by Maggie Gates
Luca’s face flickered with surprise. I didn’t blame him. Our sexual preferences edged on the dark and dirty. It was always hard and brutal, and God—I loved every minute. But that’s not what I needed tonight. I needed to feel him love me. I needed to let myself feel it. I needed to show Luca how much I loved him. Maybe I wasn’t ready to say it, but actions speak louder than words.
“Maddie—”
My chest heaved as nervous breath after nervous breath pumped in and out of my lungs. “Please,” I begged in a whisper.
Luca tucked the strands of hair that framed my face behind my ears and cupped my jaw in his hands. Slowly, he lowered his mouth to mine and drank in my lips. The kiss stretched out for an inordinate amount of time. He wasn’t in a hurry. I wasn’t in a rush. We were memorizing each other—taking our time to brand one another. “Ti amo, Tesoro.” He murmured against my swollen lips. “I love you.” Luca bent his knees and scooped me into his arms, cradling me as he walked over to the side of the bed and laid me down.
He took a step back and slowly stripped down as I watched. First, his shirt hit the floor. Then, his pants. Luca shoved his boxers down and his thick erection sprang free. Still, he didn’t make any sudden moves toward me. He reached over and flipped off the bedside lamp, bathing the room in darkness. “Close your eyes, Tesoro,” he urged. “Just feel.”
I heard the scrape of a drawer opening and the slight crinkle of foil when he set the wrapped condom on the bedside table. “Luca—”
“Yeah, beautiful?”
“I’m… I’m good… I’m on birth control. And I’ve never—”
“I haven’t either.”
“Really?”
“Really,” He said as he slipped his hands under the hem of my sweater and lifted it over my head. “Never felt right before.”
“Before what?” I asked as he pulled the button of my jeans free and tugged them off my legs.
Luca crawled over my scantily clad body. He leaned down, his beard grazing my cheek as he kissed a path of fire up my neck. “Before you.”
Instead of pinning my wrists above my head, he sat back on his haunches and took my hand in his and massaged my fingers and my wrist. I let out an involuntary moan. My hands hurt all the time from piping design after design on wedding cakes. Carpal tunnel is a real bitch. Luca laughed the first time, but had gotten used to my very unsexy routine of wearing wrist braces on both hands while I slept. His thumbs worked at the tension in my hands and arms, and when he was finished, he pressed a kiss into my palms and one on each wrist.
Helowered himself and bit down on the side of my pink lace panties before dragging them down my legs. Then he started with my ankles, kissing his way up to my knees. With a painful slowness, he separated my thighs and peppered the soft skin between my legs with feathery kisses.
I groaned in delight when he dipped his fingers into my pussy and nibbled at my swollen clit. The ache in my core was unbearable. Every muscle clenched around the emptiness inside. “Luca—” I choked out.
The head of his cock pressed against my entrance as he kissed his way up the flat of my abs and nuzzled his head between my breasts. “I think I’ve loved you since the day we met.” His coarse whisper sent shockwaves down my spine.
I tangled my fingers in his hair and pulled him up to my lips. I could still taste the bourbon from his nightcap on his tongue. It mingled with my minty breath as I wrapped my arms around his neck and hooked my leg around his waist.
Luca’s hands snaked around my back, and I felt my bra loosen. He laid me back down and pulled it off my body. He palmed each breast in his hands and kissed my nipples—first the left and then the right. “So damn beautiful, Mad.” His dick prodded at my pussy and I bucked my hips in impatience. He put a firm hand on my hip and kept me still against the mattress.
“Luca,” I begged again. “I need you.”
“Not yet.”
“Luc—”
He shut me up with two fingers plunging deep into my center. I gasped and arched my back, pressing closer and closer to him, fisting the sheets as he stroked my walls. My body trembled and my eyes threatened to roll back in my head. “Let go, Tesoro. Trust me—I’ve got you.”
“I—” The pressure that had built inside unfurled, and my body shook as the orgasm crashed over me. My head dropped back onto the pillow, and in the darkness, my eyes met his. “I love you, Luca.”
“Say it again,” he said as he dove down and gave me a hard kiss. “Say it.”
I snaked my arms around his neck and kept him close, whispering in his ear, “I love you.”
“Again.” His fingers were back inside my pussy, spreading my wetness around. I wrapped my hand around his shaft and pumped in quick succession. He grunted and dug his hand into the pillow behind my head, bracing as I worked him into a frenzy.
“I love you, Luca,” I confessed again, smiling ear-to-ear. “I love you so fucking much.”
Luca twisted his hips, leaning down and kissing me. “Are you ready for this?”
I was ready for everything. “Hell yeah.”
He eased his cock inside me at a snail’s pace—taking his time to savor the feeling of being bare and deeply connected. A tear escaped the corner of my eye, and I swiped it away as he thrust hard.
I will not be the girl who cried during sex.
Luca rested his forearms on either side of my head as he snapped his hips into mine. He pressed his lips to my temple where the tear had left a glistening path. “I’ve got you,” he promised.
It wasn’t long before we both crashed over the edge. Luca wrapped me up in his arms and held me snug against his chest. Something passed between us that was deeper than anything I’d ever experienced in my twenty-nine years. It connected us in every way possible. His heartbeat kept time with mine and our panted breathing slowed. He pressed his lips against my temple, and I closed my eyes.
35
———
LUCA
I held Maddie’s hand practically the entire way back to North Carolina. There was no way I was letting her go. Not for a second. When we left Beaufort to go to New York City, I knew things wouldn’t be the same when we came back. Before the trip, I felt that Maddie was barely mine. Now, she was all in.
I eased back in the driver’s seat and draped my arm over Maddie’s shoulders. “What’s going on in your head?”
She leaned back against my arm and smiled at me. Her smile was sunshine and fucking glitter. “Just happy.”
I gave her shoulder a little squeeze as I pulled into the parking lot at Harlowe Bay Assisted Living. “Alright, bigshot. Go brag. I’ll be here when you’re done.” Honestly, I wanted to go in and see her mom’s reaction when she told her about her win at the James Beard Awards, but I had pushed her enough over the last few days. That would have to happen on her terms. Maddie’s hand hovered over her seatbelt, and she looked at the building. “You alright? You said you wanted to stop by as soon as we got back in town.” Her lips parted and shut again. I reached over the center console and gave her thigh a gentle squeeze. “Mad?”
“You, um… You wanna come in?”
“Yeah, I can wait inside.”
She shook her head, “No, like… Come in and meet her…”
I raised my eyebrows, “You sure?”
Maddie nodded. “Yeah, I want you to meet her. It’s just… She has good days and bad days, and I never really know which one I’m gonna get—the mom who remembers everything about me or the mom who doesn’t even know where she is.”
“Hey,” I said as I twisted the key and cut the car off. “I’m all in, Maddie. I’m in this with you.”
The dimples in her cheeks creased as she smiled, “I know.”
Maddie led me into the lobby and made a pit stop to sign in at the front desk. Linda gave me a sly smile and a wink when Maddie wasn’t looking. Astrid had taken care of the headache of making sure Maddie’s mom’s care was covered financially until I could lock Maddie down for good—not that I ment
ioned the last part to Astrid. Still, you’d have to be stupid not to see that I was making moves for the future. Astrid wasn’t a dumbass. She was a professional and kept her opinions to herself—most of the time.
Maddie quietly knocked on the door before poking her head in. The room was clean and simple, but still comfortable. The curtains were drawn back, and natural light flooded in from the picture window. Her mom sat in a recliner with a ball of yarn on her lap. Her knitting needles worked away at whatever she was making. The Price Is Right was on the television, but it was muted. I looked over to the right and saw that the bed was neatly made, and a vase of fresh flowers sat on the nightstand.
“Maddie Lee,” her mom smiled. “Come, sit a spell. Tell me, sweetheart—have you been baking?”
Maddie sat down in the chair beside her mom’s recliner and nodded to the edge of the bed. I sat down on it, catty-cornered to the ladies. Maddie took the yarn out of her mom’s lap and began to untangle it. It seemed like the kind of thing they had done a million times before. There was comfort in routine. “I just got back from New York, so I didn’t have time to make you any cookies this time, but I’ll bring you a whole bunch next time.” She looked over at me and then back at her mom. “But I brought someone I wanted you to meet.” She reached over and laid her hand on my knee. “This is my boyfriend, Luca.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Dorsey.”
She gave me a look up and down and then turned to Maddie, “He’s quite a looker, that one!”
Maddie giggled, “I think so.”
Mrs. Dorsey gave me a slight nod and looked back down at her knitting. For a while, the two of them made small talk. Maddie told her mom about New York and winning Outstanding Pastry Chef at the James Beard Awards. They chatted about the weather, what had been on TV, and how big the winning marlin was at the Big Rock Tournament a few months ago.
After a while, Maddie’s mom stopped talking altogether. Maddie chirped on for a few more minutes, but I could feel the shift in the mood. Mrs. Dorsey kept looking between Maddie and me. She was quiet, but clearly agitated. Her thin lips pursed into a frown as she gathered her knitting and tucked it away into a basket.
“I don’t like it when you nurses think you can just come in all willy nilly and touch my belongings. Don’t like it one bit,” she said, glaring at Maddie as she grabbed the yarn out of Maddie’s hands. “Don’t like it one bit.”
“I’m sorry,” Maddie stammered, but kept her composure. “We’ll be out of your hair in just a minute.”
“You best be going,” she snapped.
Maddie stood up and grabbed her purse, the corner of her lip quivering. She leaned in and gave her mom a gentle, one-sided hug. “I love you, Momma.”
“I don’t know who you think you are—putting your hands on me. Get out of my room before I call the police.”
Maddie’s voice broke as she whispered goodbye.
I put my hand on her back and walked her out. The door shut behind us, and I wrapped my arms around her. She sobbed, and her body trembled against mine. I pressed a kiss into her hair and fought down the knot forming in my throat. There wasn’t a word or promise I could utter that would cure that kind of hurt, so I cradled her head against my chest and stood with her while she grieved.
Maddie eventually took a step back and wiped her red-rimmed eyes. “I’m sorry for getting all weepy,” she shrugged and forced a smile. “It’s not the first time that’s happened, but it still just…” Her voice caught. She cleared her throat and looked down at her feet, shaking her head.
I took her by the hand. “You’re not alone in this, Tesoro.”
She looked up at me, sadness lingering in her eyes. “I love you.”
“I love you,” I said, gently squeezing her hand. I couldn’t help but smile—I loved hearing her say that. “Ready to go?”
She moved closer and pecked my lips. “Yeah.”
We left Harlowe Bay and drove across the bridge to Beaufort. There was a hair tie and a pile of bobby pins in my cup holder. Maddie’s chef whites were neatly folded in the back seat, and a ticket stub from a movie we saw a few weeks ago was still on the dash. Slowly but surely, she was leaving her mark everywhere. I had grown comfortable with the rental car that Astrid had arranged for me, so instead of having one of mine brought to North Carolina, I simply bought it from the rental company. Roots felt good. Instead of turning left to go to Front Street and head to the restaurant, I turned right. Maddie’s eyebrows knitted together. “Where are you goin’?”
“Taking my girl out for lunch,” I grinned.
“I have to work, Luca.”
“Not today. I had Rae cover for you one more day.”
“Luca!” She shrieked. “You can’t fuck with my schedule like that!”
“I can, and I did,” I smirked as I pulled into the parking lot at Jokers. The lunch rush was in full swing, but the bar wasn’t overly crowded. I held the door open for Maddie and waved at Bridget.
Bridget squealed and ran out from behind the bar. “Oh my goodness gracious! I can’t believe it! You won a freaking James Beard Award! I’m so proud of you, babe!”
Maddie nearly toppled over when Bridget threw her arms around her. “Can’t… breathe…”
“Whoa—Maddie, you choking? Bridge, that’s not how you do the Heimlich,” Chase chuckled as he slid off his bar stool and walked over
Maddie shook her head. “I’m good. I’m good.”
Chase scooped her up in a bear hug and spun her around, “Way to kick ass, Mad Dog.” He put her back down on her feet and extended his hand to me. “Same to you, man. Congrats.”
“Thanks.”
Chase crossed his arms, “When you gonna hit the gym with me and Steve?”
Bridget’s eyes widened, and I heard her giggle to Maddie, “Oh my God—it’s a three-way bromance now!” Steve grunted something unintelligible from his spot at the bar, and Bridget assumed that it meant I need a refill.
Maddie put our orders in with Bridget, and we moved to a table with Chase and Steve. “I’m still mad at you for messing up my schedule.”
“I know,” I smirked. Little did she know, that wasn’t the only thing I had up my sleeve today.
“How was poker night?” She asked Steve and Chase.
Steve shrugged as he swallowed a bite of his burger. “Didn’t have it. Y’all were outta town. Bee had a date with Kingsley. Mel was on call at the hospital.”
Maddie frowned and stole a fry off Steve’s plate. “He always takes her out on poker night.”
I shrugged and draped my arm across the back of our side of the booth. “Probably just the night they both have off.”
“Fuckin’ hate that guy,” Chase muttered. Aha. I knew that look. Either Bridget had shot him down, or he’d never told her that he was into her. Bridget came by and dropped off our plates and topped off Steve and Chase’s waters. Chase gave her a half-smile and said, “Thanks, darlin’.”
When Bridget was out of earshot, Maddie leaned across the table and said, “You know she’s only with Kyle because he’s the one who asked her out, right?”
Steve hid his laugh in a cough. Apparently, Chase’s little crush was common knowledge. I held Maddie’s hand under the table while we wolfed down our lunches.
“Y’all been busy?” I asked as I took a sip of tea. Maddie laughed, and Steve and Chase looked at me like I’d grown a second head. “What?”
“You said y’all,” Chase laughed.
“So?”
“It’s unnatural. Like seein’ a pig in a dress.” Steve chimed in.
Maddie nodded in agreement and gave me a patronizing smile. “Nice try, sweetie.”
“What!” I laughed, “I’ve been around here too long—Y’all are rubbing off on me.”
Steve and Chase laughed, but Maddie got quiet. Steve and Chase got called out for police business, so I paid our tab and tipped Bridget. When Maddie got in the car and was still quiet, I knew I’d fucked up somehow.
“Whe
n are you leaving?” She asked as soon as I got behind the wheel. The girl didn’t hold any punches.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, I know that at some point you have to go back to doing your thing with DeRossi Hospitality, and that means you can’t be here. Even if you want to be.”
“I intend to be here as much as I can,” I offered.
“The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
Well shit. “I’m going to Texas at the end of the week.” Maddie nodded, but before she could get another word out, I added on, “But I’ll be back in a few days. Nothing too long.”
“This time.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
She sighed and leaned back in her seat, watching the fields fly by as we cruised down Highway 101. “It means that at some point you’re going to realize that being tied to fucking Beaufort isn’t what you want.”
“Where’s this coming from?”
“You said it yourself. You’ve been around here too long.”
“Maddie, I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Luca, let’s be real—As much as I want this to be forever, I know there’s an expiration date on us. I want someone who’s going to be here. Not L.A. and New York and everywhere in between.”
Yeah, so she was making good points and all, but that’s not the part that I heard. “You want this to be forever?”
Maddie stammered and stuttered. “Well… I mean… I just—” She paused and looked around as the car came to a stop. “Where are we?”
“Home.”
Maddie shook her head, “I don’t understand… We’re on the other side of the bay and this isn’t—”
I pointed to the big ass house that sat right on the water. “This is home, Tesoro. I bought it. It’s only a few miles from your place. Hell, you could probably swim from here across the bay to your houseboat. I didn’t want you to feel like I was taking you away from your friends or your mom.” I reached over and popped open the glove box, pulling out a key. “And in case you maybe wanted to move in, I had a key made.”
Her eyebrows raised. “You what?”
