When the alarm woke me the next morning, I was alone in bed. I sat up and pressed the button that slid the curtains. A blinding light greeted me and I quickly closed my eyes. When I finally got used to the brightness, I looked around my room for a sign of Romero’s party, but there was nothing. It might as well have been a dream. For a moment of dismay I thought just that. I pressed my nose to the pillow and smelled it. Not a dream. I slipped out of bed. Of course, he did not stay until morning. Romero was cautious, one of us had to be. If one of my sisters had entered without knocking, which had happened before, then we could have been in big trouble. Yet it felt like a small rejection that he had left me alone without a word.
Brace yourself, Lily.
We had to be careful or they would send me home and then we could never spend time together again. It was a good start.
A start for what? I was not naive enough to believe that my father would accept Romero as a potential candidate for marriage. I wasn’t even sure that Romero considered me as someone he would want to marry. But I was taking too many chances. I wanted to take risks, enjoy life and be happy. That night with Romero was a step in the right direction.
I ran to the shower but paid close attention to my makeup and hair. Then I went downstairs. I could hear my sisters already laughing in the kitchen and followed the noise. They were standing at the kitchen counter, coffee cups in their hands. No one else was there but the large wooden table was set for six people, so the men would join us later, hopefully. Trying to hide my disappointment that Romero had not yet arrived, I approached them. Aria poured me a cup of coffee and handed it to me with a worried expression.
“You didn’t sleep again last night?”
I paused with the cup to my lips, my pulse quickening. Had they seen Romero enter my room?
Or perhaps even come out in the morning? “Why?” I asked hesitantly.
Gianna huffed. “Because you look fucking tired.
You have dark circles under your eyes.”
I thought I had put on enough concealer. Damn. “I’m fine . I dreamed about Mom, but it wasn’t bad.”
Aria wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “Still on what she told you?”
“Yes,” I said evasively. “I can’t get her words out of my head.”
“Don’t take everything he said too much to heart.
He was hurting. It’s not your job to undo his mistakes. He was unhappy in the end, but it was his fault,” Gianna said.
“Gianna,” Aria said warningly.
“It’s not like Mom tried to make me feel guilty about anything.
She just wanted me to be happy.”
“And you will be happy. We’ll make sure of that,” Aria said, lightly squeezing my shoulder before stepping back. “Let’s start eating. Who knows when the men will arrive . They had something to discuss.”
“Oh?” I asked nervously as we walked over to the table and sat down. “Business?” If I was already a nervous wreck when Romero and I hadn’t done anything yet, how much worse would it be once something actually happened?
Aria gave me a strange look. “I guess. It’s all they talk about.”
“You’re acting a little strange,” Gianna said as she took a Danish from the bread basket. She looked at my face. “Did something happen?”
“No,” I said too quickly. I grabbed a bowl and some cereal and milk. Fortunately, the men arrived at that moment. I froze when my eyes landed on Romero. His gaze barely touched me as he, Luca, and Matteo made their way to the table. Although we knew we were supposed to act normal and not draw suspicion on ourselves, his blatant refusal to look in my direction sent a twinge of worry through me. I took the spoon and began to eat my cereal. I could feel my sisters’ eyes on me.
They knew me too well, but I was not going to give them a chance to suspect anything. I didn’t want them to have to keep a secret from their husbands, especially not that kind of secret. For the rest of breakfast, I made sure to keep my eyes off Romero and talked to my sisters instead.
After breakfast, Aria and Gianna decided to go to the pool again. I went to my room to change into a bikini, a pretty pink thing with white polka dots. When I got out, I almost bumped into a hard chest. I was breathless, not expecting someone to be at my door. “God, you scared me,” I said with a giggle.
Romero said nothing. His eyes roamed over my body. “You are breathtaking.”
I couldn’t hold back a dig. “You didn’t seem to notice at breakfast.”
Romero crossed my gaze. “I noticed, believe me. It’s impossible not to notice,” he said softly. We were alone in the hallway and close enough to smell his aftershave. “I didn’t want to ignore you, but we have no choice . This has to remain a secret.”
“This?” I asked. “What exactly is this?” We had done almost nothing yet. We had kissed three times, but that was all.
“I don’t know. Maybe nothing. But I want you Lily.
I can’t get you out of my head. No matter what I do, you’re always there.”
I exhaled. It was as if a huge boulder had fallen from my shoulders. So it wasn’t just me. “I want you, too. So what are we going to do now?” I took a step forward. Romero’s eyes traveled the length of my body again and made me tingle all over. How would I feel if he touched every spot where his eyes had wandered?
Romero came closer and I lowered my head to stare into his face. He did not touch me, even though I wanted him to. “What I want to do is take you to your bedroom and rip off your bikini, then taste every inch of your skin. I know you will taste absolutely perfect.”
“Why don’t you find out?” I whispered.
“Damn,” Romero muttered. He took my head and tilted it to the side, then leaned over and pressed an open-mouthed kiss to my pulse point before tracing my jugular with his tongue. I let out an embarrassed moan as my core contracted in arousal. I tilted my head further to the side to give him better access, but he had moved from my throat and kissed my lips. I pressed myself against him. His T-shirt was cool against my bare skin. A noise from somewhere in the house made us jerk. There was no one in the hallway, but it was a good reminder that we had to be careful. After another glance down the hallway, Romero stroked my cheek again.
“You taste as good as I thought you would.”
I smiled. “You haven’t tasted all of me yet.” My cheeks flamed as I realized what I had said and how Romero would understand it.
Romero’s eyes darkened with what I suspected was desire. “I’m going to do it, trust me.”
I shuddered. “Really?”
“God yes.” He sighed, then took a step back. “But we have to be careful. This is a dangerous road we’re on.”
“I know, but I don’t care. I want this.”
Romero kissed me again. He shook his head. “I don’t know how you did it, but I can’t get you out of my fucking head. And now this.” He pointed to my bikini. “You’re lucky you can’t read my mind, you’d be shocked.”
“Not as shocked as you, if you could read my mind,” I said with what I hoped was a seductive smile. I turned and walked away, making sure to move my hips.
Romero As I watched Lily prance away, I almost groaned. Her tiny bikini barely covered her perfect buttocks and her long legs were driving me crazy. I wanted to read her mind, wanted to find out what she wanted and give it to her.
Her earlier comment about tasting her had filled my head with images of my mouth on her pussy. I couldn’t wait to find out if she was as pink and perfect as I imagined. I wanted to lick her until she begged for mercy.
My pants became uncomfortable and I had to move to give my cock a little more room. How could I restrain myself if I kept thinking about tasting her? It had been hard enough lying in her bed at night without those images in my head, torturing me. I knew Lily would visit me again at night. Now that she knew how much I wanted her, she would make the most of her opportunity.
But I also knew that I had to set certain boundaries. Flirting and kissing was still tolerable, although I was pretty sure that Luca and Aria, and certainly Scuderi, would disagree. Going further was something I could not risk. I had made a promise to Luca and I should have at least tried to keep it to some extent.
Liliana That night I snuck back into Romero’s bedroom. The lights were off but he was sitting with his back against the headboard. He said nothing as I approached the bed and suddenly felt nervous.
“Hey,” I whispered, then yawned because it had been a long day and as usual sleep eluded me. “Can I come to your bed?”
Romero lifted his blankets. I quickly slipped under them but did not snuggle against him, suddenly shy. Romero looked down at me, then reached out and shook a few strands from my forehead. I leaned on my elbows to kiss him, but he shook his head. I froze.
“I don’t think we should kiss when we’re in bed together.”
“You don’t want to kiss me anymore?” Was I that horrible?
“No, I still want to kiss you and I will kiss you, but not when we are in bed. There are certain lines we shouldn’t cross, Lily.”
“Okay,” I said slowly. Maybe she was right. Kissing in bed was only a small step from doing much more, and some things simply could not be undone. “But can we cuddle?”
Romero chuckled. “I should probably say no,” he murmured . “But I’m screwed anyway.”
He lay back and opened his arms. I walked over to him and rested my head on his arm. I wasn’t sure why I felt so comfortable in his presence. I was not someone who liked physical contact with people I did not know, but with Romero I had always craved closeness.
I closed my eyes, but I didn’t fall asleep right away.
“Have you ever regretted working for Luca? As the son of a soldier, you would have had the chance not to join the Family. You could have lived a normal life.”
“No. This is all I ever wanted,” Romero said. His fingers were running up and down my forearm in a very distracting way, but I wasn’t sure if he realized what he was doing.
“I knew Luca and Matteo long before I was introduced. I always admired Luca because he was bigger and stronger like a bear, and Matteo and I were always getting into trouble together.”
“I bet Matteo got into trouble and you had to save his ass.”
Romero let out a laugh. “Yeah, it’s more like this.
When Luke became a Made Man and when I heard the story of how he killed his first man when he was eleven, I wanted nothing more than to be like him.”
“You were only eight years old then. Shouldn’t you have been playing with toy cars?”
“I always knew I wanted to be a member of the Family. I wanted to be their best fighter. I used to train a lot with Matteo and at first with Luca too.
They blew me away. But I was a fast learner, and when I was admitted a few years later, only a handful of people could agree with me in a knife fight, and over time I improved. I worked hard.”
I could tell he was proud of what he had achieved. “What did your family want? Did they try to keep you away from the mob?”
“My father did not want his life for me. As a debt collector he had to do many horrible things. But he and my mother trusted me, which I decided on my own.”
What would it be like to have people who trust you to make your decisions?
“This life, does it make you happy?” I asked softly.
Sometimes I wished there was an easy definition for what makes me happy.
“Sometimes, but no one can be happy all the time.” He was silent for a moment. “What makes you happy?”
“I don’t know. That, but I know it’s fleeting.”
Romero’s chest rose and fell under my cheek until I was sure he was asleep. “Happiness often is. That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it while it lasts.”