“God, you’re mean,” I moaned softly, trying to hold off the explosion building between my legs.
“Me?” Alessio tried to sound calm, but his voice had a ragged edge to it, revealing his arousal. “I’m just enjoying dinner with my soon-to-be-wife”
The finger inside my over-heating pussy was joined by another, and then he started pumping hard and fast, not caring if any of the other diners saw what was happening.
“Are you enjoying our dinner together?” Alessio asked.
“Yes,” I gasped, losing the battle to stay still. “Yes-yes-yes.” I began hunching my hips up to meet his thrusting fingers. I grabbed the edge of the table and bit my lip, trying not to scream as the dam finally broke. I came. Hard. My orgasm washed through me like a tidal wave, enveloping me from head to toe. I groaned loudly as my muscles tightened, holding Alessio’s fingers inside me as I bathed them with a flood of my warm juices.
Slowly, the tension drained from my body, my muscles gradually relaxing. I collapsed against Alessio’s shoulder, gasping for breath. He removed his hand from between my legs. A second later, he moaned. “Mmmm. Delicious.” I didn’t have to look at him to know he wasn’t talking about the panna cotta.
I sat up, embarrassment creeping in now that the fire within me had been satisfied. “I… umm… need to freshen up.” I started to slide from the booth.
“Do not take long, my sweet. I seem to have worked up an appetite for something that’s not on the menu here.”
A blush warmed my cheeks, but something else grew warm, too. Damn it. How did he do that to me? I nodded. “I won’t be long.” He blew me a kiss and I couldn’t help but smile. How could a guy be so sweet and naughty at the same time?
Thankfully, nobody was in the restroom. My face was flushed and I smelled of sex, and I didn’t need any strange looks. I splashed cold water on my face, the cold water feeling even chillier against my warm skin. I grabbed a folded towel off the rack over the sink and dried my face. “I can’t believe I just did that,” I mumbled to myself.
“I can’t either,” a strange male voice said from behind me.
I squealed and spun around, gasping at the sight before me. “Lucca?”
The man smiled. “Hi, Sofia.”
I blinked, unable to believe my eyes. I had dated Lucca briefly in high school, but my parents had slammed the brakes on that as soon as they got a hint that it was getting serious, taking me out of school and doing my senior year through home-schooling. I hadn’t seen him since our junior year. His sandy brown hair was darker than I remembered it, shiny and greasy-looking, and his complexion was pale, like he spent little time in the sun. Either he looked a lot hotter four years ago or my tastes had drastically changed. “What are you doing here?” I asked, still unable to believe this was happening.
He blinked and looked around, nervous. He took a step towards me. Without any conscious thought, I stepped back, pressing against the sink. “I’ve been watching you,” he said. “I learned about the agreement your parents made. Your dad told mine when we were told to stop seeing each other. I’ve been watching you ever since, waiting.”
“I’m sorry, Lucca, about everything that happened. I didn’t know at the time.”
Lucca smiled again. I remembered how I used to like that smile. Now it just seemed creepy. Being with him in the ladies restroom didn’t make it less creepy. “I don’t blame you,” he said. “It’s not your fault.” He nodded his head towards the door. “Not even what happened out there. I know you had to.” His jaw tightened. “He’s a pig, treating you like that.”
“Oh.” I had no idea what to say, but the look in Lucca’s eyes worried me. If he tried to do anything to Alessio, it would turn out bad. “It’s okay, Lucca. It’s a weird arrangement that brought us together, but it works.” I smiled at him. “I’m happy.”
Lucca nodded and took another step towards me. My brain finally snapped to the fact that his hands were behind his back. “What’s behind your back, Lucca?”
He reached forward quickly and grabbed me, clamping his hand over my mouth and nose. I inhaled sharply, intending to scream, but a sharp, medicinal smell filled my nostrils, making me light-headed. “It’s okay,” Lucca said, as I slumped forward in his arms, the world swimming in and out of focus. “I’m here to rescue you.”
Lucca removed the cloth from my face. I tried to tell him I didn’t need to be rescued, but my tongue felt like lead. My whole body felt heavy. The out-of-focus world grew darker, one thought bouncing through my head over and over – thank god Alessio was good at finding me.
***
I opened my eyes slowly, my head pounding like someone was using it a drum. I reached to rub my forehead, wincing when something hard bit into my skin. I glanced up and gasped, shocked to see that I was handcuffed to the headboard of a bed. A bed that wasn’t mine. Recent memories flooded back in suddenly and a chill ran through me. I glanced at my other wrist, only to see the same sight. “Lucca?” I called out, hating the tremble in my voice.
I looked around, trying to figure out where I was. The bedroom was dimly lit, a small lamp on a table beside the bed the only source of light. No, not the only source. Outside the bedroom window, the sky held the first glowing rays of the morning sun. I strained to see outside, to get an idea of where I was, but the handcuffs restricted my movement too much.
Footsteps sounded outside the bedroom. The door opened and Lucca entered, a big smile on his face. “Good morning, Kitten.”
I frowned. I wasn’t thrilled with that little cutesy nickname back in high school. Hearing it now practically turned my stomach. “Where am I, Lucca?”
“Home.” His smile grew wider. “Our home.”
I shook my head. “My home is with Alessio. You know that. You said you knew about the agreement, about what would happen to my parents if it’s not honored.”
Lucca sat on the bed beside me, resting his hand on my leg. I scooted over to the other side as far as I could, but his hand remained on me. “It’s okay,” he said. “That’s why I waited so long.” He shook his head and chuckled. “I hated waiting, but I knew it was the only way.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Don’t you see, Sofia? If I had taken you away from all this before, that monster, Casimiro, would’ve thought your parents were tricking him.” He chuckled. “But now they’re safe. They honored the agreement. They’re free.” He gave my leg a light squeeze. “And so are you.”
I rattled the handcuffs against the headboard. “I don’t feel free.”
For the first time since entering the room, the creepy smile fell from his face. “Yeah, but you were talking crazy back at the restaurant, saying you were happy with that freak. I think he might have brainwashed you.”
I bit my tongue on the words that desperately wanted to spill out of my mouth. Freak? He had the nerve to call Alessio a freak? He was the one who kidnapped me. He was the one – judging from his looks and smell – who had forgotten how to bathe at some point during the recent years. I struggled to keep my voice calm. “I am not brainwashed, Lucca. I’m happy with Alessio.”
Lucca winced when I said the name, as if it caused him pain. “You can’t be.”
His eyes held a mixture of hope and fear, and I suddenly realized that talking about another man making me happy might be dangerous. Playing games with him wouldn’t be any safer, though. “Lucca,” I said softly, “what we had was very special… but it was a long time ago.”
He shook his head violently from side to side, reaching up and rubbing his temples. “No-no-no. What we have is special. Have. I still love you, Sofia.”
We had reached the point of no return. If I was honest, Lucca’s apparently-fragile grasp on control would probably slip away… but I couldn’t pretend. I couldn’t tell him I loved him. But maybe I wouldn’t have to. “And I still have feelings for you, Lucca.”
He looked at me, tilting his head to the side. His eyes narrowed. “Do you still love me?”
&nbs
p; I forced myself to laugh softly. “We were kids. What the heck did we know about love back then?”
A grin flashed across Lucca’s face, but it vanished quickly. “I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you.” He stood up suddenly, towering over me, his face devoid of any expression. “Do you love me, Sofia?”
Staring up at him, wrists straining uselessly against the handcuffs, I suddenly realized I could lie to Lucca. Maybe it was the look in his eyes or the tone of his voice, but I realized I wasn’t as safe as I thought I was. No. Despite all his talk about love and spending his life with me, there was something in him that wasn’t right; wasn’t sane. I was pretty sure that part would hurt me if it didn’t hear what it wanted to hear. “Yes, Lucca,” I said, my throat suddenly dry. “I still love you.”
“Liar!” Before I could react, he was on top of me, his hands wrapped around my throat. The handcuffs tore into my flesh as I tried to pull my arms down. “I watched you,” he screamed in my face, his fingers tightening. “I saw you in the yard.” He sobbed loudly, tears falling onto my face. I gasped for air, struggling to breathe. “I love you, Sofia… but you don’t deserve my love.” His fingers dug deeper and the world grew black around the edges of my vision.
“Hey!” a deep voice shouted, followed by a mini-explosion that made my ears ring. The hands around my throat disappeared, and then Alessio was by my side. He put his hand on the side of my face and turned my head towards him. “It’s going to be okay,” he said. I could barely him through the bells ringing inside my head, but I smiled up at him, tears running down my face. He stood up, looking me in the eye. “I’m going to see if he has the key to those handcuffs. You just look at the door. Understand?” I nodded.
He disappeared from my sight and I felt a surge of panic rush over me. “Alessio?”
“I’m right here, il mio dolce.” My sweet. “Just keep looking at the door.”
“How did you find me?”
He appeared in front of me again and smiled. “I can always find you.” He leaned down, gave me a quick kiss, and then began unlocking the handcuffs. “The restaurant has security cameras in the parking lot. It didn’t take much to convince them to let me take a look. I saw him carry you to the car, and I saw the license plate.” He shrugged, tossing the handcuffs on the floor as I massaged my aching wrists. “He didn’t even have enough sense to use a different house from the one listed on his driver’s license.”
“I think he’s crazy,” I said, sitting up on the bed. Curiosity finally got the better of me and I started to turn and look behind me.
Alessio put his hand on my cheek again. “Better that you don’t.”
I saw a pistol sitting on the table near the bed. It was as black as night, and big. I had never seen any guns anywhere in the house, and I had been all over the place… except for one particular room. The one that was always locked. The one I had explicitly been told to stay out of. I guessed I didn’t have to wonder what was behind that locked door anymore.
Alessio helped me stand up, my legs shaking. “He wasn’t really a bad person. Just messed up.” I don’t know why I felt the need to defend him. Maybe I was thinking of the guy he used to be instead of the guy he turned into.
“A person doesn’t have to be bad to do bad things.”
I nodded, chewing my lip. He looked at me, concern on his handsome face. “I did something bad,” I blurted out before he could ask what was wrong. I didn’t deserve his niceness, his concern.
“What?”
I swiped at the tears that were starting to fall. “I told him I loved him.” I looked down at the floor. “I thought he wouldn’t hurt me if I said it so I said I loved him.” I sobbed, my knees buckling beneath me.
Alessio caught me, pulling me to him, holding me tight. “It’s okay, il mio dolce. You did what you had to do to stay safe.” He put his finger under my chin and lifted my face up to his, looking into my eyes. “None of this is your fault.”
I nodded, hugging him tight. “I love you.” It wasn’t the most romantic setting, but I had waited long enough, almost too long. If things had gone differently, I probably wouldn’t be here to say those three little words, and Alessio would never know how I felt.
His smile was almost as bright as the morning sun. “I love you, too, my sweet Sofia. Let me take you home.”
***
“You look beautiful, Sofia.”
I fought to hold back the tears, determined to not ruin my make-up. My mom was right. The woman in the wedding dress looking back at me from the mirror looked poised and put together, completely in charge of everything around her. I had never felt so lost in my life. I fanned my face with my hand. “Is it stuffy in here?”
Mom laughed. “It’s just nerves, honey. Pre-wedding jitters.”
I nodded, forcing myself to breath slow and deep. There was really no reason to be nervous. At least not now. Both Alessio and I had been on pins and needles when our two families encountered each other after all this time.
We had told Casimiro in advance that I wouldn’t get married without my parents at the wedding. Thankfully, he understood. He wasn’t happy about it, but he understood. The initial encounter had been nerve-wracking, neither of us knowing what to expect. However, after awkwardly hugging my mother and shaking my father’s hand, Casimiro smoothly directed the conversation to the wedding, complimenting me whenever the opportunity presented itself. It was easy to see why he was so respected by the various mob families.
It had been a month since Alessio had rescued me. The investigation into Lucca’s death was still ongoing, but they had no reason to suspect our involvement. Somehow, the security tape from the restaurant had mysteriously been recorded over, and anyone who had seen Lucca there conveniently forgot.
I smiled at Mom as she handed me my bouquet. It was time to officially start my new life. Afterward, we would spend time with friends and family at the reception. And after that, Alessio had something special planned. La caccia luna di miele. The honeymoon hunt. He even said he’d give me a thirty-minute head-start as a wedding present. I was looking forward to it.
****
Other books by Jessi
Promised to the Mobster, Part 1
Mafia Stepbrother 1
Mafia Stepbrother 2
Mafia Stepbrother 3
About the author
Hi. I'm Jessi Talbot, writer of steamy romances filled with sexy women and hot men. I live in Texas where the summers are too hot and the winters are non-existent. I love all kinds of books and movies but romance is my true love when it comes to writing.
Keep in touch with me by visiting my blog, saying hi on Twitter, or send me an email at [email protected]. You can also subscribe to my mailing list to get updates on new releases.
WEBSITE: http://jessitalbotromance.blogspot.com/
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/JessiTalbot1
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/jessitalbotromance
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Any names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons – living or dead – is entirely coincidental.
This work is intended only for adults over the age of 18. All sexual relationships depicted are between adults who are not related by blood.
Promised to the Mobster 2 © August 2015, Jessi Talbot
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations used in articles or reviews.
Table of Contents
About This Story
Excerpt
Promised to the Mobster 2
Other books by Jessi
About the author
Copyright
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Promised to the Mobster 2: An Italian Mafia Romance Page 3
