Athena
“Rise and shine, Gonzalez,” Luciano’s voice pierced into the fog of sleep that clouded my senses. “It’s a beautiful morning in Sicily. The sky looks like a painting of our dear Leonardo Da Vinci. And that volcano’s looking as vicious as ever.”
Good lord, he was a different man in Sicily! At home, he barely said words to me. Here he was as chatty as a lunatic.
“Mr. Moretti, some of us are trying to sleep,” I grumbled, burying my face deeper into my pillow. I would start working on why I came to Sicily soon, I wanted all the rest I could get.
“Why sleep when you could be with me?” He grumbled. His footsteps grew louder as he approached the bed and yanked the covers away from me.
“What the hell is your problem?!” I yelled, sitting up. I still felt sleepy and I couldn’t for the life of me understand why he was being a fucking nuisance.
“What… Did you just say to me?” He demanded, a cold expression quickly replacing the warm one he had earlier. I watched him lean closer, dark obsidian stones glaring daggers at me.
“What you heard,” I replied but with less bite than earlier. “I was trying to sleep-”
“I was trying to wake you up!” He snapped.
“It’s my fucking choice if I want to wake up or not! The least you could have done was do it gently instead, you nincompoop!”
“What the hell is that?” He growled.
“A shitty thing,” I replied with a shrug.
“Fuck! Woman, it’s hard doing nice things for you.” He grunted and rose to his feet. What was with him?
“What do you mean nice things?” I asked and he shrugged, a mocking smile playing on his lips.
“You’re suddenly interested? I’ve taken back my offer.” My eyes scrutinized him and boy I was shocked. There was not an ounce of gel in his hair. The strands were free and tousled and he looked so yummy in them. He was dressed casually.
Casually!
The great Moretti was wearing a white button-up shirt tucked in deep blue pants. The first three buttons were undone, revealing a very beautiful chest. He looked delicious. Had he wanted us to go out?
Hissing and I flopped back on the bed and turned my back to him.
“You can take your offer and shove it up you know where.”
For a minute I didn’t hear a sound.
“Are you mad at me, Raven?” He asked beside me and I almost screamed.
What on earth? How had he moved so fast that I hadn’t noticed? His hand came across my waist and his face buried in the crook of my neck.
“You sound pissed,” he mumbled.
“I’m not,” I replied curtly, feeling my belly flutter like a fool.
“Mhmm,” he hummed, and inhaled, breathing me in. “I know when you’re pissed, Cara.”
Shrugging, I kept silent until he spoke again. Damn, he was just full of words today, wasn’t he?
“I want to take you out,'”
I froze, not sure I had processed his words correctly. “W-What did you just say?”
He chuckled. “There’s no need to sound so appalled.”
“What do you mean to take me out?”
“Date? Court? What do Americans call it? You know what I mean Cara, stop fooling around.”
“You’re the one fooling around,” I cried, trying to push away from him but he held on tighter. “Have you gone mad?!”
“Why are you overreacting?” He asked.
“Because this is weird! Do you want to take me out? What? All you’ve done ever since is take whatever you want as you own it anyway! What’s with the new change?”
Fuck no. Something was wrong. He was making things between us to be more than physical. The physical was good! Physical was fucking safe. I didn’t want any fucking strings attached! I just wanted to be done with this stupid mission and be gone. No dates, no courting, no… No strings.
“Maybe I just want to spend time with you Raven, there’s no need to be this crazed about- Fuck Raven stop trembling! I’m not going to eat you up!” He sounded tired and turned me around so I could face him. There was concern in his eyes. Concern pierced right through my chest and somehow I felt like a major bitch.
“I…” He sighed and brushed his knuckles over my cheeks. “Don’t overthink this. Just think of it as me trying to get into your pants. Is that better?”
Yes! So much better. My chest, which had tightened, suddenly felt easier to breathe. I sighed and slumped against his hold. When my eyes opened, he was staring at me sadly.
“What?” I asked, feeling quite judged.
Knowing that he wanted something in return made it better. Yes, I was that crazy. If he was being nice to me just because he wanted to… No, that felt wrong. Luciano Moretti was not that kind of person.
He wasn’t the type who did nice things with no ulterior motive. He wanted me. He had made it clear the day before. All of this, the whole date thing was solely because of that.
“Nothing.” He grumbled. “Do you feel better now? I already had Luca draw up a list of places we could go to.”
“Really?” I asked, looking up at him. “Can we go to the volcano?”
He gave me a look that told me he thought that was a terrible idea and I laughed.
“You’re seriously not afraid of that volcano, are you?”
“What’s there not to be afraid of? It could go all crazy and poof! Sicily will be wiped. Why do you think I carted my ass off to the motherland?”
I snickered at his words. That wasn’t the real reason, I knew that, but whatever floated his boat, I supposed.
“So where do you plan on taking me first?”
He grinned at me, pushing strands of hair away from my forehead. “The Opera Theater.”
My face fell instantly. “You’ve got to be kidding me? Who the hell likes Opera?”
“Not me,” he grinned.
“And you think I’d like it?”
He shook his head. “No. But I reserved the VIP and I thought we could be engrossed in… Other things while they did their thing.”
I frowned. “What other things can someone do in a fucking theater?”
“You’ll see,” he winked.
***
I did see. Fuck, I saw. Celestial highs and hellish lows, I saw it all. By the time we walked out of the opera, I could barely walk. I had to hold on to Luciano as we stumbled towards his car.
“Fuck, that was good,” he sighed when we finally hit the backseat.
“I’ve never made out like that in an Opera,” I groaned. My breasts were sore and they hurt slightly as my dress moved against them.
Luciano had been insatiable. I hadn’t thought I could climax that many times. If the opera singers weren’t so loud, every single soul in that fucking place would have heard me scream like a banshee.
My face burned as I recalled all the naughty things we did. I hadn’t expected it. I supposed I should have suspected when he asked; more like ordered; me not to wear a bra under the single-strap dress. It had been incredibly easy for him to yank it off and bury his face between them.
“Drive,” he ordered his driver and turned to me. “Are you okay? That opera chair was darn uncomfortable.”
“It was made for sitting. You used it for other things aside from sitting. You’re going to have backaches for days.” I taunted and he grinned.
“It was worth it,”
Was he doing all this to get into my pants, because fuck that was hot? I might as well give in already.
“Where next?” I asked looking out the window to watch the streets. It was unlike New York. Everything about Sicily was unlike New York.
My eyes fell on the side mirror. A Carabinieri car was following us. I sighed. I’d have to tell Frederick to speak to these people. They were being so fucking obvious.
“A diner.” When I arched a brow, he spread out his hands in defense. “I have to feed you, don’t I?”
Chuckling, I nodded. “After all that, yes you have to.”
“Good girl,” he praised, patting my hair. “Let me take care of you, Cara.”
Surprised at the sudden softness in his tone, I glanced at him to see his dark brown eyes bearing down on me rather warmly.
“All this because you want to get into my pants? Isn’t that expensive?” I asked.
Luciano chuckled, ran a finger down my arm, and chuckled. “After all that happened in that opera, you think it’s too expensive? Cara, I have yet to spend on you.”
My face flamed at his words and I looked away. His laughter echoed behind me and I sighed. This was going to be harder than I thought.