The consigliere of the Serrano Famiglia is starting a coup, and I’m right at the center of it.
Chapter 15
Fiorella
I’m not really a gym girlie, but there’s something about working myself out to the edge of exhaustion that really puts my problems into perspective.
Mainly, it makes me forget everything but the sweet agony of getting fit.
And luckily, Luca has one heck of an exercise equipment collection in the basement.
It’s late when I hear him come home. I should be upstairs in bed, but I can’t sleep. There’s something about this house that makes me uncomfortable. I’m pretty sure it’s the sound. There’s too much quiet. I’m used to the creaks and groans of my dad’s place where I grew up, but there’s nothing like that here. Just an unfamiliar bed, a strange ceiling, and total silence.
I don’t tell him that, though. I can already guess what he’d say.Sleep in my bed, princess, and we’ll make plenty of noise, or something equally dumb. I knew marrying Luca wouldn’t be easy, but I had no clue it would be this deeply frustrating.
It’s after midnight by the time I feel exhausted enough to sleep. I’m all gross and sweaty as I head upstairs in just a sports bra and a pair of running tights. I should probably cover up on account of my sexy-as-hell husband and my apparent lack of self-control, but screw it. This is my house too, right? I should be allowed to wear whatever I want to exercise in, and that basement is stuffy. I’m not changing just for some guy I didn’t even want to marry in the first place.
I’m annoyed at a fictional version of Luca and already having a fake argument with him in my head (one I’m winning, obviously) as I head into my bedroom.
And come to a halt.
“You motherfucker…” I stare at the bed. Or what’s left of it, anyway.
The mattress is cut in half straight down through the frame.
He didn’t even take the bedding off. The sheets are shredded. Pillow stuffing is tossed all over like a grisly crime scene. The wooden frame’s slumped inwards.
How the hell did he even manage to pull this off?
I’m impressed for half a second.
Then I’m deeply pissed off.
Because there’s no other bed in this house.
I storm to his room, too furious to stop myself. The pranks have gone far enough. I need to be able to live here, and I deserve a little comfort and privacy. That’s just basic human decency, right? I throw open his door, ready to tell him off so brutally he breaks down in tears, but all my anger suddenly fizzles and dies.
Luca’s coming out of the bathroom in nothing but a pair of boxer briefs, a towel draped around his shoulders.
His hair’s still damp. His skin glistens slightly. He looks up at me, not surprised to see me there staring at him with an open mouth like a kid seeing Santa’s workshop for the first time, not even angry that I caught him coming out of the shower and mostly naked, just slightly amused.
Like this was his plan the whole time.
My god, this isn’t fair.
The man is aspecimen.
I swear, he must’ve been grown in a vat or something. I’m not even kidding. It’s like some mad scientist decided to make Frankenstein, except instead of a hideous monster, he ended up with pure godlike sexual perfection.
Luca’s got tattoos. He’s covered in dark, vicious ink. Wings across his chest. Guns on his ribs. A wolf eating the moon. Roses dripping blood. More images I can barely comprehend, mostly because they disappear into the (much too small) space covered by his boxer briefs. He’s got those muscles, that stupid mind-melting V pointing straight down to his bulging dick.
Not that I’m staring at his package. But actually, yeah, I’m staring at his package, because I remember what it feels like to have that thing tearing me up inside, and I suddenly very much want to taste it again.
“If you’re coming to bed, feel free to get undressed first.” He casually stands there, hands gripping either end of his towel, and that confident smirk finally snaps me out of my horny-brain-induced staring coma.
“You cut my bed in half,” I snap at him, trying very hard to ignore the fact that my cheeks are crimson with aroused embarrassment.
“Yes, I did.”
