Lifting her leg, Gino settled himself between her thighs, the heat of her core making him impossibly harder.
“You’re so wet, Krissy. So warm and wet,” he chanted, taking her nipple into his mouth and sucking until she moaned her approval. Gino wanted this time to last for hours, leaving her with no doubt about the depths of his feelings for her. But the way she felt in his arms, combined with the smell of her arousal had him using every ounce of restraint to keep him focused.
Kristine’s body seemed to come alive, the need to have Gino closer overwhelming her. This was nothing like the nights she allowed Jonah to sweat like a pig and grunt on top of her. This was a man who knew how to touch a woman, finding his pleasure by giving his partner theirs.
“Gino,” she moaned, as the tip of his cock entered her once again, slow this time as if he were memorizing her.
“Giovanni,” he begged, his voice hoarse with need. “Krissy…please.” She knew exactly what he meant; he’d given her permission to do something few had the privilege. Now, he wanted her to exercise that right during the most intimate act.
“More Giovanni,” Kristine demanded, wrapping her legs around his waist, the feel of him deep inside her making her feel brazen and sexy.
“Yes, ma’am,” he replied through clenched teeth, each word enunciated by a solid thrust of his hips, so intense, the head of the bed banged against the wall.
Kristine could feel the end nearing, her body clawing for the edge as Gino slammed into her, each thrust from a different angle. Arching her back off the mattress, her toes cured at the welcomed burn in her pelvis.
Gino could feel Kristine’s walls fluttering, her orgasm only a few strokes away. As much as he wanted her to scream his name, he wanted her to find herself more. Flipping them, Gino held her hips as she stared down at him in question.
“Ride me, babe. Let me watch you come.”
While Kristine had never been on top, she’d never been this close to an orgasm either. Letting instinct take over, she laid her hands on Gino’s thighs behind her, slowing rising and falling on him.
With his hands tucked behind his head, Gino took great pleasure watching Kristine come undone. Cradling her body to his, he rolled them over once again, slowing allowing himself to find release.
Once Gino returned from the bathroom, Kristine expected him to turn over and fall asleep, keeping her up the remainder of the early morning with snoring. Instead, he wrapped his body around hers, placing soft kisses to the tops of her shoulder, running his knuckles up and down the skin of her arm.
“The next few days are going to be crazy.”
“I suspected as much. Don’t feel as if you have to check in with me, I know how busy you are on a normal day. What you’re going through is something I can’t imagine, but I’m here if you need me.”
Gino opened his mouth to tell her she was all he needed when his phone rang from the floor. “That will be my mother telling me she’s in the air.”
Kristine was never so grateful as Gino spoke to his mother in Italian. During her time with Amato, she’d picked up a few more words, but Gino spoke with such speed she couldn’t separate one from another.
He took her twice more before his ringing phone announced the need for his presence.
“I need to ask something of you,” Gino nervously questioned.
“Anything.”
“I need you to keep last night between us.”
19
Kristine struggled to focus on the invoices in front of her, her nervous fingers reflecting the butterflies running around in her stomach. Gino had asked her to play dumb, pretending as if she had no knowledge of his father’s death, but the whispers of the other girls eventually turned into fingers pointed in her direction.
Dani was first to approach, her hair pulled back in a low ponytail and her signature green gum dancing around her mouth.
“Two things, Kristine,” Dani began, holding up the correct number of digits. “One, I’m only sayin’ this as a friend, but your roots are showing. Two, you’re close with Sully and Gino, what the hell is going on?”
Before Kristine could deny anything, Sully stormed down the hall, a woman Kristine didn’t recognize walking beside him, with Felicia talking a mile a minute on her phone behind them. The woman’s hair was the oddest shade of red Kristine had ever seen, not a traditional red, as it appeared a deep pink as she passed by the light from the window. She had a certain air about her, as if she felt herself better than anyone in the room, turning her nose up at several of the girls as they made their way toward her office.
“I still say you should be included in the vote, Salvatore. You are far more popular with the men than Gino is.”
“It isn’t about popularity, Ma.” Sully returned, rolling his eyes in exhaustion.
Kristine turned her focus to her computer screen, pretending to ignore the conversation.
“Gino was born first.”
Kristine watched from the corner of her eye as Sully’s mother took his chin in her hand. “I know, my baby boy, and I’m sorry.”
Kristine’s fingers stalled on her keyboard at Sully’s mother’s choice in words. Did she intentionally get pregnant?
“However, there is still call to celebrate.” His mother turned to look behind her, “Felicia will soon wear Gino’s ring giving us more leverage when it comes to ruling this Family.”
Kristine kept her eyes trained on the screen, the numbers mocking her stupidity. She’d foolishly fallen, once again listening to the lies and believing them as truth.
“Your absolutely right, Barbara. And I know exactly what I’m going to change the minute I have the Vitale last name.”
Kristine didn’t need to look in Felicia’s eyes to know the statement was about her.
“A bold statement, wouldn’t you agree?”
Mouths hung open as every eye in the room landed on the beautiful woman standing in the doorway. Her thick accent and well-groomed appearance left no room for question, this was Giovanni’s mother from Italy. Several suited men and a much younger, but equally beautiful, woman stood behind her.
“I seem to recall my son making his opinion on you quite clear, Felicia.”
The two held each other’s gaze as if a pair of Gladiators sizing each other up for battle.
“I’m sorry for your loss, Chiara. But—” Sully’s mother began but was interrupted when the woman raised her leather-gloved hand.
“Please, we both know your sympathy is as fake as the leather on your knock-off boots.”
Kristine’s eyes fell to the boots in question. She wasn’t enough of an expert to tell if they were fake or not.
“Tell me, Barbara. How does it feel knowing you wasted your life waiting for a man to pay you the slightest attention, only to know he died still married to the one woman who kept his attention?”
“Kept his attention?” Barbara scoffed, separating the distance, pointing at the young lady standing behind Chiara. “You haven’t shared a bed with Jonathan since Sophia was conceived.”
No longer camouflaging her attention to the conversation, Kristine looked to the younger woman. While her knowledge of the Vitale children was limited to what Nina told her, there was no doubt in her mind, based on the eyes and hair, this was Gino’s sister.
“Don’t kid yourself, Barbara. Had Jonathan wanted to be rid of me, he could have filed for a divorce here in the States, yet he didn’t. Oh, and how many nights did he seek you out, have you as the lady of his home, and constant lover?”
A pen dropping in a thick carpet could be heard with clarity as the two women stood toe to toe. Even a blind man could see by the look of jealousy on Barbara’s face the fact she wanted Chiara’s life.
With the grace and poise of a seasoned lady, Chiara turned to the crowd of observers, who unlike Kristine didn’t attempt to hide their curiosity.
“Jonathan’s funeral will be held this Friday at Saint Anthony’s Church. I expect all of you to attend and join the Amato and
Vitale Family for a memorial feast following the service.” Turning her eyes back to Barbara, “Even you will be welcome.” Shifting her gaze back to the crowd. “Along with all of the other women he tried to erase me from his thoughts with.”
Kristine surveyed the women in the crowd, while she suspected the men who gave them gifts did so in exchange for sex, Jonathan had never ventured into the office in the short time she been employed. And while she didn’t doubt the validity of Chiara’s claims, she wondered how much of what she said was a jab at the proverbial other woman?
Having said what she’d kept inside for years, Chiara turned to leave when she caught Felicia dashing down the hall, an approaching Gino her intended target.
“Oh my God! I came by your penthouse last night, but you didn’t come to the door.” Felicia cried, attempting to wrap herself around Gino. “Jonathan was like a father to me, and I know he is looking down from heaven, and smiling on the two of us.”
Gino shot her a hard look, stepping around her to join his mother.
“Yes, yes, Felicia. We all know Jonathan wanted the two of you together, but what he didn’t have in life, his death isn’t likely to bring.”
Kristine held her breath as Felicia looked from Gino to Chiara, her face growing red when neither of them reacted to her tantrum.
“How can you stand there and deny what you promised?”
“Promise? What promise?” Gino demanded.
Hooking her hands on her hips, Felicia tipped her head to the side. “At Sully’s eighteenth birthday you promised to take care of me.”
Gino tossed his head back in laughter. “Are you mad? I said I would get you home so your father wouldn’t see how drunk you were. Not marry you!”
Anger turned to sorrow as Felicia’s bottom lip began to quiver. “You can’t do this, Gino. I’ve spent every moment of my life learning to like what you do. I’ve endured surgeries to make me the perfect woman. I gave up my dreams so I could be everything you wanted and now you tell me you changed your mind.”
Bringing his fists in the air in frustration, no longer bound to the rules his father dished out where Felicia was concerned. “I don’t love you, Felicia! I never have, and besides, you shouldn’t have to learn to like what I do, that’s not how relationships work.” Gino reasoned, thinking of the conversations he and Kristine had over their various shared interests.
“Whose talking about a relationship? I want to be your wife!” Felicia screamed. “I want to live in that big house, have a cook and a maid, I want a personal shopper and to never wear the same clothes twice. I want to spend the winter in Sicily and travel on a private jet. I want new cars and for doors to open and have my picture taken. I want it all.”
Clarity hit Gino so hard he nearly stumbled. “Then I suggest you either find someone who can give you what you want or a way to get it on your own.”
With fury and sadness swirling in her eyes, Felicia shot Gino a death glare before turning on her heels. “Nobody tells Felicia Vittorio no! Not even you, Giovanni.”
Kristine held her breath as Gino’s full name swirled in the air, her eyes wide as Gino nodded at two suited men to follow Felicia.
“Give everyone the day off, Sully.” Gino barked before holding out his arm to Chiara, who looked at him with such pride as he led her out of the room and down the hall.
Kristine finished entering the stack of bills into her computer before grabbing her coat and purse. Sliding behind the wheel of the car Gino gave her, she smiled as the tone for an incoming message sounded from her purse.
Dinner tonight, my mother and sister want to officially meet you.
20
“My son tells me you recently moved from Kansas. How are you liking New Jersey?”
Chiara struggled to keep her composure as she sat across the table from the young woman who’d made her only son smile. The minute she’d stepped from the jet, she demanded Gino tell her what was going on, and why he was being so cryptic. She’d gone to the office to see for herself if the business was indeed legitimate or if it was a glorified brothel. However, what she found nearly took her breath away.
Kristine had never been this nervous to meet anyone. Granted, living in a small town all her life didn’t offer her the chance to meet anyone new. “With the exception of a few people, I’ve found it to be a nice change.”
Having seen the looks Felicia gave Kristine. “It’s always the few which spoils it for the many,” Chiara surmised, over the rim of her glass of wine. “And my son, how do you find him?”
Kristine couldn’t hide the smile at the mention of Gino, choosing her words carefully as she wasn’t certain how much of their relationship he’d shared with his mother. “Giovanni is a good man, despite his circumstances.”
“You mean his job?” Chiara clarified.
Kristine tipped her head in confusion, “No, running a car rental is a good and honest profession. What I mean is he’s constantly pulled in several directions. Sully seems to have the help of so many, but Gino carries all the weight.”
Chiara shifted her focus to Gino, a brow raised in question. “Car rental?”
Gino told his mother how loyal Kristine was, and here she sat, keeping the secret, even among family.
“Do you enjoy working?” Sophia, sensing the tension in the air chose that moment to ask her question.
Having nearly forgotten Sophia was in the room, Kristine shot a genuine smile in her direction. “Most of the time, yes. I find numbers relaxing. They help me focus when the world around me seems crazy.”
“And school, did you enjoy your time at university?”
Dipping her head, Kristine had never been embarrassed about her bargain-basement education before, but surrounded by luxury, she felt lacking for the first time. “I attended community college, with my family’s financial situation there wasn’t an option to attend a traditional college. When my granny died recently, I had the choice to continue my final year, or move here. Lucky for me, I’d befriended Nina and she got me the job with the company. I hope to find a school here so I can finish my degree.”
“But still you record the books?” Sophia questioned, confused as to why her brother would allow this.
“Some, but not all, Sophia.” Gino added. “Sully monopolizes most of her time with a housecleaning project he’d assigned her. I’ve given her the responsibility of paying my personal accounts and the accounts pertaining to Amato, but not the businesses in New York.”
“Which reminds me,” Kristine wiped her mouth. “I found some checks I’d like to show you. After the funeral, of course.”
“May I ask how you befriended Nina?” Sophia felt it odd the chances two people from such different backgrounds would meet and form a friendship. One where a recommendation, especially considering the company was a front for money laundering, would be handed out so easily.
“On social media. She and I belonged to the same accounting group. She sent me a friend request and we’ve been friends ever since.”
Sofia reached across the table, laying her hand over Kristine’s. “You have honest eyes, somewhat of a rarity these days.” Looking to her brother, “And your sympathy is genuine, even to a man who didn’t deserve it.”
“Care to tell me why Kristine is sitting at the back of the church?” Chiara questioned her son as the organ played softly overhead, the mahogany coffin containing Jonathan’s body not five feet away. She’d performed her final duty as his wife by giving him a service fit for a king.
Keeping his body forward, Gino ignored Sully’s tears, unable to keep it together since they’d wheeled their father’s casket in an hour ago.
“She insisted I stay with you and the family, sighting the fact I haven’t gone through the proper channels to be with her publicly.”
“And do you intend to?” Chiara's question was rhetorical. Despite Felicia’s and Barbara’s disruption, she could see how deeply in love with Kristine her son was.
“Absolutely, the meeting is scheduled for
later.” With all the Family leaders from around the world in attendance, Niko started the wheels turning, securing a place to have the vote held.
“Then you will forgive me for what I’m about to do.”
Chiara didn’t wait for her son to argue, standing from her seat, she ignored the mass of people staring back at her as she made her way down the center aisle. With her head held high as she’d done for years, she focused on the click of her heels against the marble floor, instead of the hushed conversations camouflaged behind carefully place hands. She walked with purpose and determination, giving every questioning eye something to talk about as they ate their fill of the astronomically priced food being served in the same house Jonathan was killed in.
Reaching the final pew, Chiara held her hand out to a shocked Kristine who sat alone, her skirt tucked around her legs and covered from head to toe in black, a well-loved rosary in her right hand. Having been overjoyed to learn the woman her son chose was a devote Catholic, she was pleasantly surprised to see she was telling the truth. Her mannerisms reflecting the proper etiquette for attending a funeral.
“Kristine, it is customary for the family to occupy the first two rows during the funeral of a loved one. And while we can’t all say we loved Jonathan; I can certainly attest you belong beside my son.”
Confusion gripped Kristine, unsure of what to do as Gino had made it clear she was to keep their relationship quiet, yet here Chiara stood, the matriarch of the family, telling her to basically announce the extent of her involvement with Giovanni. Not wanting to make a scene, Kristine stood to her feet, walking in step with Chiara until they reached the front of the church where Gino stood, a callous grin on his chiseled face.
Reaching out for her, Gino placed a kiss to her cheek. “Forgive my mother, she’s at the point of her life where she no longer cares what others think of her.”
Leave Me Breathless: The Black Rose Collection Page 15
