by Sienna Mynx
“Tell me your name again?” Carlo asked.
“Shannon Dennis, but my friends call me Shae.”
He let her arm go and then her chin. “Sono Carlo. Maybe I can teach you Italian or Sicilian. Whichever you prefer.”
“Really?” She took a step toward him. “Tonight?”
“No, cara. Not tonight. You go back to bed before you’re missed. My boss wouldn’t like you out here, alone, with me.”
“Oh yeah? Why is that?” Shae asked. “Something wrong with me?”
“I thought you said Marietta told you about me?” Carlo asked.
“She told me to stay away from you. What’s so dangerous about us being friends?”
He leaned in and looked her in the eye. “I’ll show you. Soon.”
Shae smiled.
“It’s that way.” He glanced behind her.
“What’s that way?” She said and stepped closer. If he kissed her she wouldn’t mind. He had sensual lips. The kind of lips a girl loved for a man to brush over her body.
“The way back,” he answered.
“You’re going to let me walk to the villa alone?” she asked.
“You’re safe. My men are around.” He glanced to the woods.
Shae began to get the meaning. They had an audience. This is why he was turning her away. After all, what did she expect for him to do? Fuck her up against a tree? The rejection still burned at her pride. She didn’t want the night to end.
“Why did you ask me those questions about Mae? I am her friend you know. I don’t want to cause her any trouble.”
He wiped his hand down the side of his face. “No worry. I have… I won’t cause her any trouble. Forget I asked.”
“Are you staying here? Inside?” she asked.
“No,” he smiled.
“So you walk around the house all night? Playing in the dark. Why?”
“It’s my turn,” he replied. “To play in the dark.”
“When do you sleep?” she teased.
“At sunrise,” he answered.
“Will I see you again tomorrow?”
“If you answer a question for me,” he teased.
“Ask it.”
“Strawberry? The color in your hair. Is it everywhere?” he asked. His gaze lowered to the delta between her thighs. Shae laughed. She was right about him. She knew it. Beneath the pretense of politeness lurked a beast.
“You’ll have to earn the privilege to see.” She put a hand to his chest. “Teach me how to answer you in Italian when the time is right, and I will show you.”
He chuckled. Shae smiled. She shrugged off his blazer and passed it to him. Carlo accepted it with a gentlemen’s bow. Sexy! Shae turned and hurried off down the path and back to the villa. It was much closer than she thought. He hadn’t taken her too far into the forest. And as he said, she saw three men before reaching the door. Each one stopped to stare at her. Inside she closed the door and crept back to her bed. Her panties were soaked. She had to go to bed without any on. Thank God she packed her vibrator. Italy had so much promise. She couldn’t wait for what tomorrow brought.
Marietta heard the door next to hers close. Shae must have gotten up and went to the bathroom or for a drink of water. She was already up watching her man sleep. What he said at Fabiana’s, and the way he reacted to seeing his old love cut her so deep, all her insecurities surfaced at once. Before they drove off she apologized. Kissed him. Made up with him. Lorenzo slept with his arm thrown over her waist. She turned to her side and propped her face in her hand with her elbow pressed down in her pillow.
A swath of wavy hair was damp against his forehead. Like most of the Battaglia men, Lorenzo had dark curly hair tapered short around the temples and nape. She loved the texture most of all. The locks felt as soft as feathers. She rubbed the hairs between her finger and thumb, and two years of memories surfaced. Oh how they fought and loved one another. He wanted a child, progeny. Each time he demanded a son he made it sound like a trophy instead of a human being. That is how arrogant Octavio Leone used to be with her adoptive mother when he was drunk. He’d rage about how much better life would be if he had a son, not some bastard half-black daughter.
Marietta felt a pang of guilt. Her troubled husband was nothing like Octavio. She hated herself for even making the comparison. She had to wonder what kind of father Lorenzo would be? She was not as selfless as her sister. The competition was constant between Lorenzo and Dominic to be Giovanni’s favorite. What about the motherly instinct? The thought of a baby sucking her nipple freaked her out. She could barely change the diapers on either of the twins without gagging. And then came her deepest fears. What if Lorenzo’s secret was revealed? What then? What if some assassin in their very own family was ordered to put a bullet in her husband’s skull? It was possible. Or worse, there was an even more important question to consider. What if she just plain sucked at being a mother, and fucked up a kid as badly as her adoptive mother fucked her up?
She played the questions over and over in her head. There were no guarantees in life. No matter how many excuses she came up with, or justifications, it was hard to live with her decision to not try to become pregnant. He was her world. And if he wanted her to create a family for them both, she damn well had to try.
Marietta blinked away her tears. She leaned in and kissed Lorenzo on the brow. “Ti amo da morire,” she whispered she’d give her life for their love.
He snored.
She kissed his brow again and again. She loved him with all her heart. Turning over she eased from under his arm. She left the bed. When she reached her dresser she glanced back at him. He didn’t stir. With quiet care she went to her purse and dug out her secret. She found her birth control pillbox. She crept into the bathroom and closed the door. Marietta stood at the toilet. She had never missed a day of taking the pill in close to ten years. Would that cause her problems with conceiving? She hadn’t considered the risk to her reproductive health before. What if all this time she didn’t want to get pregnant, only to now discover she couldn’t? Her mind struggled with that irony. Could Lorenzo love a wife who was barren?
She pushed out the first pill from the foil, and then the next. Each one dropped in the toilet. In a few minutes she had emptied them all.
Marietta flushed. She watched the pills circle the drain. “Okay, Lorenzo, you win. I’m all in. We gonna do this. We’re going to have a baby.” Before she left the bathroom she caught a glimpse of herself in the large mirror. Her belly piercing gleamed in the darkness. Her stomach was flat. It would grow and stretch like Mirabella’s. She already knew what she had to look forward to. Marietta smiled and tried to poke out her belly. Mirabella said she was super horny when pregnant. Marietta had no doubt she would be too.
Before she left she tossed the pill compact into the trash. And then she considered her error. She fished it out. She didn’t need him finding it. And if the trash was emptied and the staff found it they would certainly tell her husband. These damn men had eyes and ears everywhere. Marietta went under the sink where she put his toiletry bag and hers. She put the pill compact inside her bag and vowed to dump it when she got a chance.
She walked out of the bathroom and paused. Lorenzo was on his back. His hands were behind his head. He grinned at her. “You woke me up,” he smiled.
“Go back to sleep. I have an early morning.”
He drew down the sheet and his erection bounced up. “Sit on it,” he said.
“Lo? Seriously, let’s play tomorrow. It’s been a long night.”
“Sit on it, Marie!” Lorenzo held his cock by the root and shook the stalk at her. Marietta chuckled. She crawled over the bed and stopped to run her tongue over the head of his dick. He drew in a breath deeply when her mouth sank and she swallowed several inches. Lorenzo’s dick was so hard she didn’t need to hold it. Instead she gripped his thighs and dug in her nails for balance. Her jaws caved and she dragged her mouth up, making sure to lay her tongue flat for the glide. She loved it. The
re was nothing like a little dick sucking to get her man ready for some real fun.
“Mannaggia! Non fermati! Dammelo!” he wheezed deeply and demanded she not stop. Lorenzo snatched the scarf off her head and gripped her by the hair. The tug to her hair stung her scalp, and his frantic pushing down and pulling up to instruct her head bob almost made her gag on his girth. She dug her sharp nails deeper into his thighs to punish him, and he behaved. He groaned, arched his back twice, and she knew his strength weakened.
Marietta released him with a final lick. She eased up on her knees and he positioned the head of his dick at her opening. As usual her body was getting way ahead of her discipline. She wanted to ride him wild and free. But her man needed the slow tease, and she wanted to be sure to satisfy all of his needs. On the drive home he finger fucked her while he steered the car along dark roads at a dangerous speed. Marietta could still remember bracing one stiletto heel against the car dash and dropping her seat back for the pleasure. How he played with her pussy and drove two fingers into her until she was climaxing all over her designer original was beyond delicious.
Oh yes she’d give him a ride to knock his head back and put his mean ass to sleep. And hopefully she could squeeze another hour or two of rest in before it was time for her to rise.
With her hands flat to his abdomen she made her descent. Lorenzo’s hands were hard, unyielding vices on her hips. He guided her progress as she repeatedly glided up and down, until the swollen hurt in her pussy from when he fucked her earlier while having her pinned to the headboard eased. There was nothing left to feel other than his body heat and strength.
Lorenzo’s head lifted and he stared down the line of his body to where her pussy greeted his cock. He watched. He liked to watch. He loved a midnight ride on his dick. The in and out action turned them both on. She made sure to lift on her knees to rise high enough to give him a show.
“Ti sei eccitato? You like that huh, baby?” she teased him. She bounced harder and faster with increased frenzy to take him to the vanishing point.
“Sí, bambina, sí!” Her husband dropped his head back into the pillows and his Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat. He grunted loudly.
“Yea, you’re mine, all mine,” Marietta said. And for the first time she actually believed they could possibly have created a life. She fell over on him and kissed his sweaty chest and neck. His body spasmed through his release and she held on to his face, sweeping his tongue up into a kiss and dragging the last of his breath from his lungs. She let him go when he went still, breathless.
“You okay, baby?” she asked stroking his jaw.
“Fuck, Marie. You trying to kill me?” he chuckled. “My dick is broke.”
She laughed. He hugged her to him and laughed with her.
“Let’s go to the doctor, Lo, get me checked out. It’s time I make sure we start our family.”
Lorenzo grabbed her face and lifted it in his hands. He stared at her with the biggest grin on his face. She didn’t need to reaffirm her words. Instead she kissed him. A renewed promise for the man she’d give her world to.
Pre-Show
“Can I talk to you?” Mirabella said to her sister.
Marietta glanced up from her work and looked around her team. She had everyone gathered in her office going over last minute changes made by the engineer in charge of the lighting for the event. They’d just finished the music selections. Mirabella had observed it all from the door before stepping in to summon her.
“Continue working, everyone. I’ll be right back.” Marietta said. Mirabella glanced to the friend Marietta brought into the family from Chicago. Shae seemed to be taken with Jamie. They were on the sofa eating candied almonds from a crystal dish, and flipping through one of Jamie’s portfolio books. Kyra was probably in the shoe warehouse obsessing over her designs.
“Something wrong?” Marietta asked.
Mirabella nodded to the open huddle room, a smaller office fit for a more intimate conversation. She closed the door behind Marietta. Her sister sat down with a look of concern. “What is it? What?”
“We’ve been so busy since this morning, I haven’t had a chance to talk to you,” Mirabella smiled. “You’re doing a great job. You and Catalina are made for this business.”
“Oh?” Marietta put her hand to her chest. “Girl, I thought something had happened.”
“Relax. I, ah, just wanted to talk.” Mirabella glanced to the window. Every office was made of clear glass walls. One could look from their meeting room into the next. She saw Shae up on her feet. She danced and pranced around in some platforms Jamie must have located for her.
“Okay, what is it? You’re acting funny,” Marietta said.
“Your friend,” Mirabella began.
“Shae?”
“Yes. I like her. I really do,” Mirabella said.
“But?” Marietta narrowed her eyes.
“You need to talk to her,” Mirabella said.
“About what?” Marietta asked.
“Last night, she was outside with Carlo. Zia saw her. It might be totally innocent. But you know my husband and his rules. Look at poor Renaldo and what became of him because of his affair with Kyra. I promised Gio that there would be no more trouble with his men and the women who work for me.”
“Carlo? You sure?” Marietta asked.
“It’s what Zia saw. I can’t be sure. Talk to her, okay? Remind her of the only house rule.”
“Right. No fucking the help. I got it,” Marietta said.
Mirabella smiled. “I’m nervous.” She checked her watch. “Gio and the kids should be here in a hour. Margot Duval is doing the interview from Vogue. She wants it recorded for their cable television show.”
“Don’t be nervous. We went over all the acceptable questions. You’ll do fine.”
Mirabella scratched her brow. She expected a few pictures taken of her family and a print article. She had not prepared Giovanni for a film crew.
“Is everything okay with you and King B? He isn’t fighting you on this?”
“Huh?” Mirabella came out of her thoughts.
“Are you and Giovanni okay?” Marietta asked.
“Yes. He was so cute this morning. Asking me all kinds of questions about the show. He was just tired last night,” Mirabella smiled. “A little grumpy. He’s fine.”
“Yeah right, grumpy.” Marietta laughed.
Mirabella stood and started to pace. She practiced her breathing. Fabiana would always make her breathe in deep from her nose, and exhale slowly out of her mouth. There was plenty to do. She needed to get back in the design room and continue with the models’ fittings. The interview would be fine. She could handle it.
**
Giovanni stepped over toy trucks. Gianni held to his pants leg and matched his steps while sucking his pacifier. He wanted to prove to his Bella that he’d be supportive of her day. Spending time with the kids was a good start. He glanced over to Gino who sat with Eve playing with some toy. Neither child looked up. He reached down and picked up Gianni, went to the door and opened it. Leo nodded at him and he turned and went back inside. In less than an hour he would have to take the children to their mother. There was no reason why the meeting should extend past that.
Nico escorted his visitor in. Giovanni sat on the sofa and put Gianni on his lap. The children stopped playing to stare curiously at their uncle. Armando Mancini stepped inside with one of his men.
“Gio, ciao.”
“Join me,” Giovanni said. Typically he’d have Lorenzo and Dominic with him for this type of meeting. Lorenzo was dealing with the Ndrangheta, and Dominic had Bella and her attorneys to tend to. Rocco had gone to the gym with Carlo and the other men to watch their new boxer train. Before walking over to take a seat in the chair across from Giovanni, Armando paused to look upon the children. He smiled at Eve and she smiled up at him.
“My time is short,” Giovanni said.
“Of course. She’s grown, they all have,” Armando said. He oc
cupied the seat. Nico escorted Armando’s shadow out of the room.
“I think a conversation between us is long overdue,” Giovanni began.
“Lorenzo acts as your proxy. I’ve offered a seat at my table to discuss family matters, but you have declined,” Armando said.
“We aren’t family,” Giovanni reminded him. Gianni scooted off his lap to go over and play with his brother and sister. Gino walked over and reached for Giovanni to pick him up. He did and sat his boy over to his right side.
“If we aren’t family, then let’s sever ties. On more than one occasion I’ve wanted to discuss the compensation to my… sisters. I believe my father’s guilt made him impulsive. If you are willing to put a figure to the inheritance, I’m open to hearing it.”
“I’ve left it to Lorenzo. He’s working on a proposal for you. I believe you two will come to terms soon.”
“How soon?” Armando snapped.
“Soon,” Giovanni replied with a smile. “Until then, I’ve received your payments. I’ve had the accountants review the financials. Everything appears to be in order.”
“Let me be clear, Giovanni. I will only tolerate you in my family affairs for so long. Two years is more than any man in my position would be willing to accept. It is to both of our benefit that we conclude our business, and continue the truce between our families.”
“Is that why you continue to reach out to Marietta? Why you paid my sister a visit at Fabiana’s? And now you have my wife asking for you to attend her birthday party. This brotherly love act of yours is just you seeking to keep a truce?”
“Partly. Another part of it…” Armando paused as he looked to Gino who stared directly back at him. Giovanni looked down at his son. Gino was oddly silent and observant, adapting the disposition of his father. It wouldn’t seem strange if Gino wasn’t so young. Most toddlers couldn’t sit still for more than two minutes. Giovanni had to smile and worry about Gino.
