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I grab Kessa by the waist and hoist her onto the bathroom counter. “You just tell me what you want and I’ll make it happen,” I promise her. “Today, tomorrow, and every day for the rest of our lives.”
She drapes her arms over my shoulders and wraps them around my neck as I stand between her thighs. I grab my erection and tease her entrance for a few seconds, waiting for her to stop me. When she doesn’t, when the only thing that happens is her lips meet mine and she grazes her teeth on my skin, I press into her.
The last time this happened, we were in college. It was the only time we were ever together. I can remember some of the details, but they’ve faded with time and with the invention of alcohol. But this moment will stain my memories forever. The feeling of her pussy wrapped tightly around my member is something I’ll never forget. And her lips twisting against mine as she entangles her legs around my waist will be imprinted in my brain forever.
Kessa moves with my body. Her ass is on the edge of the sink and she holds onto me for dear life. I rock into her and her nails rake against my back. It’s quick, it’s passionate, and it bonds us.
It doesn’t matter that I pour into her, cum dripping down the side of my bathroom sink. It doesn’t matter that she bites my shoulder to keep from screaming out, leaving a darkened imprint of her teeth on my skin. What matters is the way she drops her head on my chest when we’re done and how she clings to me when I try to pull out.
“Don’t,” she whispers, “just stay here for a few minutes longer.”
I hold her as if letting go means dying. Because I’m afraid it does. I’m terrified that the second I pull out and release her, we’ll go back to what we once were.
But for now, with my cock inside of her and her naked breasts pressed against me, I can pretend that we have the rest of our lives ahead of us. What happens when let go is a problem for future Cesare.
14
CESARE
She loves me.
She loves me,not.
She loves me.
She loves me,not.
She loves me.
A small hand reaches out to crush the flower I’m holding. When I look up, I see Gabriel’s smiling face. “Fow,” he says confidently.
“Flower,” I nod to him.
He snatches the half-plucked daisy from my hand and runs off to find his mom. Calliope is sitting beside the pool with an exhausted hand on her stomach. She’s pregnant again, and though she’s barely showing, Raniero says this pregnancy is harder on her than the first.
My oldest brother has a way with women. If he didn’t, I suspect he wouldn’t have been able to keep Calliope after kidnapping her and knocking her up against her will. Good looks only take you so far. Eventually, you must prove you’re charismatic, charming, and worth a woman’s time.
“Sorry it took so long,” Raniero apologizes when he emerges from the house. “There was an incident with Grace’s kid.” His cook and housekeeper, or something like that. I don’t know Grace very well. “I guess the oldest thought it would be funny to hold up a candy store with a fake gun. She called me in a panic this morning, and I had to get in touch with Chief Jackson.” He shakes his head as he takes a seat in front of me. “I hate talking to my father-in-law.”
Raniero’s life is full ofincidents. I wanted to meet up with him last night, but he was busy handling an affair with Nicholas Calvino. I’ll never understand how he has the time to run an empire, a family, and still be the best big brother a guy could ask for. I barely have time to think.
“If you need to attend to something,” I start to say, but I’m waved off.
“I have it all under control. I’m getting the kid out of juvie and sealing his record, but he’ll have a shit ton of community service hours to fill, and he will be put to work this summer here at the house. I’m all yours, Cesare.” He’s done more before lunch than I’ll do all day. “Spill, kid. What do you need?”
My brother keeps a weathered eye on Gabe, who runs around the backyard like a puppy off-leash. While Calliope sits by the pool with a book in hand, I never see her check on their son. She is confident that Raniero has a handle on things. The trust she has in her husband is touching.
“I need some advice about Kessa. I think I fucked up.” Raniero’s raised eyebrow asks me to elaborate. I try to explain everything that’s happened, but each tangent brings a new story I’d forgotten. My saga with Francesca Scot has taken place over the course of eighteen years, and every time I think I’m about to finish, there’s a new twist. I feel exhausted when I finish telling our tale, and I’m still nowhere close to the end.
To Raniero’s credit, he never stops me to askwhat the fuck were you thinking? I wish he would have because it’s a valid question. I spent a good chunk of my life trying to make sure that the only person Francesca had was me. I’ve been the person she’s relied on for girl talk and the person she’s turned to in a crisis. But to do that, I did some truly heinous shit. I don’t regret any of it; I just want to know what the fuck I was thinking when I decided to ruin her life so that we could be together forever.
But as I finish, Raniero stops nodding along to show he’s listening, and a pensive look appears on his face. The story winds to a close and he is deep in thought. I watch as he strums his fingers against the table while thinking about what he’s going to say. I would say that my older brother is an open book, but I think it’s just thirty-two years of being brothers that gives me insight into who he is at the core.
“For starters, I’ll talk to Mateo and get himuninvolved. He never should have gotten involved in the first place, regardless of whether or not it helped you.” Raniero rolls his eyes in displeasure. “Just because he meddled in Bambi’s life until she was too weak to turn him down doesn’t mean he needs to meddle in Francesca’s.”
I’m not stupid; Mateo and I have similar patterns. We both fell in love hard and when fate tried to break us up, we said no. We were willing to do whatever it took for the happily ever after we thought we deserved. But all Mateo did for me was muddy the waters. I don’t know if Francesca wants to be with me because she loves me or because she’s afraid and she thinks I’m the only one that can save her. I want both, if I’m being honest.
“Secondly, I’m not saying you come clean, but I think you should try a little honesty from now on. You’ve been friends with Kessa since high school. I think your friendship should be able to withstand some truthfulness.” Raniero’s eyes follow Gabriel as he runs up to us with a flower that looks just like the daisy he stole from me.
