by Lisa Cardiff
A normal woman would have run screaming from this man. But I wasn’t normal, and his bark didn’t faze me. “Of course I mean it.”
“You better be sure because there are no take backs. Not this time.”
The heavy timbre of his voice made my toes curl inside my shoes.
“I love you,” I reaffirmed, feeling freer than I had in as long as I could remember. His eyes turned molten, and I knew I had this. Had him. He might never say he loved me, but he felt something, and I’d take what I could get rather than live a life without him.
CHAPTER
THIRTY-ONE
Marcello
Words were cheap, at least in my experience, but Emilia admitting she loved me was like a shot of adrenaline directly into my aorta. After days of wondering why the fuck I did this to myself, why I let her tie me knots, why I couldn’t cut her out of my heart, she stood in front of me saying the words I never thought she’d give me.
“I love you.”
Unhinged, possessive urges bubbled inside of my chest when I replayed her words. Flames shot through my veins. After everything I’d done in my life, I never truly believed someone would love me for me. Women fell in love with my power, my money, or my looks. Never me, though, or at least that’s what I had to believe. How could they want me? My heart was as black as night, and no amount of time spent in the confessional would cleanse my sins.
When all hell broke out last year with the families, I lied, I cheated, and I killed men I once considered friends and family. When the dust settled, I didn’t feel vindicated. I felt soiled, old as fuck, and not worthy of happiness. That was the only reason I agreed to marry the Rossi girl. She cemented the position I sacrificed my soul for, and with her, I never had to worry about falling in love or seeing her fall out of love with the bloodthirsty fiend I had become.
None of that meant I wouldn’t grab onto Emilia’s love with both hands and never let go. The Rossis could go fuck themselves. I’d shove my boot so far up their asses if they caused any more waves because there was absolutely nothing I wouldn’t do to have Emilia in my life.
I flashed my arms out, circling her waist, and lowered her onto the bed. The anger, disillusionment, and frustration building over the past week as I came to terms with a lifetime without Emilia had me ramped up and edgy. I needed to reclaim her and show her where she belonged.
I hesitated for a fraction of a second, not wanting to scare her. While she may have been married for years, her marriage with Gavin wasn’t real. I’d bet my life that they hadn’t slept together more than a handful of times, and in my opinion, that was a handful of times too many. She belonged to me. She always had.
Emilia’s musical voice drew my attention back to her. “I need you, Marcello. This week without you, wondering if I lost you…” She swallowed hard, her throat bobbing as if she couldn’t bring herself to express her fears. “Show me how much you still want me. I need to feel it. I can take everything you have. Don’t hold back.”
With a snarl, I ripped my shirt over my head, tossing it on the floor. Emilia reached for me, and I saw the same lack of control in her eyes that I felt deep in my gut. Buttons scattered across the floor when I tugged at the sides of her shirt. Her hands fumbled with my pants, but I knocked them away, impatient to seal the deal and be inside of her again.
The instant the last piece of our clothing hit the floor, I was on her. I locked my mouth onto hers, telling her without words that I’d never let her go again. I’d fight until my last breath to keep her by my side.
She grabbed handfuls of my hair, fusing our mouths together, biting, kissing, and claiming. I worked my way down her neck to her collarbone, biting her hard every chance I got, making her back bow with desire. I snaked my fingers down her body, disappearing between her legs. When it wasn’t enough for either of us, I shoved her legs wider, smearing her wetness onto her inner thighs.
Her greedy whimpers filled my ears, driving me over the edge of sanity. I couldn’t wait another second to be inside of her. I pressed the head of my cock against her slit. Her pupils dilated, and her body trembled. She looked like every fantasy I’d ever had wrapped up in a shiny ribbon.
I hissed. “Shit, you feel…” A wicked smile spread across my face. “You feel like mine.”
She wrapped her legs around my hips, nudging me further inside of her. “And you feel like mine.”
In one smooth thrust, I pushed all the way in. We both watched through heavy lids as I moved slowly. Her mouth parted, and a breathless moan tumbled from her cherry-colored lips. God, this woman was beautiful.
Her inner muscles rippled around me, and I knew it wouldn’t take much to send her over the edge. I smashed my forehead against hers, keeping our eyes locked on each other as I plunged in and out of her. The bed frame creaked. The headboard slammed against the wall. Sweat dripped down my temples. Strands of her dark hair matted against her forehead, and her delicate cheekbones were flushed.
She rocked her hips, grinding against me. My mind succumbed to the primal urge to fuck, to claim her once and for all so she’d never question where she belonged again. Who she belonged to. Like an unleashed beast, I drove into her over and over again, holding nothing back just like she asked.
The smell of sex, of her, swirled around us. Her nipples pebbled. Skin slapping against skin, moans, and groans filled the air. Her muscled clamped around me harder than fuck, and I was a goner.
“I love you, Marcello!”
My thrusts rocked an uneven rhythm, and my lips descended on hers again, rough and untamed, as we both went over the edge. Breathing like I had run the gauntlet to the Underworld and back, I collapsed on top of her.
“I love you too,” I whispered into the crook of her neck, and her entire body tensed.
“You do?”
The corners of my lips inched upward, and I rolled onto my side, cradling her lithe little body in my arms. “I do. Why else would I chase you all over the country?”
CHAPTER
THIRTY-TWO
“Are you gonna tell me who this Rossi woman is and what’s going on between you two?” Emilia asked.
I pressed kisses to Emilia’s back, ignoring her question for the time being. I didn’t want to go there when everything was finally coming together between us. “More kissing, less talking.”
“Marcello.” She flipped over so we were face to face. Her cheeks were flushed, and her dark eyes were flashing with fury. “Not later, now. I came here to get answers.”
Damn, she was cute when she got feisty. I pushed her hair away from her face so I could take in all her tiny features, the ones I never thought I’d see again. “Tomorrow. We’ll talk tomorrow. Let’s have this day to ourselves.”
“I don’t want any more secrets between us. Not talking about this is going to eat away at me, and trust me, I’ve already run through all the possible reasons you kept this from me, so anything you tell me won’t be as bad as what I imagined.” She reached up and caught my hand, bringing it to her mouth and planting a kiss on the inside of my wrist.
“I’ll take care of everything. You don’t need to worry about the details. I wouldn’t have touched you if I planned to marry someone else.”
“Just tell me what’s going on so I’m not blindsided again.” She pushed my chest and sat up, hanging her legs over the side of the bed. She looked beautiful, painted in the fading sunlight streaming in my windows. Bite marks marred her collarbone and the sides of her breasts. I loved marking her.
“I already told you, I wouldn’t have initiated anything with you if—”
“I know. I heard what you said. You don’t plan to marry anyone else, but I want details.”
I rubbed my hand down the side of my face, deliberating what to tell Emilia. I’d spent the last few days trying to unwind my promises to the Rossis. Every conversation with that man sucked ass. The sonovabitch misquoted my men, fucked with my head, and dangled threats like his shit didn’t stink. In the end, we hadn’t gotten anyw
here. Negotiations like that were delicate, though, especially considering the shit that went down last year, so I didn’t expect a few calls to resolve anything. If he thought I’d cave, he was out of his mind. I wouldn’t stop until I got what I wanted, and I wanted Emilia. I always had. And now that she was mine for the taking, I fully intended to make the impossible possible.
“Last winter, everything went south. The traditional Chicago mob brass went after some fresh faces from Lake County. Back in the day, we would’ve started killin’ people and asked questions later, but we’d been down that road before so I made some concessions and formally inducted some guys into the Outfit. It kept things from getting really fucked up.”
“Won’t people take advantage of you for smoothing things over and showing weakness?”
“People know what I’m capable of. I don’t need to prove anything.” Her eyes flared, and I looked away, not wanting to get into the details with her. She wasn’t a naïve baby. She knew what happened in our world. People died. People disappeared. People went to jail. “The last piece of puzzle was bringing the Rossi family into the Masciantonio fold.”
“And you set up another arranged marriage.” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. I saw the hurt in her beautiful almond-shaped eyes, and it gutted me. I pushed away the feeling as fast as it came. She fucked me over when she fled. Like a lovesick fool, I kept tabs on her for a while. It all stopped the day she married that pussy Gavin. So in my mind, I didn’t owe her a damn thing when I promised to marry Sabrina.
“Rossi was the last hold out. He had an unmarried daughter, Sabrina.” I pulled her against me, and her body fell into mine. I cupped her face and held it steady so she couldn’t look away. “You’d been gone for years. You married someone else. I never heard a word from you after you left except that flimsy note you left with your engagement ring. I had to marry someone eventually.”
“So you what?” Her face hardened with disgust and something else. “Agreed to marry this Sabrina woman without knowing a damn thing about her?”
I smirked. “Be careful, little Emilia. Your jealousy is showing.”
“Screw you, Marcello. I’m just trying to wrap my head around the fact that you were willing to marry any warm body just to maintain control.”
“It wasn’t like that.” I got up, wanting to end this discussion because nothing good would come of it. “Are you hungry? I can have Johnny pick us up something to eat.”
Emilia frowned, studying me, her tiny hands corkscrewing into my sheets. “You knew her.”
“Yeah. So?” I scooped up my pants and put them on.
“Were you dating her?”
“We dated years ago. Before you.”
Emilia’s face fell. “What about after you got engaged? I’m sure you probably…”
Her lips puckered like she ate something rotten, and I couldn’t disagree. I’d only taken Sabrina on one date, and I was already sick of her antics. She was crazy sexy, but it only took an hour in her company to remember why I ended things last time. She lived for drama, and when she tried to make me jealous by dropping hints about her ex, I asked for the check and sent her home. As soon as Dominick summoned me with news of Emilia’s return, I took the opportunity to get out of town and put things with Sabrina on ice for a while. Ending the killing no longer seemed like a fair trade for spending a lifetime with her.
“We went to dinner to talk. That’s it.”
She blinked, trying to digest my words, then focused on her dangling feet. “O-kaay. Marcello, you can be honest. I know how you are. And like you pointed out earlier, I wasn’t in the picture.”
“We. Went. To. Dinner. End of Story.”
She gawked at me, her face glowing with relief. “Really?”
“Yes. It only took an hour to remember why I broke up with her the first time.”
“But you were going to go through with the marriage if we didn’t…I mean, you wanted nothing to do with me on the plane, and you acted like an asshole until the night in the barn.” Her cheeks turned scarlet. Damn, she was cute.
“In the beginning, sure, I thought it didn’t matter who I married. It was a box to be checked, but I realized pretty quickly I couldn’t marry her.”
“Since when?”
“Since that night you walked off the plane. It fucking pissed me off, you know. I didn’t want to feel anything for you. I showed up mostly because I wanted to prove you were out of my system once and for all.” I laughed. That night I got piss drunk, hating that she was still my kryptonite. “I should have known better.”
CHAPTER
THIRTY-THREE
Emilia
“What now?” I asked, confused how we could move forward. We had so many things stacked against us. History, promises to other people, Sal or whoever wanting to fuck with us. I hoped Marcello had a plan because I was out of ideas, and I didn’t want to force him to marry me, only to lose him to some crazed revenge plot launched by the Rossi family, whoever they were.
“I’m working on it.”
I narrowed my eyes, not liking his answer one bit. “Come on, Marcello. Spill it.”
“I’m working on some stuff, and until I know for sure, I don’t want to give you the impression that this will be easy. But the Rossis and I both had conditions that had to be met in order for this marriage to work, and let’s just say I don’t think they’re living up to their side of the bargain.”
I nodded even though I wanted to push him. God knew I didn’t need to get caught up in mafia business. That never ended well. “Fine. I can live with that. If things change, and you don’t think we can make this work, promise me you’ll let me know and you won’t string me along.”
“Hey, this is gonna work. There’s no other choice. You know what? Fuck it. Why don’t we go down to the courthouse and get married tomorrow afternoon?”
“What? Are you serious right now?”
“Why not?”
“Why not? There are a million reasons. Do I need to go through all of them with you? My husband died recently. I’m under investigation for his murder. Sal or someone else tampered with the brakes on your car. We haven’t spent more than a handful of days together and we could—”
“Stop right there. None of that matters. The investigation isn’t going anywhere. I’ll handle Sal or anyone else for that matter. As for not knowing each other, well, that’s bullshit.” He pulled me into his arms, his firm body pressing into mine. I felt so small and fragile with him wrapped around me, and that was okay. I felt safe with him. I always had, even when I fought with him.
His warm breath feathered the side of my face. He kissed my jaw, the corner of my mouth, and then his lips met mine for an intoxicating moment that felt like it lasted for days.
“What about the Rossis? Won’t they be pissed?”
“I don’t care about them. I care about you. Us. And marrying you might be exactly what I need to do to put them in their place. It would be like killing two birds with one stone. I finally get the woman I love, and I fuck them over in the process.”
I blinked once, twice, and then burst out laughing. “Wow, aren’t you romantic?”
A smile slid across his face in slow motion. “I never claimed to be, but Emilia, I love you, and you love me. In the end, that’s all that matters.”
“I don’t know. I don’t want to make another mistake.”
“I get that you’re scared. I get that you’re afraid to trust in me because life has let you down so many times. I’ve probably let you down. But you’re…” He rested his forehead against mine. “You’re it for me. I can’t imagine a life without you in it. I tried it, and it was empty. Meaningless. I think you felt the same way, so let’s not wait any longer. Let’s do what we should have done before everything went to shit. Marry me, little Emilia. Be my wife. My other half. My reason to get up in the morning. Because I’ll be yours.”
He tucked my hair behind my ears and cradled the sides of my face. His sea blue eyes locked on me with
honesty, hope, and love, making me feel light, exhilarated, and some other emotions I couldn’t begin to name. All my fears and reservations disintegrated like they were never real in the first place, and maybe they weren’t. I closed my eyes and let myself believe that I was finally on the right path after so many wrong turns. Without a doubt, I knew I was. Together, Marcello and I could do anything.
Fuck Sal. Fuck the Rossis and everyone else standing in our way. For once in my life, I would take what I wanted without apology or regret. I wanted Marcello. Forever.
“Let’s do it. Let’s get married.”
“Are you sure? Because if you agree, I’m never letting you go again. You can run, but I will always find you and bring you back to me.”
“The only running I’m doing from now on is to you.”
The corner of his lips quirked up. Then he was kissing me hard, tugging at my hair, pushing me against the wall. Happiness exploded inside of me. I was getting married tomorrow, and I was over the freakin’ moon. If my teenage self could see me now, so excited to marry the man I fought for so long, she’d fall off her chair.
At that thought, a laugh bubbled up my throat. “We should probably tell my dad.”
He pulled his car keys out of his pocket. “Right. Let’s get that out of the way so we take care of the paperwork.”
CHAPTER
THIRTY-FOUR
When we entered my house, it felt empty. There weren’t any sounds. My dad’s study door was shut, and no light peeked out from under the thick wooden doors. I glanced at the bench where I talked to Lucca less than two hours earlier. So much had changed since then. It seemed like days rather than hours ago when I didn’t know if Marcello and I could make things work between us. Now we were getting married in less than a day.
“Dad! Zio Lucca!” I yelled, unwrapping my black and white scarf and dumping it on the entry table. “Are you here?”