“I need you inside me.” She answered hoarsely. “All of you.”
Cesare lay beside her and pulled her spent body into his arms. He yelled something in Italian in the general direction of the door when someone pounded on it again.
A muttered response came back from a voice that sounded strangely like Dante’s.
“Dante?” Sabrina asked, looking at Cesare in confusion as she finished coming back to reality. “When did he get here?” She asked.
Cesare stared at her for a moment, frowning. “New rule.” He answered. “No saying any other man’s name when you’re naked in our bed.”
Sabrina blinked, pausing over his usage of the words “ourbed” before registering the absolutepossessionin his tone.
He wasn't trying to be funny, and she found his possessiveness hot as hell, but she still found herself snorting in amusement. The snort came as such a surprise; she covered her mouth as her eyes widened.
“Nobody else.” Cesare growled, remaining undeterred. He pressed another kiss to her lips. “Stay here. I’ll be right back. Alright?”
Sabrina nodded and kissed him back, unable to keep the smile from her lips.
Cesare grunted in displeasure as he pulled himself away, muttering something to himself in a steady stream of grumbling Italian. Sabrina mused she was going to have to learn Italian, as she watched her husband's beautifully sculpted ass as he left the room naked as the day he was born.Her husband.
Sabrina rolled over and stretched like a kitten after a long nap, feeling the delicious soreness in her muscles and an enjoyable looseness in her hips. She felt the echoes of Cesare’s body still inside her, which was odd, but she felt better and looser than she had in ages.
Sabrina reached for her phone, sighing in mild frustration at the text messages sent to her sister, still unread. Petty Officer Brooke Hamilton was presumably still deployed with the U.S. Navy; location classified. Sometimes there was a delay in communication, but now seemed to be the worst timing in the world not to be able to reach Brooke.
As the hours went by, Sabrina grew increasingly nervous about Brooke’s reaction to the last-minute wedding.
Cesare returned with a black envelope in hand, his brows furrowed deep in thought. He closed the bedroom door behind him and stared at Sabrina.
It was the first time he’d made her feel like she was being sized up for something.
“What’s on your mind, husband?” She asked, her voice sounding loud to her own ears in the room's silence.
Cesare gave her a slight smile, his intense gaze giving her another once over before turning to the bar cart along the wall. He sighed, putting the letter down and pouring two glasses of wine.
“I’m wondering how to freeze time so I can keep you in this bed forever and never leave.” He quipped with a roguish grin, turning to face her, looking like a sculpted Adonis approaching her where she sat. He was still naked. Sabrina was getting the sense that Cesare was a ‘clothing optional’ sort of person around the house.
Sabrina blushed but eyed her husband appreciatively as he joined her on the bed. She accepted the wine glass and delicately chinked her glass to his in cheers. “What are we toasting?” She asked.
Cesare sighed, sitting down on the bed, then downed half of the glass in one gulp. “You’ve seen what I carry underneath my jacket. You’ve met my father and half my family. We haven’t talked about the family business, but there is, or rather therewas, a family business.”
Cesare cleared his throat, looking unusually nervous.
“My father ran Philly and everything around. I was raised to be his heir; to take over when he could no longer be there. But I was only seventeen when he went to prison. My Pops was arrested, the FBI raided the house, and suddenly we had nothing. My brothers and I were too young to take over operations, and all of our financial accounts and assets were frozen. ”
Sabrina reached out, taking Cesare's hand in hers as she listened.
“Pops had a cousin, Vincent Donatelli, who moved to take over as soon as Pops was taken in. My mother didn’t want to lose all five of her sons in a succession war, so when Pops went to prison a deal was struck.”
He looked back at Sabrina once more, eyeing her response carefully.
“The Lombardis publicly backed Vincent and stayed out of any mob business. In exchange, my mother’s sons were off limits. It worked. Vincent was ruthless. Other cousins, other nephews, anyone power hungry just disappeared. One by one.”
Cesare gave a hollow laugh.
“We had nothing for a few years; The FBI and IRScombed through every penny attached to us. Mami owned the house, but the property taxes almost made us homeless. Dante and I got work as bus boys. Aunti Maribella is the only reason we had enough food.”
Cesare swallowed thickly.
“We did laundry in the bathtub my senior year of high school because the washer went out and we didn't have enough money to replace it. Ma was too embarrassed to ask for help... it's why Dante went into the military. He and I drew straws over it; one of us to earn the income and get the training, one of us to stay home and protect everyone else.”
