by Reilly, Cora
The moment Luca hung up, I asked, “What did he say?”
“Apparently, Matteo found your sister with another guy. I don’t have to tell you how fucking bad that is.”
I turned toward the car window, trying to keep it together. Matteo would see it as cheating and worse, as an attack on his honor. I knew how men in our world dealt with that kind of thing. Trembling, I turned back to face Luca and touched his hand. “Please, Luca, you have to make sure Matteo doesn’t hurt Gianna.”
We pulled into the parking garage and Luca shook his head. “She is his fiancée. I can’t tell Matteo what to do with his woman.”
I narrowed my eyes. He knew I hated that, but his expression spoke a clear language: I had to accept it. These were the rules of mob life.
I followed Luca out of the car, and his strong arm around my waist steadied me. “Don’t worry so much.”
How could I not worry?
Then finally when we arrived in our apartment, Matteo answered his phone.
“A text with ‘I got her,’ that’s all I get from you?” Luca ranted. I pressed close to him, wanting to hear what Matteo had to say, but Luca was too tall and Matteo didn’t speak loud enough for me to hear anything.
“What is he saying?” I asked, panic swinging in my voice.
Luca rolled his eyes at something Matteo said, then muttered, “With what?” He paused. “No, don’t tell me. I don’t want to fucking know.”
“Did he hurt her?” I practically shouted, hoping Matteo would hear me. My throat was tight and my eyes watered. I was going to lose it soon. Luca could tell as his gray eyes leveled on mine.
Luca lowered his voice. “Is she alive?”
I jerked against him, my eyes growing wide. I hadn’t considered that option. Matteo wouldn’t do it, right?
He was a killer and had found Gianna with another man.
Oh God.
Luca squeezed my hand. “I take that as a yes.”
“How’s Gianna? Please, is she all right? I need to know.”
Luca nodded. “Gianna is fine,” he told me, then to Matteo, “When will you be back?”
“Will he bring Gianna to New York?” I asked. Luca gently pried my hand off his arm and motioned for me to stay where I was. Then he walked out onto the roof terrace. I followed but stayed inside, watching him through the windows. I knew I was driving him crazy with my anxiety, but he had never liked Gianna very much. He tolerated her because of me, but he wouldn’t shed a tear if she were gone.
He paced the roof terrace, dark brows pulled together, disapproving. He shook his head, then lowered his mobile and spotted me watching him. He came back in.
“Your sister is all right, Aria. Matteo will be heading to Chicago with her to deal with your father.”
“We will go too, right?” I whispered.
He released a small sigh, then cupped my face. “We will. Of course, we will. We’ll take our plane. Go pack a bag in case we have to spend a couple of days in Chicago.” I nodded and was about to pull back, but he held me in place and bent down until his lips almost touched mine. “You need to stop protecting your sister. She’s a grown-up and she will have to deal with the consequences of her decisions. I don’t want to have to worry about you in addition to Matteo, love.” My heart fluttered at the endearment. Luca wasn’t big on nicknames, but whenever he called me “love” or “principessa,” it felt all the more special.
“You don’t have to worry about me,” I promised. “As long as you are at my side, I can deal.”
“I’ll always be at your side, Aria—that I can promise you.”
He kissed me slow and sweet, before he allowed me to head upstairs.
Luca’s hand around mine was tight as we waited at the airport for Matteo and Gianna to disembark from their plane. The moment they did, I tugged at Luca’s hand and he released me. I ran toward Gianna. She was forced to walk beside Matteo, who kept her at his side, but then finally she was allowed to storm toward me and we collided painfully. I wrapped my arms tightly around her, glad to have her back in one piece.
“Oh Gianna, I was so scared for you. I’m so glad you’re here.” I couldn’t stop the tears.
I pulled back to give her a once-over. It took a second glance to recognize her with her dyed hair. Brown. I didn’t like it. “Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”
Gianna stroked my hair. A rare gesture for her, and it ignited my worry anew. “Gianna? Did Matteo do something?”
“Matteo didn’t do anything,” Matteo said in a hard voice. I jumped, my eyes darting to him. When his dark eyes met mine, I fought the urge to look away as fear bubbled up in me. I thought we’d settled things between us, but my body seemed to disagree. Matteo’s brows pulled together as he regarded me and I averted my eyes. I didn’t need Luca to pick up on the tense atmosphere between his brother and me.
“I didn’t ask you,” I said quietly. When Luca arrived at my side and clapped Matteo’s shoulder, I relaxed. “Good to see you again,” he said, and I could tell he meant it. He’d missed Matteo, his only confidante except for me.
“I’m fine,” Gianna assured me when I returned my worried gaze to her.
“The Boss is waiting,” Stan, an Outfit solider, barked. “Let’s go. It’s not like the whore deserves a big welcome.”
I gasped. I couldn’t believe he’d actually dared to insult Gianna like that. Matteo pulled a knife and hurtled it at Stan, who cried out when the blade nicked his ear. He pressed his hand against the injury, his other hand on the gun at his waist.
“Next time my blade will split your fucking skull if you don’t keep your mouth shut,” Matteo hissed.
“We don’t want this to end badly, do we?” Luca asked in a very low voice, both of his guns pointed at the two Outfit soldiers. “Your boss wouldn’t appreciate it.” Romero, too, was aiming at them. They nodded their reluctant agreement.
Luca put his guns back into their holsters. “Let’s go.”
The other soldier picked up the knife Matteo had thrown and handed it back to Matteo, who didn’t take his eyes off Stan.
“She’ll ride in a car with us,” Stan said.
Matteo’s lips pulled into a cold smile. “This is the last warning you get. Stop pissing me off or I’ll carve a smile into your throat.”
The second soldier grabbed Stan’s arm and pulled him toward a black Outfit car while the rest of us headed toward two BMWs.
I held Gianna’s hand tightly, happy to have her back. I’d missed her voice, even her colorful language. Gianna slipped into the backseat and I was about to follow when Luca gripped my arm. “No. I want Matteo to keep an eye on your sister.”
Gianna rolled her eyes. I squeezed her hand once, then released her and got into the passenger seat beside Luca, who would be driving. I hoped things would fall back into place now, but I knew all of us had a long road ahead of us.
LUCA
Aria was glowing with happiness over having her sister back, and Matteo looked like he was going to have a fucking boner from a look at Gianna.
“You’d probably jump out of the moving car if I gave you the chance,” he told his fiancée.
“I’m not completely crazy. Do you think I’d risk running around Chicago unprotected when my father’s men are obviously out to hurt me?” Gianna bitched back.
She was a pain in the ass, and I wasn’t happy about having to deal with fucking Scuderi because of her.
“So you trust me to protect you but still don’t want to marry me,” Matteo said.
Gianna sucked in a breath. “You still want to go through with the marriage?”
“You could probably ram a knife into his back and he’d still want to go through with it. He’s a stubborn fucker,” I said. Aria put a hand down on my thigh, a small smile playing around her lips. That sight softened my annoyance toward Matteo and Gianna.
“I didn’t hunt you for six months only to let you go.”
After he’d found her screwing around with another guy, I’d
have thought he’d lose interest in her, but not Matteo. The mere idea that someone else could touch Aria, see her perfect skin, fuck her, drove me up the wall. Matteo was far more forgiving than me. I’d have skinned the bastard who touched what was mine. I wasn’t sure what I’d do to Aria if she cheated on me, if she betrayed me like that. My pulse raced at the mere idea. I loved her more than anything else, but I didn’t think I could control myself if she was disloyal to me.
Aria’s blonde brows drew together. She squeezed my thigh in silent question. She knew me too well. I gave her a small smile, and she relaxed. My own pulse slowed. There was no sense in losing my shit over something that was never going to happen. Aria was only mine.
Matteo had really gone through with marrying Gianna. Of course Scuderi had gladly handed her over. She was ruined in our circles. Word about her fucking around would be the hottest gossip in New York and Chicago soon. Nobody would have wanted her, nobody of worth at least. If Matteo hadn’t agreed to marry her, Scuderi would have to give her to a low soldier or worse. She was lucky my brother’s obsession with her was still going strong. I hoped he wouldn’t come to regret his decision after he’d fucked her and satisfied whatever itch he had.
But more than that, I fucking hoped he’d figure out a way to keep her under control. Things in New York would be tense now that Gianna was his wife. I could only imagine what my uncles and aunts and the rest of the fucking family would say to his decision, and worse: to my decision. I had allowed him to marry a ruined woman, after all.
Fuck him. He was practically fucking Gianna with his eyes. He hadn’t stopped leering since we’d boarded the plane in Chicago after the wedding, and he was still at it now that we’d arrived in New York. Of course Aria, too, had noticed, and tension radiated off of her in waves as we stepped into the elevator of our apartment building. She was worried for her sister, always worried. I tugged at her hand to draw her attention away from my brother and her sister, but she didn’t seem to notice.
The elevator stopped with a bing and the sleek doors glided open. Matteo practically dragged Gianna into his apartment. I really hoped he’d get a handle on his anger because I’d be the one left to deal with the mess, and my worry-struck wife.
Aria took a step forward as if to follow them. I grabbed her wrist and pulled her back against me. “What are you doing?” I murmured as the elevator doors closed before us. Aria tilted her head up, her face pale with concern.
“He looks like he’s out for blood. I don’t think he’ll take no for an answer.”
The elevator sprang back into motion. “Of course, he won’t, Aria. After what your sister did, she can be glad he didn’t kill her. He was supposed to have her on their wedding night, and she ran off and let other men have what’s his.” That he still wanted her was so fucking typical for Matteo.
Aria shivered. “She didn’t do anything horrible. She tried to live her life. Nothing else. It doesn’t give him or anyone the right to treat her like a whore they can have in whatever way they like,” she said firmly.
Sometimes I forgot how good and innocent Aria still was. It turned me on like nothing else. The elevator halted on our floor and I led her into our penthouse, very intent on distracting her from her worry.
“You know how hotheaded Matteo can be. I—”
I lifted her in my arms and pressed my lips against her open mouth, stopping her from saying more. She gasped in surprise then pulled back, frowning. “Luca,” she said indignantly. “I’m being serious.” I carried her up the stairs and into our bedroom.
“I know,” I murmured as I lowered her on our bed. I hovered over her and she shook her head.
“You are being impossible,” she said, her breathing hitching as I ran my hands up her lean legs, then hooked my fingers in her panties and dragged them down.
“I don’t like it if you don’t take me seriously,” she said quietly as I lifted her skirt and parted her legs, laying her perfect pussy bare to me.
She was aroused, but her voice held a hint of strain so I climbed back up and stretched out beside her, kissing her slowly before I said, “I’m taking you seriously, Aria, but you are worrying about something I have no way of changing. I can’t tell Matteo what to do. I’m his Capo, yes, but Gianna is his wife and I can’t interfere. That’s one of the rules I’m bound to, and you know it.”
Her blue eyes filled with realization.
“Stop thinking about it. Your sister can hold her own.” I wasn’t sure that was true. If Matteo really lost his shit on her, that wouldn’t go over well. From what I knew, his tastes didn’t veer toward the rough side of things in the sexual department, but driven by jealousy and fury as he was, things might get out of hand.
I ran my hand down her side and slid it below her shirt, my fingers brushing over her stomach and then I kissed her again, and this time she opened up, her tongue meeting mine. I got her out of her skirt to have full access to her and moved my hand between her legs. My fingers found her clit then dipped lower. Aria was still worried. She wasn’t as ready as usual, but I knew how to change that. I eased one finger into her, her walls clamping tightly around me, and my thumb pressed up against her clit. As I established a slow rhythm, I intensified our kiss, tasting her perfect mouth, and she parted her legs wider for me, a soft moan escaping her throat. Her face flushed with arousal, her eyes half-lidded, and my finger moved more easily out of her slick channel.
I added a second finger and she kissed me even harder, her hips moving in rhythm with my fingers. I pulled back from her eager mouth. “I love fingering you. So hot and tight and wet.” I kissed her. “Do you like my fingers in you? Fingerfucking your perfect pussy?” I thrust my fingers deeper, curling them to reach that spot.
Aria shuddered out a moan. “Yes,” she gasped as I repeated the motion. My dick was so fucking hard watching her. “I want you inside me, Luca.”
My cock twitched, too willing to comply. “Later,” I got out. I sat up so I could watch my fingers slipping in and out between those perfect pink folds. Fuck. I moved my second hand under her shirt, finding her perky nipple and pinching it through her lacy bra. Aria cried out, eyes closing, as her hips arched off the bed. Her walls squeezed me tightly, but I kept fucking her with my fingers as she trembled and moaned. A few golden strands stuck to her sweaty face. So fucking beautiful. And all mine. I was a fucking possessive asshole.
I slowed my fingers as her breathing calmed. She licked her lips then turned those gorgeous blue eyes to me. I smirked and pulled my fingers out of her. She let out a soft moan, lips parted, and I slid my fingers coated with her juices into her mouth. She swirled her tongue around them, her eyes challenging me, and I groaned. My cock gave a fucking twitch. I was going to combust any second.
Aria gripped my wrist and pulled my fingers out from between her lips, smiling coyly. “Out of your pants,” she said.
I chuckled at her commanding tone and pushed off the bed before I turned to her and unbuckled my belt, unzipped my pants and pulled them and my briefs down. My dick sprang free, already leaking pre-cum like I was a fucking randy teenager. That woman turned me on like nothing else. She crawled to the edge of the bed, smiling wickedly. I didn’t waste any time and stepped closer until my shins bumped against the mattress.
Her fingers curled around the base of my cock, and then she parted those pink lips and took my tip into her hot mouth. My hand flew up to her neck, tangling in her long hair. Aria eased more of my length into her mouth as she worked my shaft with her hand. I rocked my hips, needing her to go faster, but she didn’t let me take the lead. Whenever I pushed deeper or faster, she eased back, driving me fucking insane. Her eyes shone with mischief and triumph as they held me in their spell.
“Aria,” I growled, my fingers on her neck tightening, but she ignored my warning tone. She swirled her tongue around my tip, then she released me and moved back. “What are—” I stopped.
She turned around on all fours, presenting her butt to me. She smiled at me over he
r shoulder and wiggled her hips. I didn’t need more encouragement. My hands clamped down on her waist, and I lined myself up against her opening before I eased into her. I closed my eyes from the delicious pressure and her warmth, and stayed buried inside her for a couple of heartbeats before I withdrew almost all the way only to thrust back into her.
She moaned and I thrust into her harder, my legs slapping against her firm butt. Slowly she lowered herself until her arms were stretched out above her head and her cheek was pressed up to the pillow, allowing my cock to go even deeper. I slowed my first few thrusts in that new angle, knowing her body always needed a moment to yield to me in that position and not wanting to cause her discomfort. When she began meeting my thrusts, I sped up again, pounding her deep and hard, loving her moans and gasps whenever I hit her sweet spot.
“Touch yourself,” I ordered when I could feel myself getting closer. Aria slipped one arm under her body, and her fingers grazed my balls as she started rubbing her clit. Her moans spiraled out of control, and my own release was fast approaching. My balls tightened as I slammed into her and Aria arched up, her walls clamping down on my cock as she cried out her release. I let loose, and came hard as I kept thrusting.
Eventually, I stilled, my cock growing soft and my breathing slowing, as I ran my hands up Aria’s back. She released a small sigh, softening under my caress. I bent forward and kissed her cheek. She tilted her head to meet my kiss with her soft lips. I pulled out of her and she moaned again.
I chuckled at how sensitive and responsive Aria was. In the beginning of our relationship I’d worried we wouldn’t work well in bed together. She’d been shy and fearful, and our first few times had been fucking uncomfortable for her, but now she knew what she wanted and what I wanted, and it was fucking perfect.