LOVE on The Horizon (Breaking The Rules #1) (17 page)

Fanculo.

My eyes drilled right into Isabella’s skull as she sat across the table from me. I told her to call Clara and uninvite her. She insisted she tried but couldn’t reach her on her cell.

Even though Rebecca said she was fine with it, the poor girl has been through enough with these crazy people.

My mother and older sister finally admitted that they did like her. Mama said she’d never seen me this happy, and if it was Rebecca who caused it, then she appreciated her coming into my life. Sofia felt the same, as did my father. Isabella, however, would not soften. My sister wanted me with Clara, end of story. This wasn’t anything new, and I had to deal with her nonsense every time I came home to visit.

While Rebecca chatted with Sofia before dinner, I had a very heated conversation in Italian with Isabella.

“
You’ve known Clara your whole life, Marco. Suddenly, you come home with someone you met a few months ago? You barely know her. How do you know she’s not after your money?”

That one statement boiled my blood. She had no right to judge Rebecca, nor would I allow it. What Rebecca and I shared might have been strange to understand, but it was as real as the love between my parents, or my sisters and their husbands. Rebecca was everything I wanted for the rest of my life.

“She still cares for you. How could you throw all your history away?”

“Enough,
” I hissed through clenched teeth. “
I am not getting back together with Clara. You need to accept that Rebecca is in my life, or our relationship will forever change, Isabella.”

I walked away, leaving her to think about my threat. We’d always been close since we were closest in age. It would kill me to cut her from my life, but I’d do it in a heartbeat if she couldn’t accept Rebecca.

By the time we sat down to dinner, I was mentally drained. I hadn’t even broached the real reason I was there yet. One obstacle at a time. I just needed to get us through tonight first.

The sight of Aldo escorting Clara into the dining room caused Rebecca to stiffen beside me. I squeezed her hand tightly, wishing for this night to be over so I could hold her in my arms and tell her all the things she was that Clara could never be.

Clara waved cheerfully to the clan and then smiled at me. Her ass had barely sat down when my sister enlightened her best friend who Rebecca was—and that she didn’t speak Italian. Clara cut her eyes to me before she plastered on a fake smile for my girlfriend.

Five minutes earlier, I hadn’t been able to hear myself think as everyone talked at the same time, trying to get a word in edgewise. Suddenly, no one had a thing to say as my ex-girlfriend and my current girlfriend sized each other up.

“
Ciao
, Rebecca, I am Clara. It’s so nice to meet you.”

Rebecca nodded and smiled warmly. “Thank you, same here.” Clara was a beautiful woman, but she didn’t hold a candle to Rebecca’s natural beauty.

“What part of America are you from?”

“New Jersey. Have you been?”

Clara nodded enthusiastically. “
Sì
, my ex-husband Giuseppe traveled to New York often, and I’d sometimes go with him. It’s a wonderful city.”

Rebecca nodded wordlessly before taking a sip of her wine. She rarely drank, and I couldn’t blame her for doing so today.

“It’s such a surprise to meet you,” Clara said before turning to me. “Marco, she’s lovely. Why didn’t you mention her to me during your last visit a few months ago?”

“We hadn’t met yet,” I responded woodenly.

“Ah, so it’s a new relationship.”
This bitch
, I thought to myself. “Come to mention it, why are you back so soon? I thought your contracts ran six months at a time.”

I tensed beside Rebecca, who immediately picked up on my change in mood. She squeezed my hand beneath the table while rubbing her other hand over my wrist.

“We’re in between contracts now,” I lied. My parents watched the exchange between us, confusion causing them to ask questions in Italian. I deflected their questions, not wanting to have that dreaded conversation with an audience. They both accepted my request to wait until later but were clearly not happy with what I was hiding.

I could’ve choked Clara. Once conversation resumed, Rebecca leaned in and said, “I love you.”

That right there proved I chose the perfect woman. It couldn’t be easy for Rebecca to be sitting and chatting with my ex, or to be judged by these strangers, yet there she was, worried about me.

I watched suspiciously as Clara chatted about memories from our past, all while Rebecca nodded politely.

The last time I was home had been right before my promotion as CD on
The Horizon
a few months ago. Clara was fresh out of her divorce and had been relentless in trying to rekindle a spark that had died in me years earlier.

There was a time I would’ve done anything for that woman. I’d idolized her since the age of sixteen. When a hot eighteen-year-old openly flirted with you, it wasn’t hard to confuse lust for love. We began dating after I turned eighteen, when she was twenty. I thought she was it for me, and I felt that way right up until the day I found her in bed with one of my closest friends…the same friend she married.

She never knew I saw them together and still doesn’t to this day.

For three years I dated her while I attended Marist University. And in the end, just as the business degree I studied meant nothing, our relationship was also a total waste of my time. I broke our engagement with the excuse I wanted to follow my dream career. I claimed that being away for months at a time wouldn’t be fair to her. That summer, I left Clara, Florence, and everything else behind to pursue my career with Sunset.

Once I got Rebecca alone, I needed to share my story. She would be the only one to know since I’d never shared the real reason behind our breakup with anyone. But if Clara dared to cause trouble for me with Rebecca, I’d sing like a canary before telling her to go fuck herself.

We were finally alone. I would have had her naked in bed at least an hour earlier, but my mother insisted on showing Rebecca more photos from my childhood after dinner.

I never got the chance to speak to my parents, and I promised them we would the next day. I just wanted to get it over with. I knew what they would say, and prolonging it all would just aggravate the situation further.

Just as they got over my first career choice, I knew eventually they’d get over my new career choice. I could already hear my mother’s sobs, since the last time I broke the news to them, she had cried for days.

“Why are you dressed?” I asked as she slipped into bed beside me. When she felt my nakedness, in a bold move, she sat up and pulled her nightgown over her head.

“Better?”

My hand felt the small patch of lace between her legs. “Much better. This I allow.” I pulled her against me and she rested her hand on my bare chest.

“Tomorrow I’ll take you to see Florence.”

“I’d like that,” she whispered sleepily. “How did it go with Gianni?”

I hadn’t had time to fill her in yet. I cornered him outside just as he was leaving with Katia. “He’s in.”

She tilted her head to look at my face. “That’s awesome.”

“It is. I told him to keep it to himself for now. Sometime tomorrow, I’ll have to tell my parents, especially after that bitch opened her big mouth.” I scrubbed a hand through my hair in frustration. “
Lo non vedo l'ora di che
.”

“Hon?”

“Yeah?”

“You just slipped into Italian.”

Shit, had I? “
I didn’t even realize it, I’m sorry.”

She ran her hand over my chest. “I don’t know what you said, but I’m guessing you’re not looking forward to telling them.”

“No, I am not.
That conversation will not go well,”
I said before kissing her nose. “
Bella
, I’m sorry you had to deal with Clara’s nonsense tonight.”

“She still has feelings for you, that much is obvious.”

“I’m not so sure they are genuine. I broke up with her, and that went against everything she believed. Men didn’t break up with Clara Bonetti. She was more embarrassed about being dumped than anything else.”

Rebecca shifted so that she was lying across my chest. I skimmed my thumb along her lips and she kissed it gently. “What happened between you?”

“Oh, let’s see.” I pretended to be pondering before adding, “Oh yeah, she slept with one of my closest friends.” On cue, Rebecca’s mouth gaped open in shock. “Actually, you are the only person I’ve ever told.”

“How did you know?”

“I caught them. We were all sharing a beach house to celebrate a few of us graduating. We all planned a day trip to Bologna. Giuseppe said he had to work, but when Clara came down with an illness at the last minute, I suspected something was up. I left along with our other friends that day, but I pretended to be concerned about Clara and turned back. I waited, and it wasn’t long before Giuseppe entered the house in shorts and a T-shirt and not in his normal business suit. I waited a few minutes and snuck into the house. They had no idea I was standing there.”

“I’m so sorry, Marco.”

“It was actually a blessing. I was not happy. I had already researched working for a cruise ship, and fear of ending things, of what my family would say, stopped me from pursuing it. Finding Clara in bed with Giuseppe was the kick in the ass I needed to leave and join Sunset.”

“Is he the man she married?”

“Yes, he is. I have no idea why they divorced, nor do I care. He tried to contact me a few times, but I had nothing to say to him.”

A thought had her forehead puckering as she processed my words. “What’s wrong?”

“If you hadn’t found out, would you be married to her right now?”

“Definitely not,” I responded without hesitation. “It was only a matter of time before I ended it. She just helped me make my decision sooner rather than later.”

“She’s very beautiful.”

“Is she?” She smirked, not buying my question. “I only have eyes for you,
bella
.” Pulling her upward so our faces were closer, I took her mouth with mine. “I’ve been wanting you all day,” I murmured against her lips while my hand molded around her breast. Without breaking eye contact, she reached down between us and wrapped her fingers around my hardening cock.

“
Gesù Cristo
,” I muttered as she gripped me tightly. With long, slow strokes, she drove me insane. I crushed my lips to hers, fighting to keep focused on kissing her when my cock felt like it would implode at any moment.

“Rebecca,” I breathed her name on a sigh. “Please,
bella
, I need you.”

“You have me.” She slid down my body until her lips hovered right above the tip of my penis. Through her lashes, she watched my face as her tongue poked out and lapped over my crown.

“Don’t tease me,” I warned.

“Or?” Before I could answer, she did it again, twice more. And then, she sucked on the very tip, causing me to buck into her mouth.

“Rebecca.”

“Yes?”

Once again, she didn’t wait for an answer and covered me with her mouth. Before I could lose all coherent thought, I sat up enough to grab her hips and swing her body around. She gasped in surprise but never stopped what she was doing, even while I positioned and manipulated her body until her pussy was hovering over my face.

“Or, this,” I finally answered her question before pulling her clit in between my lips.

That did it
—
that stopped her motions, forced a moan around my cock, and caused her to rotate her hips against my mouth.

In retaliation, she took me to the back of her throat and then swallowed!

“
Oh, Dio
!”

My retaliation was to cover her clit and suck forcibly. I also added a finger for good measure.

“Shit,” she mumbled around me.

For every reaction she had, I had one of my own. Our tit for tat game made it hard to hold back. I wanted her to come first, and I’d wait all night if I had to. Of course, my cock felt otherwise. Sweat began to bead on my brow from the torture she was determined to inflict on me with every suck, lick, and stroke.