by SUE FINEMAN
The water was still running in the tub when he walked into the bathroom in his shorts. Alex stood beside the tub, pouring something that smelled like roses in the stream of water. Bubbles billowed up and floated over the water. Alex pushed up the sleeve of her robe and reached into the water, then adjusted the temperature.
Charlie stepped out of his shorts. She caught his eye in the mirror, then her eyes scanned lower and widened. He was already long and thick and hard as stone, aroused and ready for sex with the only woman he’d ever loved. After unwrapping a condom and putting it on the bathroom sink, he stepped into the half-filled tub. Still standing, he reached for the belt on her robe. “Take it off, honey. Let me see you.”
She untied the belt and let it fall open, revealing full breasts and a tummy scarred with stretch marks. “I’m not as pretty as I was the last time we were together.”
He scanned her body as the robe fell to the floor. Alex wasn’t a mother the last time they were together. He traced a stretch mark on her tummy. “Is this from Taylor?”
“Yes. The last two weeks, every time she moved, I felt a tear.”
He kissed her tummy and smelled the musky scent of her sex. In that instant, he wanted to throw away the condoms and make another baby to love. If only he could be sure she loved him enough to stay with him.
Alex turned the water off and stepped into the tub. She sat in front of Charlie, between his legs, and leaned back into his solid chest. His erect penis poked her bottom, and his hands rubbed up her arms and around to her breasts. She felt his lips on her neck, and tingles ran through her body. The slightest touch left her longing for more than a kiss, and at that moment she felt like she was on sensory overload. The dampness at the bottom of her belly wasn’t all from the bath water.
She ran her hands down his hairy thighs, then twisted to kiss him. His hand played with her nipples, then he reached down through her nest of curls and his fingers slid inside her. She gasped.
“Honey, you’re so tight.”
“I haven’t been with a man since Taylor was born.”
He froze. “You’re kidding, right?”
“No. Aside from a few dinner dates with friends, I haven’t dated since we were together.”
“Why?”
“Because I had a daughter to take care of. And because I still loved you.” She hoped he believed her.
Charlie clutched her to him and kissed her so passionately she thought she’d melt right into the bubbles. She couldn’t imagine loving any other man as much as she loved this one.
His magic fingers brought her to a climax in the big tub, and she buried her face in his shoulder to hold in her screams.
As soon as he pulled his fingers out, he said, “I can’t wait much longer.”
She stood and the bubbles slid down her wet body. Stepping out of the tub, she watched his foot stretch out and his hairy toe flipped the lever on the drain. He stood, in all his naked glory, and stepped out beside her. Seconds later, still dripping wet, he rolled on the condom, sat on the side of the tub, and pulled her onto his lap. She slid slowly over his erection until it was buried deep inside her.
The drain gurgled as the water ran out, and Alex sat on Charlie’s lap, gazing into his stormy gray eyes. Finally, after all these years, she had this wonderful man back in her life.
“Wrap your legs around me, honey,” he whispered.
She did as he asked and he stood, lifting her and carrying her into his bedroom. Seconds later, she lay on her back on the bed as he pumped into her with all the passion she knew he’d been holding back. The bed swayed with the power of his strokes, and Alex wept with joy as he brought them both to a shattering climax. She’d been waiting for this night for so long, and it was worth every sleepless night and every tear she’d shed in the seven years since they’d last been together like this. She’d never felt more loved or more satisfied than she did in Charlie’s arms.
As he held her in the aftermath, Charlie nuzzled into her breasts. “We should take bubble baths more often.”
She smiled. “Yes, we should.”
While Charlie disposed of the condom, Alex pulled the damp bedspread off and draped it over the blanket rack to dry. They were both so hot, they couldn’t wait long enough to dry off. The next time they wouldn’t be in such a hurry.
She pulled her robe on and went to check on Taylor, who was sound asleep with two big dogs on her bed. When she returned to the room, Charlie had the armoire open and the television on. Disappointed, she reached for the remote. He pulled it out of her reach. “There’s a special on about your grandfather. I thought you might like to see it.”
She sat beside him on the bed. He was still naked. Even unaroused, his penis was enormous. The boys she’d been with in college weren’t as big, not that she was complaining. Charlie was a big man in every way that counted.
They leaned against the headboard and pulled the blankets over their laps, and a commercial came on. “I didn’t know my grandfather. He died before I was born.”
“Dad said he ran the city for a lot of years, the most corrupt period in the city’s history.”
“And your father’s perfect?”
“Nobody’s perfect, honey. Not even me.”
She gave him a soft smile. “Tonight you came close.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Only close?”
She jabbed her elbow in his ribs. “Except for that little ego problem.”
He grinned. “Who, me?”
They scooted down under the covers and snuggled while the special news program began with the story of the Porcini family. Alex watched in fascination as the reporter gave a history of her family she’d never heard. Her great-grandparents were immigrants from Italy who lived in New York for several years. Then they moved their seven nearly-grown children to Ohio, where they opened a grocery store. Tony was the second son. The oldest was killed by the mob in New York. “I didn’t know that,” she said mostly to herself. Maybe that was the reason they moved out of New York, so they didn’t lose any more sons.
“While his brothers and sisters worked in the family business, Tony Porcini went to work for the city as a police officer. Other officers lived in modest homes, but Tony married and bought himself a nice house in the ritzy part of town.” The reporter explained how he could afford to live so well. “Prostitution, gambling, and pay-offs from small business owners made for a prosperous life. He helped his family expand their small grocery business into several stores throughout the city. Uncle Tony, as he came to be known, married Maria Cordelli. By the time he ran for mayor, he and his wife had seven children, three boys and four girls. The youngest son died of meningitis at the age of three.”
The pictures showed a handsome man with an air of authority about him, a man who looked a lot like Papa had when Alex was a little girl. Tony was the head of the Porcini family then just as Papa was the head of the family now.
“When Tony Porcini was elected to his first term as mayor, he appointed relatives to positions of importance in the city. The chief of police, a lead detective, judges… In all nine positions of importance in city government were held by Porcini cousins, nephews, and other relatives.”
Alex listened, astonished at the evidence this reporter was piling on the person Papa had always respected. His father. “I hope Papa isn’t watching this.”
Charlie rubbed her shoulder. “He knows, honey. He may have pushed some of it into the back corner of his mind, but he knows what kind of man his father was. Uncle Tony was one of the reasons Pop quit the police force. He’d not only lost his partner and best friend, he couldn’t stand all the corruption in the police department. Dad didn’t like it either, but he fought back.”
Another commercial came on, and Alex asked, “How did he fight back?”
“He and his men collected evidence against Constantine Cordelli and took it to a judge. Cordelli had been trying to blackmail my mother into having sex with him, and she wouldn’t do it. The judge held a press conference
and played a video Trevor had taken of Cordelli threatening her. Then one night Cordelli kidnapped my mother and took her to the brothel. She was still groggy from being drugged when Cordelli gave her to Vinnie. Unless Vinnie was living on Mars, he had to know what Cordelli was doing.”
“He said his cousin told him she was going into the business, and he believed his cousin.”
“Yeah, I know. Maybe he did believe him.”
“Why are they showing this now?”
“Because your father wants to honor his father with a park, and there are people in the city who don’t want the Porcini name on anything.”
She stroked his chest. “What about you?”
He shrugged. “I don’t care what it’s called, and the kids need a place to play baseball. I think it was a nice thing for Vinnie to do.”
“So do I.”
The show came back on, and the reporter talked about Vinnie’s gift. “That land he’s donating was part of a parcel of several blocks of land bought by Tony Porcini in 1962 for twenty thousand dollars. Two months later, the school district bought some of that acreage from Mayor Porcini for fifty thousand. In the following years, the city expanded in that direction, something developers had discussed with the mayor in confidence. They not only paid him money under the table, they sold him that land for next to nothing. And that’s not the only piece of land Tony Porcini bought during his tenure as mayor.”
By the time the next commercial came on, Alex was in tears, not for herself, but for Papa. His heart couldn’t take this. “Papa did something nice for the kids of the city and that reporter made my whole family seem like crooks.”
“Honey, your grandfather was a crook. He got rich by using inside information, by running a brothel, and by taking bribes. Maybe he learned these things from the mob that killed his brother in New York. I don’t know. I wasn’t around then and neither were you. All I know is that my father is an honest man who lives off the salary he earns as mayor. I can’t see him running a brothel or using confidential information to get rich, can you?”
“No.” She couldn’t see Donovan Kane doing any of the things this reporter had claimed her grandfather had done.
Taylor called, “Mommy.” She sounded upset.
Alex pulled on her robe and rushed down to Taylor’s room. “What’s wrong, honey?”
“Papa got sick. He’s on the floor.”
“Does Aunt Gina know?”
“No.”
Alex immediately called the house. “Aunt Gina. Check on Papa. I think you need to call 911.”
“How do you know?”
“I just do. Please, go check on him now.”
Alex dressed quickly. “Charlie, you stay with Taylor while I go see about Papa.”
Taylor cried. “I want to come, too,” she whined, and no one argued. Charlie put a robe on the kid and strapped her in the backseat of his car.
Minutes later, Charlie drove up to the mansion. The gates were open and the fire department rescue truck was there, lights flashing. An ambulance was parked by the front door. Alex jumped out of the car before Charlie set the brake. She heard Aunt Gina’s booming voice coming through the open door. “Careful with him. He’s the only brother I have left.”
Alex hugged her aunt. “Thank you.”
“How did you know?”
“Taylor had a vision. He must have seen the special on television.”
“What special?”
“The one about my grandfather and his tenure as mayor of River Valley.”
“I didn’t know it was on, Alexandra. Mario called Vinnie at dinnertime, but they didn’t talk long.”
Mario didn’t have to talk long. All he had to do was tell Papa to watch the show. Damn him! He knew what that kind of publicity would do to Papa’s weak heart.
Was Mario trying to kill Papa?
<>
Two hours later, Alex paced in the waiting room at the hospital. Charlie had taken Taylor to his parents’ house and come back to wait with Alex. He didn’t want to leave her here alone.
Finally, the doctor came out. “Porcini,” he called, and Alex rushed over. Charlie tagged along, anxious to hear what the doctor had to say.
“Your father had a heart attack tonight. I’m sending him up to Cardiac Intensive Care, and he’ll be closely monitored there.”
“How bad was it?” Alex asked.
“I don’t consider any heart attack mild, but this one wasn’t too bad, considering his age and the condition of his heart. He’s still alive and he’s stable.”
“Can I see him?” she asked.
“He’s being moved upstairs right now. We have him heavily sedated, so he won’t know you’re there. I suggest you go home and get some sleep. Come back in the morning. We should be able to tell you more then.”
Reporters hovered outside the waiting room, and a nurse chased them away from the door. Charlie leaned down to talk quietly in Alex’s ear. “I’ll bring the car around to the main entrance. We’ll come back in the morning.”
She nodded. Alex felt like screaming at Mario, who’d just come into the waiting room, but this wasn’t the place. Worried parents sat waiting with their sick kids, a crying teenage girl had blood on her shirt, and injured people sat waiting to see a doctor. They didn’t need to see a Porcini family drama play out here in the hospital emergency room. And Alex didn’t want to see any more Porcini family news on television. She couldn’t handle any more tonight.
“Doctor, if he wakes up tonight, tell him his daughter will be back in the morning.” Alex shook his hand and thanked him, then headed down the hallway toward the front of the building. Charlie would pick her up there.
What would she do without him?
<>
Donovan peeked in on Taylor, who was sleeping peacefully in Ginny’s room. Hannah stood beside him. “The kids missed the last part of the show.”
“I recorded it.” In the second half of the show, the documentary drifted from Tony Porcini to his children, Vinnie in particular. The reporter described the scene at the courthouse when Vinnie was convicted of helping Cordelli kidnap Hannah.
In the next segment, they showed a picture of Alex as she looked before the attack and another picture of her in the hospital right after her attack. The last picture was of her standing by her father’s side at the press conference.
The reporter played a video of Alex in Mexico on spring break from Ohio State University, where she was an honor student. In the video, she was drunk and dancing in a bar with a bunch of other college students. Someone pulled her bikini top off and she kept right on dancing. The station blocked the view of her breasts, but the image wouldn’t leave Donovan’s head. Charlie was an ornery kid and had done some foolish things, especially when he was a teenager, but this topped anything he’d ever done.
At the end of the video, the reporter posed a question: “Was Alexandra Porcini really attacked by a business associate as she claimed, or did consensual sex get a little rough?”
The police had done a thorough investigation and the suspect had not only been apprehended, he’d confessed. Alex’s brother had sent him to the Whippoorwill Inn that night. As much as he disliked the Porcini family, Donovan was disgusted by the biased reporting.
Tony Porcini did a lot of things wrong, but he also did some good things for the city, yet none of those things were mentioned. As a politician, Donovan was accustomed to biased reporting, but this reporter had taken Vinnie’s generous gift and slapped him in the face with it.
And they’d made it sound like the victim of a violent crime deserved to be attacked.
Chapter Fifteen
Charlie picked up Alex in front of the hospital and drove her back to the farm. “I told Taylor she was spending the night with Grandpa and Grandma, but I forgot to take her clothes for tomorrow. I forgot her teddy bear, too. I promised her she’d have him in the morning.”
Alex sat quietly in the car, and he knew she was worrying about Vinnie. The blustery old man probab
ly wouldn’t live much longer. What would happen when he died? Alex said he’d been working with his attorney, getting his affairs in order. She could inherit a bundle. Where did that leave him? Why would a rich woman want to live with him in his little brick bungalow when she could afford to live in luxury? She’d grown up in a mansion with full-time servants who cooked and cleaned for her. He couldn’t offer her that kind of life. Some years he barely made enough money to pay the bills.
“I told Aunt Gina I’d pick her up in the morning and take her to the hospital,” said Alex. “She stopped driving a few years ago, after she was in a bad car accident. Uncle Nate died in the accident.”
“She seems like a capable woman.”
“She is. She just doesn’t drive.”
He pulled into the driveway at the farm. They’d left the lights on, and the house looked warm and inviting. Andy had done a good job designing his home, and he’d done a good design for Charlie’s remodel.
Sometimes Charlie wished he was more like his brother. Andy had set a goal when he was still in high school, and he’d accomplished that goal. He was a damn good architect. Instead of setting career goals for himself, Charlie drifted. He dropped out of college, joined the Marines, and worked in a bunch of different jobs when he returned from Iraq. He had his college degree now, but no career. If he had a solid career like Andy, he’d have something to offer Alex. His income from farming fluctuated, but in his best year, he hadn’t made half as much as Andy.
He turned off the engine and glanced at Alex. They might not have a future together, but she needed him now. And he needed her. “Come inside, honey. The hospital has your cell phone number. They’ll call if there’s any change in your father’s condition.”
They walked inside and upstairs together. Minutes later, they lay in Charlie’s bed, snuggled together under the blankets. Charlie wanted to make love again, but Alex was too worried to do more than kiss him goodnight.
