My tongue stroked her lips open, and Aria responded hesitantly. Her blue eyes flickered with insecurity, but I didn’t allow her to worry. I took the lead, gave her no choice but to surrender to me. The feel and taste of her stirred the embers of my desire into a raging fire. I pressed harder into her, my kiss turning more forceful even as I tried to restrain myself. My fingers twitched against her cheek, wanting to travel south, wanting to stroke and discover every inch of her body. I pulled away before I could lose control. Aria blinked up at me, licking her lips, almost dazed. Her cheeks were flushed, her lips red.
I wanted her.
A knock burst through my lustful haze. I rolled over and got up, glad for the distraction. Aria gasped. I chanced a glance at her, catching her staring at my hard-on with widened eyes.
“A man is supposed to have a boner when he wakes up beside his bride, don’t you think? They want a show, they’ll get a show.” My aunts, cousins, and especially Nina were eager for new tidbits of gossip that would make their dull lives a bit brighter. They’d descend like bloodthirsty hyenas on us if they suspected I hadn’t claimed Aria. “Now go and grab a bathrobe,” I ordered.
Aria obeyed at once, practically leaping out of bed and rushing into the bathroom. I had to admit her fighting spirit last night had pleased me more than her obedience.
My eyes strayed toward the fake blood stains on the bed sheet and a flicker of regret overtook me. There was a reason the Famiglia insisted on the bloody sheets tradition, particularly my father. I still remembered the sheets after his wedding night with Nina, and I had been only a child then.
Sighing, I headed toward the table and picked up my weapons. The knocking became more insistent, but I didn’t give a fuck. Aria returned dressed in a long white satin bathrobe and holding her cut corset in one hand. She curiously watched me strap my knife and gun holsters onto my naked body, one of them covering the small cut on my forearm. Before I headed for the door, I shifted my boner so it would be even more prominent. That would give the furies of my family something to gossip about. Aria’s gaze slid down to my groin once more, and the blush returned to her cheeks.
Aria moved toward the window, wrapping her arms around herself, looking breakable and perfectly beautiful.
Tearing my eyes from her, I opened the door to the eager faces of Nina, Cosima, and Egidia. Behind them, more women from mine and Aria’s families had gathered.
Their eyes traveled the length of me. Some of them feigned shock even when it was obvious that they enjoyed the sight, considering the ugly old fools they were married to.
Only Nina pointedly ignored my undressed state, but I knew her and caught her nervous swallow. It was impossible not to know a person’s mimic and gestures if you’d seen them at their lowest. Being married to my father, I’d seen more than enough of that side of her. “We’ve come to collect the sheets,” she said, putting on her usual mask, smiling spitefully.
I allowed them to enter.
They practically shoved each other out of the way to reach the bed first. They whispered when they saw the stain, then looked toward Aria, who squirmed under their attention. She was already embarrassed as it was. I wondered how much worse it would have been if they would have actually been the proof of her lost virginity.
Nina and Cosima removed the bedsheets, giggling in that fake way that gave me a fucking headache. “Luca,” Nina said with feigned indignation. “Did nobody tell you to be gentle to your virgin bride?”
More of those fucking giggles. I held Nina’s gaze, my mouth pulling into a cold smile. “You are married to my father. Does he strike you as a man who teaches his sons to be gentle to anyone?”
Her smile became even less honest, and a flicker of pure animalistic fear flashed in her brown eyes. In this room, probably no one knew what she had to endure.
“Let me through!” Gianna screeched and stormed into the room. As an unmarried woman, she wasn’t supposed to be here, but of course the girl didn’t care. Her blue eyes landed on the sheets before they jerked toward Aria. Her face reflected worry and fear, and my annoyance with her decreased slightly. She was concerned for sister.
She turned to me with a look that was probably intended to intimidate. I cocked my eyebrows at her and the little wench actually took a step in my direction to do god only knew what. Like her sister, she only reached my chest and weighed less than half of me, not to mention the only fight experience she probably had was with her tiny midget of a brother.