“Paige likes to stay busy,” Sophia offered.
I murmured an agreement. “It’s good to have a regular job after temping for so long. It helps stop me from going crazy.”
Mrs. Salvatore gave the counter a quick rap with her nails. “I understand that all too well. I think I’ve come close to redecorating this house three times in the last year.”
“It’s beautiful,” I told her. “Amazing.”
“Yeah,” Sophia agreed, her eyes roving towards the window. Past the back patio with a fire pit, a covered pool sat waiting for summer, and beyond that a hot tub. There was even a tiny building that housed an outdoor kitchen, its two open sides shuttered for the winter.
I sighed to think of summer in that back yard. Between the pool, the blender, and the ample sunning space, there seemed to be no reason to ever leave the spot.
“Do you have a boyfriend, Sophia?” Mrs. Salvatore asked.
“Nu-uh. I can’t handle that right now. My career is pretty all encompassing at this point. Plus Paige and Angelo’s relationship has me covered. Just hearing about it all the time is enough, you know?”
I stuck out my tongue at her and she blew a kiss my way.
Female voices came from a room nearby. I turned around in my stool just in time to see Mariel and a tall, brown haired girl emerge in the doorway.
“Hello,” the girl said simply, her eyes grazing across the three of us in one quick swoop. She had one of those faces that was impossible to put an exact age on. She could have been anywhere from eighteen to thirty.
“Where have you been?” Mrs. Salvatore asked.
The girl ignored her and looked pointedly at me and Sophia.
“Lia,” Mrs. Salvatore said, “You remember Paige and Sophia?”
Her eyes flicked up and down my body. “Yeah.”
Lia was a woman of few words.
“How’s it going?” Soph asked her.
“Good,” she nodded. “It’s been a while.”
Mariel patted Lia on the shoulder and went to the fridge. “Mr. Salvatore needs ice,” she explained to no one in particular.
Lia squinted her eyes at Sophia. “I have a faint memory of TPing someone’s car… Were you there?”
“Oh, yeah,” Sophia replied. “Mr. Stanley’s. He was our eighth-grade math teacher.”
“That’s right! God, he was a prick.”
Sophia chuckled. “He was cute though.”
“That must have been the second reason we did it. Who else was there?”
“Amber, I think… And Brooke Melton.”
I looked down at my hands. I had no recollection of this event. Probably not because I’d repressed the memory. Probably because I was too much of a Goody Two-Shoes at that age to even think of committing such a heinous crime.
Or what I would have considered to be a heinous crime at the time.
No, I probably spent the night at home reading or drawing comics in my room.
“Where is everyone?” Lia asked her mother.
“They took off somewhere,” she answered with a shrug. “Oh, did you cut your hair?”
Lia briefly touched the shoulder length waves. “Yeah, like six inches. You didn’t notice?”
“It’s not that different.”
Lia’s lips pursed slightly.
Sophia spoke up. “I like the bangs. They’re kind of seventies style.”
“Thanks, Sophia,” she pointedly replied.
Thundering footsteps beat down the hallway. Franko and Tre jogged into the kitchen, both of them going so fast they nearly bumped into the island.
“Aw, it’s Lia!” Franko whooped in exaggeration. He wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her off the ground. She beat against his shoulder.
“Put me down! You two sound like a herd of elephants.”
Franko complied. Lia straightened her top and brushed hair from her face.
“How’s it going, Lia?” Tre asked, taking a small step backwards.
“Fine,” she answered, turning away and headed for the fridge.
“We playing football yet?” Franko asked the room.
I exchanged a glance with Sophia. She shrugged. “I’m in.”
“I’ll probably fall flat on my ass,” I explained. “But I’m down for giving it a go.”
Over at the fridge, Lia snickered. I glanced over at her, but she busied herself with opening a bottle of water.
Was I just imagining it, or did Lia seem less than thrilled to find me at her parents’ house?
But no. That couldn’t be. She didn’t even know me. Not really.
Sure, we’d known each other years ago, but I still didn’t remember any of that. If I’d had to guess, I probably was the third wheel whenever she and Sophia got together to hang out.
So maybe something that happened when we were teens put her off.
But that didn’t seem enough reason to hold a grudge into adulthood.
My stomach twisted. I watched the easygoing trip I’d gotten to believe in for about twenty minutes head right down the drain.
Numb, I followed the group down the hall.
Angelo waited in the foyer, mine and his coats in his arms. The bright smile on his face drew me in and comforted me instantly. A secure and reliable blanket, one that blocked out the world, made the noise outside muffle. That’s what he was to me.
“They’re playing football,” he explained.
“Yeah, I heard.”
“Are you joining?”
“Sure.” I took my coat from his hand.
“You might get too hot for this after a few minutes, but I thought I’d grab it anyway.”
“Thanks,” I smiled up at him.
Out of the corner of my eye, Lia stared. I turned to look at her but she’d already turned her back and begun walking away.
Angelo wrapped his arm around my shoulder and lead me through the foyer and across some kind of small sitting room, then through a back door.
We crossed the edge of the patio, walked past the covered pool, and ended up in a grassy area beneath some tall trees. ‘Grassy’ being a loose term, since anything once green on the ground died months ago. Not far off, a tall iron fence signaled the end of the property. Through another line of trees hints of another house were just visible. I started to turn away but stopped when I noticed the security camera mounted on the fence.
Sliding my eyes towards the other end of the yard, I spotted another one.
Again: Just when I’d conveniently forgotten about the big-time Mafia family my boyfriend came from...
Franko explained the rules of the game, ones which barely made sense, then split everyone into two groups. As Tre played college football, he counted as two people.
I went where I was told to, ran where it seemed I needed to, and even managed to evade capture for a few seconds the one time I had the ball.
Surprisingly, the game that at first seemed so boring turned out to be loads of fun. Mrs. Salvatore, delicate though she looked, was a badass on the field. Having her on my team became a plus.
It was probably a good that Franko declared the game over when he did. I was panting and perspiring underneath my sweater. Bits of hair stuck to my face and I probably looked a mess, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t wheezing.
Angelo came over from the other team and planted a kiss on my lips. “Sorry to have to beat you.”
I shrugged as he looped his arm over my shoulder. “All’s fair in love and war, right?”
His mouth dropped to right next to my ear. “I’ll let you win at something else later tonight.”
A wonderful shiver went down my back.
Mrs. Salvatore checked her wrist watch. “Dinner is in twenty minutes.”
We all tramped across the yard. I glanced surreptitiously around, thinking Lia might still be watching me.
Instead, though, she ran past me and Angelo and jumped onto Franko’s back. He wailed and tried to shake her off. Refusing to go, she locked her arms and legs around him.
“I’ll dump you in the pool, that’s what I’ll do.”
Nearby, Tre watched with what seemed like a look of longing on his face. He had it bad for Lia.
“Huh,” I said out loud.
“What?” Angelo questioned.
I quickly shook my head and gave his waist a squeeze. “Nothing. I just can’t believe how hungry football made me.”
Chapter Twenty-Three - Angelo
The long dining room table was done up to its regular caliber, with a giant centerpiece made from a small frosted pine tree. Gingerbread cookies and little glass birds dangled and perched from the tree’s limbs. Paige and Sophia oohed and aahed over it, showering my mom with the compliments she loves.
“My designer in New York helped me with it,” Mom explained.
We all took our seats and I made sure to claim mine right next to Paige. Mariel brought the soup in, going into some lengthy explanation of what was in it, but I couldn’t listen. All I could think about was the conversation with Pops and Dominic.
Make my move… Stake my claim… I’d figured I did that months ago, and now here they were telling me I had to make my actions bigger.
Ideas began to form in my head as I watched Paige talking and nodding. The soft light from the chandelier made her hair and cheeks glow. I reached under the table and ran my thumb across the top of her thigh. She shot me an admonishing look.
Oh, but you like it, I wanted to say. Biting back a smirk, I picked up my soup spoon.
“Ugh, don’t even mention that,” Lia was saying, pointing her finger at Dom.
“What’s that?” I questioned.
Dominic chuckled. “I was just remembering the perm she got for her prom. Or, rather, the perm she tried to get. It looked like a rat’s nest remember?”
“Shut up,” Lia snapped. “Or else I’m going to tell everyone about your high school stash of magazines...”
Dominic’s mouth got tight and his nostrils flared as we got in a good laugh at his expense.
“Let’s all speak nicely to each other,” Mom said, picking up her wine glass and giving the contents a light swirl. “I’m certain there are better memories to discuss.”
Lia spoke up. “Remember those matching giant teddy bears Angelo and I got that one Christmas? He tried to take his to school with him he loved it so much.”
She giggled. “That’s so cute.”
“What about you girls?” Mom asked, looking from Sophia to Paige. “What are your best Christmas memories?”
The twins exchanged a glance.
Paige’s mouth fell slightly open. “Uh...”
“Last year,” Sophia quickly said. “We got a real tree for the first time. Remember Paige? We’d always wanted one but it always seemed like a hassle any other year so we always put up this fake one that comes in a box. Last Christmas, for the first time, it smelled like pine in our apartment. It was so great.”
“Yeah,” Paige said in an oddly thick voice. She nodded vigorously then looked at the table.
A lump formed in my throat. It was bothering her again. The Christmas thing.
I started to reach out to put my arm around Paige, but before I could touch her Pops reached across the table and patted her hand. “That sounds nice. Hopefully this Christmas will give that one a run for its money.”
She gave him a smile. It was dim, but she tried. “Thanks. I hope so too.”
A hush fell over the table, making the place feel more like a church than a dining room. Everyone knew what Paige had been through, and they consequently tended to tread carefully around her. Though they hadn’t been directly mentioned, the thought of Paige and Sophia’s parents was in the room.
The moment was broken by Lia clearing her throat. “What time is the mall closing?”
The mood gradually picked up from then. Desert helped, at least for Paige, who seemed content. I skipped the night cap, using exhaustion from the flight as an excuse, and took Paige to show her our room for the week.
“Wow,” she breathed, drifting into what had once been my childhood bedroom. All remnants from my Star Wars and guitar shredding days were gone, replaced instead by the simple furnishings. The best parts of the room were still there. Right above the bed a sun roof showed the crystal-clear night sky and wedged between the two floor length windows were the double doors leading out to a balcony.
I wanted that room when I was a kid, always eager to stay in it the few months of the year I was at the house. It wasn’t until I turned twelve that my parents thought I was old enough to stay in a room with a second-floor balcony.
In the summers between tenth and eleventh grade I’d snuck my fair share of girls in thanks to that balcony. If you climbed onto the garbage can around back and pulled yourself up to the first level roof you could then climb onto the second roof and, then, my balcony.
My parents would probably be horrified to find out that, while their security system did a good job of deterring burglars, it did nada in the face of hormonally charged teenagers.
“This is so nice,” Paige cooed, going to the double doors and opening them. A swift wind swept into the room and she quickly closed the doors.
Smiling, I walked over to her and wrapped my arms around her. “It’s damned cold out there.”
“Yeah it is.” She shivered a bit in my arms.
I pushed some hair away from the back of her neck, breathing in a mix of her sweet shampoo and floral perfume as I grazed over her skin. “How are you feeling?”
“Good.” She tensed slightly in my arms, and slowly turned around to face me. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before about how I’ve been feeling. I didn’t want you to worry.”
“I can understand that, but you need to take care of yourself.”
Her lips twisted and she looked away. “Okay.”
“Hey,” I softly said, pulling her to me and putting my face within inches of hers. “I love you, all right? I want to make sure you’re happy.”
She nodded. “Do you think…”
“What?”
“Do you think Lia doesn’t like me?”
“Huh?”
With a sigh, she pulled away and walked for her suitcase. Flipping it open, she pulled out pajamas and a toiletry bag. “She kept staring at me.”
I started to smirk, but quickly corrected my face before Paige saw it. “Why would she not like you?”
“Exactly. I don’t know. It just doesn’t make sense.”
“Paige.” I walked over to where she knelt on the floor zipping her suitcase back up. “You were probably imagining it.”
She visibly bristled.
I quickly back tracked. “Not that you’re...” I gritted my teeth, lost for words.
Shit, was basically all I could think.
Paige stood up. “It’s okay. You’re right. I probably am. I’m just tired and maybe a little stressed out from the holidays.” She ran her palm over my arm.
“Was that weird for you, talking about Christmas before?”
She thought about it. “No. It’s the best Christmas I do remember. The ones when we were sixteen and seventeen were pretty awful, since we lived with our aunt. She wasn’t exactly a cheerful person.”
I planted my hands on her hips and pulled her to me. “Well you’re here now.”
“Yes,” she softly mused, looking up at me through thick black lashes. “Yes I am.”
I took her chin in my hand and brought her lips to my mouth. She seemed to be crumbling down to the ground, all of her weight coming forward pressed into mine.
My arms looped around her, pulling her even tighter to me. Warmth swelled up in my core, seeming to come right up out of the ground. Parts of me awoke, the ones I kept at bay all day long, all through family dinner.
There, finally, locked away in our room I could let loose.
I twisted Paige’s sweater in my hands, pulling it slowly over her shoulders, over her head. Our kiss broke, but only for
a second.
The sweater done with, I worked on her shirt, her pants, her bra, and finally, her underwear. She stood naked before me, an ivory goddess, something akin to a Grecian statue.
A deep frenzy overtook me, the kind I only feel every once in a while. I pushed her down onto the bed.
Keeping my eyes locked on her smooth, silky body, I undid my pants. Paige gazed up at me, seductive, innocent, and sultry, although she meant to be none of those things. With my clothes on the floor, I got into bed beside her, already hard and wanting at the sight of the tender skin between her thighs. Paige moved over in bed, making room for me beside her.
With a growl, I pressed my forearms down onto the sheets, one on either side of her. Her head fell to the side, exposing her long neck. I licked a slow trail, first up her neck, then down along her collarbone and across her breast, moving smoothly around one nipple.
She made a little excited noise, her legs squirming a bit. I had her locked into place and though she acted as though she hated it, I knew it was exactly where she wanted to be.
I growled a little bit, just to remind her who was in charge, and pushed my weight against her, nudging my hard tip against her silken folds. Just before entering her, I pulled back. A surprised look crossed her face and she opened her mouth as if about to protest. Before even a peep came from between her lips, I clamped my palm down against her mouth.
Moving swiftly, I flipped her around and onto her stomach. Before she even had a chance to react, I landed a hard smack against her ass. She cried out, the noise a combined result from pain, shock, and pleasure. To keep her on her toes and unsure of what to expect, I sank two finger into her opening. She whimpered in response, back arching off the bed from sheer pleasure as she bucked her hips to get more or me inside.
My cock was aching to take my fingers’ place. Pre-cum dripped off the tip from need. Each bit of me throbbed, desperate to get inside of her, to feel her flesh against mine. I waited, though, the painful anticipation just part of the fun.
I slapped her ass again, and after she whimpered out a moan, I dug my nails into her flesh, kneading her ass cheeks. Paige relaxed a bit, her head falling down onto the bed.
Angelo: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance Page 13
