Page 41 of Sins and Secrets

Whatever. It doesn’t matter. I’ll be out of here soon.

It shouldn’t matter that she says horrible things about me to Alessio, but how will he see me after everything she’s said?

I don’t want him to think of me any differently, though I doubt his opinion is high in the first place.

Get yourself together, I think as I surface and float on my back. Just try to enjoy what is left of your evening.

Though it seems impossible at this point, I’m determined to pretend that I’m a normal woman living a normal life for a few hours.

14

ALESSIO

“You’re really going to do this to your own mother?”

I take a deep breath, trying to keep calm as I walk my mother to the door. It’s the same argument that it’s been for years. While I may have been willing to tolerate her pressuring me to find a wife before, I’m done with that now.

Especially after the way she spoke about Billie.

“Yes, I am.” I stuff my hands in my pockets and follow her to the front door. “You’re not welcome here anymore. If you need to see me, you can book an appointment with Billie. She’s my new assistant.”

My mother stops and turns to scowl at me. “You think that is an appropriate way to treat your mother? Your father would be disappointed in you. He did not raise you to put some little hussy above your family.”

“Until you learn to respect my boundaries, that is the way things are going to be. You want to see me, you make an appointment. I’m done with this argument.”

She storms out the front door and slams it behind her. I twist the lock in place and pull out my phone, sending a message to Davide about getting a locksmith to my home immediately. I need the locks changed.

Coming home to find her rooting around in the loft and looking through Billie’s things was the last straw. I love my mother, but this is too much. I’m a grown man and who lives with me is none of her business.

I run my hands down my face before turning and heading back into the kitchen. I watch Billie through the window as she swims from one end of the pool to the other. My cock stiffens as I take in the curves of her body and the fabric that does little to hide them from me.

Bad idea. Stay inside. Stay away from temptation. Your mother was right about her being too young for you. Keep your shit together and keep your dick in your fucking pants.

Except all I want to do is go outside, talk to her, and feel like someone other than who I am. Just for a little while.

And I need to apologize to her for the way my mother spoke.

As I walk outside, I try to convince myself that this is a good idea, though everything in me is screaming at me to go inside, make dinner, and pretend that nothing happened.

However, I’m learning that when it comes to Billie what I should do and what I actually do are two very different things.

Billie looks up at me as I approach the edge of the pool. There is fire burning in her eyes as she dips back beneath the water.

Clearly, she isn’t going to make this easy on me.

I stuff my hands in my pockets and try to readjust my cock before she comes back up, but I’m too slow. She smirks as she pushes her wet hair back from her face, her gaze dropping to the bulge in my pants.

“So, that was something in there,” she says, floating on her back. I roll my eyes at her taunting, even though it excites me. Her nipples pebble against the thin blue fabric of her bikini top. “I don’t want to be rude, but is it too much to say that your mother is a piece of work?”

“I’m sorry,” I say, kicking off my shoes to the side. I’m debating whether to get in the pool with her or not. I’ve always liked swimming when life gets too hard to handle at times. “You can call her a piece of work. She is. She has her reasons, but that doesn’t excuse the way she acted toward you.”

“I’ve been called worse,” Billie says, her eyes shutting as she floats in the middle of the pool. “You learn to not let things like that bother you when the single women around you are in competition for the men.”

The corner of her mouth twitches upward and I want to know what’s going on in her mind. I know that several of the young women are constantly fighting with each other over the capos. Most of the other young women tend to stay out of it, but I could see why Billie would be dragged into it.

Her beauty isn’t a secret in the mafia. I’ve heard more than one of my men talking about braving Arturo to get a chance with Billie. Most of them only ever talk about who can sleep with her before Arturo kills them.

What those idiots don’t realize is that Arturo is the least of their worries. Billie is more than capable of handling herself. Any woman who breaks a nose with a frying pan isn’t going to be playing games with horny men.

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