Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 90642 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90642 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
“Yes, I do,” he says very seriously.
“You love me.” I hit him again. “Admit it.”
“You just like hearing me say it out loud.”
“Damn right.” I get on my toes and kiss him. “Say it again for me.”
“Always.” He kisses me deeper. “I love you.”
“Yeah, you really do.” I lean into that kiss, holding it for a while until we’re fumbling at each other for the second time this morning. I straddle him on the floor in front of the empty fireplace, the old floorboard creaking as I ride him to a shuddering, moaning orgasm, his cock buried between my legs and filling me up, and we finish lying on our sides, sweat-slick and happy.
I can close my eyes and pretend we’re normal newlyweds breaking in our new house for the first time. There’s no war, no danger, no mafia families to contend with, only a bright, lovely future unspooling ahead of us. Brody kisses me and I sink into his rhythmic breathing, but I know this little fantasy can’t last forever.
And I’ll shatter it.
“My brother wants to have a meeting tonight.” I sit up on an elbow. He runs his fingers through my hair, twirling a piece around his finger.
“About the plan?”
“He wants to be a part of it.”
Brody grunts. He doesn’t look happy, but I waited for a good time to mention it at least. “Alright, we can do that.”
“You were never going to pull this off alone. You have to know that.”
He sighs and lies on his back, his hands behind his head. I marvel at his muscular biceps. I get to be with these arms forever, for as long as we’re alive.
“I know, but I wanted to leave you all out of it for as long as I could. But no, this is good. We’ll work out the details together.”
“That’s my boy. You’re a team player now.” I pat his cheek and he catches my wrist with a grin. He pulls me against him and I laugh as he kisses me, rolls me over onto my back, and pins me to the floor.
“I’m a team player so long as I still get what I want.”
“And what’s that?”
“You, often and vigorously.”
I roll my eyes. “What a terrible line.”
“We both know you loved it.” He kisses my throat right over my pulse. “Your heart’s racing.”
“That’s from pure boredom.”
“Oh, yeah? Your heart hammers when you’re bored?”
“Yep. I guess you don’t keep me entertained.”
“Guess I’ll have to try harder,” he murmurs as he kisses down my neck and toward my breasts.
“Try a lot harder,” I say, smiling like a moron as he takes a nipple in his mouth and sucks.
Chapter 44
Brody
The meeting takes place that evening in Simon’s office. Davide pours everyone a drink while I sit on the couch with Elena. Simon’s sitting in an easy chair instead of behind his desk, with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows and his top two buttons undone. Once the drinks are distributed, Davide lurks on the edges of the group like he doesn’t want to get involved, but I can practically feel him paying close attention.
I expected more people. This is an extremely consequential discussion and I thought Simon would involve at least a few of his Capos. At the very least, I figured his father would’ve been here, since he’s going to be a part of the operation. I even debated bringing my brothers but decided against it—the fewer voices in the planning stages, the better everything will be.
“We need to agree on a few things,” Simon says and takes a long drink. “What you do moving forward could blow back on me, and I need to make sure we have all our bases covered.”
“That’s fine with me. I figured we were going to have this discussion eventually.” I look at Elena and resist the urge to put my hand on her thigh. I’m still buzzing from earlier in the day. I didn’t know how she’d react to seeing the house—buying the damn thing was a whim and a risk—but it went better than I ever could’ve imagined.
I want to be with her. I want to be her husband. Not for some political reason, but because I want her, and I’m ready to stop holding myself back out of some ill-advised attempt at emulating my father. I can handle having a wife and a family on top of running my organization—and I can do that by letting my brothers take on more of the responsibility, and by leaning on Elena as much as is reasonable.
I’m not in this alone. I should’ve realized that from the start. Maybe my game with Santoro could’ve gone even better if Simon and Davide knew about it from the beginning, but I don’t regret making that decision. There are always a million different ways to look back and wonder how things could be different, but I made my decisions and I took my risks, and now I’m living with how things are shaking out.