Page 32 of The Don

“No,” I whine.

“Si, bella. We will eat first.”

“But I’m horny.”

He walks toward me and pulls me into his arms.

I whimper and press my body shamelessly against him, wrapping my arms around his shoulders.

He kisses me deep and slow. He smiles against my mouth. Something feels different about this embrace. He feels looser, calmer in my arms, hungrier, and that feeds something primal inside me.

I’m just about to climb up into his arms when he slowly pushes me away, his teeth scraping along my bottom lip. “Let me feed you first, bella.”

I whine like a spoiled child.

“And then, I will feast on you.”

I shudder in his hold. “Okay, deal. But I’m not going to wait forever.”

He holds my face in his hands. “Believe me, I would not be able to last that long.”

I rub myself against him again, brushing his hardening erection with my stomach. “I don’t know,” I tease. “I believe in you.”

14SALVATORE

I makeShae lunch and then feast on her, exactly as I promised. And then she falls asleep in my arms. For a while, I hold her, enjoying her soft breaths on my neck and the calm I feel having her in my arms where I know she’s safe.

I feel at ease.

I never thought I could have an afternoon like this. That’s exactly what I thought the day we met. Instead of feeling gratitude for a day I couldn’t imagine, like I did then, now every minute with her only makes me want more.

There’s a knock on the front door.

I kiss Shae softly on the crown of her head. She moans lightly in her sleep, clutching at me as I carefully and reluctantly move her from my chest to the bed, adjusting the satin bonnet she pulled on before letting me throw her onto the mattress. I make sure her hair is covered before I climb to my feet and walk quietly to the door and turn around. Maybe one day I won’t need to get one last look at her before I leave, but that day will be far into the future if it comes at all.

I find Federico on the other side of the door, looking serious and uncomfortable. “I’m sorry to interrupt, padrino.”

I bat that deference away. “If I didn’t want you to, then you would not have. What do you need?”

He relaxes. “Tommaso said he’ll be at the club tonight. Everything is ready.”

I look over my shoulder as if I can see Shae through the wall, asleep and naked in my bed. This was my idea, and I know — even now — that this is the only way, but there is a knot in my gut at what it will require of me.

Of what could happen to Shae if something goes wrong.

“Padrino,” Federico starts carefully. I can guess what he’s about to say, but I hold my hand in the air, stopping him from digging a hole I would prefer he not climb inside.

“Tell all the men to be ready at sundown.” I turn back to him, eyes hard, voice steel. I don’t need anyone thinking I’m weak. Shae has burrowed her way under my skin, but that opening — that softness — is only for her.

Federico’s back straightens, and he nods quickly. “Si, padrino.”

I close the door and return to Shae. The desire to strip my clothes off and crawl back into bed beside her, to wake her with my fingers rubbing her clit so her first conscious word will be to moan my name, is stronger than any urge I’ve ever known. I want to fast-forward to a day where nothing gets in the way of taking care of her. Where I can wake her with my mouth on her cunt, slide into her, make her beg for every hard stroke and thank me when she comes.

I can’t do any of those things right now. I need to let her rest, and I need space to think about what is coming and prepare. But I watch her from the door for a few moments and smile when she flips onto her stomach and gathers my pillow greedily into her arms, rubbing her face against it while she snores softly. I watch her for a few seconds before I finally manage to tear myself away and close the door lightly.

There are two more bedrooms down the hall. One is a simple guest bedroom that I’ve never used besides the en suite bathroom this morning. I use the other room as an office. It’s not as useful as my office in Naples, but not useless, by any means.

I close the door almost all the way but pull the curtains shut tight. There’s a rug in the middle of the room, something very expensive I bought on a whim one day in Florence. Flavia had admired it in a store, and it made me happy to purchase it in front of her and then watch her waste weeks waiting excitedly for its arrival. When she finally realized that she would never see that rug again, the disappointment deflated her for a few hours at least. I, on the other hand, had smiled for days.

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