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She understands me on a level my family doesn't.
"Domenic," she whispers against my skin, kissing down my jaw.
I groan and take her lips with mine again in an attempt to keep my words from coming out, but they still do anyway. I whisper against her mouth."Me e te. D’ora in poi, io ti proteggo. Da qui in poi, sei tutto mio, fiore di ciliegio.”
You and me. From now on, I will protect you. From here on, you're mine, cherry blossom.
"I'm not nearly that fluent," she half-giggles, half-groans as I thrust harder, seeing her nearing her edge.
"You'll get there."
I kiss her until she tightens and comes undone around me. When she breaks our kiss and her head tips back, gripping my shoulder with a cry, I join her with a powerful orgasm that leaves me gasping against the top of her head.
After a moment, I place a kiss there. "It's settled. You're moving in with me."
She untangles herself from me and bites her lip, still looking gloriously flushed as she considers my words. "Okay. Fine. But it's temporary—just until I find somewhere else suitable."
I'll have a say in what is or isn't suitable. Because obviously, at some point, Loren consideredthisplace suitable, so I can't trust her to make the best judgment call there. But I don't say as much because she might argue and resist the entire idea once again, and I'm glad that she's finally agreed in the first place.
Truly, I will sleep far better having Loren close by and in a safe location. But I would be lying if I didn't see it as a way to continue getting closer to this woman who makes me feel far warmer and more alive than I have felt in years.
"Good. Start packing. You're not spending one more night here."
Chapter 17
Loren
WhatwasIthinking?
When I agreed to move in with Domenic, I may have been in somewhat of a lust-induced haze. I was scared of the Wild Seven finding me again, and he had been dominant, persistent, and annoyingly hot. Yet simultaneously protective and soothing.
But now, standing in front of his mansion of a house, I'm kicking myself for my lapse in judgment. I can't livehere. This is the kind of sprawling, sleek luxury desert house that gets advertised on magazine covers, complete with immaculate landscaping and a hefty plot of land separating it from the other affluent-looking buildings in the area. I don't even want to guess how much a place like this costs, let alone step foot here.
And then, of course, there's the matter of explaining it to my mother. Right now, she's standing speechless beside me as she gapes at our temporary arrangement. Evelyn is asleep in my arms, draped half over one of my shoulders as I stand at the entrance of the long path leading up to the modern mansion's front door.
A—are you sure this is the right address?" my mother squeaks, glancing over her shoulder at our beat-up car filled with everything of value we own in the world. Which isn't much, obviously, since it fits mostly into one car.
Yesterday, Domenic was insistent on me moving out of that dumpy apartment as soon as fucking possible. He said he would pay for any costs, cover everything, and hire movers—but I just couldn't jump in right away like that. My family and I stayed in a nice hotel room after packing all our shit into the car, and I waved off all of Domenic's offers to help with that process. I'm humiliated enough as it is that he saw me so vulnerable when I had that little outburst.
And told him about my daughter.
I look at the toddler in my arms and swallow. "Yeah, this is the right place, Mom. There are a couple of guest bedrooms we're allowed to use."
She furrows her brow at me, but I can barely see her eyes through her thick sunglasses. "Loren, sweetie, I'm not so sure about this. You said this is a man you work with? Is he your...boyfriend?"
"No," I say quickly. "He's just helping us out. Offered up his free space, and besides, with a steady job like the one I have now, I'll find a better place for us in no time. Seriously."
"And you trust this man?"
I really do. I know I shouldn't—he's a fucking Caputo. A dangerous mobster. Plus, he fired me without question yesterday before he saw me have a minor breakdown and took it all back. Maybe itisa little crazy of me to bring my family here, to the house of a Caputo…especially since he's the father of the darling child, I'm clinging to.
All I know is that I feel safest with Domenic.
The Wild Seven are after me, and they've threatened my family once before. My hacking skills wouldn't be enough to protect us long-term. Suppose they'd found me in that dilapidated excuse for an apartment. In that case, I have no doubt they would kill my family and me and split long before anyone called the cops.
They won't find us here. Even if they did, Domenic has his place heavily secured both by typical means and through the steady watch of the Caputo family. Like all crime families, they protect what's theirs and take their don's safety seriously. Even now, I'm aware that there might be eyes on my mother, Evelyn, and me as we stand here, bracing ourselves to go in.
I asked for work off today to get settled in. Since it's Thursday, Domenic said to take tomorrow off and make it a long weekend—with pay. I keep overhearing from others at work that he's a hell of a strict boss, yet I can't help feeling like he's constantly cutting me slack I don't necessarily deserve. When I argued that I just needed a day to move, he wouldn't hear it.
