by Laura Sutton
It hadn’t been easy; he left the law firm he joined right out of law school, which had only hired him in the hopes they could land his grandfather’s business. Therefore, he was following his Uncle Niccolo’s lead, getting out and moving across the country. Uncle Nico had owned a very successful restaurant in Dallas, but it had been a front for the family. Finally Nico walked away with almost nothing and started over in Washington DC. Uncle Nico was one of the reasons Eli had picked Virginia – they could be outcasts, di Ruggiero refugees together.
Eli just wasn’t sure it was far enough. Hell, he was afraid Mars wouldn’t be far enough.
He clicked open his brother’s email. He missed his brothers, even his older brother Dante, who didn’t exactly display human emotion well. Or at all. It was a price he had to pay for freedom though, losing his brothers.
Elias-
Nonno Gio passed away this morning. Another heart attack, they’re saying. He died in his sleep. The funeral will be in a week. I expect you to attend.
-Dante
Eli ran agitated fingers through his still-damp hair. It didn’t seem possible for the old Don to be gone. Eli and his brothers had grown up idolizing their nonno, Don Giovanni – it wasn’t until he and his brothers were older, after the murder of their mother at the hands of a rival crime family, that Eli understood how dangerous their grandfather was.
Eli didn’t respond to the email, leaving it for later. He would not be attending his grandfather’s funeral; he’d love Nonno Gio, would mourn him, but going back to Dallas would undo all the work he’d done to put space between himself and the family.
No, he would stay away, enjoy his vacation with Sam and start his life anew in Virginia, away from the dark and the danger of his family. There was enough darkness in his soul from what he’d done for the family prior to his leaving, and nowhere he could run from it.
Eli closed his laptop and stood. He had to get ready for dinner, with a woman who seemed to burn away the darkness within. He wasn’t going to give that up for anything, not even an old mobster that he’d loved dearly, despite his ruthlessness.
Chapter Nine
Samantha
“It was amazing, Roxy,” Sam gushed for the fourth time. She was putting on a last swipe of mascara, aware that the heat and humidity of the evening would melt anything heavy off her face, but Eli seemed to like her eyes and she didn’t want to disappoint him. She wanted him to like everything about her, even the bits she didn’t really like herself.
“Yeah, I bet a blowjob under a waterfall in the middle of a Costa Rican jungle was amazing,” Roxy snarked, shimmying into a short wine-red dress. The material seemed to wrap around her like close-fitting bandages. Sam looked down at her maxi-style black dress and wondered if it would be sexy enough in comparison to Roxy. It was daring for Sam, with a halter-style top that completely exposed her back. Roxy had to talk her into buying it, and convince her that it was okay to not wear a bra on occasion. The skirt flowed around her hips and thighs, all the way down to her simple strappy sandals.
“It wasn’t just that,” Sam continued, but she felt her face heat at the memory of Eli’s hard cock in her mouth, his hands in her hair urging her on, but she could feel the barely restrained power in him. A tingling started low in her stomach at the idea of him unleashing that masculine power on her, with her, in bed. Hell, maybe not just in bed, she thought wryly.
“I don’t know how to describe it, he’s just so– so male,” Sam finished lamely, but Roxy nodded.
“I get it, he’s the kind of man we can’t help but want, but every feminist, I-am-woman-hear-me-roar bone in our body tells us ‘no, this one might be too much’,” she said. Sam laughed, nodding agreement. Whatever Eli was, she was drawn to him like a moth to a flame. He made her want to burn.
She pulled her hair up into a high, tight ponytail, the only way the humidity wouldn’t make her look like she had been at the gym, and dabbed a little perfume on her wrists right as a knock sounded on the door.
“I’ve got it!” Roxy called, her tone teasing, and opened up the door to their small suite. “Eli! Come in, we are almost ready. I’ve just got to grab my shoes and a few things.”
Sam looked around Roxy as she pulled the door wide for Eli and almost swallowed her tongue. He looked darkly beautiful in gray trousers and a tight black linen shirt with the top two buttons undone. His hair was styled in that effortless tousled-but-composed way only the truly attractive could pull off. She knew from earlier that day that his hair curled in the humidity and tended to flop in his eyes, making him seem much younger than he was. He was devilishly handsome, and she was prepared to offer her soul up for him to devour anytime he asked.
He smiled when his eyes found hers and smiled. “Bimba,” he murmured, making his way to her while Roxy gave her two thumbs-up and fanned herself behind his back before slipping into the bathroom of the suite to finish getting ready.
“Sorry, we aren’t quite ready,” Sam murmured as he slipped his arms around her waist and pulled her into the larger frame of his body, his hands leaving a trail of fire as they roamed the bare skin of her back.
“It’s no matter, we’re all on vacation. What’s a few more minutes?” he said, his lips finding her neck.
“Yes, well, that– ohhh.” She whimpered as his lips and tongue found a very sensitive part of her neck, “That may be, but I’m hungry,” she finished as the tips of his fingers slipped beneath the low waist at the back of her skirt.
“Oh, I’m hungry too,” he said, one of his hands stealing around the front of her dress, her nipples hard under the soft fabric. He pinched one, causing her to gasp. “Just not necessarily for dinner,” he breathed, and she moaned as he stole a kiss.
“Okay, I’m ready. Enough making out. You two are making me lonely,” Roxy teased, breezing into the room, black knee-high gladiator sandals on her feet and large gold hoops in her ears. She looked gorgeous, much more comfortable in her skin than Sam ever was, and envy filled her. Not for her beauty, though Roxy was lovely, but just how sure of herself she was, and the confidence she had as a woman.
“Come on, Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome, stop pawing at my best friend and escort us to dinner.” She grabbed her purse and Sam did the same, a small gold bag that held her phone and other essentials.
“Ladies.” He gestured to the open doorway with a smile and once all three were out, he held out his elbows for them to take.
Eli was again the consummate guest at dinner, entertaining and engaging. The food was delicious, and they all had just enough to drink that their laughter was a little louder than normal, but not so much that anyone was sloppy. In fact, when the waiter tried to refill her wineglass for a fourth time, Eli covered it with his hand and told the waiter she’d had enough for the moment.
A part of her felt like she should be upset that this man was making a decision for her, even if it was the same decision she would make for herself, but a larger part– a part she hadn’t realized was there, relished it. He was taking care of her. That was a liberating feeling, in a way. How much could she let go with him? How many tiring decisions could she hand to him, secure in knowing he’d choose only what was best for her?
“Are you guys ready? I’m kinda tired. I had a long day at the pool, reading,” Roxy asked as the waiter took away the dessert plates.
“I’m ready, are you, bimba?” Eli asked with a kiss of her hand, and all she could do was nod and blush.
“We’ll see you back to the hotel, Roxy, and then… would you like to take a walk on the beach, Sam?” Eli asked as they piled into a cab.
“Oh, yes, I’d like that,” she answered. Roxy nudged her elbow in her ribs with a knowing smile on her face.
Once they saw Roxy back to the hotel, they got themselves to the beach of the resort. It was a bright night with an almost full moon, and several vacationers were taking advantage of the night air to swim or moonbathe.
Eli hadn’t said much since they left dinner. The charming a
nd lighthearted façade he’d worn throughout dinner with Roxy had fallen away, leaving him brooding and preoccupied. Sam almost didn’t want to ask what was wrong, afraid he was displeased with her in some way. But he was holding her hand, his fingers threaded through hers, and his kisses and touches earlier had been intimate and passionate. It didn’t make sense, for him to behave like that with her, if he were upset with her.
She took a deep breath and plunged ahead. If the thing bothering him was her, well, she had really only known him two days. No big loss, she told herself. Yeah, right, responded a voice in her heart.
“Are you okay?” she whispered, her voice barely louder than the waves.
Eli sighed, bringing them to an empty lounge chair, and sat down with her between his legs. He wrapped his arms around her, encouraging her to rest back into him. She leaned her head on his shoulder, turning her face up to look at him, but his eyes were watching the ocean. He seemed miles away.
“Eli?” she prodded gently, and he turned his head and smiled at her, a small, almost sad smile.
“My grandfather died today,” he finally admitted.
“Oh, Eli, I’m so sorry,” she gasped. She’d lost both sets of grandparents when she was small, but she knew it must hurt just as much when you were older.
He shrugged and kissed the side of her head.
“Are you– are you heading back early?” She managed the question around the lump forming in her throat, at the thought of only having two days with him.
“No, bimba, I’m not. I’m not on the best of terms with my family, so going back for the funeral is not a good idea for me.” His voice sounded hollow, as if he’d lost far more than merely a grandfather.
“Maybe a funeral is a good time to make amends?” She pushed past what felt strangely like heartbreak, trying to be the person he needed, not the greedy one she wanted to be.
“Oh, Sam, if you knew my family, you wouldn’t want me to make amends,” he said with a dark chuckle.
“What do you mean?”
When he looked at her, his eyes, their dark brown depths usually so full of life and heat and even mischief, were bleak, almost dead.
“My family is dangerous,” he said, his voice low, and she shivered. Something about his tone, his severe look, told her he wasn’t joking.
“What do you mean, ‘dangerous’?”
He leaned his head back into the cushion of the seat with a sigh, and she waited patiently for him to tell her.
“I was born into the very powerful, very dangerous di Ruggiero crime family. The fact that you didn’t recognize my name earlier today told me just how innocent and removed you are from the world I grew up in.”
She opened her mouth to argue, but what could she say? Her father had gone to prison for murder, but he had been innocent. All she knew of the mob was what she had learned in law classes and seen on TV. It wasn’t a world she knew at all.
She squeezed his arm where it was wrapped around her middle, and he sighed.
“Growing up, I had no idea how privileged we were to attend the best prep school in Dallas, spend summers in Mexico at our abuelo’s estate. We went to mass every Sunday and had what I thought was an all-around normal life until my older brother turned seventeen. My father told Dante it was time he learned the family business. I thought he meant handling the books for one of the clubs we owned, or maybe learning to cook at Uncle Nico’s restaurant, but no, that first night he went out with my dad to shake down a bookie who was behind on his payments to the family. My dad had Dante break the man’s legs.”
Sam swallowed back the bile that rose in her throat at the thought of a seventeen-year-old being told by their father to hurt someone so terribly.
“It didn’t end there. See, Dante was being groomed to take over the whole thing. He would be the next don of the family.”
“Not your father?” she whispered. She thought those families did the stupid patriarchy thing, passing it on from father to son.
Eli chuckled, the sound hollow and devoid of humor. “No, my father will tell you himself he was never meant to lead. He’s not charming, not a man people follow. No, men fear my father. He’s a cold man. He wasn’t like that with my mother– he worshipped her to a level probably bordering on obsession. She smoothed out his rough edges.”
“And with his sons?” she asked, hesitantly, afraid of what his answer would be.
She watched Eli’s face, watched a muscle twitch in his jaw as he looked out at the ocean. His face was hard and remote, almost frightening. If he’d had this look on his face when she first met him, and not his warm smile, she would’ve never accepted a drink from him. This was the face of a dangerous man.
“Papa was distant and exacting. He had plans for all four of his sons. Dante would take over for Nonno. He was the best suited for it. I would go to law school and be the legitimate face of the company, help protect the family that way. ‘You will use your brains and be loyal to us always,’ he always told me when I was a kid. I didn’t truly understand, not even when he had Dante breaking legs… or worse. I don’t know for certain all the things Dante did with him, back then, or what he does now, but I know Dante liked it. He liked the danger, he enjoyed punishing those that had hurt the family, but I wasn’t like that. My mistake was thinking I would have an option. Thinking I could be both in my family but not serve my family.”
He lifted an arm from around her waist and ran a hand through his hair, which was starting to curl in the salt air.
“Tell me,” she implored, looking up into his sad eyes.
“My mother was killed when I was twenty-one. I had finished college in three years and was already in law school at the time.” Her eyes went wide; finishing college in three years wasn’t impossible, but it was hard, and a hell of a lot of work.
“You must be very driven,” she marveled.
“I loved college. I loved learning. I wanted to study literature, like my mother, but my focus had to be on law school. It was what was expected of me, of course, and I didn’t mind– I enjoy the law, and knew I would enjoy the challenge. Plus, I thought if I was a lawyer, then my family couldn’t expect me to do illegal things.”
“But?” she asked, knowing it wasn’t the end of his tale.
“But everything changed when my mother died. It was like the light went out in all of the worlds. My youngest brother, Matteo, was only seventeen when she died, still in high school. My other two brothers were already neck-deep in the family business. Dante shadowed my grandfather, and Marco quickly followed in my father’s footsteps.”
“What exactly does your father do for your family?” she whispered and felt his entire body tense at her question. She glanced at his face. He was still staring out at the ocean, his face hard and cold.
“He is– well was– their head enforcer. I’ve heard Marco has officially taken over for him now,” His words were clipped, devoid of any emotion, and a chill ran down Sam’s spine. The man who raised Eli, who was partly responsible for this intelligent, handsome and, from what she knew and could tell about him, decent man, was a killer.
Sam could feel the tension in his body and felt his arms loosen around her, as if he was prepared for her to get up and leave him on the beach after such a revelation. Part of her did want to get up and leave. This was all so complicated. She knew before this, that Eli was a complex man, perhaps even haunted, and she had still been interested. Now she knew the reality of his situation, but it was not like he was the murderer. None of us could really help who our families are, can we?
She pulled his arms tighter around her, leaned in and kissed his cheek.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered against the rough stubble of his cheek. “I’m sorry you have to be so distant from your family, and I’m sorry your mom is gone.” Eli turned and looked down at her with a smile that didn’t meet his eyes.
“Why is your father not… why wasn’t he…” Sam floundered embarrassingly. She didn’t want to call his father a murderer, even
if he was. She didn’t want to cause this beautiful, broken man any more pain.
Eli smiled again and brought his hand up to cup her cheek, his thumb stroking the skin, before leaning in and kissing her, short and sweet.
“He’s in prison, bimba,” he replied, his hand still touching her skin, his eyes searching hers. For what, she wasn’t sure, but he must have found it because he continued. “He killed the man who murdered my mother. It was a longtime feud between the two men that went back to the night my parents met.”
Sam wanted to ask what kind of feud, but something in his eyes begged her not to, so she remained quiet.
“He got sloppy. My father had been murdering people since before I was born and was never caught. This man, though, he shot him in broad daylight, with a witness.”
Eli picked up her hand and ran his fingers over hers, threading and unthreading them, his eyes focused there. Sam leaned her head on his shoulder and waited.
“It took my father two years to get close enough to the man to kill him, and he’s been in prison now, six months. Dante, my oldest brother, expected me to just… get my father off. Like it’s just that easy. That’s what I went to school for, after all, and I worked for the law firm that had always represented the family, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t find some loophole, no matter how much the man who killed my mother deserved to die. My father also deserved to go to prison for killing him. That’s how justice works. So I quit the firm, and left Texas. My Uncle Nico had gotten out from under the family’s thumb several years ago, and he helped me. I had my own money, of course, but I needed to know it was alright to be what the family considers disloyal. Uncle Nico gave me that reassurance.”
“So you moved, found another job,” Sam said, and he nodded.
“I did. I moved to DC, first, spent three months sort of… hiding and mourning and ignoring phone calls from everyone. Then they just stopped. No more calls, no more emails, nothing, and I decided I needed to live my life. So I started studying for the bar, found a new job and took this trip,” he finished, and leaned back into the chair like a deflated balloon.