I push through the pain and continue past my original set count, hunkering deeper into my stance and lowering my center as I put more power behind my extra punches. Fiero grunts and leans into the bag, my unexpected swings almost knocking him off balance. When I finally step back and shake out my arms, he sighs and rolls his shoulders.
“Will breaking the bag make you feel better?” Fiero asks with more snark than common sense.
“You’re lucky I didn’t beat on your sorry ass instead,” I snarl.
“What’s got your tits in a tangle this morning?” he asks.
I catch the hand towel he tosses at me and wipe the sweat from my face.
“Nico Russo thinks the stronzos threatening our families have shifted to online attacks. Stealing information and planting bugs without even leaving their fucking hideout,” I snarl.
When I grab the shin pads and throw them at him, he groans. I roll my eyes and include the bigger kick pad while mumbling about weak-ass bitches who chose the wrong career path if they can’t handle a few blows with protection.
“Did they attack his business or his home?” Fiero asks as he straps his last shin guard onto his leg and stands.
“Both, but his team is so busy with cleaning up the mess, they can’t find the source.”
I stalk across the mat to Fiero. He curses and pivots just in time to accept my kick on his shin pads instead of the side of his legs.
“Fuck, are you trying to kill me?”
“You won’t die, not from this,” I promise.
“Oh, there’s a relief.”
I land a flurry of kicks, interrupting the conversation as he focuses on protecting himself. When my thighs burn and calves cramp, I stalk around the mats, working out the kinks, before moving to the center again.
“Don’t you want to hear what I found on Aurora?” he asks.
“No,” I snarl and strike.
He curses and fields my volley of random combinations.
“Why?” he grunts.
I finish with a push kick, shoving my sole into the shield pad so hard Fiero stumbles back several steps.
“I know enough already. She’ll tell me the rest when she’s ready.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Yes.”
“Then tell her about the cyberattacks on Nico Russo.”
I drop the hand towel without using it and turn to face him.
“Ask for her help,” he says with a shrug before dropping to unstrap the pads from his shins.
“Why? What did you find?”
He lifts his head and meets my eyes as he unhooks the Velcro behind his left calf.
“She’s a few credits away from earning her bachelor’s degree in computer science, and according to her professors, she’s a genius. She has the highest grades in all her classes.”
He stands with the pads tucked under one arm and saunters to the cleaning station.
“She’s only eighteen. She just graduated from high school,” I snarl.
I might strangle the man as he sanitizes the pads with nonchalance emanating from his every move.
“She locked her records and delayed her diploma, but she graduated years ago.”
I curse and stomp to the locker room, angry I let Fiero goad me into asking about Aurora behind her back. As the hot shower beats down on my shoulders, I pray my early morning workout is enough to help me maintain control throughout the day, but when my cock half hardens at the mere thought of kissing Aurora, I hiss and smack the shower controls.
Freezing water shocks me into the present and cools my ardor.
“There’s more,” Fiero says from the stall beside me.
I turn off the shower and yank the curtain open. When I don’t respond, electing to towel dry in silence, he takes the hint and changes the subject.
“I looked into her family situation, too.”
I hang my towel on the hook and reach for my lotion.
“Did you know her father’s consigliere claims the Achilles family home as his place of residency?”
I pause mid-smear with my foot propped up on the bench. Most consiglieres have their own homes. My uncle has his own townhouse, despite spending most of his time at our family residence.
“And I can’t find any apartments or condos under his name, either.”
I grunt and finish lotioning my entire body.
“Are you trying to tell me he lives with the Achilles family?” I snarl.
I didn’t get that vibe from Aurora. Her reaction made it seem like she hadn’t expected to see him. Like it had been a while since he visited.
“He’s seen going in and out of hotels and apartments, but I’m not sure he’s ever slept in one place for more than a night or two at a time,” Fiero says before turning off his shower.
“So, he’s a man whore?” I scoff.
His towel muffles his reply.
“I think that’s fair to say.”
I pull on my clothes and toss my dirties in my duffle before checking the time on my phone.
“Don’t call or text me today unless it’s an emergency.” I shove my phone in my pocket and head for the door. “And stay away from the townhouse,” I demand.
“Got it, boss. Go get your lady before you break all the gym equipment.” As the locker door closes behind me, his last words pull a tight smirk from me. “Goddamn beast might break my legs tomorrow if he doesn’t get what he wants.”
I hop in my car and head straight to the Achilles family home. As the first rays of light brighten the sky, I pull into the driveway behind a black SUV. A man older than my father stands beside the open back passenger door. He looks vaguely familiar. His sweater and slacks label him as an educator, but I hate to judge a book by its cover, so I hold my judgment until he meets my gaze.
His friendly smile, intelligence, and manners clear away my suspicion.
The side door of the house opens and Aurora steps out. Her smile steals my breath. I want her to greet me like that, but she has yet to notice me. Locked in a playful conversation with the boy who trails out after her, she laughs and throws her arm over his shoulder as they walk down the sidewalk.
Tristan. Her brother. The heir to the Achilles family and the only reason I can’t have Aurora underneath me all night long.
The last time I saw him, he was knee height. Now the top of his head reaches Aurora’s chin.
When Aurora notices me, excitement brightens her expression before she catches herself. Worry and uncertainty dampen her joy, but she still offers me a tight smile before turning to the old man.
“Good morning, Mr. Hearthright. Please excuse us for a moment, then Tristan is all yours for the day,” Aurora says.
Mr. Hearthright agrees with reserved amusement.
A surge of nervous energy works up from my toes, the sensation so foreign I take an embarrassing amount of time to recognize it before I shove it away.
Aurora guides Tristan over to stand in front of me. As she introduces us, Tristan sizes me up. I do the same to him, aware of just how brutally honest young boys can be.
He’s a smaller, masculine version of Aurora, so I can’t find much fault in him. He still carries the round face and innocence of youth, but even at first glance, it’s obvious he’s related to Aurora. If she were a little older, I’d think she was his mom, but only at first glance.
When he sticks out his hand for a shake, I take it and enjoy the firm squeeze he gives me.
He drops his friendly expression and sends me what must be all the consternation in his tiny body.
“I may be only eight years old, but if you ever hurt her, I’ll kill you.”
Aurora gasps and clasps her hand over his mouth before trying to tug him away.
I don’t let go. She hisses my name.
“He didn’t mean it. Don’t—”
I lean down to his eye level.
“Do you know how to use a gun?”
He peels Aurora’s hand off his mouth.
“Yes, but my sister won’t even let me touch one. Don’t worry, though, I can still kill you.”
“And how would you do that?” I ask.
“Maybe a knife. Or a car. A truck might be better, since you’re so big. Poison could work, too. Or—”
“Tristan, stop!” Aurora pleads.
I drop into a squat and pull him closer.
“All good options, if you know what you’re doing. No skill is a wasted skill if it can protect the ones you love. I can teach you, if you want?”
Aurora hisses my name again, but a smile spreads across Tristan’s face.
“Promise?” he asks.
“Promise. We’ll protect Aurora together,” I vow.
“Shake on it?” he half-asks, half-demands.
“Of course,” I respond.
He gives my hand a firm shake. I try not to crush his tiny digits but reciprocate with enough force he knows I’m serious.
Aurora throws her hands up in the air and turns to Mr. Hearthright with bewilderment on her face. He shrugs as if to say it’s none of his business, but the amused tilt of his lips shows his approval.
I remember where I’ve seen him before. He chaperoned a group of mafia elite children to specialty summer camps over a decade ago.
Aurora must have chosen him for his expertise. I silently approve of her selection. He’ll keep Tristan safe, no matter what threats they face throughout the day. My respect for him grows when he greets Tristan with the same respect he showed me.
As Aurora says goodbye to Tristan with an extra admonishment and a warning to behave, longing lodges within my throat and constructs my airway. I yearn to watch Aurora care for our children with such love, but the concept feels a bit too abstract and far away, so the thought of being included in their rote morning activities fills me with a stronger sense of envy.
She shuts the door and waves as the SUV drives away. Long after it disappears from view, she keeps her back to me. I use the time to sort through my emotions and tuck them away for later before focusing on the next endeavor.
This one will be much more carnal. Nothing will stop me from enjoying every inch of my bride-to-be. After today, she’ll be Aurora Vivaldi in every way except name.
Maybe we shouldn’t wait a full four months to make it official. We signed prenups without our parents’ knowledge. What’s stopping us from going down to the courthouse and signing other documents?
I dismiss the idea. Aurora deserves the most lavish wedding in the history of New York City.
The fury on her face when she turns to me is not the expression I expect.
“Do you need anything from inside the house?” I ask before she speaks.
She closes her mouth and sets her lips in a mutinous line as she shakes her head. I open the passenger door and offer to help her inside, but when she refuses and tries to avoid touching me, I grab her and pin her against the back door with my bulk.
Her silky hair and soft lips prove too tempting. I weave my digits into her locks and kiss her with bruising force, but I need her too much to hold back. After a moment of shock, she gives as fiercely as she gets, grabbing my waist and digging her nails into my flesh through my shirt. Her anger merges with desperation, pulling a groan from my chest. My cock tests the strength of my trouser seams and need draws my balls up close to my body.
I pull away with a curse, yank her hands off me, grab her by the nape, and push her into her seat, protecting her head from hitting the doorframe by covering it with my arm.
Her wide eyes feed my hunger as I close the door. I stalk around the hood, wedge myself behind the wheel, and pull out of the driveway before we have a truly X-rated moment in front of her familial home.
She adjusts the air control dial, aims her vents at her face, leans back, and closes her eyes. I settle my hand on her thigh. She stiffens and directs a glare at my face.
“Do you know how hard I’ve worked to keep Tristan away from all that shit? How could you offer to teach him how to kill people? He’s eight! He’ll take you seriously!”
“I was serious.”
“No. You can’t. I don’t want you to.”
I snuff my initial response after a glance at her expression. When I reach for her hand, she moves it away, but I lean further and grab her wrist.
“I know you want to protect him. I do, too.”
“No, you just want to corrupt him,” she snaps.
“How long do you think he’ll survive as a mafia kingpin without what I can teach him?”
She presses her other hand to her eyes and takes a deep breath through gritted teeth.
“I graduated from high school early, earned an associate’s degree in business management, am a semester away from earning my bachelor’s in computer science, and make almost a million dollars online annually.”
Heavy silence fills the car as I process her words.
I wish I could tell her how proud and in awe I am of her, but the topic jump fills me with foreboding.
“Why? Why have you pushed yourself so hard for so long?”
I already know, but I need to hear her say it.
“I was going to run away with him. I’d buy us both new identities and hide somewhere far, far away from my family. We’d escape the mafia and live a long, carefree life without all the danger.”
“When were you planning to disappear on me?” I snarl.
“What? No, I can’t go anymore. When my mother told me I was getting married, I knew I’d fucked up by waiting too long. I can’t leave, but maybe I can still find somewhere safe for Tristan.”
I pull over before I cause an accident and throw the car into park before moving both hands to the wheel, afraid I’ll hurt Aurora if I touch her right now.
“Why are you telling me this now?” I growl.
“Because I can’t make it make sense anymore!”
The agony in her voice reveals more than I can dissect, but her wild eyes, pale face, and rapid, shallow breaths suggest she’s on the verge of a mental breakdown.
Only one thing could bring her to such depths.
“You can’t send him away, can you?”
My gravelly baritone ruins my attempt at delivering the news gently, but instead of breaking, she turns haunted eyes to mine.
“I’m a selfish coward, aren’t I? I should let him go, but I need him in my life. I just can’t figure out how to keep him safe.”
“Are you asking for my help?”
“I… I don’t think I can do this alone anymore, but…”
“But you think I’ll turn him into a monster?”
She sighs and drops her face into her hands.
“He can’t become my father,” she mumbles.
Her answer isn’t what I expect, but it doesn’t surprise me. I peel my fingers off the steering wheel and gather her to me with as much gentleness as I can muster. She drops her hands into her lap. I cup the back of her head and frame the side of her face before forcing her teary eyes up to mine.
“He has a solid, loving foundation because of you, Aurora. No matter what I teach him, he’ll still be the Tristan you know and love. He will always regard you as the most important person in his life, at least until he starts his own family, and then he’ll still welcome you into his home with open arms.”
“How can you say that? You only saw him for two seconds.”
“Two seconds is all I needed. He needs you the same way you need him. That’s why you can’t send him away, Aurora. Not because you’re selfish, but because he still needs you. You recognized it, even if you couldn’t put it into words.”
“I don’t know what to do anymore,” she whispers.
The first tear escapes from her lashes and trails along my hand. I tuck my thumb under her chin and pull her closer to my face.
“Let me protect him the best way I know how. Let me teach him. The things I do may not always be legal, but I have my own morals, Aurora. He’ll still be the Tristan you raised with love; he’ll just also have the skills to survive the cutthroat, cruel world we live in.”
“How can you promise me something like that? You can’t—”
“I can and I will. Haven’t I proven I’m a man of my word?”
She takes a shuddering breath and searches my expression. When she closes her eyes and nuzzles against my hand, my heart melts.
“You have.” She filets me alive when she aims her shimmery emerald orbs at me. “I trust you, Giorgio.”
“Mio Dio, didn’t I warn you about saying my name?”
Her pupils shrink.
Despite the urgency pulsing through me, I take her mouth in a long, drugging kiss, and when I pull back, her swollen lips and dazed eyes fill me with pride and longing. She shifts in her seat, rubbing her thighs together and pressing her breasts against her shirt. My cock pounds at the agony of being denied.
“Stay just like this, all soft and desperate for me, until I get us home. Are you wet already, mia topolina?”
When she mindlessly nods, I growl and dive back into her mouth, but pull back when lust threatens to break the dam of my control.
I wipe her tears off her face and steal a lick of the corner of her mouth, enjoying her gasp of surprise before settling my hand on her knee and pulling out into traffic.
After a few moments, she wiggles in her seat. I smirk and give her a warning out of the corner of my eye. She stills and gnaws on her bottom lip.
I slip my hand higher on her thigh. Her blush deepens. I change lanes and squeeze her leg. Her breath hitches.
With every change, I move my hand higher on her leg. When I turn onto the last street, I brush my pinky over her panties.
She smothers her gasp with her hand and grabs my wrist.
I snarl, expecting her to push me away, but groan when she parts her knees and guides my hand to her sex.
She’s soaked.
I almost miss the driveway, but I slow just in time to mash the button for the gate and whip onto the property. As the gate closes behind us and the garage opens in front of us, I curl my fingers into her folds until her panties prevent me from going any deeper. She groans and tilts her hips as I flatten her clit with my palm.
I pull into the garage, turn off the car, and hit the button to close the door. Pain streaks through my groin as my trouser seam pinches my hard cock. I flex my fingers against her pussy and grind the heel of my palm in a circle over her clit.
My seat belt buckle clacks against the window as I whip it out of the way. I unbuckle her and lean over the console to devour her mouth. She whimpers and kisses me with abandon.
I snarl and pull back.
“You’re drenched and desperate for my cock, aren’t you, mia topolina?”
She whines and nods.
“You want to cum on my hand again?”
She nods and tilts her chin as though asking for another kiss.
“Use your words, Aurora. Tell me what you want.”
She hooks her arm around my nape and dares me to pull away, knowing I couldn’t if I tried, and I sure as hell don’t want to.
“Everything. I want everything. If it’s with you, I want it,” she says.
The honesty and vulnerability shining from her eyes steal my breath. She becomes the foundation of my soul. I’m nothing without her.
No more waiting. She’s ready.
Aurora Achilles is mine.
All mine.
