Page 42 of Mafia Star

“I understand what you’re saying, but I don’t agree.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to know what the hell you mean by someone hired them to do a lot more than scare me. Is someone trying to kill me? Why does it have to be someone in your family? All the men are married. Won’t their wives think that’s inappropriate?”

“I don’t know if someone is trying to kill you, but those men know how to. As for guards, it has to be someone in my family because no one else is good enough for you. I want at least one man I trust with my own life and those of the people I care about most to be with you. That means someone related to be my blood or by blood oath.”

“Blood oath. What does that mean?”

He’s pissed. Is it just because I’m arguing? Is it because he has to deal with this? Is it because he let something slip?

“You’re about to get a lesson in our family tree. Matteo’s father, Domenico, is my father’s best friend. He’s also Papa, Uncle Salvatore, and Auntie Paola’s adopted second cousin. His wife, Matteo’s mother, is Mama’s best friend. Auntie Carlotta and Uncle Domenico are like second parents to me. I’m two-and-a-half hours older than Matteo. When we were twelve, we started carrying knives. Wonderful family tradition we have. We made a blood oath by slicing our palms. It was before we knew Uncle Domenico was adopted, so we thought we were already related. But we pledged to protect our families with our lives. Apparently, Carmine and Gabriele made the same sort of pledge when they became best friends about a month after Gabriele moved here when they were twelve. They’d just gotten their knives, too.”

Chelle had already explained the family tree to me, so I knew who was related by blood, by marriage, and by long family ties. I had no idea about these boyhood oaths.

“Beth, ask Chelle. She’ll tell you Enzo has the same rule for her. If she’s going to work or some normal errand, then two regular guards go with her. But if it’s anything other than routine, then one of my generation goes with her. That’s the rule for all the wives.”

“Wives, Marco. I’m?—”

“More than my fuck buddy, and we both know it.”

“I’m not.”

His hand goes back to my hair, so he presses my head forward. He doesn’t have to use any pressure. I lean into the kiss. He stands and leans me back on the edge of the desk, the keyboard digging into my right ribs. I shove it out of the way. His hand glides up my inner thigh.

“No panties, piccolina. Hoping I’d fuck you again?”

“You did in a car yesterday.”

“And you ran to me.”

“I was coming here, anyway.”

“Beth, you got into a cab. You could have gone anywhere. You came to me.”

I stare into his eyes, and there’s no point in playing dumb.

“You’re the only person I thought to go to. You’re the only person who doesn’t make me feel scared.”

He eases his hold on my hair and smatters kisses over my cheek and the bridge of my nose.

“Cuore—”

“What does that mean?”

“Sweetheart. I’m more than a fuck buddy to you, and you are way more than that to me. We can pretend and waste time better spent together. I don’t want to just meet to fuck at some club. I don’t want to steal chances to taste you and pleasure you. And I sure as hell don’t want to waste any opportunity to just hang out with you. Do you know how hard it was not to touch you at Enzo and Chelle’s yesterday? To not be affectionate with you when they couldn’t keep their hands off each other? Do you know how much I wanted to hold your hand while we walked back to their place? I want more than sex, Beth.”

“Me too. To all of that. I felt the same way. I was too scared to admit it in case you didn’t want it too.”

“I was the same. But you coming here, you trusting me, gave me the balls to tell you what I want.”

“Have you ever told anyone outside your family the stuff you just told me about your past?”

“Never.”

“I thought so. Why did you?”

“Because I want you to know me, piccolina. I don’t want to be closed off to you when I don’t have to be. You’ve already seen that I won’t let you know what I’m thinking if I don’t want you to. You’ve already seen there are questions I won’t answer. That will never change, and I hate it. But I will never knowingly endanger you, my family, or the people who depend on us. That means I have to keep things from you. But if it doesn’t have to remain a secret, I don’t want it to be.”

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