by Bethany-Kris
Evelina glared across the table. “Then I’ll stay with Adriano.”
“So be it, but you still have to follow the rules no matter where you live, Eve.”
Adriano glanced up at the ceiling, wishing it would swallow him whole. He was over this entire dinner. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Tommas, because he did. And dinner with Evelina was okay, too. But Riley had a way of making things more annoying than they usually would be with his arrogant attitude that made an appearance at every turn.
Tommas had been invited to the dinner to talk positions, as far as Adriano understood it. It seemed like Riley was preparing to give the man a higher spot as an underboss. Tommas would make a good underboss for the Outfit. Adriano didn’t deny that for a second. Tommas was a cousin of Adriano’s, but only through marriage. His mother, Mia, had been the adopted sister to Tommas’ mother, Serena.
But the dinner was semantics.
The enforcers at the entrances and next table was all for show.
Adriano and Evelina’s presence was nothing but appearance.
This was just another game to Riley Conti. Sure, he played it well, but Adriano had better things to worry about. Like his girl and the baby she was carrying.
His baby.
Fuck.
Adriano’s head was not in the game today.
The buzz of Adriano’s cell phone drew his attention down to his lap. He checked the message, surprised to see it was a text with a picture. Opening the message, he came face to face with a smiling, winking Alessa.
She looked happy—luminescent, even.
And apparently in his apartment if the background was any indication.
Adriano didn’t have the first clue how Alessa got to his place. Joel was still being a dick to his sisters, apparently, and keeping them on a tight leash. Alessa had a key to Adriano’s apartment, but she would have needed to get out from under Joel’s thumb first.
Whatever.
It didn’t matter.
She was there and that’s right where he was fucking going, too.
“What is that all about?” his father asked, never taking his eyes off his steak.
Adriano stood from the table and tossed his napkin down before shoving his phone into his pocket. “Business. It was good to see you, Tommas.”
“And you, Adriano,” Tommas replied.
“Eve, I’ll see you later. The driver will get you back, yeah?” Adriano asked his sister.
Evelina nodded. “Sure.”
Riley’s gaze cut to his son. “What kind of business?”
Adriano smirked. “More important business than this.”
Alessa was working at the stove when Adriano arrived at his place. He slammed and locked the door like somebody might come in and steal her from him. She laughed a musical sound when he caught her around the waist, picked her up, and set her down on the table.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, kissing her lips over and over.
Alessa sighed, tilting her head back and giving him better access to her throat. “Christ, keep doing that.”
“Oh, I will.”
In fact, he planned on doing a lot more.
Adriano pushed the wool dress she wore up around her hips as he kissed and nipped at her collar bones. She wore a pink cotton thong under her dress and black pumps on her feet.
“You shouldn’t be wearing heels that high,” Adriano said, pulling the shoes from her feet and letting them drop to the floor. “You’ll break your fucking neck.”
“Pregnant, not disabled,” Alessa said, giggling.
Adriano yanked her to the very edge of the table and skimmed his hands higher under her dress until his palms were flat to her toned stomach. Alessa’s eyes widened with mirth and love, and her pink lips split with the sexiest grin.
“Hey,” she whispered.
“Hey, Lissa.”
“So, Abriella and I went shopping and she lost the guys trailing us. She dropped me off here and she’ll pick me up later. Sound good?”
Fucking hell.
“Sounds perfect,” Adriano said.
“You didn’t have anything else better to do today?”
“Nothing more important than seeing you, Alessa.”
She grinned. “I needed to hear that. I missed you.”
“I know.” Adriano shot a look over his shoulder at the soup cooking on his stove. “Since when do you eat chicken noodle soup?”
“It’s the only thing that doesn’t make me want to vomit when it’s cooking. It’s homemade.”
“I had enough shit in the fridge for that?” he asked.
“And the cupboards. Eve must have went shopping for you again.”
Adriano chuckled, drawing her closer until their noses touched. “You smell like peaches.”
“I was eating one before you got home.”
“I like it,” he murmured against her lips.
Home.
He liked the word home on her lips.
Like this place was theirs and not just his.
Adriano would take the taste of peaches on her tongue as he kissed her instead. Alessa let him wrap her hair in his fist, tug her head back, and kiss her mouth with as much force as he could muster. He wanted to own her mouth; he wanted her to feel him there for days.
Alessa’s legs spread wider on the table as his hands slid down between her thighs. Adriano didn’t want to waste time. They didn’t have a whole hell of a lot of it as it was. Evelina could come home at any moment.
They were a ticking time bomb waiting to blow.
“Let me love you,” Adriano said, kissing her again as he stroked her pussy through the cotton thong. “You’re so fucking hot on my fingers and I’m barely doing anything at all, Lissa. Imagine how that’s going to feel when it’s my cock pounding into you.”
Alessa licked her lips and nodded. “I so want that.”
Christ.
Him, too.
“So hurry the fuck up and get on it,” Alessa added.
Adriano laughed, hard and deep. He didn’t know how to deny Alessa anything. Especially not when she asked like that.
“So wicked,” he told her.
“You made me this way.”
He had.
Adriano hooked his hands around her panties and tugged them down over her ankles. Spreading her wider and pushing her dress up around her waist, he had the best view of her pink, wet pussy spread out like a buffet on his table.
He wanted a taste. So he took it.
Dropping to his knees, Adriano gave Alessa a grin before he buried his face between her thighs and found her wet and hot flavor with his tongue. He dove in with fingers digging into her shaking hips, holding her in place, while his tongue tunneled into her tight, clenching channel.
Her surprised shout was loud and echoing. She weaved her fingers into his hair, pulling as she rocked her hips into his face with every plunge of his tongue. Adriano licked up to her clit, sweeping away her arousal and loving the way she tasted.
Nothing was better than Alessa.
Not like this.
“So fucking hot,” Alessa whispered, staring down at him with hooded eyes.
“You want to come?” he asked, slipping his thumb into her pussy before teasing her clit with his tongue. Kissing the hood of her nub, he smirked. “Do you want to fuck my mouth and come, Alessa?”
She whined the sweetest sound. “Please.”
“Of course, pretty girl.”
Adriano’s attention stayed on Alessa’s beautiful face as he attacked her clit with his tongue while his thumb slid in and out of her slippery pussy. She was incredibly soaked and it almost seemed like her body was more sensitive to his touch. The faster he flicked his tongue to her sex, the harder she rocked her hips into his mouth.
Like she wanted that orgasm. Like she was chasing after it.
Fucking needed it.
It didn’t take long at all before she was shaking all over and shouting his name.
“Adriano!”
/> Yeah, hell.
That’s where they were going.
But it was going to be worth it.
Before Alessa had even calmed from her orgasm, Adriano had her laid flat on the table with her legs spread wide and his pants pushed down around his hips. He freed the hard length of his erection from his boxer-briefs and stroked his cock, watching Alessa beneath him.
“So beautiful,” he said.
She was flushed, pink-cheeked, wet and ready for more.
“Now,” Alessa demanded, hooking her legs around his hips. “Fuck me now.”
Adriano slid the head of his dick along her fleshy folds and slammed home. Alessa sighed in bliss, her face contorting with her pleasure as her back lifted off the table. He grabbed her wrists in his palms, pulled her arms flat to keep her in place, and began to drive into her.
He wanted to fuck.
Hard. Rough.
He wanted to feel her come all over his cock.
“Get it again, Lissa,” Adriano said, his voice thick. “Chase that again for me, pretty girl. Show me you want it.”
Alessa’s eyes flew wide, meeting his. Her lips popped open with his name on the tip of her tongue. “Give it to me, then.”
Fuck yeah.
“How are you feeling?” Adriano asked, nuzzling the back of Alessa’s neck with his mouth and nose. She smelled like sex and him. It was better than any fucking thing he ever smelled before. And she was soft, like silk. “Any better?”
Alessa smiled, turned her head just enough to kiss his cheek, and nodded. “A lot better.”
She sat on his lap while he watched reality contestants on the television battle it out for a ridiculously small sum of money. He wrapped his arm around her waist, holding her a little tighter. Pretty soon, she would have to go.
“And this one?” Adriano asked, letting his fingers travel over her stomach.
“I had an appointment yesterday. They checked for the heartbeat.”
“And?”
“All seems good.”
Adriano let out a sigh he hadn’t realized he’d been holding in. “Perfect, babe.”
“Are you scared?”
“Of what?” he asked.
“People finding out.”
Adriano laughed. “You know, right now, I’m more concerned about you and getting your through your first pregnancy happy, safe, and healthy. That’s all that matters to me, Lissa.”
Alessa looked over her shoulder at him, her eyes downward as she watched him through her lashes. “Really?”
“Yeah, really.”
“You don’t even realize it, do you?” she asked.
“Realize what?”
“How much good is inside your heart; how good you are.”
He killed men.
He sold drugs and handled dirty money for a living.
He was born and bred mafia.
Good was the very last word he would use to describe himself.
“Am I?” he asked.
“To me you are.”
“You’re you, Lissa.”
“And I’m yours.”
Exactly.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Alessa stepped out of the lecture hall and stood there, watching the students of Chicago State move from one hall to another while they chatted and laughed. She hadn’t expected to get back to school anytime soon, not with the way Joel had forced her out of classes for Dean’s sake.
But, with Dean dead, Joel didn’t have a reason to refuse Alessa.
Thankfully, her brother didn’t seem to have any immediate prospects for Alessa to move on with in another marriage deal, either. That, or Joel simply couldn’t arrange one because he’d smeared his family with his actions and behavior toward the Outfit and the new boss.
Either way, Alessa didn’t care.
She was at school; she had a life. Now that the Conti boss had forgiven Joel’s actions, however it was Riley managed to do that, Alessa didn’t have to worry about territory lines or being somewhere she shouldn’t.
Well, as long as her babysitters were close by.
That was better than nothing.
Alessa made her way to the parking lot where her sister’s Hummer was usually parked. Abriella still had another class to go, but Alessa didn’t mind waiting. Unlocking the large SUV with the spare set of keys she had, Alessa climbed inside and pulled out an apple juice from her messenger bag to drink.
She just tipped the bottle up to her lips when her cell phone rang. She managed to pick it up on the third ring.
“Hello?”
“Hey, babe,” Adriano said.
Alessa grinned at the sound of his voice on the other line. It’d been a week since she spent the day with him. Being away from Adriano didn’t get easier for Alessa.
“Hey,” she replied.
“Apple juice is a good choice,” he said.
“What?”
“Apple juice is a good choice. Better than pop, I guess.”
He could see her.
Alessa stilled in the seat, glancing all around to see if she could find him. She couldn’t. “Where are you?”
“Close. I had business in the area and wanted to check on you,” he explained. “It’s your first day back, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“How did it go?”
“Good.”
“No incidents with puke?” he asked, jokingly.
“Nope,” Alessa said, happy over that little fact. “All is good.”
“Great.” Adriano sighed heavily. “You’ve got a plethora of guards around this school. Did you know that?”
“I suspected.”
“It’s fucking terrible.”
“That’s Joel for you,” Alessa grumbled.
Adriano made a dismissive noise. “Fuck him. You’ve got another appointment at the clinic today, yeah?”
“Just a follow-up.”
“A follow-up for what?” he asked.
“I guess they lost something in the files the last time and they want to get it all down again and correct. It’s nothing serious, Adriano. They’re just going to check the heartrate again. I’ll even record it and send it to you. Don’t worry.”
“Hard not to, Lissa. That’s my baby and I don’t even get to be there.”
Alessa frowned, hating that for him.
“And what about losing the guards so no one sees you go in to the clinic?” Adriano asked.
“Joel thinks we’re having regular checkups. Over his head, Adriano.”
“Good.”
“I’ll see you soon,” Alessa promised.
Adriano chuckled. “You better.”
She would.
“Come on, you must have thought of one name,” Abriella said as Alessa climbed into the Hummer.
“It’s really early, Ella.”
Alessa wished Abriella would get off the whole baby kick. Hell, Alessa was still trying to get used to the idea herself, but Abriella took it to a whole new level. What names did she like? What colors did she want? Did she want to know the gender or wait? Abriella was just trying to help in her own way by making the situation seem normal and Alessa knew that. But the fact was, it couldn’t be normal. Ever.
Alessa still had to hide her pregnancy until she figured something out.
How was that normal?
“A name,” Abriella said again, more pointed the second time.
“Adrian,” Alessa said.
“For a boy, okay. But what about for a girl?”
“Adrianne. With A-N-N-E at the end.”
Her sister laughed.
“Fuck, you’ve got it bad,” Abriella muttered.
Alessa didn’t deny it.
While her sister fiddled with the stereo, Alessa texted the recording of the baby’s heartbeat to Adriano like she promised earlier. The clip was only a few seconds long, but it was loud and clear and wonderful.
Adriano messaged back not ten seconds later with, Perfect, Lissa.
She wasn’t sure if he was talking
about her or the baby.
“Back home we go,” Abriella said to herself, scowling.
“Thanks for taking me over here today,” Alessa said.
The clinic had called Alessa in for another heartrate check, as something had been lost in the files the last time she had been in. They made her take yet another pregnancy test and also had blood drawn for an iron test.
Abriella shrugged as she reversed out of the private clinic and maneuvered the Hummer onto the road. “I didn’t mind.”
“You’re putting yourself at risk of getting in shit for me.”
“So? You’re my sister. I’d do anything for you, Lissa.”
Alessa glanced down at her hands in her lap. “I know.”
“Hey, none of that frowning crap,” Abriella ordered.
“Yes, Queen.”
“Oh, fuck off with that nonsense. Even Tommy says it now.” Abriella looked pissed off about her own statement as she added, “And even after I threatened him, he just kept on calling me it. I think he gets off on it or something. The bastard.”
Alessa laughed almost half of the drive home. It was a nice reprieve from the worried state she had been in ever since finding out about the pregnancy.
Abriella pulled up to the gated Trentini mansion. “Would you go get whatever mail the guard collected today? I might as well do something nice for Joel and see if I can get on his half-decent side. Maybe I can get something from him if I do.”
“Sure.”
Alessa climbed out of the Hummer and collected the stack of circulars and bills that had come in for their home. Once she was back in the SUV, she tossed the pile on the middle seat, forgetting about them. She had no interest in trying to sweeten up her brother for anything.
It wouldn’t do her any good now.
“What do you want to get Miss Cathy to make for supper if she hasn’t already started?” Abriella asked as their vehicle moved through the opened gates.
Alessa’s stomach growled at the mention of food. “Steaks. And potatoes. Maybe gravy, too. That sounds good.”
“Really?”
“Baby wants what the baby wants, Ella.”
Abriella snorted. “Or Alessa wants a reason to pig out and the baby is a valid excuse.”
“Hey, don’t you judge me.”
