We lie in silence for a while.
“I’m sorry about my behavior last night. I’m appalled that you saw me like that. I’ll have Lorenzo pick your things up and return them to Milan for you,” I say as I climb out of bed in a rush.
She sits up. “Can we talk about this?”
“No.”
“I want to know what I’m dealing with here.”
“It’s more than you can handle, Olivia.” I pull my boxers up in a rush. “Trust me.” I storm from the room and downstairs as my heart goes into panic mode.
She’s leaving.
I hit the shutters, and the sound of them rising echoes around me. Light begins to slowly flood the house. I flick on my coffee machine and close my eyes as I mentally prepare myself for her exit. My heart’s racing. I’m sucking in deep breathes to try and calm myself down.
Warm arms come around me from behind. “Rici,” she whispers, and she kisses my back.
I close my eyes. The thought of her knowing what I am is too much.
Disappointing her is my worst nightmare.
“Just go,” I sigh. “It will be less painful if we just get this over and done with.”
“Just talk to me.”
“And tell you what?” I cry.
“I’m not judging you,” she says calmly.
“Aren’t you, Olivia?” I spit and turn to her. “‘Because it sure fucking feels like it.”
“You grew up in this life…” she asks.
“Yes… and no.”
Her eyes hold mine. “What does that mean?”
I exhale heavily. “I found out about everything when my father died.”
She frowns. “Up until then you thought Ferrara was a reputable family business?”
“It is a reputable business,” I snap. “There are just some unsavory aspects of it, I’m going to clean it up… but it takes fucking time.”
“Like what?”
I shake my head in disgust. “I’m not discussing this, Olivia. Leave it.”
“Like what, Enrico. Tell me what unsavory means.”
“Brothels, strip clubs, illegal gambling.” I shrug. “Shit like that.”
“Drugs?”
“No. That was the first thing I stopped.”
Our eyes are locked.
“Murder?” she whispers. “Do you kill people?”
I roll my eyes. “This isn’t the fucking Godfather, Olivia. In the past, yes, but not anymore. We run reputable businesses in seedy places. That’s it.”
“I’m just so confused by this all.”
I throw my hands up in the air. “That makes two of us.”
She steps forward. “Why do you think you’re going to die?”
“I don’t!” I snap. “I was fucking blind drunk. Why would you listen to anything I said?”
“Because for the first time since we’ve been together, last night, you were actually making sense.” She puts her hand on my chest. “I knew something was off. Too many things don’t add up, and I knew with the amount of security you have…” Her voice trails off.
I clench my jaw as I watch her. She deserves the truth, I know she’s going to leave me anyway. I may as well tell her.
“For centuries, the Ferrara family have run Italy. They’ve done some pretty fucking appalling things. I didn’t know anything about it. I still know nothing. My father’s staff are limping me through it all until I learn enough to completely take over.”
She frowns. “Why were you so upset yesterday? What happened to make you like that?”
I stare at the floor for a moment, disgusted by what’s come to light. “I found out my father had a comare for thirty years. It turns out everything he told me was a lie and… I didn’t know him at all.”
“Comare?” She frowns.
“Another woman. Another family. They had a son.”
Her face falls.
“Even my mother knew.”
She stares at me, horrified.
“My brothers and I were the only ones who didn’t. I’m humiliated.”
Her face falls as she stares at me. “Oh, baby.” She wraps her arms around me, and I close my eyes at the comfort, even if it will be short lived. I need to get on with it. I step back from her.
“I haven’t been gifted a normal life, Olivia. I’m sorry I dragged you into this. Your discretion would be greatly appreciated.”
“I’m not leaving you, Rico.”
I swallow the lump in my throat, unable to speak.
“I love you,” she whispers.
“You shouldn’t.”
“It’s too late.”
Emotion overwhelms me, and I blink as my vision blurs from the realization of her loyalty. “I don’t even know who I am anymore,” I whisper.
“You’re the man I love.” She kisses me softly. “Just be him.”
My arms curl around her. “I wanted to tell you I loved you first,” I say into her hair.
“You did.”
“When?”
“Last night, in front of about twenty people.”
I close my eyes in disgust. “Oh.”
She smiles softly.
“Was I appalling?”
“Completely. But understandably so.” Our lips meet again, but this time I hold her tight, her tongue dancing with mine as an emotional need warms my blood. “I love you,” I whisper. Our kiss turns desperate, and I push her back against the kitchen counter. The need in me is escalating by the second. I need to taste her, and my attention drops to her neck as I suck and kiss on her perfect, creamy skin. She smells so good. She always smells so fucking good.
“Bed,” she breathes. “Back to bed.”
Before I know it, I’m dragging Olivia up the stairs, desperate to be closer to her.
Inside of her.
The need to share myself with this beautiful woman takes over, and I tear her robe off, throw it to the side, and lay her down on her back. I open her legs, and my eyes roam down over her body. Her full lush breasts. Her flat stomach.
I reach down and spread her sex open.
Perfect pink lips glistening with arousal.
I slowly slide two fingers deep into her sex, and she clenches around me. Her big blue eyes are alive with want.
My cock starts to thump, weeping in appreciation.
Olivia Reynold’s is every man’s wet dream.
Mine.
She knows everything… and she stayed.
I pump her with my fingers, and the bed begins to hit the wall with force.
She loves it when I do this-when I fuck her hard with my hands before I give her my cock.
She’s addicted to the pain.
Her back arches, and she begins to shudder. Close.
A deep moan leaves her lips, and my cock is painful with need.
I move to hover over her, and she wraps her legs around my waist. With one hard thrust, I’m deep inside my woman.
“Rici,” she moans.
I clench to try and hold it as her body ripples around mine. She’s wet and throbbing around me.
Perfect.
My lips take hers. “I’m here, Olivia. I’ll always be here.”
Our body’s writhe together, each of us chasing the ultimate goal.
The rush where we become one.
I lift her leg and pull it up around my chest as I lose control. I begin to hit her hard. The sound of the bed banging on the wall is almost deafening around us. She loves it, sucking me in as she moans beneath me, begging for more.
I hold myself deep, and we both cry out in ecstasy as her body contracts around me.
My breathing is labored. My body covered in perspiration. Her hands in my hair, her soft lips on mine.
But it’s my heart that’s floating…it feels like it just left my body and nestled itself inside of hers.
She’s now a part of me-the calm, sweet, good part.
The best part.
And I am hers.