Page 52 of Lucian

Jordyn slowly turned in his embrace, staring warily at him. “Is that a bad thing?”

“No. Mio Dio, no,” he breathed through a laugh. “It’s … great, actually. I was so distracted over my father I kind of thought Cecelia would be the easier one and she’d be her normal, polite self. And she was, but in a really telling way for me. No, this is good.”

Jordyn still seemed unbothered by it all. That was exactly why Lucian found himself so strangely, unexplainably caught up in everything about this woman. She had her insecurities, but she was confident in ways that no one understood until they were right there facing them.

Perfect, that’s what she was.

“Okay. Do you want to try the sauce now?”

“Sì, bella, I’ll try your sauce.”

Jordyn turned and grabbed a cleaned spoon off the counter, dipping it into a pot before turning back to Lucian. Those pretty, pink lips of hers pursed as she blew cool air onto the red sauce, keeping his attention focused solely on her mouth for those brief few seconds, before offering the spoon to him.

Lucian tasted it without question.

Cazzo.

Holy fuck.

Something exquisitely rich crossed his palate, zinging his taste buds and making him moan deep in the back of his throat. The sauce was always good, no doubt about it, but whatever Jordyn added just enhanced it tenfold so that it wasn’t simply a taste, but an experience.

“Damn,” he muttered when she took the spoon away. “That’s …”

“Good,” Jordyn finished, smiling.

He answered that by crushing his mouth to hers.

Jordyn wasn’t expecting the kiss, because her cute little squeak of surprise was drowned out by Lucian’s tongue spearing into her mouth. He still couldn’t get over how much he enjoyed kissing this woman, and how badly he wanted to.

Lucian was so lost in Jordyn and her wandering fingers tangling up into his hair, he didn’t register the voices getting closer to the kitchen until they were at the entrance.

“Well, isn’t this a cute sight.”

The sweetest pink colored Jordyn’s cheeks as she hid her face from view. Lucian was anything but embarrassed, considering the first person to speak made his blood boil just by being near him.

Kate Catrolli Grovatti was a lot of things. Being an annoyance for Lucian was only one of them.

“Good evening, Kate,” Lucian greeted, urging Jordyn to turn back to the stove with him moving to her side.

There were quite a few people who were expected to attend the family dinner, as they did every Sunday. Not all were actually related, but they did relate to the Cosa Nostra in some way. Usually close capos, important affiliates, and guests of any of the brothers. The only actual family that attended was Kate, Antony’s younger brother who was one of their lawyers, and a cousin or two.

Currently, the group of three standing in the kitchen and watching Lucian and Jordyn with extra interest only included Kate, Gio, and a man Lucian wasn’t familiar with.

Lucian briefly wondered if he’d been invited by Kate, or one of his brothers.

It was only proper Lucian find out immediately. “Uh, Gio, who’s this?”

“Lucian, Salvatore. A friend of mine. Salvatore, Lucian, my brother.”

Lucian nodded, understanding immediately. It was a friend of his brother’s. By introducing this Salvatore as a friend of his, Gio made it perfectly clear without outright stating it that the man was simply an associate, and only affiliated with the business. Had he introduced the man as a friend of ours, specifically, it would have meant he was a made man in a Cosa Nostra family.

“Is this everyone?” Jordyn asked.

She waved at the stove as if to say there was much too much food if it was.

“No,” Lucian said, chuckling. “There’s still a few more who’ll show up.”

“Dante invited Jess, or Mom did for him,” Gio added. “Plus, Dad’s talking with Camden and Ross.”