Maddox and I had a lot to prove still. People didn’t trust me to do a good job as the first woman in the Famiglia, especially as the new coordinator of the Enforcers, and they trusted Maddox even less as one of my Enforcers. He wasn’t part of the Famiglia and he was a White. But as long as we had my family’s support, I could deal. We’d eventually convince the rest by doing a good job.
After about two hours on the bike, Maddox pulled over near a cliff where we’d rented a small Airbnb in a former light tower. Our bedroom was at the top where the lighthouse keeper used to watch over the ocean and passing ships.
We had 360-degree windows that allowed a beautiful view over the ocean and the countryside. By now it was completely dark outside, except for the full moon and the stars. Maddox carried our small bag up the steep staircase and I shook my heels off before I followed him.
“I’ve never traveled this lightly. In the past, a bag that size only held my makeup.”
Maddox gave me a disbelieving look. He touched my waist as I looked around in fascination. But he soon captured my attention with a searing kiss. His lips discovered every inch of my body, lingering on my breasts and between my legs, coaxing moan after moan from my lips.
“Let’s make love outside,” he said.
Maddox led me onto the narrow balcony that surrounded the entire bedroom. The wind was fresh, raising goose bumps all over my body. I shivered against Maddox.
“Back inside?” he murmured, trailing warm lips over my pulse point.
“No,” I whispered, then sighed when he reached a particularly sensitive point above my collarbone. “You’ll keep me warm.”
“I’ll do more than that,” he growled into my ear.
I turned.
Our lips met for a gentle kiss that quickly turned heated. This time I took the incentive and got down on my knees before Maddox.
“I still remember you saying, Vitiellos don’t kneel.”
I smiled coyly. “I make an exemption to suck my husband’s cock.” My tongue darted out, flicking his piercing playfully. Maddox looked ready to explode as he watched me pleasure him.
“Fuck,” he rumbled. Soon he pulled me back up to him and made me turn around, making love to me while he wrapped his arms around me from behind, overlooking the ocean.
Two hearts beat in my chest. One of them would always long for my bike and the biker lifestyle, but the other had found a place among the people I’d once considered the enemy. Not everyone had welcomed me into their rows, some would always see me as a problem. But I didn’t care. I had a group of men I trusted and a family who really was a family, and what was the most important: I had a wonderful wife.
Marcella was the woman I’d given up everything for that I had considered important, only to get so much more in return.
And today, today I’d do something I’d never considered an option. I was swearing loyalty to a man I’d tried to kill several times and who had tried to kill me just as often. I was becoming an official part of the Famiglia, instead of lurking in the shadows.
Marcella smiled at me, standing tall and proud, looking like the queen that she was. I did this for her but even more than that, I did it for our son growing in her belly. My eyes settled on her bump.
Only two more months before we’d be parents, before I’d be a father and do better than my old man and Earl had. Two months. I wasn’t scared shitless like I’d thought I would be about becoming a father, about the weight of the responsibility. I was looking forward to meeting our son, about proving that the father figures of my childhood didn’t determine what kind of father I would be.
That Marcella would be a fantastic mother was out of the question, not only because she was like Aria in many regards, but also because she’d proven her caring side around Santana and every dog that followed.
“Are you ready to take your oath, Maddox Vitiello.”
As always, my body tensed briefly when I heard my name. I wasn’t sure if it would sink in any time soon. I’d been so insistent about keeping my name for a long time but once Marcella became pregnant, I knew I wanted to change my name. For our son, who had to be a Vitiello to be accepted.
If he ever wanted to become Capo of the Famiglia, he couldn’t be a White. And if I was being honest, I didn’t want to continue the line of Whites. Neither my father nor Earl had been men whose name I wanted to have carried on and remembered. Luca and I had had our differences, and we still argued on occasion, but I admired his family sense and his devotion to the people he cared about.