I couldn’t move, let alone get home, in this condition. Eyes still closed, I nodded. He might not be able to promise me tomorrow, but tonight had been perfect.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Dominico
IWATCHED ANNETTA sleep, beating myself up for being so fucking weak I’d broken down and called her. My older, more responsible brother was currently out on a date with Zeta Caruso, like the good little capo’s son he was, while I lie beside the girl I should have been strong enough to stay away from.
Annetta stirred, shifting the blanket I’d covered us with, to reveal her left breast. My body responded, instantly hardening with need. I thought fucking her would get her out of my system, but it had backfired. Now I just wanted her more.
Before last night, she’d been a virgin. I hadn’t even considered that complication until I saw the blood. How the hell did someone as gorgeous as Annetta reach her 20’s with her cherry intact? And why the fuck had she been so willing to give it to me? She said she knew what I did, so she had to know my life belonged to my family.
My thoughts drifted to Gino, who had willingly given up his life to serve the family. A guy like Gino, coming from an upright family in the sticks, couldn’t have understood the price he would pay. Now he did, though. Carlo had set him up with a wife and told Gino to get her pregnant so the Durantes would have something on him to keep him in line.
“I had no strings. He wanted to tie me down with baggage… give me somethin’ to lose if I turned out to be a snitch or a mole,” Gino said.
Which was beyond screwed up since Gino was a mole. I stared at him, wondering what to say.
“She’s pregnant with our second kid… another boy. We’re naming him Franco after my grandfather. The oldest is Antonio. We call him Tony. He just turned two, and he’s a handful.” Gino chuckled. “Cutest little asshole you ever saw. I know I’m not supposed to get attached to them, but they’re innocent in all this, you know? I didn’t think it would be like this, but I can’t help but feel responsible for them.”
A year older than me with a wife and two kids I hadn’t known a damn thing about. How the hell was it possible? I nodded, still too shocked to form a reply.
“It’s not like I love her or anything,” he hurried to defend himself. “But she’s a good woman, and she doesn’t know anything about this… about what I’m doing. If this goes south, and I… Will you keep an eye on them?”
He didn’t have to be here. He’d given everything to come work for my family and now he needed me to protect his if he got caught by the Durantes. There was only one answer I could give him. “Yeah, of course.”
He sighed, his shoulders instantly relaxing. “Thank you, Dom. You won’t be able to help them directly, because she can’t ever know who I really am. It’ll put them all in danger. But… whatever you can do.”
I clapped a hand on his shoulder. “I get it, man. I’ll make sure they’re okay.”
“Thanks again. You don’t know what this means to me.”
“You don’t love her?”
I don’t know why I couldn’t get past his confession. Maybe because I wanted to believe I could force some sort of feeling into an arranged marriage.
Gino’s eyebrows rose. “I’m a family man, Dom. It’s business. You don’t get too close, you know?”
Yeah, I did know, which is why I swore off Annetta Porro that night, knowing the more time I spent with her the harder it would be to marry Valentina. I locked down my feelings and vowed to do my duty like Gino had. Like Michael was. Family had to come first. If Gino could live that way, so could I. I was determined.
I barely lasted three weeks before calling her. If she hadn’t agreed to come with me, I might have broken down her door and kidnapped her. And as she slept naked beside me, I realized just how screwed I was.
Her perfect body, soft and firm in all the right places, called to my hands to touch it. I traced a finger over her exposed breast, up her neck, and to her plump, slightly parted lips. She opened her eyes slowly, and inviting jade pools gazed up at me. “Hey,” she said, her voice husky with sleep.
“Mornin,’ Net.” The girl had me all tangled and tripped up. I didn’t know what to do about her, but I was sure as hell enjoying being caught. “Don’t sleep. I don’t know how long I’ll get to keep you.”
She knuckled her eyes. “What do you want to do, then?”
My gaze drifted down her body. I had a few ideas, but wanted more than sex from her. I wanted… everything. “Talk to me. Tell me more about yourself.”
“Like what?”
“Anything. Everything. What’s your favorite color? Favorite movie? Favorite food? Whatever shit pops into your mind,” I said.
“Okay.” She tugged the blanket up over her exposed breast and I stopped her.
“Please?” I asked. “I want to see you, too.”
She released the blanket and I wrapped my arm around her stomach, feeling the curves of her hips.
