95

As promised, Luca came home early. I was incredibly nervous. I had chosen a beautiful yellow dress and set the table on the rooftop terrace. Surprise flashed across Luca’s face when he found me outside.
“I thought we could eat here?”
He wrapped his arms around me and drew me in for a lingering kiss. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach. “I ordered Indian food.”
“I’m only hungry for one thing.”
I shivered. “Let’s eat.” What would Luca do if I told him the deal was off? I sat down. Luca watched me with intensity. Finally he slumped down in the chair in front of me. There was a slight breeze caressing my skin and pulling at my hair.
“You look damn sexy.”
I started to eat. “Romero took me to the Met today. It was amazing.”
“Good,” Luca said with a hint of amusement. Could he see how nervous I was?
“What about the restaurant owner? Have you convinced him that the Familia will protect him from the Russians?” “Of course. He has been under our protection for more than a decade. There’s no reason to change that now.”
“Of course,” I said distractedly, taking a sip of white wine.
Luca put down his fork. “Air?”
“Hm?” I put a piece of cauliflower on the plate, not meeting Luca’s gaze.
“Aria.” His voice sent a chill down my spine and I looked at him. He leaned against the back of the chair, his arms crossed over his strong chest. “You’re scared.”
“I’m not.” He narrowed his eyes. “Maybe a little, but mostly I’m nervous.”
He got up from the chair and walked around the table. “Come on.” He held out his hand. After a brief moment of hesitation, I took it and let him put me back on my feet. “Let’s get in the Jacuzzi, okay?
This will relax you.”
I doubted that being in a Jacuzzi with him only in a bathing suit would make me less nervous. I didn’t know what to expect, and that terrified me.
“Why don’t you get your bikini and I’ll get the Jacuzzi ready?”
I nodded and went back inside. I chose my favorite white box bikini with pink polka dots. I gathered my hair into a ponytail, then looked at myself in the bathroom mirror. I wasn’t sure why this made me so nervous. This morning Luca’s touch had inflamed my skin. He had promised not to do anything I didn’t want to do.
I took a deep breath and went to the bedroom. Luca was waiting for me in black shorts;
they did nothing to hide his strong body. All muscle and strength. His eyes ran through me, then he slid a hand to my side. “You’re perfect,” he said quietly. With a gentle push he led me out of the bedroom, down the stairs and onto the rooftop terrace.
I shivered in my bikini. The breeze had picked up and it was definitely too cold to be outside wearing anything but a bikini. Luca took me in his arms. I gasped in surprise as my hand grazed the tattoo on his heart.
My heart galloped in my chest. I sank my face into the crook of Luca’s neck, trying to relax. Luca’s grip on me grew stronger as he entered the hot tub and lowered us slowly into the warm, bubbling water. I sat on his lap, my face still hidden against his skin. Luca rubbed his hand up and down my back. “There is no reason for you to be afraid.”
“Says the man who crushed a man’s throat with his bare hands,” I wanted to say jokingly, but my voice trembled.
“This has nothing to do with us, Aria. This is business.
“I know. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”
“What’s really the problem?”
“I’m nervous because I feel vulnerable, like I’m at your mercy because of the agreement.”
“Aria, forget about the agreement. Why don’t you try to relax and enjoy this?” He lifted my chin until our lips almost touched and our eyes met.
“Promise me you won’t force me to do something I don’t want to do.” I lowered my gaze to his chest. “Promise me you won’t hurt me.”
“Why should I hurt you?” asked Luca. “I told you I won’t sleep with you unless you want me to .”
“So you will hurt me when we sleep together?”
Luca’s lips twisted into a wry smile. “Not on purpose, no, but I don’t think there’s any way around that.” He kissed the spot below my ear. “But tonight I want to make you squirm with pleasure. Trust me.”
I wanted to, but trust was a dangerous thing in our world. Part of me wanted to hold back the flash of hatred I had felt when I had caught him with Grace. But another larger part wanted to pretend that we had not been forced into this union, wanted to pretend that we could love each other.
Luca’s tongue ran over my throat. He stopped on my pounding pulse and sucked my skin into his mouth. I shivered from the sensation. His body was warm and hard against mine, and I liked sitting on his lap; although it wasn’t exactly comfortable. There wasn’t much softness in Luca’s body, just firm muscles. He shifted, pressing his erection against my butt as his lips claimed my mouth. The kiss hurled little lightning bolts through my body, but I needed it to be more than physical. I wanted to know more about the man I would spend the rest of my life with.
I pulled back, receiving a growl from Luca in response. His fingers on my waist tightened, his gray eyes questioning as they rested on my face. I kissed him on the cheek and threw my arms around his neck. “Can we talk a little?”
It was obvious from Luke’s expression that talking was the last thing on his mind, but he leaned back against the Jacuzzi wall. “What do you want to talk about?”
One of his hands slid lower and began to caress my butt. I didn’t let it distract me from my goal, even though it was very distracting. The hungry look in Luca’s eyes didn’t help either.
“What happened to your mother?” I knew she had died when Luca was a boy, but Umberto had not said much more, either because he did not know or because he thought I should not know.
Luca’s body stiffened, his eyes hard. “She’s dead.” He turned his face away, flexing his jaw. “That’s not the kind of thing I want to talk about tonight.”
His rebuke hurt. I wanted to get closer to him, wanted to know more sides of him, but it was clear he wouldn’t let me. I nodded.
Luke removed his hand from my butt and slowly ran it down my side, then lowered it to the inside of my thigh. He slid under my bikini bottoms, rubbing his finger along my folds. I should have pushed him away, but instead I opened my legs a little wider. Luca rubbed his neck on my neck, then pulled back. He slipped the fingers of his other hand under my bikini top and lowered it. My breasts leapt free, goose bumps covered my skin and my nipple erect from contact with the cool breeze.
Luca made a deep sound from his throat as he stared at my chest. Then he bowed deeply and sucked my nipple into his mouth and at the same time rubbed his thumb over my clitoris. I cried out from the sensation. He growled against my skin and released my nipple with an audible pop. His gaze rested on me as his tongue flicked over my bulge. I tried to look away, but he growled. “NO.
Look at me.”
And I did. I watched my nipple disappear into his mouth once more, watched him tease it with his tongue, his gray eyes hungrily on me. He bit gently and my hips collided with his hand, continuing to tease my folds. Release trembled through my body. Luca pulled back quickly, grabbed my hips and lifted me to the edge of the hot tub.
“Luca, what…” Luca ripped my bikini pants off me, practically tearing them in half. I gasped and tried to close my legs, but Luca positioned himself between them, pulled my legs as far apart as he could and lowered his head.
I was breathless again, horrified and stunned and…. oh God. Luca ran his tongue from my opening to my clit.
“Fuck, yes,” he growled.
My eyes looked around. What if people could see? Only part of the hot tub was surrounded by a screen, but Luca sucked my outer lips into his mouth and I no longer cared.
“Look at me,” he ordered against my folds, the feel of his breath against my heated flesh making me shiver. I looked down, my skin burning with embarrassment and excitement as I met his gaze. His eyes fixed in mine, he slowly slid his tongue between my folds. I groaned.
“You are mine,” he said harshly. He licked me again more firmly but also more slowly. “Say it.”
“I’m yours,” I said breathlessly. His thumbs separated me even more, revealing my small pink bulge. He let out a low breath, a smirk curving his lips. I wanted him to touch me there, that’s all I wanted. He leaned forward, staring at me, and circled his tongue around my bulge. I whimpered, reaching out and grabbing Luca’s hair. I came violently, shaking and screaming, writhing against Luca’s lips.
He didn’t stop. He was relentless. I threw my head back, staring at the night sky. Luca didn’t tell me to look at him this time. But I could feel everything he was doing. How he sucked and licked, how he hummed with approval, how he blew on my heated flesh, then licked again. My whole body was on fire and trembling. I could take no more, but Luca pushed his tongue into me and I came, tightening my muscles around him. I closed my eyes, arching my back on the cold marble. I was so wet. How could anyone be so wet? The sounds of Luca lapping me were wrong but turned me on like never before.
Luca stuck out his tongue as the last spikes of my orgasm destroyed me. Before I could realize what was happening, I felt his finger against my opening and he slid it in almost completely. The intrusion was foreign and unexpected. I sighed and gasped in pain. My body stiffened as I tried to catch my breath. I had never even used tampons because they were too uncomfortable and because my mother feared I might accidentally break my hymen.
“Shit, you’re so damn tight, Aria.”
I leaned my palms against the edge of the hot tub, trying to relax. The water flowed as Luca stepped out of the water to lean over me, his finger still inside me. I bit my lip but did not look at him.
“Hey,” he said in a rough voice. I met his gaze. “I should have entered more slowly, but you were so wet.”
I nodded but said nothing. I couldn’t get over the feeling of his finger inside me. He wasn’t moving, but there he was, filling me. Luca kissed me on the lips. His eyes were darker than I had ever seen them and filled with so much desire and hunger that I was frightened and excited at the same time.
“Does it still hurt?” he squealed.
I shifted my hip slightly, trying to find the words to describe the sensation. “It’s uncomfortable and it burns a little.” I blushed.
Luca licked my lips, then sucked the underside into his mouth. “I know I’m an asshole for saying this, but the thought of my cock in your tight pussy makes me so hard.”
My eyes widened but he shook his head. “Don’t look so terrified. I told you I wouldn’t try it tonight.”