“Then I’llhuff, and I’llpuff, and I’llblowyour house down.”
“The big bad wolf dressed in a fine Italian suit.” She touched my hand, her fingers as soft as her lips, where the wolf tattoo seemed to snarl underneath the lights of the garage. “I should’ve known.”
Her eyes drifted to my lips, then back up to my eyes, and when she couldn’t hold my stare any longer, she started to fiddle with my tie.Nervous hands, like flitting wings.I wanted to feel them against my skin, around my cock, caressing my balls.
She cleared her throat. “Are you going to show me around?”
I knocked on the window once with my knuckle and Giovanni appeared, opening my door. I told Mariposa to stay put in Italian, and just as she had done at City Hall, she seemed to understand without me having to translate. I walked around the car and opened her door. She took my hand and stepped out, still holding the dress up.
“I know why you bought the entire building now.” She looked around. “You needed the room for all of your cars.”
I squeezed her hand, feeling the tremble in her bones, leading her inside of the building. It didn’t seem to be a conscious reaction, but when we entered, she squeezed my hand harder.
“Fucka me,” she breathed out, peeking in. “I’ve never been in a place so…big.”
I showed her around, giving her the grand tour, but at the end, I could see that she had something on her mind. She hadn’t said much.
“What is it?” I stopped in the closet of the master suite. “Don’t get bashful on me now.”
She dropped the hem of the gown and shrugged, and then she tucked a long strand of hair behind her ear. “It’s beautiful, Capo.”
“You can change anything you’d like. Take it apart and put it back together again.”
She nodded but said nothing else.
“Let me show you something,” I said.
“More?”
I grinned. “Watch carefully.”
Her eyes were glued to me as I pressed buttons on my watch. The back wall started to move silently, slipping in front of another wall, and the space behind it opened up. It looked like an elevator. Cold. Sterile. A metal wall stood on the other side. I put my arm out, gesturing for her to step inside. She hesitated, but only for a second. After we stepped into the space, I closed the door in the master closet. A second later, I opened the other side and gestured for her to step out first.
“Okay,” she said, her eyes wide. “Youdohave a bat cave. A secret door.”
The laugh that broke free from my chest sounded shredded. “Not exactly. This is the fire station.”
“Yeah, but it’s been redone. Totally redone. It looks abandoned from the outside.”
She stepped up to the glass railing, looking out over the lower level of the house. I’d had it redone for her. No one knew it was mine. As far as anyone knew, it was an inactive, abandoned firehouse.
The other side was cold, with sharp lines. This side was for her: warm colors and soft furnishings. Numerous butterfly pictures hung on the walls. It didn’t fit the exterior, but rarely did what we see on the outside fit the inside. I had one of my aunts speak to a decorator. She gave them an idea of who Mariposa was, from what I had told her, and the woman ordered everything. I took it from there.
“This is your home, Mariposa. The other side, that’s for show. If we have guests over, dinner parties, that sort of thing, we entertain on that side. This side is for personal use only. Seven people, including us, know that this is where we live.”
“It’s more than I could’ve ever imagined,” she breathed out.
“I’m glad that it pleases you.”
“Who are the other five people that know about the secret house?”
The secret house. I almost grinned. “Rocco, my aunt and uncle, Rocco’s brother Dario—he’s an architect—and Donato. He’s head of Rocco’s security. You’ll meet them soon enough, at the wedding in Italy.”
“If no one else knows, how did you do all of this?”
“Dario helped me with certain aspects. He put some hours into it. The rest—” I lifted my hands “—I’ve been working on this place for five years. All supplies came in through the other building. I’ve never lived here until now.”
“Reclusive,” she whispered.
