“Adriana!”
It’s Maria.
“I thought you could use your best friend,” he says in a low voice.
She stands up, beaming at Vince and I. A lump rises in my throat when I see her smile, and I realize how much I’ve missed her. Before he can step away, I give him a kiss on his cheek.
“Thanks.”
“No problem, hon.”
Then I run across the room and join her on the couch. A spread of wedding magazines lays on the coffee table and Maria nearly chokes me in a hug.
“Hey, sweetie. Long time no see.”
My throat constricts and I choke out a sob. I don’t know why it feels so good to be holding her. Maybe she reminds me that everything has finally calmed down. I can finally hang out with my best friend like a normal person, and not have to worry about being shot.
“Vince told me that you’ve been through a lot.”
I inhale a shaky gasp. “Being away from him was the worst time of my life. They made me—” I stop suddenly, aware that I’m not supposed to talk about this with anyone. My arms squeeze her sides before I finally unwind myself from her.
“I think everything might be fine now.”
“Are you sure?” Maria bites her pink lip, eyes all over my face. I’m sure the bruises are visible through the scarf.
“I just need to heal from everything that happened.”
“We don’t have to talk about it, hon.”
“Okay.” I give her a watery smile.
“I’ll tell you what we do have to talk about!” She motions towards the many wedding magazines.
“You never stop, do you?”
She gives me an excited grin. “I love weddings.” She palms through the pile. “Okay, we need to look through these cause we are way behind schedule. God, just look at this.”
I love her for being able to drop something like this and carry on like it’s no big deal. She picks one of them and shows me the table arrangement spread and I look to my left. Vincent stands there for a moment, smiling, and then he disappears into his office.
* * *
A sea of shifting turquoise and deep blue stretches out to the pink horizon. I stand on a tiled balcony, which lifts above the cluster of brightly colored homes, clustered behind bright green cliffs. Endless rows of green grapevines wind around the cliffs and I breathe in the citrus air. Lemon trees surround the small hotel.
It’s incredible.
I hear his footsteps behind me and suddenly an arm snakes around my waist. I’m wearing nothing but one of his t-shirts, and the movement sends sparks all over my skin. His mouth finds my ear.
“What are you doing up so early?”
I smile. He never misses a thing.
“I just couldn’t sleep.”
He nips at my ear as his hands travel over my body. “I’m surprised,” he says in a husky voice. “After what we did last night.”
It’s strange and incredible to be with him out here, all the way in Italy. Here, he’s not a mobster. Here, he’s just Vincent. My husband.
A flush blooms over my cheeks as he wipes the hair from my face and kisses me. “I don’t want to go back.”
He sighs into my back. “I know.”
I turn around in his arms, unable to ignore the desire heating my core any longer. His hands move down my back, over my bare ass, which is still sore from last night. My hand runs over the ugly scars on his chest and shoulder, a horrible weight sinking inside me.
Vince snatches my hand and pulls me close to him, a dangerous glint in his eyes. “You’re doing it again.”
I can’t help it.
“Sometimes, I just think, maybe—”
Maybe we should go into witness protection.
“No.” The roughness returns to his voice. “Don’t even think about it, Adriana. Especially now that we’re married. I’m always going to be who I am. Why can’t you understand that?”
My heart thumps as he pulls me back inside the room, pinning me gently against the wall. I just feel his hands running up and down my neck. “I—I just want us to be safe.”
His eyes soften. “I love you, Ade. I’ll always keep you safe. Always.”
I love him, too.
He taps my nose lightly. “You’re my wife now. I don’t want to hear you mention that again, or you’ll get my hand against your sweet ass.”
“You can’t tell me what to do.”
“Oh, yes. I can.” A smile spreads over his face. “And things are going to change around the house. If you haven’t made dinner by five o’ clock every night, guess what’ll happen?”
His fingers gouge into my ass, twisting hard.
My core tightens as his hand grabs me. “I’m not a mob wife. You can fix your own goddamn meals.”
Vince lets out a laugh that he barely covers up with a growl. “You did not just fucking say that.”
“Yeah, I did.”
He grabs me, spinning me around so fast that I shriek, and suddenly I’m flattened on the bed as Vincent climbs over me, eyes teeming with energy.
“You will behave as is expected of you. Not because you fear punishment, but because you love me and you’ll do anything for me.”
Warm hands suddenly slide under my t-shirt, touching my bare stomach. I suck in breath as he moves higher, right to the curve of my breasts. Usually light fingers, he moves over the swell, circling around my nipple. I gasp and my core clenches tightly, electricity spreading over my skin.
My pulse throbs in my throat as a slow smile spreads over his face. He knows exactly what he’s doing to me. He can feel my heart racing under my breast. I look into his eyes, which smolder at me.
“You’re the best thing that happened to me, Vince. I would do anything.”
His eyes harden like black marble. The monster shifts in front of my eyes, wearing his sardonic grin. “Anything?”
Yes, dammit.
I keep my mouth firmly shut, tired of playing this game. My hands lift to his silky hair and I yank him down, so my lips fasten over his. His body weighs down over mine, his hardness digging into my hips. It sends a shock to my pussy. His hand slides between my legs and he feels the wetness gathered there. Tsking, he kisses my neck and pulls himself back.
Frustrated, I lay beneath him. I badly want my sweet Vince, but instead I have him. The other Vince, who excites and terrifies me, the bloodthirsty man who wants to hear my cries of pain. His palm wraps around my jaw, his fingers slapping my cheeks lightly. My blood rages.
“Don’t look at me like that.”
“I love every part of you. I just sometimes want you to be gentle.”
He sits on me, his fingers brushing over my breasts to my fragile neck. It still hurts to swallow. His expression unreadable, I help him lower his briefs until he’s freed. I grab him in my hands, the thick, warm length hardening in my grasp. The turmoil in his eyes builds up and then I let go of him. He lowers himself between my legs. The anticipation ramps up in my belly, my legs hitch up to his shoulders. He’s holding back with every ounce of self-restraint. Vince does it for me because he loves me, and I need this.
Even when Vince is trying to be soft, he shoves between my legs with one swift stroke. I gasp as I feel every inch of him sliding deeper and filling me up completely. He buries himself to the hilt and his face trembles above me with the effort of not rutting me like a madman, or slapping, spanking, and pulling my hair. Vince pulls out torturously and buries himself back in.
“Faster, Vince.”
He obeys, his hips riding me at a quicker pace. He breathes deeply and his hands anchor on my shoulders, pulling me against his thrusts. We’ve never done vanilla. It’s different. It feels slow and sensual. I feel safe. My hands twine in his hair and then they move to his muscular shoulders and back. I love every part of him.
His throbbing length rides against my clit, giving me eye-rolling pleasure. I yank his head down and seek his parted lips, kissing him with a frenzy that makes him dig into me just a little bit hard
er.
I touch his face, which is screwed up in concentration. The monster rustles behind his eyes impatiently, but Vince shoves him aside. Frustration and love shines through his eyes as he looks down at me. He’d do anything for me. Vince lowers himself, and he makes sounds that I’ve never heard before—deep-throated gasps and sighs. Our lips meet while he thrusts forward. We kiss, gasping together as our bodies join. His hand snakes under my head and he yanks my hair, unable to fend off the monster any longer. My body slams into the bed as he fist pulls hard, nearly tearing out my hair. An impatient, growling noise leaves his throat and he rams me hard.
I tighten my core, biting his shoulder as the pain in my hair intensifies. Vince can’t slow down, his breaths have that familiar, urgent quality and mine are just as frantic. I feel him pulsing inside me, and then finally he lets out a guttural groan and his hips thrust hard into me. I fall apart in his arms and his hand is still tight in my hair as his chest heaves against my breasts. His hips pulse a few more times as my body explodes. My back arches as my pussy contracts around him, releasing a wave of pleasure that makes me sink into the sheets.
Vince kisses my neck over and over, still breathing heavily. My hands move from his damp back to the back of his neck. He pulls back, looking at me under heavily lidded eyes. He wears a satisfied, sleepy smile on his face and kisses me on the nose.
“I love you, Vince. I can’t believe that I get to keep you forever.”
He smiles at that and rolls over so that his head lies on the pillow. I turn towards him and his arm wraps around my waist, pulling me close.
“I get to keep you. You’re just along for the ride.”
“One day that smart mouth will get you in trouble.”
His eyes light up like a hound scenting prey. “Oh, yeah?” He rolls back over me and takes my arms, pinning them above my head with one hand. The other trails softly down my neck and chest. “What kind of trouble?”
I can’t think when he’s touching me like that. My skin heats up and my wrists twist in his grasp. Suddenly, he drops down and gives me a tender kiss, one that makes me want more.
He lets my arms go, stroking my cheek with a thumb. Suddenly, his voice is serious. “I don’t think I would’ve lived very long if I hadn’t met you. I owe you everything, Adriana.”
Tears spring into my eyes. “What do you mean?”
“I was a careless guy. I would’ve been killed eventually. I know that.”
I can’t say anything. I’m stunned to hear him admit this.
“When I met you, I started caring about the future. I started to feel…afraid.” He looks away, almost as if embarrassed by the admission that he was scared of gunshots and knives aimed at himself. “You make me want to be a better man.”
He brings me into his chest as happy tears spill from my eyes. I look over his shoulder, to the bright sunshine now streaming into our room. It fills me up with hope.
VINCENT
The city sprawls out underneath me. The delivery trucks move to and from their destinations like the micro machines I used to play with as a boy. It used to puzzle me. To enthrall me. How could so many people live in such a small place?
Before, I didn’t understand that the city was mine. With the Rizzos gone, I’m staking out my claim. Anyone who has business with me knows to be on time, or I’ll break their fucking legs. Anyone who so much as sneers at me loses their teeth. I will not allow anything like the Rizzos to happen again, and this is how you do it.
Jack promoted me to underboss. I get a cut from all the capos, now. No more running bullshit errands—I spend most of my time making phone calls. The feds are watching us so closely, he sends me out to give his orders. I’ll deal directly with the other bosses until the heat cools on our backs.
Fucking Carmine.
Last I heard, he was trying to give orders from his jail cell.
Just because you shot Tony Rizzo, don’t make you Tony Rizzo.
I slip a phone out of my pocket, my thumb hovering over a name. Looking around, I don’t see my wife. She’s finally happy again, but there’s still an undercurrent of sadness in her eyes. There’s still the fact that that piece of human filth killed her father, and her mother is gone, too.
But I can bring her back. I could tell her that the Rizzos are gone. It’s safe for her.
Jack won’t like it.
I play with it in my hands, debating, deciding. She wants her mother back, I know it, and I can’t forget the way she begged me to take care of her daughter.
Finally, I open the phone and click on her name. It rings three times before she picks up.
“Yeah?”
“It’s me. Vincent.”
She sucks in breath. “You told me you would never call unless—”
“Adriana’s fine. We actually—we’re married.”
A moment of stunned silence follows my words.
“Congratulations.” There’s another beat of silence. “Can I talk to her, please?”
I shut my eyes against the pain in her voice. “Listen, I called because something changed. It’s safe for you to come back to New York, if you want.”
“What? Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure. Come home and visit your daughter. I know she misses you.”
I hold the phone away from my ear as she breaks into sobs.
“Thank you. Oh, Vince, that’s all I wanted—”
Shut up.
“I still haven’t forgotten what you tried to do to me. Our prior conditions still apply. No begging her for money. Your debts with the Rizzos are done.”
“I just want to see my daughter again.”
“You will. I’ll see you later. Goodbye.”
I close my eyes for a moment as I end the call, wondering if I’ve made a huge mistake. When I open them, I hear a noise. Crying.
Adriana stands behind me, holding her hands to her face as tears stream down her face. “You called my mom?”
Ah, shit.
“Yeah.”
She lunges at me and throws her arms around my neck, sobbing into my shoulder. “I can’t believe you’d do that for me.”
I sigh into her body, my arms wrapping around her waist. My heart clenches and releases. I’m just so relieved that it was the right decision. “I’m your husband. Of course, I would.”
Her burning face pulls back and she seizes my hair. “I love you so fucking much.”
She kisses me with a ferocity that surprises me and simultaneously makes my pants feel tight. My arms loop around her and I pick her up, placing her against the glass as her legs wind around me. She nearly yanks my hair out as she kisses me, but I respond just as passionately. My heart hammers against my chest. She moans into my mouth as I seize her lips and bite them.
“You fucking better.”
# # #
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Double Blind (Vittorio Crime Family #2) Page 22