Bound By Blood

by Reilly, Cora

  “And, does it taste different?”

  I hit his six-pack.

  “What? It’s a legitimate concern.”

  “It hasn’t improved,” I muttered.

  Matteo grabbed my feet, which rested on the pillow beside his head and tickled me. I let out a screech and tried to jerk free of his hold but he was too strong.

  “You’ll wake Isa, babe. Laugh quietly.”

  I rammed my elbow into his side, causing him to grunt but not to release me. My belly hurt from howling and tears pooled in my eyes. “Stop!” I gritted out. “Fuck me!”

  Matteo momentarily stopped the assault. “You know how to distract me.” His voice was low and one of his hands traveled up from my ankle to my inner thigh.

  “It’s not that difficult,” I got out and opened my legs.

  Matteo pushed two fingers into me and began to fuck me with them, his intense gaze never looking away from my pussy. Soon my muscles began to spasm for another reason. I rotated my hips, driving Matteo’s fingers even deeper into me until I came with a hoarse cry.

  Not wasting any time, I climbed on top of Matteo who was already hard again. “See, everything’s still working.”

  I reached for a condom and slid it over his cock.

  Matteo sighed. “The next few months will be hard.”

  I lowered myself on him, causing us both to moan. “I hope so.”

  Matteo chuckled and gripped my hips, but I didn’t need encouragement. I loved to ride him, to steer my, and especially his, pleasure with every move of my hips.

  When we laid in each other’s arms afterward, I asked, “And, do you regret it?”

  I could only imagine what kind of comments Matteo had gotten from Luca. Given our traditional culture, a vasectomy was something that might hurt his manliness.

  “No. We don’t want any more kids and I hate condoms, so it’s our best bet to keep Isa an only child.”

  I smiled. “Growing up with Flavio and Aria’s third kid, she’ll pretty much have annoying siblings to spend time with.”

  “No doubt.”

  I slung my arm around Matteo’s chest. Now that Isa was eight months old, things had calmed down. I had returned to giving almost all of my classes and Matteo’s and my sex life was almost back to how it used to be. Moments of panic were few and far between but Matteo or my sisters were always there to catch me if they came.

  We all alternated watching our kids. That way we all got some much needed couple time, even Lily occasionally let me or Aria watch Flavio and Sara. With Isa under the same roof, sex was limited to our bathroom and bedroom, and we had to be quiet, but on the nights when Isa was with one of her aunts we really went all out.

  Right now Aria and Luca still got the short end of the stick because they didn’t have a toddler yet, but their third child was due in a couple of months and then things would take a turn.

  “You’re quiet. What are you thinking?”

  “About how far we’ve all come. When Aria, Lily and I were teens, back in Chicago, and tried to imagine our future, we never imagined it to be like this.”

  “I thought all girls want true love, a handsome prince and a splendid palace. I think you live every young girl’s dream.”

  I huffed. “You are impossibly vain.”

  “Why? It’s true, isn’t it?”

  I gritted my teeth but I had to admit he had a point, especially Lily and Aria had often droned about finding true love and a good-looking prince. I’d rarely entertained such fantasies, already too jaded at that young age, and if I’d ever allowed them, I’d kept them to myself. “I was never like that. Disney princes never did it for me.”

  “That’s why you got me.”

  I pushed up on his chest, narrowing my eyes. “All right, so let’s say I really live my teenage self’s dream, what about you? Is this your teenage dream come true?”

  Matteo grinned in a way that raised my alarm bells. “Every horny teenage boy dreams about a girl that can suck cock like a pro and ride like a cowgirl.”

  I punched his shoulder as hard as I could.

  Matteo chuckled. “Okay, okay. But I never dreamed about having a wife and a kid. I never thought that it was meant to be. Until I met you. I wanted you from the first moment I saw you and only wanted you more with every rude word coming from your mouth. Today, you and Isa are the embodiment of a dream I never dared to dream.”

  I swallowed, stunned by Matteo’s words. “Asshole, why do you have to say something so heartfelt and lovable? Now I feel like the cold-ass bitch in our relationship.”

  “It’s your parade role, babe. Embrace it.”

  I punched him again but gentler, then I gave him a hard kiss. “You and Isa are something I never thought I needed but all I want now,” I mumbled as quickly as I could to get the words out of the way. Then I swung myself on top of Matteo. “Now let’s fuck this lovey-doveyness out of my system.”

  “Your wish is my command.”

  The screaming and laughter of children filled the back yard of the mansion. We spent a few weeks in the summer together in the Hamptons every year. It was chaotic but also the best time of the year.

  “They outnumber us,” Matteo muttered as he sank down in the chair beside mine.

  I held up a bottle of white wine. Matteo grinned and grabbed a glass from the table. I filled his glass then lifted my own. “To booze, the balm for every parent’s frayed nerves.”

  “Can I have some as well?” Marcella asked as she stepped out onto the terrace in a summer dress that made her look like a runway model.

  Marcella had Aria’s beauty, only the pale skin against the black hair was even more eye-catching. She was fourteen and men began to notice her. Every time I went shopping with her, I noticed the appreciative looks. Every man who knew of her father kept their eyes to themselves. Anything else would be suicide. I couldn’t imagine Luca ever being okay with Marcella dating anyone, much less marrying. The perfect man for her probably didn’t exist on this planet.

  “Ask again in seven years,” Luca muttered from his position at the barbecue.

  “Daaaaddd,” Marcella moaned with a roll of her eyes and went back inside.

  “She’s at a difficult age,” Aria said.

  “When aren’t they?” Luca asked.

  A high-pitched laugh sounded. Isa was playing hide-and-seek with her cousins Flavio and Valerio. As usual, the boys did what she wanted, she was only four but already very strong-willed. Aria’s second son was only nine months younger than Isa, and Flavio one day younger. They were inseparable.

  “Dinner’s ready!” Aria called as she set a salad down in the center of the massive patio table. Luca carried over a plate with grilled meat.

  “Flavio, Valerio, Isa!” I called but they kept chasing each other.

  Aria sighed. Matteo waved at Amo. “Come on, Amo, move your butt and help me catch the little monsters.”

  Amo pushed out of his chair. Only ten and the kid was already taller than Aria. He and Matteo began running after the children who began screeching. Marcella came out on the terrace, Lily’s seven-year-old daughter Sara trailing after her like a lost puppy.

  Eventually, Matteo headed back to the table with Isa wedged under his left arm. Amo carried his little brother Valerio upside down so the kid’s blond hair fell into his face. He reminded me so much of little Fabiano, it sometimes gave me a wistful pang until his gray eyes reminded me that he wasn’t my brother. Flavio trotted after them. He was easier to handle than Isa and Valerio but far more trouble than sweet Sara. Lily sometimes said it was a boy thing, but Isa proved that theory wrong.

  Matteo set Isa down in the chair beside mine.

  I gave her a stern look when she was about to get up again. “Dinnertime.”

  My tone made it clear that arguments were in vain, so Isa nodded with a small pout. Lily waddled outside, pregnant again, followed by Romero who always kept a close eye on her now that she was about to pop any day now.

  Eventually everyone sat
at the table, and the food was even still moderately warm.

  Soon we all dug in and chatter filled the table. I cut Isa’s steak and she eagerly wolfed it down, much to Matteo’s delight. The girl loved meat and her dad’s motorcycle but she never missed our weekly mother and child yoga either. I brushed a few of her reddish-brown curls away from her forehead and she gave me a grin around her fork, those bold blue eyes getting me every time. So far Isa hadn’t encountered any restrictions. She was allowed to brawl with her cousins. The older she got, the more people would speak up to tell her what she could and couldn’t do because she was a girl. I’d make sure they all shut up, and if necessary, I’d even let Matteo use his particular scary talents to keep anyone at bay who’d try to make Isa believe her potential had limits only because she didn’t have a penis.

  Matteo leaned over to me. “You got your fierce mother bear expression. Worrying your pretty head about Isa’s future again?”

  I gave him an annoyed look but didn’t deny it.

  “Trust me, babe. I’ll make sure our girl has all the freedoms she wants as long as she never brings a date home, unless it’s her lesbian lover.”

  “You are impossible,” I muttered, trying to stifle a smile.

  “That’s why you love me, admit it.” Matteo kissed me briefly until Valerio let out an ewww.

  “Your mom and dad are being disgusting again,” he said with a scrunched-up nose.

  “I know,” Isa said as if she had to suffer under our PDA all the time.

  “You wouldn’t be sitting here if your mom and I didn’t enjoy being disgusting,” Matteo said. I rammed my elbow into his side. Marcella shook her head in disgust and Amo let out a laugh.

  “What does that mean?” Sara asked, and the younger kids all looked from Matteo to Romero then Luca.

  The latter sent Matteo a death glare. “Ask Matteo.”

  Matteo leaned back and opened his mouth. He would explain the birds and the bees in every detail if anyone let him so I wasn’t sure why Luca provoked him like that.

  Aria hit her palm flat on the table. “No disgusting topics at the table. We’re having dinner now. Can’t we act like a well-behaved normal family for once?”

  I shrugged. Luca seemed only amused by her outburst but tried to hide it.

  At least the kids all sat up a bit straighter and focused on their food again.

  “That’s how she got Luca in line,” Matteo said.

  I snorted. And all hell broke loose at the table again.

  I mouthed sorry to Aria, but she shook her head with a badly disguised grin. A normal family we were not, but none of us really cared.

  The end

  Romero

  It was past eight in the evening when I returned home from a long day doing business. The negotiations with our main distributor of high-quality absinthe and whiskey had taken longer than expected.

  Since Luca had made me Captain five years ago, I’d often worked long days. As the son of a mere soldier, not to mention after the war my love for Lily had caused, I had to gain the respect of my men and fellow Captains. I’d come a long way. The men working for me were a loyal lot and they didn’t need any more convincing, unlike some of the Captains and Underbosses, but they weren’t my main concern. My men appreciated that I didn’t mind getting my hands dirty instead of just showing my face at the clubs on the Eastside in my responsibility. Partying wasn’t part of my job description after all.

  I preferred to deal with the drug and alcohol distributors myself to make sure the prices and quality were right. You needed to know the details in your establishments if you wanted to control them.

  Of course, that meant I often returned home later than I wanted. Lily never complained though. As usual a soft glow came from the windows of our home, a cozy brownstone townhouse in a tree-lined street in peaceful Greenwich Village. When our neighbors had found out who was moving in, they’d avoided us like the plague, terrified we might bring war into their midst. That was the farthest thing on Lily’s and my mind. We’d moved here to find peace not destroy it. We wanted a normal life despite our background and my job.

  Lily had done her best, with tea invitations and homecooked meals for one of the elderly neighbors who’d broken her hip, to improve our standing in the last six months. People still avoided me, which was fine, but I wanted them to like Lily, because it was important for her.

  I opened the front door. The scent of a homecooked meal, something meaty from the oven, greeted me when I stepped into the foyer. I hung up my jacket when Lily came into the foyer, her cheeks rosy with excitement. She wore a beautiful long-sleeved blue dress, her dark blond hair framing her gorgeous face.

  “You look beautiful,” I murmured as I pulled her into my arms, trying to remember if I’d forgotten any kind of special occasion. Usually Lily didn’t wear dresses or her hair down for a standard dinner. Something was the matter. It wasn’t her birthday, that had been three weeks ago. I’d never forgotten a birthday or anniversary before.

  “You sound surprised,” she said with a soft laugh, her eyes tender and emotional.

  “I’m never surprised by your beauty. I’m just…. Is today a special day?”

  She took my hand, biting her lip. Something was definitely the matter. “I’m happy, that’s all. Today, Mrs. O’Hara invited me over for coffee.”

  That our old lady neighbor had finally accepted Lily hardly explained her strange mood. She led me into the kitchen where the scent of roasted meat and tomatoes got even stronger. A casserole with bubbling cheese baked in the oven.

  “Your favorite.”

  “Cannelloni al forno?” I asked.

  Lily nodded with a secretive smile. My mother had taught her how to make the dish, which had been part of our family for generations. Candles cast a romantic glow over the table and at my usual place a parcel waited on the table.

  Fuck. Had I really forgotten a special date? Something important? But no matter how hard I racked my brain I couldn’t come up with anything.

  Lily squeezed my hand. “Why don’t you open it?”

  I sank down on the wooden chair and reached for the red ribbon wrapped around the white parcel. Lifting the cover, I peered in. It took my brain several seconds to process what I was seeing. A long stick stating “pregnant” and a tiny onesie stating “Best Dad in the World”.

  I looked up, stunned. Lily was crying and nodding.

  “You’re…?”

  “Pregnant!” she exclaimed.

  We hadn’t been trying for very long. Only once really, even if Lily had stopped taking the pill a few months ago. I shoved to my feet and pulled her against me, kissing her over and over again. “When did you find out?”

  “Only today. I couldn’t wait to tell you. I have a doctor’s appointment in two days, but the three tests I took all showed the same result.”

  I lifted her off the ground, needing to feel her even closer. Lily and I had often talked about starting a family but becoming Captain and moving into our new home had kept us busy for a while.

  “Are you happy?” Lily asked.

  “Can’t you see?”

  She nodded, more tears streaming down her face. I wiped them away and buried my face in her hair. Eventually we pulled apart.

  “I need to take the cannelloni out or they’ll burn.”

  I sank back down on my chair, completely stunned as I watched Lily put the casserole on the table. Soon she’d give me a child and we’d become a real family.

  Lily caught my gaze and gave me the smile I’d love till the day I died.

  She sat down across from me and I put a generous amount of cannelloni on her plate, much more than in the past, before I filled my own plate.

  Lily laughed. “I know some people think you have to eat for two when you’re pregnant, but that’s not true.”

  “I just want you and the baby to get all you need.”

  Lily took a bit of the pasta with an amused look. “You realize I’ll double in size if I eat like tha
t.”

  “You’d still be gorgeous with a few pounds more.” I shoved a forkful of the cannelloni into my mouth and groaned in delight. “I think you might actually be cooking this better than my mother.”

  “Don’t tell her. She’d be heartbroken you think so.”

  I chuckled. “My mother loves you. She won’t mind.” I paused. “When can we tell our families? My mother has been eagerly waiting for grandchildren from me.”

  “I don’t know. It’s still early but you know how bad I am at keeping a secret. How about we tell them next time we see them in person. I don’t want to share something this important in a message or phone call.”

  I reached for her hand, stroking her knuckles. “Perfect.”

  Lily got more beautiful in her pregnancy, even if that should have been impossible. I had to admit I really liked her new curves, especially her fuller hips and bigger butt. As a woman, Lily of course always worried about gaining weight but I did my best to show her how much I desired her pregnant body. The last few summers we’d spent in Italy in a beautiful country house in Sicily and on Luca’s yacht but this year Lily didn’t want to fly.

  Instead we rented a beach cottage in North Carolina in late August for a week. Just the two of us where nobody knew us and we could act like a normal couple. Nobody gave us special treatment or the best table because the mob loomed over us. We were just a normal young couple enjoying their babymoon. I had to admit I enjoyed these days of anonymity. Lily positively loved it.

  After dinner at a small rustic fish restaurant with a beautiful view over the ocean, Lily and I returned to our one-bedroom cottage. Lily wore a flowery summer dress that accented her curves and her baby bump. At five months it was unmistakable. Maybe some men were turned off by the sight of their pregnant wife. I definitely wasn’t one of them.

  The moment the front door closed behind us I cupped Lily’s face and kissed her, my tongue slipping in for a taste. The chocolaty note of our dessert lingered on her lips. Lily pressed her palms against my chest and I pulled her even closer, my back against the door as we kissed for a long time without hurry.