“Magic.” He raised his hands out to his sides and wiggled his fingers, grinning like a madman.
“Also,” I chimed in, “he has no sense of shame, but he does have a point. In my experience, capital cities usually have a lot of the culture washed out of them.”
“Okay then, jetsetters.” She rolled a bite of linguine around her fork and paused with it halfway to her mouth. “If you’re so against me visiting Athens, Sofia, or Bucharest next, what do you suggest?”
“The question is how far away from Italy do you want to travel,” Aldo said thoughtfully. “Are you talking about taking a vacation or moving away?”
My heart sank. When she’d brought up traveling earlier, I hadn’t thought it was because she planned on moving.
She didn’t deny the possibility of leaving Italy for good, though. “Eventually, I’d like to live in a few more places before I settle down. For now, let’s just say for taking a vacation.”
“Depending on how much time you have and your hobbies, I would recommend Naxos in Greece. It’s the older, less discovered sister of Mykonos. Much less commercialized but still a pretty good party destination.”
My stomach rolled at the thought of her going to party on Naxos by herself. Aldo and I had been a few times, and the guys there would jump on a girl like Addy and never let go. For some reason, I wanted to be the only guy proverbially jumping on her for the moment.
Addy’s eyes lit up, though. “Really? I’ve heard of Naxos, but I’ve always wanted to see Mykonos.”
“You could combine the two,” Aldo suggested, completely oblivious to my strange emotional turmoil over her traveling alone. “As for Bulgaria and Romania, it really depends on your interests.”
It was like the two of them were trying to give me a fucking heart attack. Listening to them, it wasn’t difficult to imagine they were planning a trip they’d be taking together in the near future.
My throat closed up at the thought of both of them leaving. “We should all go sometime.”
Addy’s forehead furrowed on a frown while Aldo’s brows shot up at my blurted suggestion. He cocked his head, his eyes locking with mine. “Last year when I suggested a hiking trip in Eastern Europe in the summer, you laughed at me.”
“Yeah, but that was because we were busy with the canal negotiations, remember?” I said. “We don’t have to go right away anyway. We could go skiing in the winter.”
“Oooh,” Addy cooed. “I like that idea. I haven’t been skiing for years.”
“It’s a date then.” I smiled and reached across the table for her hand, ignoring the fact that my brother was watching me like a hawk. “We’ll go in the winter.”
“Great,” he said. “I’m in.”
“Good to know,” I said, but my eyes remained on Addy’s sparkling blue ones. Electricity crackled between us, and she gave me a small smile.
“I’ll be looking forward to it,” she said.
For a minute, we stayed just like that. Aldo eventually broke the moment by barking out a laugh. “Look at you two lovebirds. I feel like a third wheel. I’m going to have to get a date for this trip.”
“You do that,” I said, sighing as I withdrew my hand from hers. “We’re going to need someone to keep you busy.”
“Like Jenny Caviali kept you busy during our high-school trip to Livigno?” He snorted, turning his gaze on Addy before I could stop him from telling the story. “Jenny followed him around like a loyal lap dog for the whole week. It got so bad he had to start hiding from her.”
“Really?” She laughed, her head dropping back slightly. “Why would you bring someone on our trip you have to hide from?”
“Marco took her on that trip. He helped her raise the money to go and everything, but then realized she wanted a lot more from him than that.”
“I wasn’t ready for a commitment.” I glared at my brother, but he laughed it off.
“You’re still not ready for a commitment.” He smirked. “I like you with Addy here, though. I must tell her more embarrassing stories about you.”
“Yes.” She clapped her hands, angling her body toward him. “Tell me all the embarrassing stories. Having to hide from a girl isn’t nearly embarrassing enough.”
“It is when you learn she was two years younger and tiny. He just didn’t have the balls to let her down.”
“That’s actually pretty sweet,” Addy said. “I need embarrassing, not sweet.”
The corners of his eyes crinkled on a wicked grin as he rubbed his palms together. “I can do embarrassing. Has he told you about the twin switches we used to pull?”
I groaned out loud. “I didn’t even tell her about my twin before today. Don’t go there.”
Aldo wholeheartedly ignored my request, letting out a raucous laugh before he launched into stories that should have remained in the past. Thankfully, he kept it pretty tame.
Addy laughed almost all the way through. The two of them were getting along like a house on fire, and it made me happier than it should have.
At least it did until Aldo brought up our mother. “You know, I really like you. Our Mama isn’t going to, though. It’s a real pity.”
Her gaze flickered over to mine, her eyes full of questions I didn’t want to answer. My only option was to play it off like it was nothing and hope to God that Aldo followed my lead.
“Mama doesn’t even know Addy. Don’t scare her off just yet.” I slotted my last bite of pasta and swallowed before dabbing my mouth with my napkin. “Now, where do you guys want to go skiing when we go on our trip?”
Addy gave me another questioning look but went with my very obvious attempt at changing the subject. My brother caught on as well but followed her lead.
It was late by the time we left the restaurant, but I wasn’t ready for my day with Addy to end yet. Aldo hugged her goodbye like she was his new best friend, then gave us a wave before heading home.
“How about another drink at my place?” I asked when we climbed into my car. I’d switched from wine to water after dinner, and since my place was close by, I wasn’t worried about driving.
Addy’s cheeks were flushed, but her balance and speech were unaffected again. It seemed the girl really could handle her wine. She nodded at me while keeping her eyes on the city lights as we climbed the hill to my house.
“I want to get in the hot tub,” she said once we walked in. Turning to face me while walking backward to the stairs, she reached for the belt cinched around her waist. “But I didn’t bring a suit.”
She stopped when her heels hit the bottom step, her lids lowered as she flashed me a coy smile. That was all it took to shut off all the worries in my mind and get my head in the game being played right in front of me.
I stalked up to her and wound my arms around her waist before running them up her back. When my fingers hit the metal of her zipper, I smirked and lowered my mouth until my lips touched hers.
“I think I may be able to help with that.” Slowly tugging on the tab, I felt the first few teeth of the zipper give way. “No one can see in here, nor can anyone see us up on the roof.”
“I thought so,” she murmured in reply, pushing up on her toes to plant a chaste kiss on my lips.
My cock was just starting to react when she suddenly twisted out of my grip and, with an excited squeal, turned and took off up the stairs. It took me a second to follow her playful laughter to the roof, and when I caught up with her, it was just in time to see her kicking off her shoes. Her dress hit the deck next along with her underwear, and she slipped into the warm water.
Steam rose off the surface, making her seem almost ethereal in the moonlight as a hand broke the surface and beckoned me over. “You coming, or am I going to have to start without you?”
Chapter 20
Addy
Marco’s low rumbling laugh filled the air. “Jesus. Every time, you surprise me.”
“You don’t like it?” I asked, my tone light. My heart was galloping like a damn Derby winner in t
he making, but I didn’t let him see how nervous the question made me.
He walked closer to the tub, reaching out to hit the digital control on a panel on the side. Jets and bubbles started up as he lifted his T-shirt over his head.
“Do I like it?” he asked as he dropped the shirt on the deck.
Holy fuck, he was sexy. It was really hard to concentrate with all those beautiful, hard muscles on show, but this was important.
His lips curled into a smile. “I don’t like it, Addy. I fucking love it. I love that you surprise me, and I love that you don’t wait for me to initiate things.”
“If I had to wait for you, I’d get old before anything happened,” I joked, but my voice got scratchy when he slid his fingers into his waistband.
A devilish smirk appeared on his lips when he noticed my eyes were stuck on his hips. “Just for that, I might make you wait longer before I remove these.”
He fingered the material of his shorts, his gaze like molten lava on mine. “Unless you want to take that back. Especially since you rushed me so the last time.”
Marco climbed into the tub with me, snagging his fingers around my waist and floating me closer to him. His dark eyes were lit up with humor mixed with lust as he peered down at me. “There were so many things I still wanted to do.”
“There were?” Raising an eyebrow, I reached for the hard ridges on his abdomen, tracing them lightly with my fingertips. “What other things?”
His breathing sped up when my hand slowly started traveling south. Tingles erupted in my pussy at the thought of touching him.
Before I could hit my target, one of his hands caught my wrist and he flashed me a smile. “Do you want another show and tell? Or should we just get on with it?”
“Get on with it.” My heart started beating even faster, and my clit hardened. I was already swelling and growing slick. “Definitely get on with it.”
He tilted my head up with a gentle finger under my chin and bent down to give me a deep kiss, his hands flexing on my hips. Gripping them hard as his passionate kisses stole my breath, he set my body alight with need.
“Are you cold?” he asked.
I shook my head, confusion breaking through the lusty haze. “Why?”
“Because I want to taste you, but since I’m not a mermaid, I’m going to need you to sit on the edge.”
Without another word, he climbed to his knees and lifted me to where he wanted me. His eyes were fixed on my bare pussy as he nudged my thighs open wider to allow him the access that he wanted.
His hands slid from my hips to my ass, and he slapped it lightly before moving them to stroke along my thighs. Sticking out his tongue, he ran it along the lines where my panties would’ve been if I was wearing any, kissing the sensitive skin there.
My thighs quivered from how much I wanted him to touch me, but he just grinned up at me. “Patience is a virtue, baby. Just trust me, okay?”
I nodded, but my pulse was racing, and my clit throbbed like it was a beacon that had been activated. “Don’t make me wait too long.”
Marco smirked up at me, tugging my knees apart and leaning forward. “I won’t, but you’re the one in control here, Addy. Tell me if it gets to be too much, yes?”
“Yes,” I whispered because I wasn’t about to say no to that.
When his tongue darted out to lick my seam all the way from the bottom to the top, I let out a low groan and my head fell back in ecstasy. Yes. Yep. Glad I didn’t say no to that.
He repeated the move a few times until I was writhing against his mouth, desperate for him. “Marco. Fuck. Please.”
He hummed against me, his fingers dancing tantalizingly close to my cleft before moving away again. “Give me a few more minutes, hmm?”
“I’ll try.” I shoved one of my hands into his damp hair and the other into my own. My back arched, and I bit my lip to hold back a scream as he tucked back into me.
Raising a teasing hand away from my leg, he brought it to my breast to pinch my nipple. “Fuck. Marco.”
As if he knew how close I was, he eased off me. He kissed my thighs softly, dragging his tongue over them. My earlier desperation for his touch returned instantly, slamming into me with a vengeance.
I moaned loudly and slid my hips forward on the edge. Marco grinned against my soaked flesh but took mercy on me by pushing one thick finger into me.
Leisurely sliding his finger in and out of me, he glanced up and watched me as I surrendered to his exquisite form of torture. I let the sensations he was eliciting wash over me, allowed them to take me higher and higher even though I knew it wasn’t leading to an immediate release.
When he licked me next, he didn’t stop before he hit my clit. He sucked it between his full lips with the perfect amount of pressure. My breathing stuttered and my fingers tightened in our hair. “Don’t stop, Marco. Please don’t stop.”
He read each one of my moans and gasps like a book, playing my body like an instrument that he was a master of. It wasn’t long until I was screaming his name into the warm night air.
I couldn’t see any neighbors, but I was sure as hell they would have heard me.
Marco didn’t seem to care, though. My moans filled the air, becoming louder and louder until my orgasm hit like an earthquake of pleasure that filled my body with the best energy ever.
My body slumped when I finally came back to earth, and Marco held me steady as I slipped back into the water. He held me to him, groaning when my fingers found his rock-hard shaft and wrapped around it.
I rested my head on his shoulder, angling it so I could look up at him. “I’m going to need a minute, but I want to feel you inside me.”
“Yes,” he breathed, his eyes closing as his head fell back. I worked him harder, my strokes long and firm.
I watched as the column of his throat moved up and down, saw the way his lips parted and his tongue darted out to wet them. Marco like this was a deliciously erotic sight, and even though he knew I could see him, it still felt a little like an intimate moment I was observing from the outside.
When I’d heard or read people saying how much they loved watching their significant others come, I never used to understand it. O-faces weren’t traditionally sexy to me, what with all the scrunched-upness and whatnot.
Seeing Marco well on his way to an orgasm finally drove the understanding home for me, though. Everything about this was magnificent, so incredibly sexy that I couldn’t help myself.
I let go of his cock for only a second, hooked my leg over his lap, and straddled him. His eyes remained locked on me as I reached down to position him at my entrance.
The slight stubble on his jaw rasped against my palms when I cupped his face and lowered my mouth to his. Marco moaned into the kiss as I eased myself down onto him.
Then he quit letting me be in control and took command from me. I relinquished it willingly and, in the hours that followed, didn’t lament the decision once.
Marco rocked my world over and over again. At one point, he picked me up and carried me to his bedroom. We’d made his sheets wet, but the night air and the warm breeze blowing in through his windows dried them before he was done with me.
Hours later, I fell back to the bed sated but exhausted, my head resting on his chest. My eyes were begging to close. I could barely muster the strength to form words, but somehow, I was going to have to make my way home.
“I should get going,” I said, covering a yawn with the back of my hand. “I’m not going to be able to stay awake much longer.”
“So don’t,” Marco murmured into the darkness of his bedroom, his fingers stroking my hair. “Stay with me tonight.”
“You don’t mind?” I snuggled deeper into his chest, a large part of me already confident about what his answer was going to be.
“No, I don’t mind,” he said, confirming my suspicions. “Sleep, my gorgeous Adaline. I’ll be right here with you.”
I had no idea why that statement gave me the warm fuzzies, but it
did. Feeling warm and comfortable as well as comforted, I closed my eyes and succumbed to the sleep trying to claim me.
Chapter 21
Marco
“Good morning,” I said when I walked into Addy’s office. “How was the rest of your weekend?”
She turned away from her computer screen to give me a smile that made her blue eyes bright. “Don’t you mean how was the rest of my day yesterday? I only left your house just before noon.”
“True, but it was still Sunday. Sunday forms part of the weekend.” I held up one of the takeout cups of coffee I was carrying. “This is for you.”
Reaching for it with one hand, she pressed the other to her chest. “For me? Really? Pretty sure that qualifies you as the best boss I’ve ever had.”
“Don’t you forget it.” I lowered myself into the chair opposite hers at her desk and hooked one ankle over my knee. “Are you making any headway with the Panama regulations?”
“Nope.” She set her coffee down, lifting her hands to massage her temples. “I spent some more time on it yesterday, but there’s still so much I need to learn. I think the only way of really understanding these is by doing.”
“It does make it a lot easier to see how it all works in action.” I dipped my head to the side, narrowing my eyes as I thought. “There’s a shipment going through there next week. It’s for one of my oldest clients. I’ll put you in touch with their procurement manager. You can take point on our side, but he’ll be handling most of the nitty-gritty stuff.”
“You would trust me with that?” Her light eyebrows lifted. “It seems too soon to be letting me run point on any transaction but specifically one involving a place I’m uncertain about.”
I sat back and raised my coffee to my lips, letting the cup hang there. “You just said you’d learn by doing. I’m giving you the opportunity to do what you need to do.”
Her gaze settled on mine, questions in their navy depths. “What if I screw up?”
“What if you don’t?” Leaning forward, I put a hand on top of her much smaller one. “You’re smart, Adaline. I wouldn’t have suggested it if I didn’t think you could handle it. Obviously, I’ll be around to help, and as I said, their team has been working with the finer details for years. You’ll coordinate with them, learn, and if you have questions, you ask.”
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