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She feels it instantly. “Antony, don’t stop.”
“Shit, Sera, I forgot the condom.”
“I don’t care,” she chants. “Don’t stop, don’t stop.”
I can’t resist her when she’s like this, so I keep going, pulling back and then bottoming out inside her as she cries out again,clutching at the sheets. The pulsing in my shaft is more insistent now, matching the race of my heartbeat as I dive into her again. Fuck, I want to go slower, be more gentle, but she’s urging me on and I just don’t have the control, I can’t stop with her, I need all of her, I need to take her, I need to lose myself in her.
Sera starts to lift her hips up to me, meeting me thrust for thrust, and I know I’m a goner. Our bodies find their own rhythm, faster, harder, deeper, until I know I’ve gone too far and I can’t stop now. “Fuck, Sera,” I rasp. “I’m coming.”
She throws her head back against the pillows and comes around me again as I let go, emptying every cell of myself inside her, connecting us in a way I’ve never felt before. It’s fucking meteoric, the two of us, and then I’m holding her in my arms, with me still inside her, and we’re skin on skin, mouth to mouth, joined like there’s no separation between us. Sweat-slicked and panting, we gasp and laugh together as we come down from the heavens.
And it’s then that my brain says the words that change everything for me.
This is what love feels like.
Holy shit.
Holy shit.
20
ANTONY
Forty-five minutes later, Sera leaves the penthouse with my driver. She looks a little sheepish that he knows she must have spent the night here, which makes me laugh. Such a strong, powerful woman, embarrassed to be caught doing the nasty. It’s endearing as fuck. I watch the elevator doors close behind her, and find myself hummingLa Fanciulla del Westas I head toward the bathroom.
I take a long, hot shower by myself, to think some things through. Then, when I’m finished, I get dressed and go into my home office. From there, I make three phone calls. The first is to Matteo. He answers on the first ring, and immediately starts to give me the rundown of what’s been going on with the Muccis, as he does every day. But today, after he’s finished, I ask to talk to Tina.
“Tina?” he asks, a sharp note in his voice. “What for?”
“None of your damn business,” I bark. “Put her on.”
He doesn’t say anything for a second, then clears his throat. “Okay. Here she is.”
Less than a second later, Tina comes on the line. “Hello?”
“Antony here. Matteo must have been right next to you, huh?”
Tina stammers. “Antony? Is something wrong? Is Sera okay?”
“Yeah. She’s great. But I got a question to ask you…”
After I hang up with Tina, I call my Aunt Maria. “I’m coming by to see Michael,” I tell her. “See you in about an hour.”
The third call is to make arrangements for tonight. Reservations, for Sera and me. I want this to be a night she’ll remember.
An hour later, I’m climbing out of my car at Uncle Michael and Aunt Maria’s house. Maria greets me at the front door, looking pale and drawn. She takes me into see Michael, who’s lying in a hospital bed in a sunroom that’s been converted to a bedroom for him.
Michael is unresponsive, pale and emaciated against the clean white sheets of his bed. A full-time nurse sits at her station in the corner of the room. With a word, Maria tells her to leave until my visit is over.
“He hasn’t eaten in two days,” she frets. “It’s getting to be the end, Antony. He hasn’t woken up since last night, but I’ll leave you to talk to him. I know he can hear us.”
Maria leaves us alone. I sit in the uncomfortable straight-backed chair next to the old man’s bed and tell him about business. I tell him I’m going out to take tribute today, which I’ll be bringing to Don Pagano in his name. After that, I just sit in the silence. This might be the last conversation I ever have with Michael while he’s still capo. The last time I ever talk to him before I become the D’Agostino capo myself.
Back out in the main foyer, Maria tearily thanks me for coming. “I haven’t seen you in church, Antony.”
“I’ve been busy. I’ll be there this Sunday. I promise.” I kiss her on the cheek and leave. I drive back to my place toswitch cars, and call my driver to pick me up in the bulletproof Mercedes. Ten minutes later, he’s at my door.
“Hey, Skip.”
