He took his hand away. “I don’t give a fuck how he feels,” he said. “I loathe him for doing this to me. For not giving me the chance to rid myself of that man who never claimed me. For hiding my sister from me. For being who he is.”
“If you kill him it is over,” I said. “If he has to live with these same feelings—wouldn’t that be worse?”
“If he fought to stay alive this long,” he said, “he feels right with life.”
“You will kill him,” I said, my voice betraying me. It was that scene over and over again—the one in the pistachio grove. Where he went to hand me the glove but held on. “And just get another ghost.”
“At this point in my life,” he said, turning into the drive, “I’ve lost count. One more will not kill me.”
“No,” I whispered. “Just destroy you even more.”
* * *
A car pulledup behind us as the gates opened. Corrado stopped the car, but after realizing it was Brooklyn, he pulled all the way in.
“You’re with me today,” he said.
I nodded. I had no plans on going to Bella Luna, so he did not call Nunzio in. He only came along when Corrado would not be there. And when Nunzio was there, so was Brooklyn.
Sometimes Brooklyn would come over and spend time even when we did not go to Bella Luna. It seemed like she liked to be aroundmamma, Anna, Eleonora and me. Corrado probably did not realize she spent so much time here, since he was always doing other things. Even when he was in the house, sometimes it was like he was not there.
He stared at my face after he put the car in park. “It would be a mistake for you to think I don’t know what the fuck is going on in my own house,” he said. “I know every move you make.” He reached out and touched my chin.
“I am not your house,” I said.
“Yeah,” he said. “You are. You’re my home. I know everything that happens inside and outside of it—at all times.” He reached out and slid me toward him. When we connected, it had the same effect as a pump between a body and a heart.
My hands fisted in his hair, and I wanted to yank it out by the roots, while his mouth did things to mine that caused me to moan.
This.This was what happened when he finally let the glove go and we came together.Perfezione completa.
Complete perfection.
“It’s time to play a game of Italian Roulette,” he said, his mouth roaming from my lips, to my chin, to my throat, then to the pulse in my neck. He sucked so hard I knew it was going to leave a mark. “I’m going to bury my cock in you so fucking deep that there’s no way you won’t get pregnant again.”
I hissed when his mouth moved lower and he kept sucking. He sucked all the way down to my breasts, and through the shirt, the heat from his mouth burned through.
A knock came at the trunk. I stilled. Corrado bit my nipple and then grinned. He sat up and fixed himself before Brooklyn came to my side of the car.
The window was down, and she sniffed before she wiped her red eyes. “We need to talk to you both.”
“We?” Corrado said.
She nodded. “Nunzio and me.”
“Meet us inside,” Corrado said.
She nodded, and when she got close to the front door, Nunzio met her, putting his hand on her lower back.
“Where did he come from?” I said.
He grinned, probably at the confused look on my face. “He was driving her car.”
Corrado got out first and then came to open my door. We walked into the house hand in hand, meeting Brooklyn and Nunzio in the kitchen. He stood with his back against the counter. She sat at the table, her head in her hands.
From the window behind Nunzio, I could see Anna holding Eleonora, and Fabrizio making faces at her.Mammasat on the bench, crocheting, smiling, while she listened to them laugh. It sent a strong longing through me, to see them that way, so carefree with her, but I ignored it.
“What is going on?” I said, looking at Brooklyn instead.
