And while I would never hold it against Leo or Gio for following their hearts over staying loyal to us, I know that our iron strength as a family will crumble if I lose sight of our purpose as well. Raf needs me to be strong, now more than ever. Miko needs that from me too.
And I can’t let them down.
They rely on me to be the one who doesn’t waver, the one who doesn’t get caught up in distractions. So, I make a deal with myself. In the bedroom, I can let down my guard, enjoy my wife the way a husband is meant to. But outside the bedroom, I need to focus on my role in this dangerous game we’re playing—because make no mistake, if we fail, this plan we’ve hatched could easily cost us our lives. Focus and unity are the only way Raf will take back our family’s throne.
And I won’t fail him.
Not again.
Dragging a hand down my face, I force the thought to settle, but it doesn’t hold for long. Because even knowing all that, I can’t stop looking at Evi.
She shifts again, her hand sliding over my chest. Her fingers twitch slightly, and I feel it like a spark. My body reacts before my mind does, tension coiling low in my gut.
I should get up. There’s work to do. But when she exhales my name in her sleep—just a breath, barely audible—all those good intentions vanish.
It’s still early.
I have time to enjoy my wife a little longer before I have to go.
So I slip beneath the sheets to sneak a taste.
18
EVI
Sweet electricity zings between my thighs, and at first, I think I’m dreaming about the way Sandro went down on me last night. The sinful pleasure of his tongue stroking my seam, teasing my entrance. The delicious graze of his teeth across my clit. The world looks dark beneath my blindfold. My body strains for more delicious pleasure—only my hands meet no resistance when I try to bring them down to his thick locks that lightly brush my abdomen, tickling the sensitive skin.
I gasp as my eyes fly open.
I’m awake.
And Sandro’s face is actually buried between my thighs, his strong arms wrapped around them, his hands spreading me wide. He’s hidden beneath the sheets, but I’m dying to see him in the bright light of day, and I throw back the covers.
Thick muscles ripple along his spine, his arms and shoulders thick and bulging as he casts a lazy glance up the length of my body to meet my eyes. And smiles.
The groan that wrenches from me is deep and filled with need, and I drop my head back onto my pillow as a wave of pleasure washes through me. The spine-tingling sensation makes my head spin, and my clit throbs against his lips as Sandro coaxes another whimper from me.
It’s shockingly exciting to have his face somewhere so intimate, and while he tempted me with it last night as well, I was so anxious about the impending punishment, I didn’t have the ability to fully appreciate just how good it feels. But God, his lips are shockingly soft and inviting, his tongue warm and soothing as he laps my throbbing flesh. I might be sore from all the sex we’ve had, but that doesn’t seem to be an issue with the gentle attention he’s lavishing me with now.
“Sandro,” I moan, my fingers curling in his hair, and I want to pull him closer but don’t know if I should.
As if sensing my desire, he presses forward, his tongue laving my folds with renewed vigor, his teeth nipping lightly at my clit and sending a zing of punishing pleasure crackling up my spine.
My brain is still foggy with sleep, but that only seems to intensify the giddy relief of having his warmth nestled between my thighs.
Sandro hums softly, the sound somewhere between approval and appreciation—as if I taste as wonderful as a Michelin-star meal. My walls clench, eager to have him inside me, and my breath catches, my back arching as the tension inside my core snaps taut.
“Oh God, Sandro!” I cry, my thighs quivering as I climb toward that precipice of oblivion my husband can bring me to so easily it makes my head spin.
“Come for me, Sunshine,” he commands, his lips brushing across my clit, his hot breath washing over my skin. And I’m helpless to disobey him.
My fingers fist in his hair as my muscles clench, and a burst of euphoria blasts through me like the aftershock of an atom bomb. I cry out, twitching uncontrollably in his powerful grasp as my clit throbs, my channel spasming despite its emptiness. I pant and moan, riding the waves of pleasure that leave me a breathless puddle in the bed.
And as they slowly subside, I open my eyes only to be rewarded with Sandro’s wicked smile.
“Good morning,” he rasps, releasing my thighs to crawl between them and brush a soft, tangy kiss across my lips.
“Morning,” I murmur, heat flooding my cheeks at the bold way he claimed my pleasure.
