“I was a mistake. My dad had an affair. He slept with my mum, and I was the result of that. He was an American and my mum was British. My dad was absent most of the time. He’d promise that he’d come to see me, and he’d lie. It wouldbe weeks, maybe even months, before he’d be back. I grew up hating him. It hurt being second best to his job, Alessio.”
I press my hands against his rock-hard chest, needing to put some space between us. He’s too close. Now that I’m able to think and breathe clearer, he’s too close, especially when I’m at my most vulnerable.
He doesn’t let me go. Instead, he tightens his arms around me even more. “I fucked up by being gone,” he says.
I nod. “I waited. I didn’t want to. I had my doubts from the very beginning.”
“I knew that,” he muses. “I knew you doubted me, but Mama…” God, I fucking love that he calls me that. Shivers work their way along my spine as heat pools between my thighs. “I thought you’d realize that what we had was real.”
I lift my shoulders in a careless shrug. “I’ve never had real,” I tell him honestly. “I don’t let people in.”
He reaches for my chin and tilts my head. “Because you don’t give them the chance to hurt you.”
I swallow hard and nod. “But you got through,” I whisper. I hate talking about this. He hurt me without even knowing he did so.
“And I fucked up by not coming to you when I said I would,” he surmises. “You kept my son from me, Gabriella. Why?”
“You’re in the Mafia, Alessio. Your world is dangerous. Look at how we met? You disappeared after you promised you’d be back. I couldn’t—wouldn’t—let my child feel the way I did growing up. I made a choice. I’m sorry that it hurt you, but I did what I thought was right for my child.”
“Our child,” he corrects. “Why did you apologize then?”
I give him a small smile. “I saw how much it hurt you by keeping him from you, and I hate that. I owed you an apology for keeping him from you. I knew the moment I saw the hurtand anger in your eyes that I made the wrong choice. I’m really sorry.”
“What happens now?” he questions.
I cling to his shirt. “Please don’t take him from me,” I plead with him. My breathing starts to deepen at the mere thought.
“Christ,” he snarls. “Fuck, Gabriella, I’m an asshole but not that much of one. Anthony is ours, that’s the way he’s going to stay.”
“Really?” I ask, wondering what the hell is going on. From everything I ever heard about Alessio, especially over the last four years, he’s ruthless, relentless, and unforgiving. It’s what made me keep us hidden for so long. Had he not been at Adelina’s party, I would still be hiding.
His thumbs stroke along the base of my jaw. “Really.”
I stare at the man who’s haunted my dreams for years and wonder what happens from here. He lives in New York while I live here in Indianapolis. This is my home. I’ve made a good life for me and our son here. I don’t want to leave. Before I can ask him another question, his mouth descends on mine. Within seconds, I lose every semblance of reality. My fingers clench around his shirt as our tongues caress one another. His fingers skim along my body until he reaches the hem of my dress.
I whimper low in my throat, loving that he’s touching me again. Something I have dreamed about for the past four years. He pushes me back against the countertop, and I hold onto him as he lifts me onto it. He pushes my dress up to my hips and slides my panties down my legs. I’m breathing hard as he deepens our kiss.
The sound of his belt buckle fills the silence in the kitchen. I shiver at the thought of him being inside of me again. I want Alessio. I think I’ll always want him. He’s always had a hold over me. The years haven’t diminished just how much I want him.
Today has been a rollercoaster of emotions, and no doubt I shouldn’t be doing this, but neither of us are in a place to think straight.
Our past collides with our future and present as he presses his cock against my folds. I’m soaking wet. I need him.
He slides into me, his thrust hard and deep. I tear my lips away from his, gasping at the sheer size of him.
It’s been so long since I’ve been with a man that it stings as he slides in and out of me. He fucks me hard and fast on the countertop.
“Ahh,” I cry out as he picks up his pace.
“Fuck,” he growls, his hands on my hips, his fingers digging into my skin.
I’m so close, my body’s burning with pleasure. God, nothing has ever felt this good. I want more. I need him.
“Please,” I beg breathlessly. “I’m so close.”
He slams harder and faster, his hips rotating as he drives into me.
“Come,” he growls, his lips pulled back into a snarl as he thrusts deeper and deeper into me. “Come for me, Mama.”