Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 96170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
“You’re something special, Fiorella Serrano.”
“Easy for you to say since you just had sex with me.” I lean my palm against his chest, thinking I’ll shove him back. But I don’t want him to move away. Not yet at least. My armor is still thrown aside and broken from the sudden trauma of earlier, and I feel so vulnerable after what just happened.
If he turns his back on me now, I don’t know how I’ll ever recover.
But he doesn’t. Instead, he gently kisses me again and helps me get dressed. He’s surprisingly tender and confident as he does it. When I’m fully clothed, I gather his things and pull away, arms crossed over my chest to protect myself.
I can still feel him between my legs though, throbbing like a memory.
“I don’t normally do that, you know.” I feel the need to explain and justify. “I mean, I think it’s just, you know, the adrenaline and stuff.”
“I understand.” He buckles his belt and starts on his shirt. “I don’t do that either.”
My eyebrows raise. “Yeah? You don’t? You seemed pretty comfortable with it.”
“Adrenaline.”
“The dirty talk?”
“Also adrenaline.” His lips press together like he’s trying to swallow a smirk. “And I liked the look on your face. Like you were scandalized but also into it.”
“I wasn’t—I mean, I was, but—” I shut my mouth, angry with myself and flustered. I should never have gotten vulnerable with this guy. I swear I’ll never hear the end of it. Not from a guy like Luca.
I know mafia men. I grew up with them. I learned a long time ago to keep my walls firmly in place and to never, ever, ever let them get close.
Because guys like Luca only care about themselves.
That was a hard lesson I’ll never forget.
“I meant what I said, you know.” He finishes dressing and looks at me. “You are something special.”
My cheeks turn bright red. I’m flushed with the sudden urge to throw myself at him and kiss him until his lips bleed.
But there’s a knock at the door. It opens, and the older man from earlier pokes his head inside.
“Luca, got a girl here to see you.” He looks from me down to the mess on the floor and back again. Embarrassment slams into me like a truck. But if he knows what we were just doing, his face doesn’t show it.
“Thanks, Gio. Send her in.”
Gio steps aside, and a bubbly little ball of energy comes rushing into the room. “Fiorella! Oh my god, I was so freaking worried about you!”
Elisa flings herself into the room, her dark ringlets bouncing around her angelic little face, and she slams into me with the energy and power of a Yorkshire Terrier.
“I’m okay, it’s okay, Elisa. It’s all fine.”
She squeezes me with all her strength. “Raffa told me something bad happened, and I rushed here right away to get you. Oh my god, are you hurt? Are you okay?” She pulls back, finally looking at me, then at the room, then back to me again. “What the heck happened in here?”
“Nothing,” I say, grabbing her hand. “Let’s go home, okay? I’m totally fine.”
Elisa’s face scrunches up as I try to pull her away. “Hold on, were you two fighting? Or wait—” Then my sweet, naive little sister finally understands. She covers her mouth with her other hand, looking from Luca to me and back again, her eyes going big enough to drive a truck straight through them. “Fiorella!”
“Just let it go,” I hiss at her. “We’ll talk about it later.”
She covers her mouth, laughter racking her chest. “Oh my god. I mean, okay, okay, sure!”
I squeeze her other palm hard enough to move the bones. “Stop it.”
“I’ll stop. I’ll stop!” She pulls away, shaking her hand out with a wicked grin. “God, you’re so strong.”
I drag her to the doorway, seething and burning with embarrassment. I don’t know what the heck came over me back there, but now it’s completely gone. Luca stands beside his desk, totally at ease, looking more amused than anything else.
“It was nice meeting you, Fiorella,” he calls out.
“Thanks for everything,” Elisa answers, grinning madly. “And I mean for everything—”
I punch her in the arm. “Enough of that.”
“Owwww, shit, come on,” she groans, still beaming. “Aren’t you at least going to thank the guy who saved your life?”
“No thanks needed,” Luca says, casually beginning to pick the mess off the floor. “The pleasure was all mine.” I swear, the asshole knows exactly what he’s doing right now.
I square my shoulders at him and school my face. I give him nothing—absolutely nothing at all—as I nod my head once.
“Thanks.”
He nods back. “Any time.”
I get the hell out of there. Elisa keeps pace, her chest racked with laughter. The workers ignore us, thankfully, though some of them glance toward my sister. She’s everything I’m not: graceful, beautiful, feminine, light. Any idiot could see how beautiful she is in a small and elfin kind of way.