CIAO. Please interact with this chapter as much as you can to help get this story to more KISSES!! Thank you!
Reminder that this book is New Adult in rating. ;)
Four days passed. Four days of feeling consumed in my own thoughts and fears about that text. The text from Marcos Cafaro. It was Tuesday night, and I'd managed to fool everyone through another family dinner that I was okay.
But inside I was consumed with guilt and shame. It made so nauseous that I sometimes had to hide my food in my napkin at dinner, have headaches that I never normally had. I was having trouble sleeping every night, and when I did sleep, I'd always wake up gasping for air with anxiety.
I put in my headphones and tried with all my might to exist in my own little world and focus on immediate things going on in my life, like a psychology test I had coming up. But I felt so drained that I could barely focus, so at seven at night I went into the kitchen to make a bucketload of coffee and do the dishes to keep myself busy.
"BOO!" Mia cried, startling me so bad that I got sink water all over the floor.
"Mia, are you kidding me?" I hissed, rushing to get paper towels.
"Dang, I scared you good," Mia said, helping me clean it up. "Sorry..."
"It's fine. Any idea where Gemma is?"
"I don't know, I think she has the day off today," Mia said, plopping onto the stool in the kitchen to play on her tablet. "Did you know Daddy has a girlfriend?"
Now I dropped the glass I was cleaning in the sink, nearly shattering it. "What?"
"I heard him ordering flowers on his phone. I hope it's not Sienna, that woman he met at the golfing club that puts on way too much perfume." Mia turned her I-pad to the side as she appeared to be playing a racing game.
Sienna was pretty awful and clearly after my Dad's money. I thought about my mom and hoped he hadn't sent her the flowers. Not only was she a married woman, but she was an absent woman from every aspect of our lives. The last thing she deserved was a bouquet of flowers. "Maybe it was just a gift for somebody," I said quietly.
My little sister shrugged. "Who knows. I just know Daddy only dates idiotas."
"Mia, don't say that."
Mia scoffed. "Well, Mamma is stupid, isn't she? She's also a ho."
"Mia!" I exploded, and when she laughed, I ripped the I-Pad from her hands.
"Give it back!" Mia shouted. "Your hands are dirty!"
"Keep your voice down, or Nonna will wake up," I shushed her, trying to keep the I-pad away from her as she jumped to reach for it. "Mia, stop. You're not getting it back for the rest of the night. You cannot talk like that."
"I can say whatever I want about Mamma. She's a ho!"
"MIA!"
"What's going on in here?" Lucius's deep voice entered the kitchen.
Now it was Mia's turn to be startled, as she jumped and hid half-way behind my leg. I didn't blame her. Lucius didn't exactly have a naturally welcoming look to him. He was tall, dark, and handsome in a "don't fuck with me" way.
"Lucius," I said, mortified as my mind immediately harked to the photo I'd sent him from the club. I'd pretty much managed to block that from memory, but now all I could see where my own areolas on that damn cursed screen.
"What are you doing here?" Mia asked snootily to Lucius, thankfully saving me any more words.
"I had business with your father and needed to drop something off," Lucius explained to her. "I'm also your sister's fiancé. What are you doing here?"
"It's my kitchen," Mia answered.
"It's your father's kitchen."
"No, the whole family owns it," Mia argued.
"Who bought the kitchen?" Lucius asked.
"Papà. Duh."
Lucius scratched his beard, like he was concluding something. "So, your father owns the kitchen?"
Mia wiped her nose. "Yeah."
"By that logic, he also bought your I-Pad, so he owns the I-Pad. If you're not nice to Korinna, he might take that away forever." He slid his hands into his pockets. "Or maybe I will..."
"You can't do that. It belongs to my dad!"
"I can if I steal it," Lucius said.
Mia grabbed my sleeve. "Your husband is annoying me."
I fought the childish urge to correct her that he was not my husband. Taking a deep breath, I turned to Lucius. "Is there something you wanted?"
His hazel eyes slid to mine and lingered. "I was just heading out. Wanted to say goodbye..."
Seeing he clearly wanted to talk, I sighed and bent down to Mia's level. "If I hear you curse again, I'm telling Papà."
When she went to take the I-Pad, I gripped it harder. "What do we say?"
Her tone was unenthusiastic. "Sorry for cursing, Korinna."
I still didn't like her attitude, but I didn't have time to do this right now in front of Lucius.
"I forgive you." I turned my head to the side and tapped my cheek. "Baciami."
Mia looked over at Lucius like she was embarrassed, before quickly kissing my cheek.
"And go wash up for bed, Gemma said no electronics for you after seven," I added, before giving her the I-Pad. She scurried away like a bandit.
"Good night to you too" Lucius called jokingly after Mia, like she'd completely forgotten him.
"Buona Notte!" Mia replied smartly form the other room.
Lucius meandered closer to me, a small smirk playing on his lips. "My Mamma did the same thing to me when I misbehaved. The classic forced baciami."
"Yeah, except I'm not her mother," I said more bitterly than I intended to, taking out my favorite mug from the cabinet overhead and stared at the full pot of coffee on the counter. "If I was her mom, our mom, I'd be somewhere in Europe with my new husband and send postcards bragging about how much I travel."
Lucius leaned on the counter beside me. "When did she leave?"
Recognizing I'd totally overshared, I crossed the room to the fridge to get oat milk creamer and set it on the counter next to the mug, feeling my throat tighten. "Five years ago," I said dismissively.
Suddenly I remembered how Mia would wake up crying in the middle of the night for weeks and how Papà was so heartbroken he could barely function. And my grieving lingered somewhere in-between them both, as I had to be strong to keep everyone together.
Setting my creamer down on the counter, my hand visibly shook a little as I reached for the coffee pot, but before I could grab the handle, Lucius's steady hand encompassed mine. "That must have been difficult."
I looked down at our joined hands, before pulling mine from his. "It was the worst day of my life," I admitted in a quiet voice.
He poured coffee into my mug and added my little oat milk creamer pack, before sliding it over to me. Picking up the mug with an appreciative nod, I took a small sip.
"I didn't understand it for so long," I said, the knot wedged in my throat thickening. "How could she just pack up and leave the three of us behind? As I'm getting older, I think I kind of get it..." I set the coffee mug down, willing myself not to cry. "She was so young when she had me. She wanted her to pursue her own dreams and aspirations, but my father's business and raising two children didn't allow that sort of freedom."
Lucius gazed at the side of my face for a long moment before tilted his head down toward the counter. I thought he might feel conflicted after I told him about my mother, but he'd turned out he was too selfish to say anything about it at all. Not that I knew he'd be anything less, he really was a horrible person when I got right down to it.
But having someone to talk to about my life without any filter was a relief I didn't know I'd needed. And I didn't want to be alone just yet.
I glanced over at him.
Lucius looked good. Real good. I couldn't believe I'd ever seen him as too rugged, too rough around the edges to be handsome. He wore a black suit with a dark green dress shirt, a color I'd seen him wear before. It brought out the green in his hazel eyes like a magnet. His dark brown hair wasn't slicked with that oily product, but styled in that casual, laid-back way...
"Do you want to come up?" I blurted.
I had his full attention now. And his expression was one for the books. His one eyebrow scaled up a little, and his jaw slackened. "I'm sorry?"
I set my coffee down, afraid if I didn't act now that my confidence would deflate fast. "Do you want to come up? To my bedroom?"
I indicated Lucius be quiet as we crept up the stairs to the bedrooms. Nonna wouldn't have her hearing aids in, but my father, who's bedroom was all the way down the hallway, might've heard us coming up if he wasn't already asleep.
Lucius frowned as he closed the door behind himself. "The hell's that sound?"
"Oh, that's my white noise machine thing," I explained, pointing to the machine by the door. "Drowns out any outside noise when I'm studying. Helps me sleep, too."
He tapped the machine with his finger, making a clinking sound. "In your psych textbook, I think that would be a placebo effect."
"Well, I think science backs it up..." I realized he was making a dry joke and awkwardly changed the subject. "So, um, how was your day?"
Lucius had his back to me and was making his way around my room, analyzing everything. When he turned his head toward me, his eyes still held an amusement that told me the question had been as silly out loud as it had been in my head. "It was okay..."
"Aren't you going to ask me how my day was?"
His finger, the one with the notorious red ruby ring, brushed one of my necklaces that were hung up on nails on the wall. A golden chain with a cross at the end. My nonna had given me that one and I was surprised he hadn't burst into flames.
"I wouldn't be up here if you were having a good day," Lucius said. "Why am I up here, anyway?"
I wiped my damp palms on my pants. "I wanted to apologize for sending that picture. I was really drunk..."
Lucius stopped to stand in front of me at my desk, and I wish he hadn't looked so sinful and out of place in my room. He slid his hands into his pockets in a nonchalant way, giving off a much less awkward energy that I was giving off. "Consider it forgotten."
"You didn't...like, save it, right?"
He frowned, like he was almost offended I'd asked that. "No, of course not."
I don't know why, but I believed him, and I couldn't help but feel a little relieved. But it didn't stop the jittery nerves that were firing all over my skin. The picture I'd sent Lucius was the least of my worries.
"Can I ask you something?" I asked.
"A question with a lead up is always fun."
I turned toward him, tucking in my bottom lip. "You once insinuated me if any man lay his hand on me the wrong way, you'd kill him. Did you mean it?"
Lucius leaned over my desk, appearing to be reading my psych notes. He was so close that I could smell his aftershave. "You color code your notes."
"You're very observant," I said sarcastically. The fact that he didn't even deny what I'd said made me feel warm inside. "It's just, you never told me what the wrong way would be to you."
"Has something happened?"
My heart skipped a beat. "No, no nothing has happened."
"Then are you worried I'll hurt Nick?"
"Lucius, you talk about Nick more than I even think about him." My stomach did that fluttery sensation at that unexpected confession and how nervously dismissive it'd come off out loud.
Lucius' head turned somewhat toward me, and I could see his eyes move to the side. He slammed my textbook shut, and I startled. "Why are you so jumpy?"
My fingers bit into my palms as I kept them into closed fists to prevent them from shaking. "I've got a lot going on in college."
Lucius was staring intensely at me now, and he sauntered closer to stand in front of me again. Mentally, I compared his sleek, expensive layers of clothes to my thin cotton green matching pajamas set, and I felt exposed. He was so tall and built with lean muscle, that he filled my vision completely, and I had to lean back against my desk to look up at his face.
"Why am I up here, Korinna?" Lucius asked, imploring me with a firmer tone to answer him this time.
My heart was threatening to beat out of my chest. The truth was, I didn't want to be alone, and Lucius had this way about him drew all your focus into him. He was the perfect distraction.
I'm not in a good headspace, I could have told him without giving all the truth away. I was hoping you might...be able to help with that. Distract me.
But that answer would leave me too vulnerable. "I've thought this whole thing over," I said. "I want half the million upfront by this weekend."
Lucius' eyebrow arched, and then he burst into strident laughter. The immediate shift in him now that he thought this was all about money made me uneasy. Like I was talking to mafiosi and not Lucius. "What makes you think you can demand half of anything upfront, principessa? I never even promised you a million."
Instead of showing him how easily shaken up just his change in tone had made me, I sighed, slipping into negotiation mode like he had. "Controlling the La Notte empire make you a hell of a lot more money than what I'm asking for. I can help you get there if I have some incentive."
His grin was like a sharp blade. "I know what desperation looks like, sweetheart. Why are you in such a rush for my money?"
I could hear my own pulse in my ears. "You want the truth? I don't trust you not to screw me over. You promised to compensate me."
"Yes, I did, but never a million."
"Will you stop being so cheap? We both know a million is pocket change for men like you."
Lucius cocked his head to the side, and I feared he'd seen right through my nervousness. "Greedy, greedy bambina. If you want a million dollars from me, you're going to have to make things much more interesting."
I held my breath. "Like?"
Lucius straightened and fixed his cuff. Then he leaned into me, so that I had to sit back on my desk, and his knuckles my textbooks on either side of my body. Our faces were even. "Like a wager," he said. "A wager, where if you win, I'll pay you half upfront by Friday night. How's that sound?"
What had started as a distraction for the night had quickly become another game. I stared my devil down, knowing my options were limited.
I shifted my hair out of my face. "What kind of bet?" I asked.
"We each get two minutes to make the other..." He tucked his bottom lip under his teeth, a small grin curving his lips. "Release our stress," he decided to word it with a wink. "Whoever manages to make it happen faster, gets to set any price for this arrangement."
I arched a brow. Had I heard that right? "Any price?"
He lifted his chin. "Yes."
Sucker.
"Deal," I said, and held out my hand.
Lucius clasped my hand, and there was something too confident in his expression that kissed down my spine like a foreboding sensation. He took his phone out of his pocket and placed it next to me on his desk. It was open on a timer app, but the timer hadn't started yet. My eyes widened.
"Right now?"
"Seems that way, doesn't it?" He took off his suit jacket and started rolling up his sleeves to his forearms. "I think it's about time I put your greedy, spoiled ass in your place."
Clearly, he was a little pissed that I'd brought up the money again. I watched him roll up the sleeves of his dark green sweatshirt, and I was reminded of those tattoos on his forearms.
"Take your pants off," Lucius said.
Jesus Christ. Just those four words and my body was already tingling with an alertness that it was about to be touched. "Aren't you going to set the timer?"
"Can't follow simple instructions?" Lucius stepped into me, his hands finding my waist like they belonged there. He slid hands down to my hips and underneath the band of my pants, pulling me into him. "If I tell you to take your fucking pants off," he whispered at my ear, "you take them off."
Lucius bent down to tug my pajama bottoms off the rest of the way and dropped on one knee. I froze at the recognizable nature of his pose, but he didn't seem to notice. Lucius looked up the length of my bare legs before homing in on my olive-green bikini underwear. He spun me around so that the front of my thighs pressed against my desk. Knowing his face was level with my ass made my stomach flutter.
"Mio Dio," Lucius murmured. My God. "Set the timer."
My temperature climbed as I pressed the button.
I was so going to regret this.
Lucius kissed the back of my thigh. A slow, delicious burn shimmied down my body. His fingertips were caressed my thighs where he kissed his way up, until the swells of my ass cheeks were being massaged and kneaded. His hands on my body alone felt like a sin.
Lucius' hands bit into my ass as he rose to his full heigh again behind me, and the low groan that stirred at the back of his throat seemed to vibrate deep in my belly. "Perfetto," he murmured in my ear. Perfect. I yelped as he spanked me, the firm slap of his palm unraveling another strand of my wound-up tension.
Lucius turned me around again so that I faced him, and my body stilled. He'd taken that ruby ring off his left hand and was holding it between his fingertips.
He took my hand in his, and I could feel myself shaking as he slipped his ring onto my thumb. It was too big to fit even on my thumb, but wearing it felt deeply intimate. The warmth of his skin lingered on the gold band, and it felt like he was trying to convey something to me. He wasn't The Devil's Hand in this moment.
Our lips were so close, but he didn't kiss me, as he reached down and dragged his fingertips up and down over the slit of my underwear. A small, rhythmic pant replaced my breathing, and I waited for his next move with an anticipation I hardly could conceal.
Slowly, he slipped his fingers underneath the band of my underwear. Our eyes connected as he touched me for the first time, both of us seeming to still as he felt how aroused I was already.
Lucius gently spread my wetness all over the tight bud of nerves that was swollen and throbbing. He slowly slid his middle finger into me, and my mouth parted with a small moan that fell briefly against his lips.
Lucius pulled back from the kiss and shook his head with a shuddered breath. I looked down and saw his bulge behind his zipper and felt his smugness transfer temporarily to me. Touching me like this was too much for him too.
He paired his finger with a second and slid them knuckle deep, before driving them in and out of me in slow, confident strokes. Every part of me focused in on the sensations.
"I've wanted to do this so many ways," Lucius said, his voice rough and low. "I wanted to take my time, telling you all the filthy things that run through my head when I'm around you. But you had to make it a fucking game again."
He started fingering me harder, and I inhaled sharply, my head turning my head to the side as I desperately tried to keep it together. I watched the time tick on my phone on top of my textbooks. Sixty seconds. Sixty seconds, I could do this. I could do this––
Lucius pushed my deckchair back and dropped to his knees in front of me, his tongue landing between my legs. The shock of it nearly made me lose right then and there. I grasped the back of his head and quickly bit down on my bottom lip so I wouldn't cry out, his tongue dragging leisurely over my slit before sucking hard on my clit.
"Lucius," I hissed.
We both glanced at his phone, ticking down thirty seconds.
"Cazzo di merda, I could drown in you," Lucius said. "Come for me, angelo mio." My angel.
His fingers replaced his mouth as he picked up speed, stroking me in and out. My fingers were knotted in his thick espresso hair, my back arching uncontrollably. He curled his fingers a little and I came so hard that my hand swept out and knocked my jar of pens to the carpet floor in frustration.
Lucius rose halfway and clamped a hand over my mouth to smother my moan, his mouth was parted in a smirk now. "That's right, let it all out," he coaxed.
He just kept strumming me as even after I came undone, and what started as one orgasm rolled right into another. Lucius watched me unravel with a rapt wicked interest, an expression that truly made him appear as menacing as the devil.
The phone alarm went off at some point, but I barely heard it.
I came down slow and trembling, shocked at what I'd let him do to me and how well it'd been done. Our lips were close, our breath panting together.
Lucius' expression was trapped somewhere between confliction and longing. His hands gripped the outer fleshy part of my hips and gave them a frustrated squeeze, like he wanted to do so much more with me. But Lucius took a step away from me, and then another. He looked like pure sin, his dark hair disheveled and falling over his forehead.
"Come for me, angelo mio," Lucius repeated his own words. I watched his mouth wobble, right before he burst into laughter. "So easy. It makes me wonder what other corny, silly lines would get you off."
I couldn't tell if he was teasing me or had just checked something off his bucket list, and the best part was, I didn't care. I hopped off my desk with a spiteful smile and quickly pulled my underwear up over my hips. "Bet isn't over yet, stronzo."
"Hm..." He shrugged. "I'm not worried."
"Why? Because you're a fuckboy and you're numb to oral sex?"
The insult just came flying out, revealing my own self-doubt. I was so mad that I'd lost, and now we both knew it.
Lucius motioned toward himself with his hands. "Keep those insults coming, Korinna-bambina. It will make it that much funnier when you lose, and I end up paying you fifty dollars in pennies."
I crossed my arms, seething in place. Seeing that he'd shut me down, Lucius snatched his jacket off my desk chair, a new wicked gleam of confidence in his eyes as he raked his gaze one last time over my body. "Thanks for the late-night snack, dearest." He kissed his fingertips. "Era divino." It was divine.
I threw my notebook at him, which he dodged easily. Flashcards fell out and rained all over the place like confetti.
"Yikes. You really should work on that throw, honey." One look at my expression and Lucius bolted fast out the door before I could launch my textbook at him next.
"Stupid stronzo," I grumbled to myself. I lowered to the ground to pick up my flashcards. When I reached out to pick up a card, I froze as I looked down at a ruby jewel that promised violence.
Looked like La Mano del Diavalo had had left his ring with me.
***
THOUGHTS???? FEELINGS??? RANDOM ITALIAN WORDS?????
Can you say HOLY HOTTTTTTT. And it was only 3 minutes??? BOYYYYY HO HO HO....you da ONE dat I think of all da-da-ay-ay.
SCREAM "LUCIUS LA ZADDI" IF YOU WANT MORE!!!!
Thank you so much for reading!! I'm setting another goal for 1,500 votes for the next chapter to come sooner! You can do it!!!! <3333