Pushing her forward so she was nearly bent in half, I pressed into her, loving her little squeaks and moans as I continued to thrust. I needed more, I stood and kissed her shoulder.
“Walk forward,” I ordered, and we moved to the window where I pressed her front to the cold glass, spread her legs, took hold of her hips, and lined back up. At a painfully slow rate, I eased back inside her and tried everything in my power to be gentle with her.
“Elio,” she growled, “more, please.”
I thrusted hard once, and she cried out, and my head went fuzzy. When we were connected like this, it was as if we were one. We were not meant to be separated; we were a package deal.
Suddenly, I pulled out, turned her around to face me, and grabbed her head to smash my mouth to hers. Her leg hooked on my waist, and I slipped back in while I kissed her like it might be my last.
We were lost in that moment. Our animal instincts took over, and we were savages together, both seeking the end result.
Lifting her off the floor to get in farther, I buried my head between her breasts and thrust as deep as I could, giving her my everything. She came screaming my name, and I joined her, relishing in the one moment where our past didn’t count.
Only when she went slack in my arms did I finally push off the glass to set her down on her feet.
“Oh, shit.” I looked down with a sudden realization, but she shook her head. “I’ve never done that before.”
“Me either, but I’m on the pill.” She smiled then disappeared into the bathroom. I cleaned up and tucked myself back in my pants. I wanted to tell her I had never had sex bareback before, not even with her until now.
She returned a moment later in a silk robe and looked a little less wild.
“Now that the edge has been taken off, so to speak, we should probably talk.” She carefully looked over at me, and I knew it was time.
“Agreed.”
“Where should we begin?” She reached for a bottle of water from the table and made her way across the room to sit on the oval coach. Crossing her legs, she waited for me to join her.
I grabbed an extra glass and the crystal decanter that held the scotch and set it in front of her. I was fairly sure she might need it.
“Well, that’s not a good start.” She nodded at the scotch.
“I want to start from the beginning.” I pulled on my dress shirt but skipped the buttons and moved to the window, unsure I could sit yet. “How did you go from doing a story on Ricco Oil to a relationship with Mariano?”
“That’s pretty personal, and if I answer that, you have to do the same, Elio. No more secrets.”
I nodded, knowing it was time.
“Fine.” She took a deep breath. “After Mariano approached my boss, we met, and he said he could relate to my story and that he really wanted me to be the one that told his.”
I smiled and encouraged her to go on.
“He said to really get to know it from the inside, we would need to spend the next few weeks together. We toured all over Florence, meeting his friends, went on a tour of the oil plant, met some of the mangers and heard their stories. We ate at these amazing places.” She looked up at me then continued. “Though we grew closer as friends, he gives me the impression he wants more, but I don’t.” She hesitated and blushed. “Then he says some really off the wall comments, and I’m left wondering where he could think we could possibly go. Elio, we haven’t been intimate,” she repeated as though she wanted to assure me.
“But then one night,” her tone went low, and a frown creased her forehead, “he took me to the dockyard.” My face dropped, and I knew what was coming. “I waited outside for him while he went to do something up in an office. That’s when I heard what sounded like someone calling for help, and it drew me right into the scene of a murder.” She paused to take a deep breath. “I saw a murder—an execution, really.” Her eyes widened at the memory. “Elio, I saw a man plead for mercy while another man put a bullet into his head.”
“Did the killer see you?”
“Oh, yes.” She chuckled darkly. I had no doubt that the weight of what she had witnessed still rested heavily on her shoulders. “I was frozen to the spot, and my brain refused to keep up while we both stared at one another, waiting to see who was going to make the first move. Then suddenly, Mariano found me looking terrified as hell and yanked me around the corner of the building. We got out of there after he made sure I was okay.” She looked like she had a sudden thought. “I think that’s when I lost my bracelet. He must have gone back for it, because I found it at your parents’ house.”
He didn’t. My guys found it.I wanted to break every bone in his body when I returned home. How could he not have told me?
“I wanted to call the police, but he told me we couldn’t because you don’t call the police on the mafia.” She quickly cleared her throat. “Was that your hit?”
My back shot up. “If it was?”
“I would be slightly relieved.” She shocked me with her answer.
“Why?”