DOES IT MAKE YOU WET ~~

Rafael POV

She was still pissed that I ordered her to eat with us. Zia chuckled, then covered her mouth, as if to hide it from me. Dimitri wasn’t so circumspect. He laughed as he looked between Valentina and me.

“This is nice. I think I’m going to like having Tina around.”

“Valentina ,” I corrected. “Friends call me Tina ,” she told me, like I wasn’t already aware.

“You may call me Valentina , however.” If she thought that offended me, she had a lot to learn.

I’d call her whatever the fuck I wanted. After I rang the tiny bell on the table, the women I paid to oversee dinner every night emerged. All three were trusted friends of Zia’s, older widows I could be sure weren’t trying to poison me.

Platters of seafood pasta, stuffed artichokes, and a leg of lamb were placed on the table. We began serving ourselves while Imelda began carving the lamb. A strangled gasp from down the table caught my attention. Valentina was as pale as flour, staring at the leg of lamb.

Her eyes were glassy, horror etched on her face, like she was watching a friend being slaughtered in front of her. I looked at Imelda and the platter. It was just lamb. What on earth could be?

Allora. I understood. In Italian, I said, “Imelda, no lamb tonight or any other night. Remove it, please.” Imelda paused, uncertain. Refusing the food was a serious insult, but I would not have Valentina upset, thinking we are eating one of the baby lambs she visited every day. “Va bene,” I said. “Just bring something else.”

“There is only soup, Signore Ravazzani,” she said. “Sí, va bene, capisco.” I told her I understood and she removed the lamb, shaking her head on the way back to the kitchen.

Silence descended but I focused on my food. No doubt Dimitri and Zia thought I had lost my mind. “Grazie, Rafael ,” Valentina said, her voice shaky but I heard the relief.

She dabbed at the corner of her eye with her napkin. She had a big heart, this girl. “I cannot save them all, dolcezza. But I can prevent them from appearing on our dinner table.”

She bit her lip but nodded, and I wanted to...I don’t know. Kiss her and touch her, bring a smile back to that gorgeous face. Then I wanted to hold her down and fuck her, while I spanked her ass until she cried. I gave myself a mental shake. These were hardly appropriate thoughts for dinner.

Zia couldn’t resist commenting. “Sto vendendo cose che non avrei mai pensato di vedere in vita mia.” (I am seeing things that I never thought I’d see in my lifetime.)

“Basta,” I told her sternly. “What did she say?” Valentina asked, glancing between all three of us. Dimitri opened his mouth to answer, so I shot him a glare. He held up his hands but I could see the amusement dancing in his eyes. My family was a pain in the ass.

“I really need to improve my Italian,” Valentina said as she took the platter of artichokes from Zia. Part of me liked the idea of having her helpless and dependent on me to understand the language. But the practical side longed to hear my country’s words coming out of that beautiful mouth. “I can hire someone to help you learn.”

“You would do that?”

“Of course.” Valentina didn’t realise her face showed her every thought. To me, she was transparent, an open book. I recognized the sly satisfaction she was now feeling, no doubt believing that learning Italian would help her escape.

Except there was no escape, not from me. She’d had her chance when Dimitri took her into Siderno, yet she hadn’t run. Now, I would never let her go until I am good and ready.

As we ate, conversation turned to other topics. We kept it in English, translating for Zia when she couldn’t think of the words except in Italian. It was the first time all four of us had eaten together since Valentina ’s arrival.

Normally I’d never have my mantenuta eaten with my family, but Valentina was different. She was living here and had been about to marry my son. There was no bothering with keeping my two lives separate at this point. She and Dimitri started laughing about some television show they both knew. He told her about recent things he’d seen on some app, a celebrity who had been canceled whatever the fuck that meant.

As much as I told myself I wasn’t jealous, I was a bit envious of their friendship. Popular culture had, for the most part, passed me by as the ’ndrina took up all of my time. I stayed off social media and the internet, and I rarely left the castello unless I had to. My father had been murdered on his way to a meeting, dying in the streets of Siderno like a dog.

My wife had been shot and killed on the beach. Death stalked me every day, the same fate awaiting me the moment I let my guard down.

“Dovresti sposarla,” Zia said quietly to me. You should marry her. “Falla finita, nonnina,” I snapped. I didn’t want to hear it. I had married once when I was young and foolish. I would not be so stupid as to repeat that mistake, no matter how much I loved a woman’s pussy. And there was no reason to marry Valentina .

She was not a virgin and I already had her here in my home, available whenever I needed. No one would dare stop me from having her, not even her father. The only person who could stop me was Valentina . But she wouldn’t. She liked what we did, too.

Zia remained quiet, though I knew she had more to say. No doubt she’d give me an earful later. Considering my mother died when I was young, Zia was always more mother than aunt to me. Still, she wasted her breath if she thought to advise me on the topic of Valentina .

Once the dinner plates were cleared, Dimitri left for an appointment, which I happened to know was a delivery at the waterfront. Zia went into the kitchen to help clean up, and Valentina and I were alone with our espresso. I waved her closer. “Vieni qua, dolcezza. Come here.”

“Why?”

“Because I told you to.” Surprisingly, she didn’t fight me. Instead she picked up her cup and saucer and moved into Zia’s abandoned chair. With my foot, I angled her chair even closer, so our legs were nearly touching. “There. That’s better, no?”

“Thank you for the lamb.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I couldn’t bear the thought of eating it.”

“You are tender-hearted. I understand.”

“What if you didn’t sell them?”

“Valentina , Ravazzani lamb is prized all over Calabria. I cannot keep them as pets instead. That isn’t how the farm works.”

“Could I have one?” She blinked at me, her gorgeous eyes adoring and hopeful.

“Yes,” I said, unable to refuse. I’d give her almost anything, if she looked at me in such a manner. “Pick one and I’ll let the staff know.”

“Grazie.”

“Prego.” I sipped my espresso. “I like hearing you speak Italian.” Her mouth hitched. “Funny, I like hearing you speak Italian, as well.”

Oh? This was something new. And by the way her cheeks turned pink, I had an idea of what she meant. Putting my elbows on the table, I leaned closer. “Does it make you wet, piccolina?”

She had the audacity to roll her eyes. “A gorgeous man speaking a romance language in a low sexy tone? Hmm. What do you think?”

Gorgeous? I liked this new honest side to her. Perhaps I should take her to the stables for riposo each day. Because I wanted to torture us both, I started speaking in Italian, telling her every dirty thing I longed to do to her. How I was going to touch her, fuck her. Lick her. Have her sit on my face. Make her suck my cock again.

That I would spank her ass then fuck her in that dark hole. By the time I stopped she was nearly in my lap, breathing hard, with her chest rising and falling quickly. The movement caused her tits to nearly spill out of the top of the sundress, and I considered pulling the fabric down to suck on her nipples right here in the dining room. I trailed my fingers along the soft skin inside her thigh, desperate to feel how wet I’d made her….

“Do you want to know what I said?”

“It’s probably better that I don’t.” I reached her panties. The fabric was soaked. I stroked over her seam, and her breath caught. “Oh, my beautiful dolcezza. Do you need me to take care of you right here?”

A throat cleared in the doorway. I glanced over but didn’t remove my hand. Marco stood there, looking unapologetic at the interruption. “Rav, a minute.”

I smothered a sigh and pressed a soft kiss to Valentina ’s mouth. “We’ll finish this later.” I stood and walked out, knowing Marco would give me shit for what he just saw. Surprisingly, I didn’t care.