Page 57 of Married With Malice

With one quick tear from his hands, my nightshirt is split all the way open. His mouth fastens to my right breast and sucks hard. His fingers press into the back of my neck to keep me in place while his thumb trails the column of my throat.

A born athlete, Luca is extremely strong. The week we moved in here, I spied on him in the home gym. I know he could crush me with one hand if he wanted to. The thought would never cross his mind. In that way, I trust him completely.

I’m shameless in the way I ride his thigh, desperate to get off any way I can. My torn nightshirt is discarded in a quest to feel more of his skin. He sucks at my other breast, his teeth grazing the nipple, before his mouth moves up to my neck. It stings when he nips at the skin, sucking it between his teeth. I know he’s intentionally leaving a mark, plain for all to see.

Good. I’m glad to be known as his.

His hands reach for my panties and skillfully rip one side and then the other, leaving them in tatters before he lifts me and tosses me down on the mattress.

Often there’s a playful, teasing quality to our intimacy. That’s nowhere to be found right now.

Luca drops his shorts and crawls over me with predatory speed. My legs are already wide open. I’m completely ready thanks to the brief, intense foreplay and still I stiffen with surprise at his first brutal thrust.

Within seconds I’m used to the invasion and wild for more. He takes me with savage force and I respond with equal intensity, locking my legs around his waist, raking my short nails on the skin of his back with the hope that I’m leaving a mark the way he’s left me with one.

Before Luca, all I knew was the tepid rise of orgasms by my own hand. Now I’ll never be satisfied with anything less than this consuming torrent of pleasure.

I’m losing myself as it builds. The bed creaks and the headboard thumps the wall. We’re so loud the neighbors can probably hear.

I don’t want this to end. I try to hold out for longer and can’t. With a rush of liquid heat, I fall to pieces, calling out his name as I shatter.

Luca’s pace only grows more punishing. Whatever rotten new memories he came home with, he’s trying to fuck them right out of his head. His mouth locks on mine and his tongue slides between my lips, giving me a taste of whiskey. I wouldn’t call it a kiss. It’s more like a command. The rough bristles of his early beard growth scrape my face. The sensation is new and erotic.

With a shudder and a deep groan, he reaches his peak. His hips give a final lurch as he empties into me. The spasms fade slowly and he buries his face in my neck. I wrap my arms around him.

After a long moment of sinking back to earth, Luca rises up on his elbows. From the way he stares at me, it’s clear he’s got something important to say.

I trace his jaw with my fingertips and wait, barely able to breathe.

Instead of speaking, he leans in and plants a quick kiss on my forehead before getting up, swiping his shorts from the floor and heading to the bathroom. Next, I hear water running and the sound of him brushing his teeth.

Neither my nightshirt nor my panties are salvageable. They get thrown into a small trashcan and I choose a long cotton tee to change into.

Within a minute, the door opens. Luca wipes a drop of toothpaste from his mouth and clears his throat.

“Bathroom’s all yours,” he says and climbs into bed.

I feel like there’s much more to talk about but the hour is very late. By the time I use the bathroom, brush my teeth and wash my face, the bedroom is dark and he’s facing the other way on his side of the bed. I can’t even tell if he’s asleep or not.

There’s no movement from him as I slip between the cool sheets.

“Luca?” I touch his bare shoulder. “Where have you been? What happened tonight?”

I’m breaking the conventional rules. My mother would never dare ask these things of my father.

And I’m sick of it, all of it. Why should Luca and I be required to follow their absurdCosa Nostracodes?

I know he doesn’t love me. But I’d like him to know that he can trust me. I’d be crushed to see him transformed into yet another ruthless mafia overlord.

Luca is far from perfect. Then again, so am I.

But I think we’re both better than the rest of them.

Our personalities are polar opposites but we can be a team, figure this out together, if he’ll just meet me halfway.

Luca doesn’t turn around as his hand searches for mine. He gives my hand a quick squeeze and my heart lifts.

But then he says, “Go to sleep, Anni.”

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