“Give the poor girl some space, Niccolo.”
My spine straightened at the sound of the feminine voice scolding Nic. I tried to step away from him, to turn and greet his mom, but he didn’t let me get very far. Instead, he wrapped an arm around my waist and led me over to where she stood.
“Good morning, Mamma,” he murmured, bending low to kiss her on the cheek. “I hope you’re hungry because it looks like my Gianna made enough French toast to feed an army.”
My cheeks heated further, but Nic’s mom didn’t give me the chance to think about how her son had introduced me to her. She tugged me away from Nic, her gaze sweeping me from head to toe, before a wide grin spread across her face. “Such a beautiful girl.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. DeLuca.”
“Please, call me Mamma Allegra,” she urged, wrapping me up in a warm hug before stepping away and patting me on the cheek. “There’s no need to be so formal.”
“Thank you,” I replied faintly, wondering even more about what Nic could possibly have said to his mother about me.
I widened my eyes at him in amazement at how welcoming his mom was being, as she moved to the stove. “And she cooks!” she exclaimed, helping me to get the food I’d made served up and plates on the table. “More than breakfast foods?”
“Yes, ma’am.” She lifted a brow at me and I hurried to correct myself. “Yes, Mamma Allegra. I love to cook.”
“I’m so happy to know I won’t have to worry about my son’s penchant to order take out if I’m not cooking for him and my grandbaby.”
“French toast!” Sophia squealed from the door, still dressed in her pajamas. She raced into the room and climbed onto a chair at the table. “Thank you, Nonna.”
“Don’t thank me,” Allegra said, waving in my direction. “Gianna made breakfast for all of us this morning.”
“Anna,” Nic corrected, practically growling at her.
“I thought her name was Gianna?” Allegra asked, her gaze darting between the two of us.
“It is,” I confirmed. “But everybody calls me Anna.”
“Except for my son,” she murmured, sending him a sly grin before beaming at me. “I understand completely. I’ll make sure to call you Anna from now on.”
I murmured something faintly, completely bewildered and uncertain as to what it was she understood. Wanting a way out of the conversation, I helped Sophia cut her food while Allegra and Nic sat down. Once everybody had their plates full, I served myself and was about to leave the room when Nic’s hand whipped out to grasp my elbow.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“I thought I’d eat in my room to give the family some privacy.”
“There will be no hiding away from us like a servant,” he grumbled. “You eat with us.”
“This is what happens when you don’t wait for a lady to be seated like I taught you to do,” Allegra chimed in, making Sophia giggle around a mouthful of French toast and easing some of the tension.
Nic stood from his seat and helped me into mine, his hand slipping from my lower back to my butt and giving it a quick squeeze along the way.
“Do you know how to make pancakes with chocolate chips in them?” Sophia asked as Nic sat back down.
I was thankful for the distraction her question gave me and turned all of my attention towards her. “I know how to make all sort of pancakes. Chocolate chip, blueberry, banana. Even caramel apple ones.”
“Chocolate chip is my favorite kind, but I’d like to try the apple ones too.”
“I’ll make them for you soon,” I promised, reaching out with my napkin to wipe some of the syrup from her chin.
“Very well done, Niccolo,” Allegra whispered, but not softly enough that I didn’t hear her. My head jerked up and I caught both of them staring at Sophia and me. Allegra had a look of approval on her face, while Nic looked like he wanted to drag me off to the nearest cave. I refused to consider what it could all mean. Now wasn’t the time, so I filed it all away for later consideration, as best I could, while I ate my breakfast.
Nic insisted on cleaning up the mess in the kitchen, so I left him to it while I helped Sophia get ready for church. I lost the battle to sit in the back of the car with Sophia when Allegra insisted it was more comfortable for her in the back seat. I was ultra-aware of both of them riding behind us when Nic tugged my hand off my lap and twined his fingers with mine on the middle console. He only let go after he’d parked the car.
I climbed out while he was helping Sophia and Allegra, earning myself a glare and a growl. “You wait for me to open the door for you from now on, Gianna.”
He didn’t wait for a response, leading us all into the church. Nic gestured for me to enter his family pew first. I couldn’t argue, aware of all the gazes directed our way. He followed behind me, settling Sophia on his other side and his mother next to her. Mass went by in a blur, with me more aware of the warmth of Nic’s body brushing against my side than the words spoken by the priest. If I’d been going to confession today, I’d have quite a number of sins to confess. Both in deeds and thoughts.
We made it to the steps of the church before we were waylaid by the priest, who stopped to speak with Allegra.
“And who is this lovely young woman you had sitting with you today?” he asked, his gaze turning towards me.
The priest’s question was directed towards Allegra, but Nic stepped between us and answered for her. “This is my Gianna. You can call her Anna.”
“You do know he took a vow of celibacy,” Allegra chuckled softly.
“Welcome to my church.” The priest’s attention turned from me to Nic. “I’ll keep my schedule as open as I can since I expect you’ll have need for me soon.”
Chapter 6
Nic
Gianna was a bit skittish for the rest of Sunday, avoiding me and spending most of her time playing with Sophia. I let her get away with it because I enjoyed watching them bond, knowing Gianna was falling in love with my baby girl. Sophia adored her and every time my preziosa smiled, it strengthened my resolve to keep Gianna. She was going to make an excellent mother to our children.
I did my best not to constantly replay our time together in her bedroom. The feel of her soft skin, her cries of fulfillment, the sight of whisker burn on her creamy skin. Sunday night, after everyone retired, I went for a nighttime run, pushing myself until I was sure I would drop with exhaustion. I came home and attempted to cool my body and my thoughts with a freezing shower. But, I was as restless as I’d been the night before, knowing her delectable body was only a wall away from me.
On Monday, Gianna and I both saw Sophia off to school. She raced to the bus with such energy, I could almost forget she’d ever been sick. She’d been diagnosed with renal artery disease when she was just over three years old. It had been hard to pinpoint the source of her pain at that age, and being a nineteen-year-old, single dad, it had been exceptionally rough. Sophia’s mother hadn’t possessed a single maternal bone in her body, and as soon as Sophia was born, she took off. We hadn’t heard from or seen her since.
But, Sophia and I were exceptionally blessed to have my parents. They were my rock as I was forced to watch my baby girl suffer. Right before my father passed, they performed surgery to restore blood flow to her kidneys and she seemed to be greatly improved. However, the doctors continued to monitor her kidney function, wary of further developments and long-term damage to her kidneys.
Despite her exuberance of energy that day, she’d been more tired than usual lately, and it was concerning me. I took Gianna back to my office and walked her through Sophia’s medical history, routines, and other pertinent information. I threw in facts about myself as well as encouraging her to unknowingly answering several of my own.
After a couple of hours, my stomach grumbled and I glanced at my watch to see it was just after noon. “Sophia’s bus will drop her off at around two o’clock.” I smiled and stood, rounding my desk to help her up from her chair on th
e other side. “Come, mia dolce. I’m going to take you to lunch.”
Gianna shook her head and stepped back, earning herself a dark frown.
“You don’t have to do that. I love cooking and you have such a great kitchen.”
I caressed her cheek and gave her a soft smile. “I’m happy to have you cooking for our family, Gianna. But, sometimes, I want to spoil my girl.”
She blinked at me, seemingly confused. I wasn’t sure she really knew what to make of her situation, yet. Perhaps I hadn’t been clear enough. I grasped her waist and tugged her forward so I could wrap her up in my arms.
“You’re mine, Gianna. I’m keeping you. From the moment I saw you standing on my porch, fresh-faced and innocent”—I nuzzled my nose against hers and grinned—“in a provocative little dress you hid under a sweater.” I bent my head to whisper in her ear, my lips brushing the shell. “Just like you’re hiding the tigress inside I know is there. The one only I will ever get to see, the one that I’ll set free when I fuck you.”
She gasped and her head reared back, her face a mask of shock. But, even after only a few days of knowing her, I was aware of how much I could push her, and my crude words had caused a fire to burn in the depths of her green eyes.
I kissed her, urging her to let the fire grow, to be the temptress I couldn’t wait to explore. When I finally forced myself to stop, it was because I was a hair’s breadth away from saying fuck it, and taking her to bed. She was panting and her eyes were glued to my lips. “Unless you want that to happen right the fuck now, you better scoot your sexy ass out of this room and get ready to go eat.”
She nodded, still in a bit of a daze, and floated from the room. I watched her gorgeous hips and bottom sway, my mouth watering at the sight. I was losing the battle with my patience, I couldn’t wait to be inside her and it was going to happen, soon.
After lunch, we decided to pick Sophia up from school and headed home. On the way, I received a call from Antonio, informing me there had been an incident and it needed my immediate attention. I cursed silently at the shitty timing and apologized to my girls as I dropped them at home. After giving each a kiss, Gianna’s earning me a giggle from Sophia, I winked at them and hopped back in the car to head to our warehouse in Washington Heights.
When I entered the building, there was shouting coming from the back offices. I jogged back to them and found Brandon, Antonio, and two of our other enforcers in a heated exchange. They all dropped silent the moment they saw me and a sense of foreboding surrounded me.
“What happened?” I asked Antonio calmly.
He scrubbed his hands up and down his face, before looking straight at me, and I suddenly noticed how tired his eyes were.
“One of our shipments was boosted from the warehouse in Queens.”
Fuck! It was where we stored our more...sensitive cargo. The items that weren’t exactly legal. “How much?”
“Everything from Saturday’s delivery,” Brandon answered darkly. There was clearly something else behind his anger, so I waited with a raised brow warning him to hurry the fuck up. “It was the O’Reillys,” he bit out. “Our driver caught sight of them emptying the truck and hid until they were gone. He called for backup, but we got there too late.”
I scratched my chin, then ran my fingers down my beard, as I stood there, thinking. Something didn’t feel right. “That shipment was abnormally large, how was it you guys didn’t reach them in time?”
Brandon nodded, agreeing with my train of thought. “He obviously didn’t put a call into us right away. And—” he broke off and glanced away, his face darkening with a ferocious scowl.
“And,” I prompted.
“Carly knew about the shipment.”
I was sure most people’s instinct would have been to immediately accept her as the guilty party, but I found it hard to believe she would lift a finger to help her family in any way after what she’d shared with me about her childhood. “It wasn’t Carly,” I stated, my tone of voice deadly. I was not to be questioned and they knew it. I pointed at the other two men in the room. “You two, get your ears to the ground and find out where the fuck our cargo is.” I stared at them with laser focus, my voice now full of warning. “Get it back and make sure they know what happens to people who try to fuck with us.”
They murmured their agreement and exited the room, leaving the three of us. I faced Brandon, my expression conveying the seriousness of what I was about to say. “You need to accept it when I tell you it wasn’t Carly, and if you can’t, keep it to yourself and do what I tell you. Capisci?”
“Yeah,” he muttered and stalked to the door, but stopping before he was in the hall and turning back. “Why didn’t you warn me what a pain in the ass she is, stronzo?” Then he spun around and was gone.
I might have laughed if our situation weren’t so dire. I knew what was coming and it was time to stop putting it off.
“We look weak, Nic. I’m not meant for this and they know it.”
I sighed and faced my uncle. “I know. I’m sorry I’ve put you in this position. You’re right, it’s time I stepped into my place as the head of this family.”
Antonio’s eyes shone with pride, and it made me feel like a son of a bitch for wishing he would continue to lead in my place for just a little while longer. Now that I’d met Gianna, it would be even more of a struggle to hide the nature of my business, who and what I really am, from her until she was tied to me forever.
“Your father would be proud of you, Nic. The man you’ve become, the wonderful father, and”—he winked at me—“the husband you are surely about to be.” He walked over and clapped me on the back as he strolled to the door. “I’ll call a meeting for tomorrow night. We don’t have any runs scheduled and most everyone will be able to attend.”
I went home with the weight of the world on my shoulders and yet, I realized a part of me was ready. It was time to do my duty and lead.
Over the next few days, I was incredibly busy with the transition. I found time to spend with Sophia and Gianna, but it wasn’t as much as I would have liked. I had hoped to have convinced Gianna to move into my room by then, but all I’d been able to accomplish were stolen moments with hot kisses and some heavy petting. I’d made her come a couple of times, but it wasn’t enough. The stress of my work had me needing her more than ever. I longed to sink inside her heat and lose myself to her entirely.
Finally, on Friday, our shipment was located and the goons who’d stripped the truck were made an example of. Their bodies were delivered to the O’Reillys as a message. I knew this meant we were likely to end up in a war, but we would be vulnerable without a show of strength and power.
As we waited for the next move, I vowed to focus on Gianna, to truly make her mine. She’d had enough time to accept what was happening. Saturday night, Sophia would be staying with a friend, and I was going to use every weapon in my arsenal to show her who she belonged to.
Chapter 7
Anna
“I’m taking you to dinner.”
It took all my energy to stop my lips from tilting up in a grin at the way Nic asked me to dinner. He totally skipped over the question part and just told me what we were going to do. He was so darn bossy and it had nothing to do with the fact that he really was my boss.
“It’s the first night I have free since I moved in. Maybe I already have plans.”
“Plans?” he growled, prowling towards me.
“I have a hot date with some shampoo and conditioner,” I joked in an attempt to lighten the mood, since he resembled a lion who was ready to pounce.
It had the opposite effect than I had intended. Nic’s eyes flared, heating with an animalistic lust. When he was inches from me, he reached one finger out, wrapped it around a long, dark lock and tugged. “If your hair needs washing, I’ll do it for you.”
I gulped at the thought of showering with him, his hands all over my wet body—mine all over his hard one. It was too easy to picture us together under a st
ream of water. I leaned into his hand, his fist unclenching, so my cheek rested against his palm. “Dinner’s probably a better plan.”
“Fuck dinner,” he rasped, sweeping me into his arms and heading for his room. “I’ll feed you later.”
He dropped me onto the oversized king mattress and followed me down. “I tried taking it slow, Gianna,” he growled into my ear, making me roll my eyes because the pace at which he’d moved was anything but slow. “I wanted to give you time to wrap your head around what’s happening between us, but I’m done waiting. I can’t do it anymore. I need you too much, so I’m taking what’s mine.”
His aggressiveness probably should have been a major turn-off. Instead, my body betrayed exactly how much it aroused me. My heart raced, my muscles went lax, and my lips parted as I struggled to drag air into my lungs. And that was all before he kissed down my neck, scraping his teeth lightly against my pulse point before sucking my skin into his mouth hard enough I knew it would leave a mark. My first hickey. I giggled softly and he growled at the sound, lifting up on one arm to free his other so he could pull my shirt up and over my head. My bra quickly followed and my breasts were bared to his sight and touch. He cupped one of them, rolling the nipple between his fingertips and making it pebble. Trailing kisses down my chest, he reached my other breast and flicked his tongue over the nipple several times before sucking it into his mouth.
“Nic,” I moaned, my back arching as I ran my fingers through his dark hair, trying to pull his mouth closer to me.
He chuckled against my skin and switched his attention to the other side.
“Please,” I whimpered.
“I love the sound of your whimpers,” he murmured. “Knowing I’m the only one who has ever heard them.”
There was no hurrying him, so I gave up trying. My hands slid from his head, along his shoulders and back, tracing his muscles as they bunched with his movements. When he moved lower and nipped at the skin on my belly, I bowed off the bed, my nails digging into his skin. I was desperate for him to move even lower, well aware of the pleasure his mouth was able to give me.
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