I looked between them. “You know each other?” I asked no one in particular.
Rocco’s hands were around my waist, and at the question, the pressure he had on me increased. I could feel his palmsburning through the expensive fabric of the dress. “We met years ago through myfratelloand the sister of my heart, Brando and Scarlett.”
“Oh, that’s right! I remember Nonna mentioning Scarlett visiting with her husband…” I didn’t finish that thought, though, because Nonna had warned me about the Faustis when she had told me that.
She had wanted me to stay out of their way. Nonna wasn’t a meek woman, but she picked her battles. We were alone in the world, and she didn’t want any trouble she didn’t feel she could handle. But it gave me a frisson to think of Rocco being in the same house with me, and I had no clue that one day he’d be my husband.
My husband looked at Eva, then at me, like he was finding a common similarity between us.It’s in the eyes,I wanted to say but didn’t. Rocco was an intelligent man. He would have it in a second. Judging by the slight nod of his head, like he was confirming his findings, he had come to that same conclusion.
Eva smiled. “I’ll be by later to say hello.”
Scarlett had mentioned going out for dinner, and we all agreed after a long flight it would be nice to grab dinner, drinks, and relax.
“Would you and Gabriel like to go out to dinner with us?” I asked.
She turned around and asked her husband if he was up for it. “Sure!” she called back. “See ya’ll at…?”
“Eight,” Rocco said.
“Eight!” I echoed as he started to lead me toward the house.
No two places in the French Quarter seemed identical, and Scarlett’s parents’ place and the one Rocco had rented were no exception. But they had similarities. That was as far as I got in the comparison. Rocco led me through the house like we werebeing chased, and once inside our room, he shut the door and had me pinned against it in almost one smooth move.
Even though we’d fooled around on the plane, it was like he couldn’t wait to get me naked and hear me cry out. He swallowed down any noise I made on the plane. He was proprietary even over that. Though he was a master at dragging the time out, like he controlled it and my body’s response to him. So, our time together always felt like a slow-moving underwater grotto dream.
We floated through time…mouths searching, hands reaching, our bodies together erasing any sign of the real world through our souls connecting.
By the time we were about to leave for dinner, I’d orgasmed so many times, I doubled checked to make sure my heels matched. Rocco grinned at me, buttoning the black dress shirt I’d picked out for him. That was his attire for the night, a collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows, jeans, and boots.
I almost drowned in my own drool when he was naked.
I drooled whenever he wore a suit.
I drooled when we were on the island and his clothes reflected that.
I was drooling at him then.
I’d never really seen him out in the real world, meaning outside of the island in anything other than a custom suit. I had a feeling this was a rare sight. The shirt wasn’t overly snug or overly big—it fit him just right, molding to his wide shoulders and muscular frame, and so did his jeans. He had an ass that I could sink my nails into. And if we didn’t get going, we were never going to leave the house again. That was how much danger I was in. I was being altogether serious. Nothing metaphorical about what my body was proposing.
He was just too effing…what word to even use for his looks? I was a writer and had no clue. If I had to go around describinghim on the regular, I’d be out of a job. All I knew was that a man that fine—it wasn’t normal. Just looking at him destroyed all sensibilities.
I checked my heels again.
Right.Two black heels that showed some toe. And both were on the feet they were supposed to go on. And,oh, he had slipped them on for me, his hands lingering on my ankles and legs after he slid each one on.
I closed my eyes and shivered.
He threw his head back and laughed, and the sound did nothing to help my senses. It went straight between my legs, where a pulse heated up and throbbed, as if he’d rubbed his swollen cock against my nub of overreacting nerves. I might just orgasm from how sensitive I was from earlier, and the sound of his laugh. It felt like his tongue was running over my skin in slow strokes.
This couldn’t be normal, could it? That just the sound of his laughter could cause me to lose all focus on anything but him. I’d never experienced anything so powerful before. The world had shrunk to the size of the two of us, just like when we were tangled up in each other. It was only after my heart receded into a normal rhythm and I could breathe again that the world rushed back in. And even much longer than that when he wrapped me in his powerful armsandlegs,refusing to let go for even a second. If I had to go to the bathroom, he carried me there and back.
“Do you know just how much danger I’m in, Rocco Fausti?” I whispered.
His eyes roamed over me as he took what seemed like measured steps toward me, and I took almost clumsy steps back in comparison. A dance. Always a dance between us, him always leading. My back hit the wall, and he set his arm over my head, his other running over the bottom of my hair, as gentle as a breeze. He took a strand, wrapping it around his finger.
“Tell me,” he whispered, his voice hoarse, “piccolo ladro.”
My breath trembled out. “I may never leave this house again. Only you will ever see me again. Everyone will wonder where Ari went to, and when I do leave this world?—”
