Page 24 of Running

My pride is hurt. I’m not sure why. It’s not like being a virgin is a bad thing. Some guys would even like that I’m untouched for them. I don’t know how Luca feels about it. I shouldn’t care. Yet I do.

“I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to. I was just surprised is all. The way you were staring at my bed made it pretty obvious. You looked like it was going to reach out and grab you so I could chain you to it.”

“Look it’s not because guys weren't interested. They were. Lots of them.” I’m lying. No one was interested. I didn’t let anyone close. I huff out a deep breath as I continue to explain. “Being on the run with a sick mom doesn't really leave time for dating.”

Luca must decide to take pity on me. His eyes show the sympathy I’ve always run from. I hate it. I move to the bathroom and aim to slam the door shut. His foot stops it. I look up at his eyes. My blood is boiling with anger. Doesn’t he get that I want to be alone?

“Don’t be ashamed sweetheart. I like that I’ll be the only one to be inside you.” He kisses my cheek and closes the door. I stand there staring at the wood.

What the hell does that mean?

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Luca

IT TAKES ELENAan hour to leave my room. Not that I’m complaining. I want her there. Her father had assigned the room across from mine to be hers. I had other plans. If we were to be married in the future, we needed to spend time together. It didn’t hurt that she was attractive as hell.

I hadn’t meant to kiss and grope her like I did. The plan was to take things slow. Let her get used to my presence, maybe even become friends before I drop the marriage bomb on her. Now I am determined to have her body, but I need to keep myself in check a little longer. She isn’t like the women that I take home from the bar. I don’t plan to use her and walk away.

Still, sooner rather than later, she will be under me and I will be able to hear her moaning my name. The sounds she let out while I was ravaging her earlier had me hard as steel.

Little did my vixen know, she would be spending all her nights in my bed. I wouldn’t initiate sex. Yet. If she made the moves first, I’d give her my body. More importantly I wanted her to crave my presence, my touch, my strength. She has been on her own for too long. I needed to break down her walls if we were to have any semblance of a relationship beyond the physical.

I could already tell our chemistry in bed would be beyond anything I had experienced. And I had a lot of experience.

Had I known I was going to be hitched to Elena from the start, I might have backed off a bit. For the last seven years I thought my wagon was chained to Milan. A girl who was only fifteen and who I had watched grow up. Hell, I held her when she was in diapers. No way would I be able to think of her as more than a little kid. I had often wondered how I would be able to consummate our marriage or give her children.

That fear was not present with Elena. She was hot as sin and I had no qualms about taking her in every position I know and then buying a book to learn more.

Years ago I gave up on the idea of loving my wife. I forced myself to get over wanting a true partnership in the home. My parents had it, and growing up it’s what I thought I would have too. Being a mafia man wasn’t easy. It was late nights, crazy schedules, blood, bullets, and secrets. I had longed to find someone who would soothe my broken soul when I came home. Where I could get lost in her body and her heart and forget the stress of the family. Where I could wash the mental blood splatter away.

I would never have had that with Milan. While I awaited our impending nuptials I found solace in the beds of countless women. I didn’t love any of them. Shit, I don’t even remember most of their names. They gave me the small reprieve I needed. For the hours I was in their bed I could forget my responsibilities. Then I’d roll over, get dresses and go back to my lonely apartment.

I had my room at the compound, but I could never bring myself to go there after a night out. Even though I wasn’t yet married, it still felt wrong to sleep under the same roof as Milan after having been with someone else.

The future I was once denied is within reach again. I shouldn’t be this excited. Elena has no idea. She doesn’t know she will be my wife someday. She isn’t going to be comfortable being a house wife like Milan. She is going to want to be in on the action. We don’t typically let our woman into the fold.

Elena is going to be different. She was raised different. Raised to fight, to question, to dig, and to dole out punishment. She hasn’t flinched at the sound of a gun going off, or shuttered at the sight of a mangled body. Fuck, she has caused more of the blood and chaos than any of my men this week. And she looked sexy as hell doing it. Having her straddling me while she shot at the Cartel had me hard and wanting to take her in the back seat of the car.

Shaking my head I try to remove the vision of a naked Elena. We are in a meeting. I need to focus. She is recapping to Bosco, Ricco, Massimo, Val, and myself all that she had learned about us over the years.

It was a lot. Her attention to detail was astounding. The secrets she knew were scary. With each new detail I grew more and more proud of her, as well as relieved that she was batting for our team. She may not have grown up in the family but she taught herself well. Perhaps better than Bosco would have. He would have coddled her. Bosco may be ruthless in front of his men, but he was a teddy bear to Milan, and now Elena. I suspect Violet would have pushed her hard knowing how much she wanted to please Bosco and be able to stand by his side before she was run from town.

Elena has a plethora of knowledge on the Cartel. From shipping records, to who is on their payroll with the police. They even have a Senator in the south working for them to help with red tape over the border. She has ledgers hacked from various lieutenants of upcoming shipments and drops.

The best part is the SUV Bluetooth she has access to. She says she spent time hacking as many of the Cartel’s electronics as she could. Most of them belonged to low level street thugs. The local Cartel Captain’s Escalade ended up being a treasure trove of knowledge. With her tablet she can click a few buttons and moments later hear the men in the car as though they were in the room with us.

“I’m still working on getting on his computer. He doesn’t connect it to the network often so it’s taking longer than it should. I’ve got back door access to his security system and Wi-Fi so it’s only a matter of time before I get into it.” She states all her work as though it is no big deal. It is a big deal. It’s huge.

“You’re in their security system?” Asks Val. He bounces up from his chair and rounds on Elena. Her smile is bright as she turns the tablet so he can see. Sitting next to her I knew what she was now showing him. She had accessed their compound’s cameras. The screen was scrolling through the various feeds.

“Yep. Here, let me show you…” Elena trailed off into technical jargon that I couldn’t hope to understand. Val nodded along. Hanging on her every word like it was gospel. To him, I suppose it was. It was rare that someone outmatched his skill level.

While they spoke and worked together. The rest of us moved on to creating a plan of attack. With everything Elena had learned in addition to the details that Santo squealed in the basement. We are finally in a position to take them out. If we do things right we can wipe them out of our city. Hell we might be able to wipe them out of all our cities.

Bosco agreed to share the news we found with the Council. It would gain Elena favor as his rightful heir and prove she deserved to be here, not just by blood. Her heart and dedication would win over the family. Hell, she already had the men in this room and across the compound ready to kiss the ground she walked on.

“With those plans settled, there is one more item we need to discuss.” My dad and I exchange a glance. The Don has something up his sleeve. “It has already been approved by Council.”

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