For Fallon (11 page)

“Y-Yes… I was just checking the desserts.”

He rubs his hands up and down my arms to calm me. “Go to our table.” His tone is gentle, yet demanding.

Still in a daze, I step back and sit down. Because I’m too curious to know what’s happening, I turn and see the two men in a heated conversation. Luca towers over the guy, speaking to him in a hushed tone. The guy stands up on shaky legs, but Luca doesn’t move an inch as the guy tries to step away and leaves. Luca rolls his neck and paces back to me.

“What just happened?” we simultaneously ask.

“I went to check the desserts. That guy offered me a drink. I said I was on a date, and when I walked away, he stopped me by the arm for a second right before you showed up. I was just startled. That’s all. What did you say to him? Do you know him? He looked scared.”

Luca relaxes a little. “I told him to never talk to you again. He should be happy I let him walk out of here. I came back and saw his hand on your arm.” Luca gives me a disconsolate look.

I suddenly feel defensive. “I didn’t do anything to encourage him to start flirting.”

Luca sighs in exasperation. “I know.”

I blow out a heavy breath while stillness surrounds us. “Maybe we should just go now?” I softly suggest. “We’ll be a little early at the airport.”

His eyes snap up to mine. “Don’t you want dessert?”

“No, I would like to go home, Luca. You’ve been on edge all day.” I stand up.

“Fallon, if you want to go, we will.”  Right after Luca settles the check, we head to the hotel to retrieve our carry-ons and continue to the airport.

I’m not sure where our weekend went from perfect bliss to annoyed frustration. Luca’s preoccupied and something is obviously weighing heavily on his mind. I don’t even want to know now. Ignorance is bliss.

***

We pick up his car where we left it at Chicago O’Hare and drive immediately back to my apartment. He stops the car at the front entrance of my condominium, so I guess he’s not staying.

“Fallon, are you angry?” Luca asks me point blank.

“No, I’m not,” I admit honestly. “I’m disappointed that you’ve been distracted today.”

“I’m sorry that I’ve been unfocused. I have to be in Michigan for the entire week, and I won’t see you again until Friday. I don’t like that.” Luca rests his hand on my thigh.

“Me either.”

He cups my face and kisses me firmly. His tongue probing my mouth open, demanding me to let him in. “I’m planning to be with you the entire upcoming weekend,” he whispers between kisses. “Call me whenever you want.”

“I will. Thanks for a wonderful weekend and for my gifts.” A smile overtakes my face.

“Good night,
dolcezza
.” He traces his nose down my cheek and throat, sending a delightful shiver down my spine.

I run my hand through his thick hair as he places one kiss on my collarbone. “Good night.”

Luca doesn’t leave until I’m inside my apartment. I turn on the light and move to the window to wave and watch as he drives away.

***

The following morning I’m awakened by a lovely incoming text message from him that makes my heart flutter.

Good morning, Fallon. ‘There are two ways of seeing: with the body and with the soul. The body's sight can sometimes forget, but the soul remembers forever.’ - your favorite: Alexandre Dumas

Luca

Forty-one minutes flashes on the display of the treadmill. Adriano and I work-out together three times a week at The Blackhall gym. It’s a fully-equipped gym, only accessed by the residents. I did talk the manager into getting Adriano a membership, even though he isn’t a resident. In the morning it’s usually quiet; most of my neighbors work out at night or not at all. A handful of people are also in the gym now.

Adriano wipes
the sweat off his forehead with his towel as his sprint slows down beside me. “How was your weekend? I’m not used to talking to you only once an entire weekend.”

“She took up all my time.”

“Did Danny try to contact her again?”

“No. He only called her that one time in the coffee shop. She never returned his call.” This has become much more than an assignment to retrieve information. “James wants me to focus on
Leggia. The two other
Capi
have been ordered to find Danny asap.”

“Luca, what now?
We don’t need her; she has nothing of importance. You think you can build a relationship with her? How many lies have you already told?” His voice lowers. “There’s a perfectly good reason why we agreed to not bring innocent outsiders into this.”

“I can’t back off anymore,” I answer.

“You can. You choose not to.”

I stop the treadmill and turn to Adriano. “What is it with Camilla that has you going back to her over and over again? She’s the only constant in your life, beside me.”

Adriano also stops and we step aside. “That’s an entirely different situation.”

I pull my towel over my neck as we head to the incline bench. “The circumstances are different; the situation is similar. Why do you need her? You fuck everything in sight with a skirt on. Do you really
need
to fuck Camilla too?”

“I do. I’m an asshole, and I can’t stand it when one of the other men
eye her. I want her to want me. She makes me… I don’t know exactly what.”

“Human?” I fill in.

“Yes.”

“I’m starting to understand your twisted logic. I can’t walk away anymore because I’m in too deep. I crave her presence after I leave our fucked up world at the end of the day. She’s giving me back some of my humanity, bu
t I’m also conflicted sometimes - conflicted between being Luca, her ‘normal’ boyfriend, and Luca, the underboss. How long can this go on? With her I can just be. Just be.” I lay my white towel on the bench before lying on it.

Adriano sits on the shoulder press machine across from me but doesn’t resume his work out.

I take the dumbbells off of the floor, arms hanging straight down, and raise them to shoulder height, the thumb sides of my hands facing up. After eight reps of the Y raise, I rest. “And there are more complications now.”

He
leans against the machine, waiting for me to elaborate.

“In New York, one of
Leggia’s men - I don’t know his name - was either following me or her. I had a suspicion someone was tailing us, but I couldn’t pinpoint anything unusual. The guy was good because until the next day - in the restaurant with Fallon before we left for the airport - I didn’t notice anything peculiar. After visiting the restroom, I came out and he was chatting her up. I ran up to her so fast.” It’s been a long time since a situation panicked me, but I can only categorize my reaction as sheer panic when I saw a Mafia member talking to my girlfriend. Panic was quickly overridden by rage and an obsessive need to protect her. “He has a scar on his right eyebrow - find out who he is.”

“I will do it today,” Adriano confirms.

“He was taunting me, asking me to share the hot piece of ass. The moment Fallon went back to her seat, I threatened him to back off. I couldn’t think straight, and I reacted too quickly, ruled by my anger. By threatening him, he now can report back that she’s my soft spot. I put her in more danger.”

Adriano agrees, “How did she react?”

“We had a disagreement. It irked me that she even talked to him.”

Adriano laughs. “That girl’s bringing out the jealous beast in you.”

“Don’t I know it.” I stand back up. “I need her followed by one of us because I’m positive Leggia will be tracking her moves from now on, if only to rile me up.”

“
We
can’t do it this week. Do you want one of the soldiers to do it?” Adriano inquires.

“No, they’ll ask too many questions. I’m not sure what - if anything -
Leggia will do with the information that I have a girl. James doesn’t know anything. Nobody knows except you, and I wanted to keep it that way.” My lips thin in annoyance of the unknown.

“What did you tell her about this week?”

Adriano and I have business to take care of regarding settling deals in the east. “I told her I would be in Michigan all week.”

Who could keep an eye on her for me?

“Let one of the associates you trust do it. What about that guy who also drives Camilla around when she buys the club inventory?” I ask.

“David? Yes, he’s trustworthy.”

“He’s to safeguard her constantly, without her knowing and at all costs,” I demand. “
You done working out?”

“I was done after the treadmill.” Adriano takes his towel in hand.

“Let’s go.”

Luca

After a work week of missing Fallon and constantly worrying about whether anyone would harm her, I was thrilled to be home with her so that I could keep her safe myself. I’m crazed with desire for her, and tonight
signifies an important change in our relationship; it’s the night I realize I’ve fallen in love with her.

While I’m cleaning up the mess in
her
house, she’s nagging me to leave the dishes and come sit with her on the couch. She’s eager to tell me some news, but I keep on clearing the dining room table. She grabs a pillow from next to her on the couch and throws it at me.

“Fallon,” I warn without looking at her.

She throws another pillow at me, but I duck and then calmly place the plate in my hand back on the table.

Fallon gets up quickly and bolts to the bedroom, almost tripping in the hall while she grabs the doorframe to turn toward her room.

I’m right behind her and just as she enters the bedroom, I catch her waist from behind, laughing freely.

“Luca,” she speaks quietly, out of breath. “I’ve never heard this unrestrained laugh from you before.”

She’s right, I feel free and uninhibited because of her. Slipping my hands down to the waistband of her skirt, I let my palm stroke her stomach, sidling up to touch the heavy undercurve of her breasts. My other hand is crawling up to palm her throat, and I lightly trace her ear with my lips. “Fallon, you can run, but you can never hide from me.” My fingers dig into her soft breast, and our hips are crushing into each other as our breathing increases. I walk her forward to the bed. “What did you want to tell me?”

She lets out the sexiest gratified moan. “I got a promotion. You’re touching the breasts of the Head Copywriter now.”

I smile against her ear. “That’s fantastic and well-deserved. Your writing is remarkable. I’m glad they acknowledge that.” I reach down and push her skirt and panties off all together. Then I speedily strip her shirt and bra because I want her naked right now.

She turns around to unfasten my pants while I grab the back of my shirt to pull it over my head. Her nails rake up and down my taut muscles. I love her soft hands always exploring me.

I hiss and stop her eager movement by taking her wrists in my hands. If she doesn’t stop, I’ll blow before I’m inside her. “This is about you tonight, Fallon.”

She shakes off my hands, and I allow her to turn us around and push me to the mattress. I’m rock-hard looking up at the shape of her sexy body and flawless, glowing skin and stroke myself twice to tempt her. 

She wets her lips and flicks her thumbs over her rosy nipples. “This is about
us
.” She pouts her lips, and all I can think about is having those beautiful lips wrapped around me.

I growl when I lunge forward eagerly to touch her. “Then
we’re tasting each other. Get on here,” I order and point to my face while scooting back on the bed until my head lies on the pillow.

With fluent elegance like only she can move, she starts to crawl over me and her center is pushed on my face.
Fucking sweet. She moans and throws her head back when I firmly cup her ass and trace my tongue everywhere between her thighs, because I missed her taste. My left hand crawls up to wrap around the tips of her hair, and I pull her head back slightly, letting her arch more into my mouth. I continue to pull and release her hair, adding more pressure with my tongue every time because I want to hear her moan louder.

My raging hard-on is flexing against my stomach. She strokes
me up and down and leans forward to take me into her luscious mouth. I release a low groan when she starts to circle the head with her tongue and takes me in all the way to the back of her throat while grinding on my face.

I press my thumbs to her sensitive spot
as she’s squirms above me, so I squeeze her bottom firmer, rubbing harder, and plunge my tongue in. Fallon circles her hips on my face, and I can tell by the volume of her moans that she’s going to come soon. Her head bobs up and down fiercely around my shaft as my balls tighten. Tasting her while I come into her wet mouth, I feel her inner walls contracting and suck harder when her violent shudders pull me into a soul-wrenching climax. She moans noisily. My little screamer. Fallon swallows and groans loudly, her unguarded sexual drive linking me even more to her.

I leave a kiss on her center. “I love it when you swallow,” I inform her in a possessive tone.

She sits down on the bed, facing me. “I know,” she throws back sweetly with a dreamy look about her.

“I came so hard, and I’m still fucking hard for you,” I let her know in a hoarse voice and sit up to close the distance between our bodies.

She wraps her fingers around my hard-on. In this intimate moment where we share so much through our eyes without speaking our thoughts, she wants to tell me how much I mean to her. Her emotions are written all over her beautiful face. My indulgent eyes encourage her, but something holds her back, and she hesitates.

I sink my hand into her hair. On rare occasions, I have true contentment in my smile. Usually my mood is blackened by a dark nuance I know she can’t decipher, but in this moment, the tinge is blocked out by pure ecstasy. I share my true gratified smile with her and sit back against the headboard
, coaxing her to straddle me.

“I love you,” she mentions the three words I’ve wanted to hear as she slides down easily.

I bring her forward, her lips hovering an inch from mine.
“Ti amo.”
I love you. Her hair curtains around us, and I warmly caress the strands out of her face and trace the back of my hand down her cheek, over her pink lips.

Fallon places both of her hands on my chest. My eyes penetrating tantalizingly deep into hers, lost in a world where only she and I exist.

I nuzzle her neck – loving the smoothness of her skin against my lips - up her jawline, and caringly rub our noses together while I absorb her sweet ambrosia scent. I long for the softness of her hipbone beneath my palms when she starts to move extremely slowly. My shaft twitches inside her. All I want is her, every day, every night.
“Ti amo solo tu, dolcezza.”
I love only you. I bite her lower lip and suck it into my mouth.

As she starts to round her hips, we groan together. I’ve come to crave her body and her taste. I kiss her firmly and trail down to suck on her throat. 

Her head falls back when both my hands dig into her, and I move her back and forth to ride me. I need to see her face as she comes. I need her to see only me as she comes, so I palm the back of her head and force Fallon to look at me. “Stay with me,” I command in a voice thick with lust.

We come together passionately, never breaking our stare.

I need to be more careful to keep her safe from the Syndicate. I am not about to give her up.