Page 76 of Maddest Temptation

“Your mood is oddly good today. I can practically see the sun shining.” Vitelli sat in the chair before me. All bright and smiley. “You’re not sour, or bitter, or even gloomy.”

“I get it, Vitelli. Is there a point to all of this?” He narrowed his eyes and looked at me for a while.

“How many?”

“How many what?”

“Women. There is no chance in hell that you’re in a good mood because of this,” he looked and waved around the office. “So, I can only assume women were involved. Or you finally killed Donato Manci.”

“Fuck's sake, Vitelli. You’re ruining my mood.”

“So, it wasn’t Donato?” He deflated.

Honestly, after everything that happened this past weekend, it was a fucking miracle that the man was still breathing. There were no good Mafiosi, but Donato was straight out deranged. Cruel.

There were different kinds of men in the same spectrum varying from bad to borderline satanic.

“No,” I bit out. “I didn’t kill him.”

“So, it’s women then,” he pried, broad smile on his face, one I wanted to wipe off.

Woman.

Single. Not plural as he believed.

It wasn’t supposed to have happened; it had caught me by surprise. I thought it would have been a one-time thing and then we would be back to ignoring each other.

One day turned into two, and two ended up turning into her staying at my place for the weekend. Sleeping in my bed—although there wasn’t much sleeping involved. It was clear to me that she hated being at her place. So, I brought her back to mine again and again.

The sex was great. Mind blowing really. The best sex I had in my entire life. Watching Francesca lose herself was one of the best experiences of my life. I might not have been her first, but knowing I was the one to show her this world, the one to offer her so much pleasure…it humbled me.

“Has Romeo contacted us?” That took Vitelli by surprise. It would keep him from asking questions I didn’t want to answer.

“He wasn’t pleased with you leaving like that, but thankfully he understood. I’m good at persuasion. But you made me late to pick up Marie and she was pissed.”

“I imagine you made it up to her.” I raised one brow. “Good at persuasion, I’m guessing.”

“Something like that.” He smirked. Where did you drive off to?”

“Somewhere important.” I waved him off.

“What could be more important than the meeting with Romeo Ferraro?”

Francesca. Simple as that. Francesca was starting to become the most important thing in my world, and that unnerved me.

“Romeo suggested we tie our alliance with a marriage.” I pondered Vitelli’s words. “He suggested you marry his cousin Livia, the girl?—”

“I’m not marrying her,” I pointed out simply.

Vitelli smiled and nodded. “I thought that would be your sentiment, so I said we could work something else out.”

“Good.” I agreed. Marrying was the last thing I wanted to do right now, especially to Romeo’s sister. I liked the guy, but I wasn’t ready to be part of his family.

“Well…I’m not marrying her either,” Vitelli said with sudden determination. The thought hadn’t even crossed my mind, but a smile pulled at the edge of my lips. “I’m not, Cassio,” he warned me.

“And why is that?” I knew he wouldn’t, and it wasn’t my idea to marry him off. I just wanted to see that look on his face. Marriage had never been a reality for my brother. Not even now with his girlfriend, the poor girl would be strung along until she was old and dying. Vitelli had a fear of commitment and marriage was a big one.

“I asked Marie LeRoy to marry me,” he practically blurted.

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