15
Antonio
Aglass of wine spilled on the pavilion floor as we kissed, and I don’t know whose it is or who kicked it. The truth of the matter is, I didn’t know how to answer Mia about her father because I don’t know what’s going to happen. I’d love to say that I could absolve him from his debt, but I can’t—I know better. You see, there are a couple of things you learn fast in my business, one being that everything can change at the drop of a hat. The matter of life and death can be judged by a flip of a coin, so I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. I mean, this whole thing with her has been a trip. When I saw her coming out of that shower, I acted on instinct. Yeah, sure I saw an opportunity to add some severity to the old man’s situation, but fuck me, how was I supposed to know it was going to go down like this. Who could have foreseen such a thing? Not me, that’s for sure.
Of course, I was hoping for a little taste, can’t lie about that. When I made the decision to bring her back to the house, it was one made under the influence of lust. A feeling that’s only grown stronger. Out here in the fresh air, what we’re doing feels so much more forbidden. If Vinnie saw me kissing her like this, he’d think I’ve gone crazy. It also feels a lot more real, though. Because for the first time I’m not convincing her or tempting her into kissing me, but rather just kissing her as a man would kiss the woman he desires, who actually desires him back. It’s new ground for me. Usually, I’d have the girl on her back, here on the deck. But Mia’s somehow worth the wait.
We spend a good hour or two out there, talking about Italy and all the things we love. Turns out her father kept some traditions going in the house. “So what, you like working in that bookshop of yours?” I ask.
“It’s okay,” she answers while looking out onto the water. “I like reading, but it’s not really what I imagined doing with my life.”
“Oh yeah, what do you want to do?” We had made our way to the grass, right on the water’s edge. I’m leaning back, holding myself up with my elbows. Mia’s sitting with her knees tucked against her chest.
“I don’t know. Suppose I haven’t really thought about it.”
“But you know you don’t want to work in a bookshop?”
She turned to me, two strands of her hair flickering in the wind against her forehead. With her right hand, she held them aside. “It’s more like, I knew that the idea of staying in a small town didn’t agree with me. That I wanted something else from my life. Have you ever felt like that?”
“Sure,” I answer, “I’ve thought about what it might be like to live a life away from all this, but it’s hard to imagine what that is. I sure as hell can’t be working away like some schlump in an office somewhere. No, thanks, that ain’t for me.”
She laughs at this and I reach out to pull her down to me. She tumbles against me with more laughter and I pull her body against mine to kiss her. She leans into it, so much more confident now. My hand slides from her back down to her ass and, remembering last night’s fun games, I squeeze her cheek lightly. She flinches, pulls away from my lips, and gives me one of those challenging looks she likes to do. I grin, and she bites her lip in embarrassment, lighting up with blushes as she remembers last night too.
I forget all the bullshit that’s been on a constant spin-cycle inside my head. I was even able to release myself from the burden of being the next in line for head of the house. It’s almost as if, for a moment, I’m normal, though it didn’t last as business, as it always does, came to find me.
And now I’m sitting in front of a man begging me to fix a problem for him.
“Antonio, your father has always done us right,” the guy tells me. He must be a good decade older than me, and he runs a liquor store in the neighborhood. “You got to help me with these pushers outside my store. Antonio, I plead with you—yesterday they pulled a gun on me and my wife when I told them they had to go. My little girl was in the backroom, for Christ’s sake.”
“Alright, alright,” I say. From time to time I throw in a nod or two and promise him that it’s taken care of. And it will be. But I’ll pass it on down the line to Vinnie. Right now I’m too distracted, the only thing I can think about is Mia. Not just her body, either. No, it’s gone beyond that, my mind driving my thoughts toward other aspects that, before meeting her, I didn’t care to think about. Like the way she carries herself, for instance. Your first impression is to think that she’s timid, quiet, yet the closer you look, the more you realize that she has an inner power, a darkness that’s as complicated as it is sexy.
Consider last night. How could it be that an act as lascivious as spanking her ass with a leather belt could have evolved into one of the most intimate experiences of my life? I showed her something she’d never experienced before. I could tell in her surprised reactions and gasps that not only had she never been spanked, but she’d never had a man make her climax like that. I wonder, as the liquor store gentleman continues, whether any man or boy has even touched her there. I highly doubt it, judging by the way she froze up that first time I did. I feel closer to Mia, protective even. She truly has become il mio agnellino. My little lamb. An innocent, yet eager girl that I feel some sense of pride over being the first to have touched. To have her—hopefully.
The only way I can truly differentiate my experience with her from others is that the other girls I’ve been with, the rough play always played out as more of a gift for me. Yeah, they got hot off of it, but it was still for my benefit. Like they saw it just as some kinky shit and that’s all. Mia, on the other hand, took all the enjoyment she could out of it. I made it about her, and she knows that. I could tell this morning, something has changed. She wasn’t as hostile or as tense as she was before. Maybe all she needed was that proper orgasm to get her to calm down. I’ll make a mental note of that for future use.
“So, Mr. Moretti, you’re going to do what you can to stop them from pushing their crack outside my store?”
“The problem will be solved. You can take my word for it.” I say, then nod to Vinnie to show our pleading guest out. I wait until he’s gone, then try and make my exit.
“Woah, boss. Where are you going? We’ve got one more. Some assholes stole the church’s donation. Father Cusano is here.”
“Vinnie, listen, you think you can handle this for me?”
He nods.
“Give my apologies to the Father, but there’s somewhere I need to go.”
“You got it,” Vinnie tells me with a reassuring face, God bless him.
As for me? There’s no way I can sit there any longer, my mind won’t let me. So, I walk off into the main part of the house with no other destination on my mind but Mia’s room.