Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 111537 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 558(@200wpm)___ 446(@250wpm)___ 372(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111537 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 558(@200wpm)___ 446(@250wpm)___ 372(@300wpm)
I almost don’t want to leave. I haven’t really been able to do any sightseeing. Here I am in Italy, and I didn’t even get to visit Rome. But then I remember Brandon, and I know that I have to go back. There’s still no word on whether he’s okay or not. I trust Francisco at this point to tell me if something has changed.
I force myself to get up and wander over to the shower. Maybe all I need is a blast of cold water to wake me up. But before I step beneath the stream, I chicken out, and turn the dial all the way to the left. Steam begins to rise, encouraging me to dive in. I stand beneath the flow and scrub the remnants of last night’s party off my skin.
CHAPTER 34
FRANCISCO
It took all my self-restraint to sleep beside her without coming on to her. That beautiful body pressed up against mine, all its seductive curves legally mine for the taking. I fell asleep hard, and that’s never happened to me before. I’m not even sure how I did it since it seems like something that would be physically impossible.
I managed not to take her when I woke in the middle of the night. And it took me nearly an hour to fall asleep again because I had to fight my natural instincts tooth and nail. When I woke, I was still hard, but instead of waking her, I took a cold shower.
Now I’m gazing at her across the aisle on the airplane, and she looks even more beautiful than she did in my bed. I’ve got a bad case of blue balls, and it’s beginning to cause me pain. I’m not sure how I’m going to survive if I can’t have her. The fact that I promised to wait until she is ready weighs heavily on my mind. How rude would it be to nudge her in the right direction? She seemed open to having a normal marital relationship. I could just remind her of what she said before passing out beside me.
But the plane is full of people. There are my men, plus ten additional people Carmine sent. Luca himself is seated near Marlena, monopolizing her time. She laughs at something he says and tosses her head like a wild mare. I long to get up from my seat and go to her. Luca won’t mind. As the boss, I could probably get away with making love to her out in the open, but I doubt she’d agree to that.
Dammit. I cross and uncross my legs, my swollen cock getting the better of me. I can’t wait for this flight to be over. The moment I get her home, I’m going to suggest that we go to bed. If I read the situation correctly, the problem last night was just that she was tired. I cling to the hope that is all it was, and that she’ll be refreshed and eager to fuck me when we’re finally alone.
I can’t believe we’re married. If I’m being honest with myself, there’s much more to my desire for her than simply to help her avoid a painful death. I’m not ready to say that I’m falling in love, but my heart is leaning toward that conclusion.
My phone rings—Giovanni. “Hello?” I say as I pick up.
“Congratulations,” Giovanni says.
“Thank you,” I reply. “How are things going at home?”
“As well as can be expected,” he complains. “Do you have an ETA?”
“Four hours,” I answer. We’re halfway across the Atlantic Ocean.
“I’ll have your driver meet you when you land,” Giovanni promises.
“Luca’s here,” I say.
“Luca!” Giovanni shouts.
From the other side of the plane, Luca hears his name. I hold out the phone and explain that I’m talking to Giovanni. Luca stands, climbs across the outstretched legs of the men between us, and takes the device from my hand.
He has a one-sided conversation with Giovanni in Italian. I can easily understand that he’s giving my brother a hard time for never learning the language. We spent summers in Italy when we were kids, and Giovanni never picked up Italian the same way I did. Everyone gave him a hard time for being monolingual, though I never joined in the insults.
Luca hands the phone back to me and returns to talk to my bride.
“Always busting my balls,” Giovanni grumbles.
“I’ve also got ten new men from the Rocca family.”
“Got it,” Giovanni says. “I’ll send more than one car.”
“Send three,” I command. “I want a private one for Marlena and me.”
“You got it,” Giovanni agrees.
“And I want you to assign a few more people to her detail,” I say, watching her interact with my cousin. I know her well enough by now to be worried about what she might do. I can’t watch her all the time, and I know she’s worried about her brother.