Chapter 3
Chapter Three
SERENITY
Perched in the passenger seat of his black and red Bugatti, I fold my arms tightly across my chest and fix my eyes on the parking lot.
He pulls the seatbelt across my body, and I inhale him. Not on purpose. He’s just so close. I should’ve been more prepared and held my breath. He smells so delectable. The musk, vanilla, and jasmine waft up my nose, causing me to press my thighs together.
It feels like he’s taking longer to buckle me in on purpose. He knows what he’s doing to me.
“If you can’t manage to buckle my seatbelt, I’ll do it.”
I hear it click, and his large hand lands on my soft hip. I’m not a stick figure like so many on the cheer team. Noré and I are the only girls who have meat on our bones.
Nico seems to like that about me. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t insist on putting his hands on my body.
“I’ve got you, Serenity.”
He stares at me for a beat.
“Can we go?” I ask.
A smile curls his lips. “You can’t run away from me.”
He closes my door and walks around the hood of the car.
I roll my eyes. What pushed him to make his move? It wasn’t like the guy hadn’t stared at me since I arrived at Mercy Prep High School. He kept our conversations light. Sometimes we discussed heavy topics. However, he never flirted. Just stared.
“When did you get your driver’s license?” he asks.
His question brings me back from my thoughts.
I notice he’s merging into traffic.
“The day after my sixteenth birthday in December.”
“I know when your birthday is. I noticed you driving it to school in October.”
“My bodyguards rode with me until I got my driver’s license.”
He nods.
I change the subject. “You know we aren’t a thing. I let you put on your little show for I assume Lorna. She stared at you like she wanted to kill you after that kiss you laid on me. That was to make her jealous, right?”
Why was Nico using me to make her jealous? Did he ask her to be his girlfriend, and she turned him down?
He damn sure didn’t ask me. He told me I was…his. My stomach flutters at the thought of belonging to Nico Pitucco.
You’re not his, Serenity.
His laughter feels the car. “No, I wasn’t trying to make her jealous. I noticed her after the kiss. We were never a couple and wouldn’t be. We messed around, that’s all.”
“Why force your way into my life now?” I ask staring at his side profile.
The angular jaw begs for my fingers to touch it. I blink rapidly, pushing down the strong feelings I have for him.
“Guys were moving in on my territory,” he replies.
My mouth drops open. “I’m not land, Nico.”
He smiles. “You said my name.”
Nico reaches across and grabs my hand, and brings the back of it to his lips.
Shudders attack my body. Can he feel my body trembling?
I try to yank my hand away.
“You branded me your girlfriend at Tony’s, then sealed it with a kiss in the theater lobby while half the school watched. All so no one else would dare come near me.”
“This is the perfect time for us to be a couple. We’ll go to prom together. Once I go off to college, the guys will know you’re my woman, so they won’t try to talk to you.”
“Mr. Mafia’s going to stop them with the knowledge of who he is, huh?”
“Doesn’t hurt to be one of the future mafia bosses of my family. But I don’t need my mafia ties to intimidate anyone. I’ll beat any guy’s ass who tries to talk to my woman.”
I squirm in my seat. “Please let my hand go.”
“Sweetheart, why would I do that?”
I peer at our connected hands resting on the gear shift. “I don’t want to be your girlfriend.”
He releases my hand long enough to change the gears as he pulls into the restaurant parking lot.
Once parked Nico hops out of the Bugatti and opens my door. He nods to our bodyguards as he helps me out of the vehicle.
“I know you heard me,” I push. Does he think ignoring what I said will make us a real couple?
He throws an arm over my shoulder and walks toward the entrance.
“Your father and I butted heads this afternoon. He thought you and I weren’t going on a date.”
My eyes widen. “You spoke to my dad.” It was more of a statement than a question.
“And you lived to talk about it?”
Nico and I are greeted by the hostess, who takes our jackets, then leads us to our table.
He peruses the menu.
“Nico, answer me,” I grit out.
Meeting my gaze, he smirks. “I told him we’re a couple. He wasn’t happy. But what was he going to do? Start a war over his daughter?”
I glare at him. “Um, yeah. He would.”
“There’s no need for a war,” Nico says, a smug glint in his eye. “He knows I’ll always protect you. That’s what none of the other guys could do—the ones who tried and failed to date you.”
I smirk. “You think just because we come from the same world I’m automatically yours? No. Maybe I wanted one of those clean-cut boys. The kind who didn’t learn how to kill before they hit puberty.”
He flashes a cocky smirk. “Nothing wrong with mastering your profession early.”
I shake my head. “I think you should date Lorna.”
“Fuck no,” he snaps. “You’re mine. That’s final. Now, let’s order.”
The more time I spend with him, the more my walls start to crack… then crumble.
“I don’t like you,” I lie.
His brown eyes don’t leave the menu. “Eggplant pasta sounds delicious.”
The server arrives and takes our order. We fall into silence while waiting for our drinks.
I glance around the restaurant—white linen tablecloths, soft candlelight. Romantic. Too romantic.
When the drinks arrive, Nico’s gaze slides across the table, bold and possessive.
“I’m going to do things to you I’ve never done to any other girl.”
My fingers twist the ends of my wavy strands. “What the hell does that mean?”
“Actually, I don’t care what that means,” I say, narrowing my eyes. “Keep your hands—and lips—to yourself.”
He leans in, face frustratingly perfect, and the butterflies in my stomach go wild.
“You’ll like what I do with my tongue when I’m on my knees being of service,” he murmurs, voice like velvet.
Oh. My. God.
He plans to go down south on me.
Nico’s going to break me down, one teasing touch at a time, until I’m head over heels for the most dangerous boy in school.
And once I fall… how the hell am I supposed to get out?