Claudia casually made her way barefoot and half naked around the hotel kitchenette. Instant coffee was certainly not her thing but it was all that was available to them. She poured in a little milk before taking the two mugs and making her way back to the bedroom where Francesco was sitting on the edge of the bed buckling his suit pants back up.
Their lunch time meetings at random hotels were becoming an irresponsible and regular occurrence. Neither of the pair cared to discuss the morality factors of the situation and Claudia seemed content with what they had.
"Here you go" she handed him one of the mugs and crawled back onto the bed behind him. She took a sip of hers and placed it on the bedside table before crawling back over to Francesco. She wrapped her arms around his waist letting her hand travel dangerously close to the waistband of his pants. Her cold silk blouse rubbed against his bare back as she pushed herself up further onto her knees so her lips met his right ear. Her breath teasingly caressing his outer ear making the hairs on the back of his neck respond quite positively.
"I want you again..." she announced shamelessly while her right hand found itself under his waistband making him groan in response. Francesco leaned forward placing his mug on his bedside table and turned around to face his teasing temptress. Claudia stared at him with a cheeky smile across her face beckoning him back to her.
"You'll be late back to work" Francesco stated pushing her back down into the mattress, she squealed when he climbed on top of her, his lips finding the flesh of her neck while his left hand expertly unbuttoned her silk blouse. "Be quick then" she whispered when his lips began to nibble gently on her earlobe, "you know I like to savour you Claudia" he teased, "I also have something to tell you"
"Hmm" she groaned letting her hands unbutton his pants, she slid them down with her feet. "Can you talk and fũck at the same time?" Francesco laughed and slammed himself into her making her cry out in shock. She was not expecting him so suddenly. "Can you be fũcked and listen at the same time?" He queried pulling himself slowly out of her only to slowly push himself back in at an agonisingly slow pace. Claudia desperately tried to keep him close with her legs but he denied her when she did not respond. "I thought women could multi task? Why aren't you responding Claudia?" Still she was unable to respond, Francesco chuckled scooping Claudia up into his arms as he manoeuvred himself into a seating position on the edge of the bed with her straddling his lap breathing deeply. "Ok" he caved, "I'll fũck you fast then".
"What did you have to tell me?" Claudia collected her clothes once again attempting to dress herself in double time as Francesco quite casually dressed himself. He clearly had no place to be.
"Salvo knows" he blurted out knowing she was now in a serious rush and he had to come clean before Salvatore approached her himself about it.
"What did you say?" Claudia spun around with one shoe in hand; she was hoping she had seriously misunderstood him. The look on his face however confirmed she had not. "FŨCK!" She yelled angrily, "this if fũcking bad Francesco"
"Yeah it's bad. He's my brother though; he won't be doing anything with the information. I just thought you should know"
"He's going to tell Adriana!" She panicked as she hopped around trying to put her shoe on. Francesco shook his head. "Trust me; he'll do no such thing. The last thing my brother wants is drama. No one is telling anybody anything ok? Don't freak out, we're ok here. It's not ideal obviously, but he won't say a word. I assure you"
"We should probably stop this then. I mean if he's figured it out so easily, who knows who's next!"
"Claudia are you serious right now? Is that what you want? I just fũcked you twice during your lunch break, you want to stop?" She sighed running her hands through her hair. "You're getting married"
"You let me worry about that Claudia. It's got nothing to do with you"
"No?" She raised an eyebrow and shook her head. "Unfortunately it has a lot to do with me actually" Francesco walked over taking Claudia into an embrace kissing her forehead. "Don't worry so much" he stated inhaling the sweet scent of her hair, "go back to work now. Meet me here tomorrow at the same time ok?" He kissed her cheek before pulling back and planting a soft kiss on her lips making her agree to yet another meeting.
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"We really have to stop meeting like this" Adriana opened her door to Luca who walked in with a fancy looking shopping bag in hand. She stepped aside as he walked into her apartment. "Is it ok that I have a cigarette?" He queried, she nodded and closed the door. "You know Luca, I need to start going out when I'm not at work. You're going to start thinking I'm some loser who just sits at home in her sweats and hair in a messy bun waiting for men to come knocking" she stated walking to her fridge taking out a Peroni beer handing it to him as he chuckled. "Well you're going out tonight so there's a start"
"Sorry, come again? I don't believe I have plans tonight"
"Looks like I know more about you than you do Ade" Luca placed the bag on the kitchen counter in front of her. Adriana stared at it before pulling it closer still keeping her eyes on Luca the entire time. "What's this?" She peered into the bag pushing the delicate white tissue to the side before pulling out a silky black full length evening gown.
The dress was absolutely stunning. There was a long slit up the side with silver embellishments over the breast area leading up to the shoulder straps. Adriana gasped at the beauty of the dress.
"What the hell Luca?"
"A gift from Salvo. He'd like you to wear it tonight"
"Whoa, what? No this is too much! Where am I going? A ball?"
"Just dinner"
"Just dinner?" Adriana repeated holding the gown up in front of her, "this is not a just dinner dress Luca!"
"Well it must be a pretty fancy dinner" he replied with a shrug of his shoulders as she continued to examine the luscious gown. "How did he even know my size?" Adriana queried secretly impressed. "That was actually my doing" Luca replied quite impressed with himself, "I mean how could I not know, I've seen you practically every day. Try it on though; Salvo wanted me to make sure it was perfect for you. Also do you need shoes? We weren't sure on your size; I can take you out now if you like?" Adriana shook her head in protest, "no Luca, I have plenty of shoes".
When she returned with the evening gown on and her silver peep toe heels Luca smiled impressed at just how stunning she looked. He had to admit, Salvatore had done an exceptional job picking out women's clothing.
"Wow. You look just... Amazing!" Adriana tried to hide the blush which was suddenly appearing at her cheeks. She looked down to the floor, "I don't know Luca, this is really too much" he shook his head. "No, it's perfect"
"How far do I have to go with this dinner? Should I do something special with my hair? I mean I really don't know what I'm supposed to do here. This is awkward, where is dinner anyway?" He laughed at her nervousness and made his way over to her, on the way placing his beer on the coffee table and discarding his cigarette. He stood in front of her and reached up with his right hand to the back of her head. Adriana stood perfectly still shocked and unable to move "Luca what-" He removed the clip from her hair releasing the messy bun and letting her dark loose curls cascade around her neck and shoulders. "There" he replied staring directly into her eyes, "wear your hair down. Salvo likes it that way. You look stunning with your hair down" he stepped back to admire her. The look of confusion on her face. "He'll pick you up at eight". Luca turned on his heels retrieving his empty bottle and walking back to the kitchen with it placing it on the counter. He turned to look back at Adriana who seemed to still be standing in the same position. "Adriana?"
"Hmm?" She shook her head snapping herself out of it and drawing her attention back to Luca's question. "Yes eight is fine. I'll be ready. Will it be you or?" He shook his head, "Salvo is all yours tonight. I'll most likely see you out later though. Thanks for the beer" he winked and took off to return to the rest of his duties.
Salvo, salvo, salvo... summoning people on dates... I mean really?
The guy has the right intentions... I think ;-) he seems to be going about things an awfully strange way. Who knows though, maybe that's Adriana's thing? Oh & FYI her dress in in the media.
Anyone notice anything different BTW? Like an awesome new cover maybe? That would be because the lovely ObsceneIrrationality, author of The Midnight Mafia Novel series (if you aren't reading When The Sun Goes Down - well where have you been? It's fantastic, add it to your reading list!)
She recently created and sent me this new cover for no reason what so ever =) the thing which impressed me the most was the fact that she had actually put so much thought into the cover explaining to me how the particular picture reminded her of my main characters.
This is why this chapter is dedicated to her. Thank you for such a lovely gesture!