"You almost done over there?" Angelo calls over from the kitchen as he pulls ingredients out of the cupboards for pasta.
"I've got like 10 pages left." You yell back looking at the thin pile in your hands.
"Leave them. You can finish after dinner." Angelo yells back.
"It'll only take like 30 minutes." You say wanting to just finish reading the document.
"Sofia, give your brain a break and get your ass in here." Angelo says a commanding tone to his voice. You sigh putting the pages down onto the coffe table, pushing the blanket off of your lap.
"Alright, alright, I'm coming." You say standing up and jogging over to the kitchen. You see Angelo already has all of the ingredients layed out onto the kitchen island. Grabbing the elastic from your wrist, you tie your hair up into a messy bun not wanting hair to get into the pasta.
"What are we making?" You ask looking at the different ingredients.
"Easiest pasta there is – fettucine alfredo." Angelo says turning the tap on to wash his hands.
"With chicken?" You ask looking at the chicken breasts marinating on the counter.
"In it, on the side. Need some source of protein." Angelo says washing and drying his hands as you follow.
"The base of pasta is really simple. 4 ingredients: flour, eggs, oil and salt." Angelo says pointing at the ingredients laid out onto the island as you dry your hands.
"We're going to start with 2 cups of flour, onto the counter." Angelo says, and you grab the containter of flour already seeing a measuring scoop inside.
"Right onto the counter?" You ask hesitantly.
"I cleaned the counter." Angelo says and you hesitantly pour out two scoops of flour into a pile in the middle of the counter.
"Bueno," Angelo says as you set the flour back down onto the counter. "Next we're going to make a nest in the flour."
"Like a birds nest?"
"Sure." Angelo says standing behind you guiding your hands to make a dip into the mound of flower. You try to ignore the spark coursing through your hands as they touch, but Angelo kissing down your neck doesn't help as you lean into him. Giggling as the scruff on his face scratches the sensitive skin on your neck.
"Now what?" You ask laughing as a good sized divot is formed in the middle of the pile of flour.
"Now we're going to put the eggs, olive oil and salt into the nest." Angelo says reaching over and grabbing one of the eggs effortlessly cracking it open with one hand emptying it's contents into the nest.
"Woah, how did you do that?" You ask amazed.
"Big hands and lots of practice." Angelo says tossing the shell into the garbage.
"Yeah I'm going to stick with using two hands," you say grabbing one of the eggs cracking it open and using both hands to open it into the nest.
"Sometimes using two hands is better," Angelo says lowering his voice grabbing the last egg cracking it open and using both hands pressing against you as he empties the egg into the nest. "Makes it more fun."
You can feel your heart rate starting to increase at the sensual tone in his voice.
Damn Italian practices. Who thought making pasta could be so hot.
"Olive oil next right," you say reaching up on your tip toes to lean over grabbing the olive oil, purposefully sticking your ass out into him. "How much?"
"Hmmmm?" Angelo asks his hot breath on the side of your neck.
"How much olive oil?" You ask your breath shaky.
"Pour and I'll tell you when to stop." Angelo says and you slowly pour the olive oil out from the spout.
"Stop." Angelo says a few seconds later and you lean back over setting the bottle down onto the counter.
"Salt." Angelo says grabbing a pinch and throwing it into the mixture. "Now we mix."
You turn around to grab a whisk, putting your hands up not wanting to get them dirty. "Don't we need a whisk or fork or something?"
Angelo smirks leaning down and whispering in your ear, "scared to get your hands dirty?" Which sends goosebumps down your neck.
"No," you say a blush coming to your face. "Just want to be sanitary that's all."
"We washed our hands." Angelo says leaning down pressing your lips together.
"Probably the only clean part of us." You say giggling turning back around and Angelo chuckles along with you as the two of you knead the mixture into a dough.
"Alright, now that it's formed into a dough. It needs to sit for 30 minutes." Angelo says taking a step back turning the tap on to clean the flour off his hands.
"Why?" You ask curious.
"The flour needs time to absorb the moisture, makes it less dry and more relaxed so we can stretch it." Angelo says.
"So kind of like foreplay? The build up before you actually get to do what you want with it?" You ask leaning against the counter.
Angelo smirks drying off his hands, "exactly like that."
You wash your hands, drying them off on the kitchen towel before heading back to the living room to finish off the last few pages of the agreement. It doesn't take as long as you thought as the last few pages are for signatures, legal stamps, etc.
Setting the fully annotated document onto the coffee table you head back over to the kitchen where Angelo is scrolling through his phone leaning against the counter. You take the phone put of his hand setting it on the counter behind him, as you press your body against him leaning up to kiss him. Wrapping your arms around the back of his neck pulling him against you as your tongue invades his mouth catching him off guard.
Angelo reaches down effortlessly picking you up as you wrap your legs around his waist as he walks you over to the kitchen island setting you down.
"You finished reading the contract?" Angelo says resting his forehead against yours.
"Yes."
"What do you think?"
"I think that it would be a lot less paperwork to fly to Vegas and get married." You say laughing. "There are just a few points I want to discuss, but I think it's got a good foundation."
"So you think we can come to an agreement?" Angelo asks brushing his nose against yours.
"A good lawyer never reveals their stance on a case." You say smiling. "It would ruin negotiations if I said yes or no now."
"That would be true," Angelo says moving his hand up the inside of your thigh. "If your reaction didn't already give away your stance. Something to work on." Angelo says a smugness in his voice that makes you want do the complete opposite.
"Maybe I'm just a really good actress trying to have a night of fun with her boss." You say locking your ankles around his waist keeping him against you.
"The look on your face," Angelo says brushing a loose strand of hair behind your ear. "If I didn't know better, I may believe that. But your body doesn't lie tesoro," Angelo says slipping his finger underneath your panties up your wet folds and you breathe in sharply trying to hold back a moan.
"I'll work on it," you say closing your eyes leaning your head back enjoying the sensation.
The alarm goes off on Angelo's phone and Angelo steps back grabbing the dough from the counter. You hop down, grabbing a cloth and wiping the counter down as Angelo washes his hands again.
"Okay, so we're going to divide the dough into four. You take two, and I take two. We're going to roll them out thinly and then cut the pasta pieces out." Angelo says sprinkling flour onto the counter. He splits the dough ball in half before passing you one half. You split your ball of dough roughly in half and begin to roll it out with the rolling pin.
"Thinner." Angelo says looking over at your dough rolled out.
"How do you get it thinner, because I think it's as stretched as it'll get." You say watching as the dough springs back into it's shape. Angelo comes behind you putting his hands over yours on the rolling pin.
"It'll stretch, just need a bit more pressure." Angelo says pushing down moving the rolling pin. With more force under the rolling pin sure enough the dough stretches out thinner.
"See." Angelo whispers in your ear and you take a deep breath trying to keep your cool. Angelo helps you roll out your remaining dough before showing you how to fold it up into a rectangle.
"Then you just cut nice small pieces out," Angelo says cutting the rectangle, unraveling the piece of pasta for show a perfect fettucine noodle. "Here you do this. I'll get a pot of water started." Angelo says handing you the knife.
"Okay," you say taking the knife and continuing to cut up the pasta unraveling the noodles leaving them in a pile on the counter. You can't help but look over watching as Angelo moves effortlessly around the kitchen putting the chicken into a pan smiling at how natural this feels. It takes a few minutes but you finish cutting up all of the dough into nearly perfect fettucine noodles placed into a pile onto the counter.
"All done," you say looking at the pile of noodles on the counter.
Angelo picks a couple of the noodles off and nods his head in approval.
"Not bad for your first time." Angelo hums picking up a pile of noodles and gently placing them into the boiling water.
"Now what do we need to do?" You ask picking up the rest of the noodles putting them into the pot of water.
"Now we start the sauce while the noodles cook." Angelo says pulling out a sauce pan.
"How long do the noodles cook for?" You ask curiously.
"About 6 minutes." Angelo says shrugging grabbing cream, parmesan cheese, garlic and butter from the fridge.
"Alfredo – really easy." Angelo says looking at the ingredients. "We're going to put butter and cream into the sauce pan over heat."
"All of it?" You ask holding up the small container of whipping cream.
"All of it." Angelo says nodding, and you pour the cream into the pan while Angelo puts the stick of butter in.
"Stir." He says passing you a spoon. "So it doesn't burn."
You slowly stir the sauce while Angelo checks on the pasta and flipping the chicken. The sauce starts to boil as you continue to stir, "it's boiling."
"Turn the heat down, and add in the minced garlic and some pepper." Angelo says and you look at the stove turning down the heat hoping you're turning down the right one. You add in the minced garlic, and reach over grabbing the pepper grinder adding some into the sauce, stirring it around.
"Is that enough?" You ask Angelo who looks over.
"Try it and you tell me," Angelo says and you lift the spoon out of the sauce blowing on it before sticking your finger in it bringing it up to your lips to taste it.
"More pepper I think. What do you think?" You ask holding the spoon out to Angelo. Angelo dips his pinky into the sauce bringing it up to his lips.
"More pepper." Angelo nods and you grind more pepper into the sauce stirring it again. Once you're satisfied with the taste you look over at Angelo who has taken the cooked chicken off the stove and is cutting it up into smaller pieces.
"How do you know when the pasta is done?" You ask watching the noodles roll around in the boiling water.
"You can either toss a noodle at the wall and see if it sticks, or you can just try it." Angelo says as you continue to stir the sauce.
"Why would you throw it against the wall? That seems like a waste." You say in disgust.
"There's the true Italian coming out," Angelo says chuckling.
Angelo comes over and takes a couple noodles out of the water letting them cool.
"Open," he says holding the noodle in his fingers and you smile opening your mouth as he lowers the noodle into your mouth.
"And?" He asks putting a noodle into his mouth.
"I think it's good." You say nodding and Angelo nods in agreement. Turning the burner on the stove off draining the pasta into a colander and then putting it back into the pot. Angelo reaches under you and turns the heat off to your burner.
"Now we add the cheese." Angelo says picking up the container of pre-shredded parmesan cheese dumping it into the sauce pan. "Keep stirring until it's all melted."
Angelo sets the table, while you continue to stir the sauce until the cheese is melted.
"Okay, it's melted." You say looking at the alfredo sauce in the pan in front of you.
"Perfect timing, you can pour it into the pasta and mix it around." Angelo says opening a bottle of wine and pouring it into the glasses onto the table. You pour the sauce into the pasta pot and stir it around until it's mixed evenly together. Angelo comes behind you and wraps his arms around your waist looking over your shoulder.
"Looks good tesoro," Angelo says kissing your cheek. "Why don't you go sit down and I'll put some onto plates for us."
"Okay," you say smiling as you lean back against him. Angelo steps beside you grabbing plates from the cabinet and you head over to the table, smiling as you see candles lit on the table. A glass of red wine already poured, a plate of chicken in the center of the table. You sit down in one of the chairs, admiring the view of the city out of the window. Angelo comes over and sets a plate down of pasta in front of you and the sight of it nearly makes you drool.
"This looks so good," you say putting the napkin in your lap.
Angelo sits down across from you and you both raise your glass of wine, "salute" you both say smiling before taking a sip. You grab some of the chicken and put it on the side of your plate taking a piece and swirling some of the pasta around it. You blow gently on it before putting it into your mouth, your mouth watering as the cheese melts in your mouth.
"Alright, this is absolutely delicious," you say taking another bite.
"I agree. I'm impressed for your first time." Angelo says twirling more pasta onto his fork.
"Had a good teacher." You say smiling at him. "A little worried for when I try to re-create it though. I have a feeling it won't be this good."
"Probably not, but the more you do it the better you'll get." Angelo says honestly. "The real question is, is it better than Nona's?"
You consider it for a second but there is a clear answer in your mind, "it's close. But no. Nona's is still better."
"Well, give it some time. You may still change your mind." Angelo says taking another bite of pasta.
"Practice makes perfect." You say taking a sip of wine.
The two of you enjoy your meals, and Angelo insists on cleaning up afterwards. You top up both your wine glasses before carrying them over to the couch putting on a movie. After he finishes cleaning up Angelo comes to join you on the couch and you lay down putting your head on his lap as Angelo answers some emails as you watch the movie. You smile as Angelo's hand comes down and starts playing with your hair, stroking your head.
"If you're trying to put me to sleep, it's working," you say yawning and Angelo chuckles.
"That's all it take huh?" Angelo asks a smugness in his voice.
"It's soothing." You say rolling over looking up at him and Angelo just raises an eyebrow.
"Alright," you say sitting up. "Come here." You say patting your lap. "Humour me. You can stay on your phone."
Angelo narrows his gaze before laying his head down onto your lap. You keep watching the movie leisurely running your hands through his hair, feeling Angelo relax at your touch. He takes a deep breath putting his phone down on the coffee table snuggling further into your lap and you smile.
"Okay I see what you mean," Angelo says taking another deep breath.
"It's nice seeing you relaxed for once," you say continuing to stroke his hair.
"Doesn't happen often." Angelo huffs, and it doesn't take much longer before he's asleep in your lap. The movie finishes and you slowly shuffle yourself out from under Angelo's head needing to pee. You head down the hall to the bathroom and are washing your hands when you hear Angelo calling your name in panic. You grab the hand towel from the bathroom running out.
"What? What happened?" You ask concerned. Angelo still looks half asleep as he looks around the apartment panic in his eyes.
"Sofia." He says softly and you swear you see tears in his eyes.
"Hey, I'm right here." You say walking towards him. "What's wrong?"
"Where were you?" He asks walking quickly towards you.
"Bathroom. I had to pee." You say as he wraps his arms around your waist, lifting you up off the ground in a hug. You burry your head in the crook of his neck wrapping your arms around his neck the towel from the bathroom still in your hands.
"I thought you left." Angelo says breathing heavily, you can feel his heart beating quickly in his chest. "Don't scare me like that."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I just had to pee." You say placing a kiss on his forehead.
Angelo walks holding you into his bedroom and places you gently on to the bed crawling in next to you. Even though it's still early, you can see the exhaustion on Angelo's face taking over.
He really does work too much.
Angelo rests his head on your chest, hugging you tightly as if he's scared to let you go. You stroke his hair until his breathing settles down. Just when you think he's fallen asleep Angelo mumbles, "please don't leave me. I need you."
You take a deep breath staring at the ceiling, running your hands through his hair, "I'm not going anywhere."
Note to self: Angelo DiMauro, fierce lawyer with some deep-rooted abandonment issues.