Page 48 of Under the Influence

“Because even though you’re a huge, massive pain in the ass, I can’t deny how much I want to fuck you right now.”

“Even though I look like hell?” She snorts.

“You still look good to me,” I say, kissing her mouth hard.

Black eye or not, she looks radiant. Her skin seems to reflect on the water as if she is inwardly glowing, and every time she smiles, I can see faint dimples appear on her cheeks. When I pull away from her mouth, her lips are swollen, and her eyes are shining with desire. At this point, I knew I would go to war for this woman, I would kill for her, and I would kill anybody who even dared to touch her.

She is mine.

“Why did you stop?”

“Just admiring the view,” I reply, moving down her neck. “Perfect body.” I clamp my mouth over her nipple. “I could suck on these all day.”

“I kind of wish you would,” she says, as her hands wrap around my neck and her nails scrape down my back. “Jesus!” she moans breathlessly as my fingers push inside her gently.

“Not quite,” I say playfully, biting her ear. “More like the other one, but you can call me Rocco.”

“Rocco.” She moans in my ear as her neck arches back.

“Boss, the men are outside waiting for you,” Dominic says from outside the door.

“Cazzo,” I say, cursing aloud. “I’ll be there in ten!”

“Are we late?” she says while standing up.

“We’ll be fine.” I smack her wet ass as she leans over to get a towel.

“Hey!” She scolds while slapping my hand away playfully.

“I think it’s time we start this marriage properly,” I say, pulling her towards me as we both towel off.

“I agree,” she says, smiling up at me.

“Tonight?”

“It’s a date.” She nods.

“I’ll be waiting downstairs when you’re ready.”

“Sure, I’ll try and be quick, although I may need a little extra time for makeup. I don’t want people to think you’re into the rough stuff.” She smirks.

“Then they would be very right.” I kiss her hard on the mouth for a second before relenting and softening the kiss, for which she gives me an appreciative little gasp.

“Please, go,” she says, putting her hands up in mock defeat.

“I’m going.” I smirk.

I feel a swell of happiness fill me for the first time in days. Rocco has seemed to have thawed towards me. My little accident, it seems has brought us together; the only thing that cinches my stomach is when he mentions secrets.

Unfortunately, I have a whole host of them. Rocco knows I had a boyfriend; he just doesn’t know that I was almost married, and he definitely doesn’t know who I was almost married to. If he did, he wouldn’t be able to handle it. Papers would be filed, and I would be sent back home again, or depending on his reaction it could be much worse than that. Somebody else would replace me in a heartbeat to be Mrs. Croccifixio De Luca. I was sworn to secrecy by Papa all those years ago that nobody was to ever find out that it was the son of the Bratva who I ran away with.

I can’t uphold my ‘no secrets’ promise to Rocco, but I would try harder to make things work.

The wedding is situated on a hilltop overlooking the sea and mountains. The idea of an outdoor wedding never appealed to me, but this is beautiful. The hilltop is softly lit up by lanterns, twenty tables are scattered around an arch made of white and pink roses, with the table centerpieces having the same roses as the arch. It wasn’t particularly ostentatious, and mama would hate it, but I love the idea of having something so intimate and romantic. I didn’t know who the bride and groom were to Rocco, but they seemed to greet him warmly. For the first time this trip, he seemed to have a general air of carefreeness that I hadn’t seen in him. Usually, he looked so rigid and stiff, but today he had a color in his cheeks, and he looked like a man in his twenties, not somebody burdened by being a made man.

“What is that look for?” he says smiling at me.

“Can’t I look at my husband?” I say, smirking.

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