“Okay,” I chuckled, wiping away the tears of relief.
“Happy birthday, by the way.”
“The same to you.”
She grinned and hurried from my room.
No. That was the first thought I had when our taxi pulled up to our favorite Italian restaurant—where I kissed Angelo for the first time.
“This place?”
Sophia shrugged. “It’s one of the best in the city. I’m treating you anyway.”
My fingers curled around my clutch. My first date with Angelo started off here and ended up at that place I liked to call an alternative dance club. I thought back to the night we ended up going back to my place.
Was Sophia deliberately trying to bring up bad feelings?
The place did have killer steak. I had to give it that.
“All right,” I grumbled, climbing out onto the sidewalk. “At least we won’t be in that private room.”
Sophia gave her name for the reservation and the hostess showed us to a square table near the front, where we got a view of the street. She took away one table setting, leaving three.
“Oh.” I frowned. “Excuse me! You forgot...”
“No she didn’t,” Sophia quickly said, taking her linen napkin and laying it in her lap.
“Huh?”
She fingered the roses in the middle of the table. “I invited someone.”
“You did? Who?”
“Angelo.”
“Angelo?”
Soph shrugged, like inviting Angelo was the most casual thing in the world. “We talked on the phone today. Right after I got off my plane. I thought about it a lot… About those things that I said to you about him. I was too hard on him. I don’t think he meant to hurt you, Paige.”
I angrily crossed both my arms and legs. “Even if he didn’t mean to keep such a big secret from me, there are other things. His family’s involvement in Mom and Dad’s death, for one...”
“No,” she fiercely said. “The Salvatore’s had nothing to do with that.”
“What about Angelo’s chasing tail? You told me yourself that he’s a ladies’ man.”
“Yeah, well, that’s something else. He’s definitely not perfect.” She sighed. “But since you like him, I figured I might as well try to get along with him. And who knows? Maybe you’ll be the one to break him of that habit.”
I started to point out that Angelo had failed to get in touch with me yet, but the words slipped back down my throat when he appeared in the restaurant entrance.
With his unbuttoned suit and side parted hair, he looked just the same as he always did. It just felt like years since we’d seen each other.
An uncertain smile on his face, he approached the table.
“Hi,” he softly breathed.
I couldn’t help but stare at my hands. “Hello.”
“How are you?”
“Fine,” I told my pinkie finger.
Sophia cleared her throat. “Angelo, have a seat.”
“Thank you. Paige, I was actually wondering if I might have a minute with you first.”
I finally had to look up. “Uh, okay.”
“I’ll order some appetizers,” Sophia announced, burying her nose in the menu.
“And wine,” I told her. “A bottle.”
Or two.
I followed Angelo across the main dining room and into a little hallway, then up a short flight of stairs. He seemed to have a destination in mind so I let him take the lead. On arriving at the landing, the noise from below softened. We passed a doorway showing a private dining area, the chairs all overturned on the tables.
Angelo stopped near the end of the upstairs hall.
“Well?” I barked. I hadn’t meant to be so cutting, but now that I was being just that I figured I would just go with it. Crossing my arms, I glared with everything I had.
“I’m sorry.”
I didn’t buy it.
“What for, exactly?”
Angelo’s head ducked. “For not telling you before about what I knew about the photo. And for failing you in any other way. I’m sorry for hurting you. I’m sorry for letting you down. I’m sorry for making you feel like you couldn’t trust me.”
I couldn’t stop that last part from softening my heart a bit. Still, we weren’t done. “You really know for a fact that your family had nothing to do with my parents’ deaths?”
“I swear on my life,” he seriously said. “They didn’t. My parents were friends with yours. Your dad wasn’t just my father’s tailor.”
The way he said it was all I needed to believe him. “I’m sorry too,” I sighed. “I’m sorry I accused them of being involved.”
“It’s understandable.”
There was still more, though, more to get off my chest. We weren’t about to ride off into the sunset just yet.
“I heard you like to chase women.”
“I did,” he softly said, not skipping a beat.
“You… did?”
Angelo took a step towards me and I responded by moving backwards. My back bumped against the wall, leaving me with nowhere to go.
He pressed his arm against the wall next to my head and gazed down at me.
“Moretti is dead,” he whispered, his breath kissing my nose.
I gulped. “I heard. He signed his house in Sicily over to me and Sophia.”
Angelo’s eyebrows rose. “You don’t say?”
I lifted my chin, staring him down. With him that close, with everything that previously stopped us from being together, the answer seemed clear. There was nothing else to do but seize hold of the day, take Angelo in my arms and kiss him until I died.
Yet I was frozen with fear. It all seemed too good to be true.
“Is this really happening?” I whispered. “Am I free?”
Angelo slowly nodded and slipped his free arm around my waist. “I thought it was the end for us.”
“Me too.”
I went for his mouth before he so much as took another breath. His desperate kiss greeted me, pulling me in.
My hands moved all over him, clutching at each part of him they could get. His shoulders. His chest. His hair.
I wanted to feel each part of Angelo beneath my fingers. To memorize each line of his face and body, but to never need those memories, because I planned on never letting him go.
Angelo’s fingers curled around the fabric of my dress, pushing it up along my thigh. Heat flooded me. I hissed out a breath, dropping my head back against the wall as Angelo moved his attention to my neck.
I tried to open my eyes, but they kept fluttering closed. Combined with the shaking of my legs and the crazy flipping of my stomach, I was close to collapsing to the floor.
“Angelo. We need...”
He nipped slightly at the spot below my ear, taking away any ability to talk.
He seemed to read my mind, though, because he turned me around and pushed us through a doorway across the hall.
My butt hit something hard. Angelo locking the door behind us gave me just enough time to note we were in a bathroom. A second later and he was on me again, lifting me up and settling me on top of the counter.
I grabbed his shirt in both hands and pulled him towards me. Mouths mashed together, my legs wrapped around him, we ground our hips. His dick pressed against his pants to rub against my thigh.
I let out a groan of frustration. “I need you right now, Angelo.”
With that invitation, he reached under my skirt and yanked my panties down. They slid over my shoes and landed on the floor.
A bit of my butt slipped off the counter and I reached out for the wall to keep myself in place. Angelo hurried to undo his belt and pull his dick out.
With one of my hands pressed against the wall and the other wrapped around his neck, I teetered on the edge of the counter. Angelo took his dick in his hand and pushed into me.
I cried out from the pleasurable shock, my nails gripping his collar. Deep into me he pushed, driving me against the
long mirror running the length of the counter.
I said a quick prayer, hoping the mirror wouldn’t shatter. After that there was no more space for thinking. Angelo grasped my hips and rammed into me harder, sending a quick succession of pleasurable waves through me. They culminated in an orgasm, and soon I shook and cried out his name, the moment of passion making me not care if anyone heard us.
Angelo’s breathing got heavier. He growled and pulled me closer to him. His tongue swept across my lips as he pressed his forehead against mine. For a moment, just stayed there, peaceful as we caught our breaths.
“I’m afraid I’m going to fall,” I whispered.
Angelo chuckled and swept his arms around my waist to gently lower me to the ground. He picked up my panties and slipped them into his pocket.
“You’re better off without these,” he explained. “Especially if I want to have my way with you under the dinner table.”
The danger of the idea made me grin like a buffoon. I straightened my skirt and turned around to check my reflection in the mirror. A bit of hair was out of place, but other than that you couldn’t tell I’d just been banged in a restaurant bathroom.
Angelo watched me in the mirror, a sly smile on his face. “Do you think Sophia will be pissed?”
“Sophia! I forgot all about her.”
“Maybe the appetizers have come to keep her company.”
I turned around and placed my hands on his chest. “We should get back.”
“Yes,” he growled.
His hand moved around in his pocket, retrieving something. “I have something for you.”
Out came a small plastic snow globe. I had to smile. “That’s cute, but why…”
He held it up to my eye level for better inspection then shook it just enough to make the little white flecks torpedo around. In the center of the globe a beach house sat, next to it a sign saying Atlantic Beach.
Unable to hold back my gleeful smile, I took the globe in both hands. “Atlantic Beach?”
“Best weekend of my life.”
He said it so seriously the smile fell right off my face. “Even with the asthma attack? Even with a whole day spent in a hospital room?”
“Even with that. It made me see I couldn’t go on in life without you.”
My palms grew clammy. Angelo reached up and ran his fingers along the side of my face.
“Sophia,” I softly reminded him.
“No. You’re Paige,” he seriously replied. “I know you’re identical and all...”
I chuckled, swatting his shoulder.
“It’s her birthday too,” I pointed out. And then, “Are you going to give her the same thing you gave me?”
“A romp in the bathroom or a snow globe?”
I threw back my head in laughter. “She’d probably punch you in the jaw if you tried to pass her the first one.”
Angelo wrapped his arms around me and nuzzled his face into my hair. “Good. As far as I’m concerned there’s only one woman for me.”
His words filled me up and set me buzzing. Up and up I went, flying high on the promise of the future. Flying high with the man in front of me.
Chapter Seventeen - Angelo
Dinner couldn’t be over with fast enough. I nodded like it was my job, listening to Sophia talk about her trip to Europe while she and Paige split a bottle of white wine. Half of Sophia’s words fell on deaf ears though.
There was only room for one thing in my mind. The woman sitting next to me. The woman who was now free to be mine.
It was all too good to be true. My father got back to me just hours after speaking with his consiglieri and scouting for possible ties still involving Paige. Thankfully, things checked out just fine. It didn’t look like she was promised to anyone else in the wake of Moretti’s passing.
And on top of it all she now had a property in Italy. Would she and Sophia go and live there?
If so, I would follow. Assuming Paige wanted me to. I would live anywhere she wanted to, take on any lifestyle she could dream of.
And, amazingly, the thought didn’t scare me at all.
As soon as we finished the meal I dropped a hint about it having been a long day. The girls picked up on it and let me escort them out to the street.
Paige lingered at the hailed cab, staying back on the sidewalk near me.
Sophia, one hand on the yellow door, looked back at us. For a moment, no one spoke, then Sophia’s eyes locked onto mine.
“You’re not too bad,” she said.
I chuckled. “Thanks. Happy birthday.”
“Thank you.” She looked over at her sister and winked. “Call me tomorrow, Paige.”
She waved a peace sign at us and climbed into the taxi.
“Well,” I slowly said, turning to Paige. “Was that what I think it was? A Sophia style blessing?”
“Something like that,” she grinned.
The car couldn’t get to my place soon enough.
Our place. That was really the way I thought of it now. The penthouse hadn’t become a home till Paige was there, then it became my favorite place to be. Signs of her still peppered it. Her magazines in the sitting room. Her toothbrush and shampoo in the bathroom. Her high heels, often at the front door, where she kicked them off as soon as she got home. The idea of having all those things around didn’t scare me at all.
We held hands for part of the drive home. By the time we hit 40th street, Paige was in my lap, our mouths were pressed together, tongues dueling, and the sweet taste of strawberries and dry white wine settling in my mouth.
I clutched the fabric of her dress, itching to rip it right off of her. Out of a little respect to the driver, I managed to hold it together.
The ride up the elevator became a blur. I couldn’t get my hands off Paige. There were so many things about her I’d been afraid to even think about before, for fear of losing her and not being able to handle it.
It was the little details. The coconut smell of her hair. The dip in her lower back. The fleck of gold in her right eye. Things I’d noticed but never let myself dwell on.
We slipped into the penthouse. Crossing the threshold and kicking the door closed behind me, I lifted Paige up and carried her the rest of the way to my bedroom.
Setting her down on the bed, I got busy spreading her thighs. Her panties were still in my pocket, a little memento from earlier. I brought them out and wiggled them in front of her, then tossed them to the floor before nestling my face between her legs.
Paige sighed and grabbed my hair as I licked and sucked her tender clit. She shook and reached down to grab my hair as she came hard and fast.
With a groan, she collapsed fully onto the bed. I licked a path up her inner thigh. Having had enough of the dress, I reached behind her to unzip it and peel it off. Her bra met the same fate.
Her breasts gleamed in the soft lighting, nipples perky, pink, and waiting for me to touch however I wanted to. Stepping back, I undressed fully then lunged forward.
Paige shrieked as I landed on top of her and grabbed a breast in one hand. I sucked passionately, alternating pressures. My free hand went down to slip between her folds and into her wet channel.
Her walls tightened around my fingers. My dick twitched, ready and craving to have its turn.
I had to take my time though. This couldn’t be over too soon. It was the first night I knew for sure that Paige would really be mine. I needed to make a memory worth cherishing.
“Close your eyes,” I told her.
She obeyed immediately. I growled in pleasure, loving how quick she was to do as I commanded.
Climbing from bed, I went to the closet. What I looked for hung in the corner, a braided whip with a tasseled end.
Paige lay on the bed, not a muscle having moved.
“Keep them closed,” I growled.
She licked her lips, her breathing growing quicker and betraying her excitement.
Standing over her, I ran the tasseled end down her stomach and across her c
lit. A little sound escaped her mouth. The tassel kept it up, exploring the inside of Paige’s thighs and the length of her torso.
I teased her nipples by swatting them lightly. Paige made the sound that told me I gave her the right mix of pain and pleasure.
Reaching down, I tweaked a nipple and climbed on top of her, my legs straddling her thighs.
Slap. The tassel hit her clit. Paige yelled out, the anguished cry turning into an ecstatic moan. Her eyes popped open and connected with mine.
Instead of chastising her I held the eye contact, the presence of her gaze giving me a new thrill. Dropping the whip, I situated myself in the right spot and took hold of the base of my dick.
She stretched eagerly, her depths engulfing and welcoming me back. Sweet ecstasy filled me up. Paige’s mouth opened into a silent O as I moved fluidly inside of her.
Deeper and deeper I pushed, finding her sweet spot and giving it all of my attention. Paige came, crying out as her muscles clenched around me. I grabbed her breasts and squeezed them, riding my pleasure as I let go.
We stayed where we were, Paige on her back and me straddling her. We both panted, catching our breaths. I wiped some sweat off my brow with my forearm. I knew I should climb off of her but I couldn’t bring it in myself to move.
“I wish I had gotten you a better birthday present,” I found myself saying.
Surprise etched across her face. “Are you talking about the whip or the snow globe?”
I smirked. “The snow globe.”
She reached up and ran her soft palms over my chest. One of her fingers hooked the little bit of hair on my chest and I sighed in relaxation.
“I love it,” she said. “It’s the perfect present. Every time I look at it I’ll remember that weekend.”
“Good.”
“Then what’s the problem?” She wriggled slightly under me and I climbed off of her and joined her on the bed.
She snuggled up on top of my arm and pressed her head into my shoulder. I kissed the top of her head.
“So?” She pressed. “What’s the problem? What did you really want to give me?”
A ring.
As soon as I had the thought I questioned where it came from. A ring? Really? An engagement ring?
Angelo: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance Page 10