Page 42 of Mafia Kings: Valentino

His mother was a rich woman who lived in a palace. She had servants who would do anything she commanded…

And yet she went through the trouble of soaking almonds, grinding them up herself, and fixing the drink…

All because her youngest son enjoyed it.

“She loved you,” I murmured.

“Of course,” he said casually.

“No, I mean – I really enjoy cooking for people. It’s how I show I love them. It sounds like that’s how she showed love for you.”

Valentino got really quiet.

Then he said, “She’s buried out in the orchards, you know. We have a little graveyard for my grandparents and her. I… I go out there and talk to her sometimes.”

“What do you tell her?”

What he said next broke my heart.

“When I was 12 years old, I wanted to be cool like my brothers, so I pretended that I didn’t like the almond drink anymore. I was really rude the last time she fixed it for me, when she was still sick. So now I tell her…”

His voice choked up.

“I tell her that I miss her… and I miss being able to taste that drink… and I’d do almost anything to be able to have her make it for me one more time.”

I nearly cried.

I hoped somebody lovedmeenough to talk about me like that one day.

When he saw the tears in my eyes, he smiled and kissed me tenderly.

One thing led to another, and we had sex.

But it was slow and sweet for the very first time.

If I didn’t know any better, I might have said we’d made love.

But that wasn’t what we were doing.

I had to remind myself:

This is just a fling.

This is just for fun.

But of all the nights we spent together in my tiny little servant’s room, that was the one that stood out the most…

And the one that I wished could happen again. Or something like it, anyway.

It never did.

The rest of our sex life was on fire, it was so hot –

But I always looked back on that night with a special place in my heart.

Sometimes I wished things could have been different…

And that once in a while, he’d take me softly in his arms and make love to me.

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