felt like they counted when I was eating them.”
That’s when I knew that, despite her exasperated sighs and groans, my housekeeper secretly loved Liv. If Matteo or I had made a comment like that, she would have jumped down our throats, but with Liv, she simply pretended not to hear.
“You never baked with your mother or grandmother?” I asked.
“We were more of a take-out kind of family,” she explained with a shrug.
“Oh, you poor thing,” Letizia commiserated from across the kitchen, already back to rolling the cornetti with practiced ease.
“That wasn’t a complaint,” Liv clarified.
“Well, it should have been,” Letizia said.
“I don’t know.” Liv leaned against the counter, lazily crossing her arms as if to signal that she was giving up on the baking exercise. “Chicago has some excellent restaurants.”
“Chicago?” Letizia’s head popped up, her white hair bobbing over her shoulders. “I thought Mr. Gabriel said you were from Milwaukee.”
“That’s where I live now,” she clarified. “But I grew up in Chicago, and my family still lives there.”
“ Hmm .” Letizia’s head tilted to the side as she made that quiet, judgmental sound everyone in this house knew so well. “Maybe if they had fed you better, you wouldn’t have moved so far away from them.”
Liv let out a long breath.
“I wish only wish it were that simple,” she said before turning her attention my way. “So what are you doing home so early? I never see you before eight o’clock.”
Usually, that was true. But today, I’d finished a meeting with a couple of my capos early. I could have gone down to the waterfront to check on a few guys who were waiting on a shipment, but I decided against it.
I wanted to come home instead.
No, that wasn’t entirely true.
What I wanted was to be with Liv.
“I thought I’d surprise you ,” I answered. “I know it’s not a tray of misshapen pastries, but hopefully, you’re still happy.”
“Of course,” she said with a genuine smile—one that warmed that spot right in the center of my chest. “Though, I’m going to need to take a shower before we go out. Look at me. I’m covered in flour and sugar.”
“Actually, I was thinking we could stay in tonight.”
“Really?” Her brows shot up, arching high. Then, with an expression of mock concern, she stepped forward and placed the back of her hand against my forehead. “Are you feeling all right? You don’t have a fever. But I can’t imagine anything else that would keep you from going out.”
All joking aside, she wasn’t wrong. There was something odd going on.
I hadn’t been able to get her out of my head all day. In every meeting, every conversation, she was always there in the back of mind. The pull I felt toward her bordered on distracting.
And I was never distracted.
I figured whatever this bug was had to be temporary. Like any cold or flu, the best thing I could do for it was to go back home and take the problem straight to bed. It might not be restful , but I figured after a good night of rolling around in the sheets I’d be better in the morning.
“Even I need a night in sometimes,” I told her.
“Well, you picked a good night for it,” Letizia said. “I’m making osso buco for dinner.”
“That sounds delicious,” Liv said. “Do you want any help?”
“ No !” Letizia and I chirped at the same time.
Liv laughed at our response. “All right, I get it. I’m a bad cook. No need to shout.”
“You have plenty of other talents,” I assured her before taking her by the hand. “But for now, I will get Liv out of your hair, Letizia. We’ll get cleaned up and be down in a few hours.”
“Take your time.”
“Oh, we will,” I practically purred against Liv’s ear as we left the kitchen.
I tried to restrain my desires as we mounted the stairs, but it was hard with her round ass bobbing up and down right in front of me. I couldn’t resist reaching out and wrapping my hands around the swell of her hips.
“Gabriel,” she chided me in a whisper. “Wait until we get upstairs.”
“Why?”
“Because there are people in this house,” she said. “Your brother and Mrs. Tarolli.”
I pulled her in close, her delicious backside molding perfectly against my groin. Yes —this was what I’d been daydreaming about all day. This was what I wanted.
“They’ll stay away once they hear what we’re up to,” I assured her.
But she craned her head back, flicking those auburn curls over her shoulder. “ Or you could wait until we could go up one more flight of stairs, close the door, and they won’t hear a thing.”
“No, dolcezza ,” I said, taking the opportunity to nuzzle my face against the exposed column of her neck. I breathed deeply, drawing in the scent of cinnamon, sweet sugar, and feminine charm. “The way I’ve been thinking about you today, I plan on making you cry out so loud with pleasure that they hear you all the way over in Brooklyn.”
And the second I got her in my bedroom, that’s exactly what I tried to do.
In less than a minute, I had her out of those flour-dusted clothes and in my arms. Pressing her flush against me, I kissed her hard. Harder than ever before, thinking that maybe if I drank her in deep enough, it might finally soothe this thirst inside me.
But it wasn’t enough.
After this much time with Liv, I should have known better. I should have realized that no matter how many times I took her, I’d never be done.
She was an addiction.
No. That wasn’t right.
Addictions were malignant and destructive. They only brought darkness and despair. They didn’t create cracks in old dungeon walls that let the light come streaming in.
Liv was something different. She was essential .
Like air or water, she was necessary. Like sunlight, she brought clarity. Like the cinnamon and sugar still clinging to her fingertips, she brought flavor to life and made it worth living.
I cast off my suit as I guided us toward the bathroom, not caring about the trail of clothes I left in my wake. The only thing that mattered was Liv.
She was the only thing I focused on as the steaming water crashed around us, heating our skin as we moved together. My fingers tangled in her wet curls as she leaned forward, arching her back as my aching cock slid inside her.
Fuck , it was good.
Just like every time before and every time after would be. Perfection. A damned masterpiece.
Her moans and cry as I plunged inside her, again and again, as beautiful as any Puccini aria. The expression of ecstasy on her face as immaculate as any Michelangelo sculpture.
This was heaven. It had to be.
And as I buried myself to the hilt inside her one last time before coming deep inside her, I knew it was only the beginning.
There was still so much night ahead of us.
She must have been thinking much the same thing because when she eventually caught her breath and turned around in the shower to face me, a bright smile lit up her face.
“You’re right,” she said with a satisfied giggle. “Your surprise was a lot better than mine.”
“And there’s more to come,” I told her. “Come with me, and I’ll show you.”
But she shook her head.
“I still need to wash my hair,” she said. “I think I somehow managed to get jam in it.”
She was right. She did—not that I was going to be the one to bring it up.
“You really are a bad cook,” I teased her.
“I know. I know,” she huffed as I stepped out of the shower. “But if you want to keep enjoying my other talents , you better stop rubbing it in.”
Point taken.
I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around my waist. “I’ll meet you on the bed once you’re done.”
But the second I stepped out of the bathroom and heard the knocking at the bedroom door, I knew Round Two would have to wait.
“Gabriel, are you in there?” Matteo’s voice came through the door…and he sounded serious.
Shit .
“Yeah. Just got out of the shower,” I called out. “Gimme a second.”
I took a robe off the hook in the closet and threw it on before opening the door a crack. My twin was on the other side, standing next to Tony Silvestri.
“Sorry to bother you, sir,” Tony said, his expression genuinely apologetic. “I would never interrupt you if it wasn’t important.”
It was true. Tony was a good capo. Maybe the best—smart, loyal, respectful.
“I know.” I threw the door wide and nodded to Matteo. “Thanks for bringing him up. What’s going on?”
Tony shifted back and forth on his feet. “There’s a problem down at the pier, sir.”
“What kind of problem?”
“The kind we probably shouldn’t discuss out in the open,” Matteo said. “I told Tony’s men to wait downstairs, but voices can carry.”
“Of course.” I stepped back to make room for the two men to enter and closed the door behind them. “But we’ll have to make this quick. Liv is still in the shower, but I don’t know for how long.”
Tony nodded in understanding. “Then I’ll get right to it. There’s been a problem with the Xanax shipment coming in from Canada. The boat is docked, but it looks like there was a shake-up at the shipping company. The captain we usually deal with has been fired, and there’s a new guy at the helm.”
“So what’s the problem?” I asked. “Bribe him with the same amount we gave the other guy and tell him to look the other way while your guys unload the shipment.”
“I tried that, sir, but this new captain says someone already got there before us and paid him more to do the same thing.”
All the good feelings that had spread through me a few minutes ago with Liv washed away in an instant. Without thinking, my shoulders tightened, and my hands balled into fists at my side.
“Who paid him?”
“Some new punk with the Giordanos,” Tony answered.
“The Giordanos?” I shook my head. “They usually stay out in Queens. What the hell are they doing sticking their necks out in Manhattan?”
“It doesn’t sound like it was a sanctioned move. Word on the street is that this is some low-level rogue trying to prove himself,” Tony said with a shrug. “And this new crop of captains down on the East River ain’t helping any. Their only loyalty is to whoever is willing to lay the most cash in their hands. They’d do just about anything for anyone if the price was right.”
I rubbed at my temples for a second, trying to think.
Tony was right. This was serious. Not just because we needed to get that black market Xanax out on the street but also because those docks were D’Angelo territory. The idea of anyone swooping in to take our business away needed to be made an example of.
“All right,” I said after a couple of long breaths. “I’m sure I don’t have to tell you to get rid of this punk. We can’t have anyone thinking they can make a name for themselves by stealing from the D’Angelos.”
“Of course, boss,” Tony agreed.
“After that’s done, I want you to bring the body to the Giordanos yourself. Say I’m doing them a favor and assuming this guy was acting without their blessing, but if any other of their guys fuck around on our island, we won’t be so forgiving.”
“Understood,” Tony said with a nod.
“As for this new captain,” I continued. “We’re going to make things real simple for him. You’re going to take the shipment. You’re going to torch his ship. And as he watches it burn, you’re going to tell him the next time he takes money from another family, he’ll be on the boat when you light the match. Got it?”
“Got it, boss.”
“Good, now get out of here,” I said, opening the door again and letting rushing them out. “I’ve got plans for the evening.”
At least, I did .
As I closed the door, I spotted movement out of the corner of my eye. Turning my head toward the bathroom, I saw Liv— just a sliver of her, wrapped in a fluffy white towel—behind the partially cracked door.
Even though her hands were up, covering her wide open mouth, I could still see her wide eyes and wrinkled brow.
And that’s when I knew she’d heard every word.