“You make bread?”
“Sure do.”
“You’re the perfect man, you know that?”
“As long as you think so.” He winked at me.
We tucked in, eating the truly amazing food and enjoying each other’s company.
Time was non-existent to us, and the only thing that mattered was us. Us right here and now.
I didn’t even know how it happened, but I ended up talking about dancing. But here I was doing it.
“Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake is a magical ballet that tells the story of the doomed love of Prince Siegfried and Princess Odette.”
“Really? Just looked like a bunch of swans to me. Or rather people trying their best to look and move like swans, for the most part.” Luc grinned resting back on his elbows.
I’d been sitting before him on my knees talking non-stop.
“Luc, that’s what you thought?” Incredulous and ridiculous, but I guess to a guy who didn’t exactly go to ballets, that would be what he’d think.
“Yes, so you’re saying ballets are stories, not just a dance?”
I couldn’t believe he didn’t know that. I gasped at the remark with my hand clutched to my chest. There was so much to tell. How would I begin to describe all the innovation behind creating a ballet?
“Oh, Luc, they’re all stories of all sorts. Love, hate, loss, death. Forbidden love, betrayal. Swan lake is my favorite.”
He looked intrigued, and the minute I said that, he sat up, looking on with fervent keenness to hear more.
“I gotta hear now why it’s your favorite, doll.”
I pulled in an excited breath. It wasn’t difficult for me to recapture what I loved about Swan Lake. After all, at one time I was the Swan Princess. Princess Odette.
Me.
“Swan lake is an epic love story that mixes magic, tragedy and romance to create a masterpiece.” That was it in a nutshell, but to call it a masterpiece didn’t seem like it was quite enough. It was one of the ballets that had been around forever but still held that magic that made it a legendary classic. “It’s about Prince Siegfried and the swan princess, Odette, who’d been turned into a swan along with her companions by the evil sorcerer Baron von Rothbart. Prince Siegfried met Odette one night while out hunting. He started chasing some of swans then one of them transformed into her. She told him about the spell and that it could only be broken if someone who had never loved before swore an oath of undying love to her, and promised to marry her. They fell in love very quickly so it was easy for Prince Siegfried to declare his love to Odette and promise to be loyal forever. However, on the night of the grand reception he was fooled by the sorcerer who sent his daughter Odile to trick him into thinking she was Odette. The prince asked for her hand in marriage.” I stood up remembering the moment in the piece where that happened.
Madame Bouglaise spent hours with me working on this part. She wanted to make sure I showed the right emotion.
People showed emotion in their face and body language. Sure, you could do that on stage. I could do my best to look as sad as possible, but that part would just be for me.
Emotion in dancing was expressed through movement. Different steps, different actions. They told the story in tandem with the music.
“Does she ever find out? Odette,” Luc asked.
“She watched the whole thing. She was there too. She watched her beloved prince, whom her heart belonged to, and this person pretending to be her.” I moved around as I explained, the soft grass tickling my bare feet. I turned, and as my mind conjured up the music, I swayed with the gentle breeze.
Luc watched me with fascination.
I smiled down at him and continued the story. “Siegfried realized his mistake when it was too late.” I said breathlessly bringing my hand to my heart. “He watched Odette flee the palace and followed her to the lake to beg her forgiveness. She forgives him, but Baron von Rothbart pursued him insisting that he stuck to his word and marry Odile. They fight and Siegfried tells von Rothbart that he’d rather choose death with Odette than marry Odile. So he takes Odette’s hand and they jump into the lake. To their deaths.” That part always got me. It seemed to get Luc too, because he was watching me completely intrigued. “That broke the spell for the other swans who then drove Von Rothbart and Odile into the lake too. On doing that they watched the spirits of Siegfried and Odette ascend into the heavens.”
I’d looked up to the clear blue sky above us then back to Luc who was looking at my feet.
I looked down to see what had fascinated him, and my jaw dropped.
I was standing on my toes. I didn’t even know…
How? It had been well past eleven years since I did that, and as I lowered myself, my feet instinctively stepped out of it as if I were actually doing the dance.
Luc stood up and came closer to me, taking hold of my waist.
“You were dancing,” he stated.
My eyes widened. “What? I was just…”
“Dancing, goddess. You were dancing.”
I shook my head. “I didn’t know.”
“Yeah, I could tell.”
I gazed at him. “I remember that piece even in my dreams. It was a part of me. That was one of the pieces I auditioned with to get into Julliard. I got in, Luc. I got in, and I never went. Do you know how hard it is to get into that school? And only the very best go there.”
I couldn’t help it. I’d been waiting years to say that.
His eyes grew heavy with a sadness that spoke to me. He took my hand, brought it up to his lips, and kissed it.
“Amelia… why didn’t you just go there instead of LA? It breaks my heart that you never got to live your dreams.”
I pressed my lips together to force away the memories from that time. Of the reasons why I couldn’t dance anymore.
“I just couldn’t go after… Mom. I couldn’t dance after I lost her. The pain was too much. Then, when I found out Dad had a part to play in her death, it made it worse. That part of me that loved to dance died.”
“It’s not dead though. My sweet Amelia… you must dance again.”
“It’s too late. I’m too old to accomplish the dreams I wanted. I wanted to dance with a company and teach. I was going to teach at Julliard and then set up my own school. I wanted to discover new dancers and give them all the love and chances I got.”
Now he pressed my hand to his cheek and smiled. “Goddess, there’s still a heck of a lot of that dream that you can still do. Time is just time. Nothing more. If you can catch up, you can do whatever you want. Don’t waste the rest of your life doing something that isn’t you.”
He was sweet to think that. Sweet to accommodate my world and my dreams in his mind.
I couldn’t express how much I appreciated it. Appreciated him.
“I wouldn’t know where to start, Luc, and I don’t know if I could dance again.”
“You just did it without thinking.” His amazing smile widened.
The excitement I saw in him reached out to me. The vibrancy of it was like a living force that rippled through me, but the pain… the pain was still there.
Pain I still hadn’t addressed.
“I can’t do it without her.” I shook my head as a tear ran down my cheek.
“Without whom, doll?”
“My mother.” Another tear trickled down my cheek. “She was like the fuel to my soul, and I lost her. I’d see her and feel emotions I never thought possible. They’d all transpired into my dancing. That was why I was so good. She inspired me to be the best. And my dad, he took me to my first class. Both my parents had such a great influence in my life, and then it just fell apart.”
“Hey.” He cupped my face. “They influenced you to find your thing in life that you’re good at. The rest was you. My dad always said that I should always remember that my talents, whatever they are, are part of me. I do what I do. Others inspire you, and not having them around doesn’t mean you should stop. I can’t even begin to compare myself to you
, but I know that you have to try to recapture some of what you lost.”
Words spoken directly to my heart. Maybe just like Odette, I’d met someone who could love me the way I loved him.
“Will you help me?”
“Oh yeah, doll, I give you my word I will.”
“Thank you.” I offered a weak smile. “Luc… my mother’s death and finding out that my father was involved in the mafia, those were the reasons why I left here. In a nutshell, that’s what happened to me.” He’d asked the other day. It was perhaps clear now after Dad had explained, but I owed him an answer.
“Yeah, I figured that was why.”
“I saw an ugly side of my dad I never imagined existed.” I still kept the promise to never say anything. Doing it instinctively made me omit talking about Agent Peterson.
“Did you see him kill someone?” Luc guessed just from looking at me.
I realized that Luc was perhaps the one person in this world whom I could confide in.
“I didn’t see him, but I knew he did. It was enough to make me flee from here. But he did it to protect me.”
“No more thinking about the past. I have a checkered past too that isn’t so hot. How about we move on together?”
I loved that. “Yes.”
He smiled.
“You know that vineyard in Italy?” he said after a few minutes of silence.
“Your vineyard?” I chuckled. We hadn’t talked about it in a long while.
“I still have that fantasy of you in the garden amongst the sea of gardenias.”
“The one with me naked?” I smiled.
“You’re not always naked. Sometimes you’re dancing. I have to see that for real. There’s a hall inside the villa that would make a beautiful stage.”
I thought I could figure out the one he meant. The villa was beautiful, everything imaginable that depicted period art from Renaissance Italy.
“That would be amazing. Still part of the dream though. I’m sure the historical society would never just allow us to build a stage in the villa.”
He laughed. “Nah, they wouldn’t. But the owner might.”
“Don’t they own it?”
I narrowed my gaze at him.
“No, not anymore.” He gave me a cunning look and dropped his hands to his side.
“Who owns the villa, Luc? You said the vineyard was nearby.”
“Forgive me. I didn’t mean to lie about that. The vineyard is the said vineyard around the villa, and the villa is mine.”
I sucked in a sharp breath. “You’re kidding?”
“No, I’m kind of not. I bought the villa last year.”
I didn’t know such a place could be bought.
“How did you manage that?”
“There was a guy who owed me a favor.”
“What kind of favor?” I hoped this wasn’t going to be a revelation of one of his rackets or a loan someone couldn’t pay.
“Relax, it’s a better version of what you’re thinking. I paid a debt the guy couldn’t afford, saved him from the Cipriani’s, who you don’t ever want to run into. He then hooked me up with a way to purchase the property. They were going to knock it down to build a hotel. I didn’t want that to happen. I was able to purchase the entire estate, villa and vineyard.”
I beamed up at him. “That’s beautiful.” I’d been there many times as a child.
“I want to take you there.” He’d talked about the place before, and I always felt excited at the prospect. “I want you to dance there for me.”
Heat crept up to my cheeks, and a blush flushed over my entire body.
“Okay, I’d love that.”
Again, he took my hand and kissed it, then pulled me close to his chest, where I rested my head.
We stayed like this for a while, with him holding me and stroking my hair.
In his arms was safety and escape. It was a dream I never wanted to wake up from.
We left just as it was about to get dark after having taken advantage of a nice walk around the gorgeous surroundings.
Leaving brought back to the forefront of my mind that we had a situation on our hands that had to be dealt with.
I didn’t want to do it. I wanted to be at the part where Luc and I could plan out what we wanted to do as a couple.
I wanted us to be the gardener and the dancer.
I stopped him as her verged onto the road that would lead back to my father’s house.
“What’s up, doll?”
“Not yet. I don’t want to go back yet.” I held his gaze. “Take me home, to your place.”
“Your dad’s going to have my ass for keeping you out too long,” he joked. I knew it wouldn’t faze him if my father said anything. Plus, Dad was at least ten years too late to get rattled about me getting home late.
“I’ll deal with him tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” Luc raised his brows and gave me a wicked grin as he did a U-turn, taking us on the route that would lead to his house.
“Tomorrow,” I agreed.
I needed to be with Luc tonight. To be his, in his bed, in his arms with him inside me, all over me. Mind, body, and soul.
Chapter 17
Luc
That maddening urge to have her always raged within me.
It never stopped, and no way was I about to pass up a chance to spend the night with the woman of my dreams.
Raphael would have my ass, but I didn’t care what the guy said. Amelia was mine.
Mine to have, hold, and protect.
I couldn’t believe that I’d pulled off today without showing her how terrified I was that something would happen to her.
That fucking Victor, and this whole fucked-up mess.
I didn’t want to carry this kind of fear around with me. I didn’t want to worry that the one thing in this world that I loved would get taken away from me.
God, I’d felt it when she told me the story behind Swan Lake.
I felt it, because I was the prince who had never loved before. I’d never loved before and found it when I met her.
But I wouldn’t allow our story to play out like Odette and Siegfried’s. We couldn’t die. She couldn’t die.
There was so much to her, so much beauty inside and out. So much for her to give.
I wanted her to be happy. To cry tears of joy instead of pain.
I wanted her to have it all, everything she’d ever dreamed of and wished for.
And no fucking way was I going to allow Victor to get her. Last night, I’d had to stop myself from going out into the street and finding that sick fuck. That sick fucking son of a bitch. His words still rang through my ears. Still burned my heart, still enraged me and made me feel like breathing fire.
I’d wanted today with Amelia because, in all honesty, I knew things were about to change. They would change, and I didn’t know if I could keep my promise to her.
What I’d told her days ago still rang true. I did what I had to, whether it was right or wrong. And I would protect her doing just that. It was my way of doing things.
I knew that when I found Victor, I had to kill him. I had to kill him to make sure he never had the chance to claim her for some sick prize.
When we got inside the house, I glimpsed Claudius in the living room watching TV. The sounds of motorcycles filled the room.
I took Amelia’s hand and led her upstairs to my room. Once inside, she walked over to the long French windows and pressed her hands to the glass. I allowed my gaze to travel down the full length of her body.
In that dress I could see all her admirable assets, including that ass that I was obsessed with.
Fuck, she was beautiful.
I walked up behind her and rested my hand on her firm ass, giving her a gentle squeeze.
She turned and smiled, and my eyes dropped to her breasts. Fully rounded and ripe, ready to be sucked.
I ran my hands up to those and squeezed them, loving the feel of the soft flesh in my hands.
She moaned
and smiled.
“Take your clothes off for me. Nice and slow.” I lifted the hem of her dress and rolled it up to see what panties she was wearing. My cock hardened even more when I saw the black lace thong. “Leave that on for me.”
She gave me a sexy, seductive smile.
I took a step back and leaned against the wall, so I could take in the view properly, of her.
She undid the little buttons on the side of the dress and pushed it slowly down her shoulders, pushing it past her breasts and down her waist, down the curves of her hips and her legs. Her breasts bobbled in the confines of her lace bra that matched the thong.
She then took her time to undo the clasp of her bra and peel out one breast at a time. Her beautiful nipples were already puckered before she exposed them.
The bra fell to the floor with the dress, and my eyes took in my beautiful goddess standing before me.
“You want me to keep these on?” She tugged at her thong, pulling it so I could get a good glimpse of her pelvis.
When I thought of her juicy, pretty pussy, I could have come right there.
“That’s mine, doll.” That body of hers was always the magic trick. Worked like a charm on me every time to make me forget everything.
Right now was the focus. I wanted her. Every last part of her beautiful body.
I wanted it all.
I moved to pick her up, and she wrapped her legs around my waist. I settled her down in the bed and shrugged out of my own clothes, leaving just my boxers.
I would start with her tits first. Get drunk on those, then make my way down to the jackpot. Her tits were the lure that fried my brains and turned anything else to mush. I lowered my head and closed my mouth over the tight little nipple of her left breast. It pebbled harder in my mouth.
I sucked harder when she started to moan.
“You like that, doll?”
“Yes.” She winced.
I moved to the other breast and started sucking, getting lost in her sounds of ecstatic bliss.
I continued to suck but parted her legs, so that I could push my fingers inside her core.
Fuck, she was soaked.
Time to drink.
I moved down to her thighs and parted her properly, pushing the panties aside. I liked how they looked, so I wanted her to keep them on.
Mafia Scars (The Accidental Mafia Queen Book 2) Page 15
