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Lucius La Notte really was the Devil.
It was the only explanation for everything he did, everything that he was, and all the things that he kept making me feel. He was made from hellfire and sin and everything evil and despicable. A spineless shapeshifter, adjusting how he behaved based on what his own objectives were.
I sat in the La Notte's kitchen, pretending to hold a conversation with Carmine and Gabriella, who were setting up some more appetizers and kept involving me in materialistic discussions about clothes and shoes.
I had an entire charcuterie board to myself with meats, cheeses, crackers and fruits, and you better believe I was stuffing my face. Had to take full advantage of the whole "free food" selling point to staying for dinner at Hell.
In the corner of my eye, I was watching Lucius flirt with one of the female chefs that were preparing their dinner. She was a a gorgeous brunette and probably didn't speak a word of English like the rest of their Italian cooks, but of course being fluent and also having eyes, I could tell she was clearly flirting back.
Stuffing a piece of brie, fig, and cracker into my mouth, I watched Sexy Chef strut across the kitchen and bring him back a small plate of food that I didn't see on the appetizer table.
Lucius looked down at the plate and popped one his mouth, smiling up at her like he was very pleased. I cared much more than I wanted to admit, but I told myself I had full control over how I felt.
Until Carmine noticed I was distracted and looked over at Lucius and the chef. And at the worst moment possible, Sexy Chef had her hand resting on his bicep as she laughed at something he said.
"She's awfully giggly," Carmine commented, crossing her arms over her chest. "Aren't you going to say something?"
I tried to act nonchalant. "What are you talking about?"
"Sexy Chef is making the moves on my brother. You're supposed to be his girlfriend, aren't you?"
I refilled my wine glass, struggling to ignore her baiting. "I trust Lucius."
"Ha. Well, you shouldn't." Carmine finished plating her appetizers and wiped her hands on a napkin before turning toward me. "In case you don't already know, my brother isn't exactly the committed type. If I had to guess, I'd say he's the wandering type."
That made my head lift. "He's cheated on past girlfriends?"
"You have to have a girlfriend to cheat," Carmine said, glancing over at Lucius again with a little evil smirk. "It looks awfully like you might be the first, though."
Carmine started plating a small portion of food herself, and I grit my teeth. Inhaling slowly through my nose, I did what I had to do and strut over to Lucius and his little friend.
"There you are, amore."
Lucius turned his head toward me just as I kissed him. I felt a small tinge of heat shimmy down my back at how soft and enticing his lips felt against mine, and how his hand reached up to hold my waist, just before pulled back. I cleared the mental slate of my brain to focus at the task on hand.
"What are we laughing about?" I asked, loud enough that Carmine could hear, raking my fingers unnecessarily through Lucius' thick dark espresso brown hair. "Nothing like a big ol' laugh over––what are these things, anyway? Meatballs?"
"Cheesy pumpkin truffle with hazelnut crumble," Chef Hands All Over Lucius answered, sounding offended that I hadn't gotten the title right. "I remembered Lucius liked them from his birthday..."
Of course, she did. I looked over at Lucius, who was fixing his messed up hair in annoyance.
"Aw, you made him a very special plate all for himself and nobody else," I told Sexy Chef. "How thoughtful. Yummy, yummy. Well unfortunately, my fiancé doesn't like cheesy pumpkin truffles with nutty crumbles. He's terribly lactose intolerant and has been in denial for years. But believe me, he'll be shitting out of his eyeballs after a plate of these. Right, amore?"
Lucius' jaw clenched, but I watched him put on a strained front as he encircled my waist with his hand to pull me closer. "Right, baby."
Baby. Ugh. Cringe.
"I'll take these yummy cheesy truffle treats off your hands," I told Chef Sexy, popping one into my mouth. "Mm, perfecto."
She looked between the two of us and gave me a discreetly resentful look, before getting back into the kitchen. Great. Hopefully she didn't poison the food.
"Shitting out my eyes?" Lucius asked in a harsh whisper, once Chef Sexy was out of hearing reach. "What the fuck, Korinna?"
"Your sister just saw you flirting with Ratatouille," I told him. "How much of an idiota do you have to be to flirt with another woman in front of your family when I'm here? Carmine is already suspect of this whole damn thing."
Lucius shook his head in exasperation. Since he was sitting down on a stool and I was practicallu standing between his legs, I got a good look at the flush in his tanned cheeks.
"Lord help us," I muttered, reaching for the water vase on the table to pour him a glass. "You're already half in the bag and it's not even dinner."
"I'm not half in the bag," Lucius said, but I noticed he didn't turn down the water and chugged it down. I tried not to watch how his tan throat bobbed as he did so. "I wanted to eat some truffle puffs to get something in my stomach––"
"Truffle puffs?"
He popped one into my mouth and gave a lazy half-shrug. "That's what they're called..."
"I've never thought I'd ever hear a full-grown man in the mafia say truffle puffs."
Something in his face twitched. I felt his finger play with the hem of my dress, although I wondered if he was just using it as a napkin for his fingers. "You're right, it isn't very mafia of me. Want me to spell it out truffle puffs with a knife on your thighs?"
"You wish, stronzo." I ripped by dress out of his grasp but didn't give him the satisfaction of moving away from him. If he wanted to make a fool out of his fake girlfriend, then I was going to be all up in his smug face about it.
"You cockblocked me," Lucius accused me.
"Of course I did, you tipsy moron." I tried to keep my voice to a whisper but was struggling. I poured Lucius more water, leaning into him to seethe in a whisper. "Your family is onto you. We need to start strategizing with this before you fuck everything up in on day one."
"You're screwing this up too, Korinna."
Was he on crack?
"How?"
"Anyone with eyes can see that you get repulsed whenever I'm close to you."
"What can I say? I wear my heart on my sleeve."
"You wear your heart on your sleeve when we're in private, then," Lucius said. "You haven't talked to me in a whole hour. You just sat in the corner of the kitchen, hogging all the meat on the charcuterie board."
My cheeks felt hot. "I was not hogging all the meat."
"At one point, I looked over and you practically had a whole salami stick down your throat like it was your job." The crude stronzo had the nerve to start laughing at his own joke.
"What a coincidence." I clapped him on the shoulder. "I almost saw the same thing with you and Chef Boyardee five seconds ago!"
Lucius looked at me as if he just realized something, and his brow arched in the most arrogant way. "Don't tell me you were jealous, Korinna-bambina?"
I wanted to poke his stupid pretty eyes out with my thumbs. "You were closer to reality when you accused me of being repulsed by you."
Chef Boyardee strut past us, carrying a ceramic plate in one hand with foil over it into the dining room. "Dinner's almost ready," she told us, although she looked directly at Lucius when she said it and I swear she winked.
What the hell...?
Lucius slid his hand off the counter, unfurling a piece of paper that had had been under his hand. I watched his dark eyebrows scale up his forehead as he read it.
"Did she just give you that note?" I asked.
"Um, yeah..." Lucius started to pocket the paper, but I snatched it from his grasp before he could put it away.
I miss your big cock in my mouth. This weekend? xx
The swarm of emotion in me was so confusing and intense that I didn't know what to do with them. And apparently Lucius didn't to know what to say either and just ran his hand over his beard.
Thankfully, Gabriella chose that painfully awkward moment to come into the kitchen.
"Milana and Alice are here." She nodded to Lucius with a firm look in her eyes, communicating something I didn't understand.
Lucius stood from his stool and tucked in his dress shirt better. He locked eyes with me before striding from the room.
I reluctantly followed him to the foyer, where a pretty blonde was squatted down trying to help a little girl around Mia's age out of her purple army pattern heavy winter coat. She was talking to Carmine, who was holding some sort of Italian cake in her hands and appeared very happy to be carrying.
"I'll go show Mamma, she loves your cakes," Carmine beamed, and it was weird to see her smiling in such a genuine way. She strut past us toward the kitchen without even glancing in our direction.
I could only see half of the woman's face, but I could tell she was pretty.
The woman turned toward Lucius as he came closer and stood; half of her face brutally scarred by burns. She kissed him on both cheeks.
"Korinna, this is Milana, my sister-in-law," Lucius said. "Milana, this is my..." He held his hand out toward me, but the word didn't quite come out this time.
"Girlfriend," I said, feeling a little awkward myself. "I'm his girlfriend. Korinna."
"Oh, I'm so happy to finally meet you, Korinna." Milana took my hand in hers and smiled at me in a knowing way, like she was used to people having some sort of reaction to her. I felt terrible instantly, like I'd looked for too long, or that I shouldn't have looked at all.
The little girl beside Milana poked Lucius in the side. "You better introduce me too, squaddie!"
Lucius suddenly faced off with the little girl beside her, his legs falling into a wider stance. She matched his soldier-like stance. "Ma'am, yes ma'am! Korinna, this is Alice. Sergeant Alice."
They saluted each other. The little girl's aggressive solute matched with a six-foot four mafia man playacting with a child made me suddenly crack up.
"It's an honor to meet you, Sergeant Alice," I said, saluting her. "Thank you for your service."
"You're very welcome!" Alice said.
Lucius bent down at the waist to get to Alice's level, resting his hands on his thighs. "You didn't hear it from me, but I think Nonna asked the cooks to make you Italian pizza bites for an appetizer. They're under the foil on the kitchen table."
Alice bolted away. "See ya!"
"Don't eat too many before dinner!" Milana shouted after her.
Since none of the other La Notte's were anywhere to be seen, that left Lucius and I with Milana.
"Lucius hasn't told me too much about you, but I already know we will be friends," Milana gushed, sliding her gloves off her hands. She had a kind, beautiful smile, even with the scars marring her face, and I wondered why Lucius hadn't told me about her. "Your dress is just to die for," Milana continued. "You must tell me where you got it."
"Dior." Lucius winked at me. "I picked it out."
Milana gasped. "You're kidding. You picked this dress out?"
"I picked out Mamma's birthday present, too," he told her in a prideful way, and I felt like I was missing out on some kind off inside joke.
"What, do you normally hire someone to pick out presents it for you?" I asked Lucius.
"That's exactly what I accused him of!" Milana turned to me. "I'm telling you, Lucius must have taken fashion lessons recently to buy you that gift. He just won't admit it."
"Milana," Lucius warned teasingly.
"For years, Lucius made me help him pick out gifts for his sister and mamma," Milana continued, leaning into me. "Except Leone. You always knew what to get Leone." She smiled to herself and squeezed Lucius' arm, before walking past us to the kitchen.
Lucius had introduced Milana as his sister-in-law, but I hadn't met a La Notte brother old enough to be Alice's father. Nobody had mentioned even Leone even once, and I suddenly had a sinking feeling that he too would be absent from the table.
"Dinner is ready!" Gabriella called into the foyer. "Lucius, can you come carve the turkey, mimmo?"
<3
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Kat