Page 27

Francesca breaks off from the group and starts walking towards me, a deliberately blank expression on her face. I smile inwardly. She wasn’t looking like this when I ate her out last night.
“Hey.” She stops in front of me, gazing up into my face. “They’re all watching, aren’t they?”
“Yes.” I nod. “They would expect us to kiss.”
Her eyes widen as I lean down to kiss her lips. It is just a fleeting brush of flesh against flesh, but when I straighten, her cheeks are bright pink. I married a virgin. In this day and age, a twenty-year-old virgin is rarer than a hen’s tooth. Her innocence intrigues and delights me. She will have far more fun when she fully gives in to me. I hope she knows that.
“Get a room,” Serena teases.
“Nonna Isadora’s housekeeper just called. We’re late,” one of my cousins says as he puts his phone away.
“Where is your watch?” I ask Francesca.
“I’ve put it back in the box. I’m sending it back.”
“Why?”
She shrugs. “I don’t need or want it. Who wears watches these days anyway? Actually, I’m sending it all back. Everything I bought.”
I stare at her. Is my money not good enough for her? “Why?”
She drops her gaze and chews at her bottom lip, making her look utterly adorable. “Because I bought them for all the wrong reasons. I didn’t want them. I was angry and I wanted to punish you.”
“I see.”
I lead Francesca to my Audi amongst the fleet of shiny new vehicles. Vance and Dutch are already in the front seat, and I settle her in the back before climbing in after her. I notice that she doesn’t scoot to the other end of the seat as she has done ever since we got married, and I can’t stop the big smile that grows on my face.
“Since we’ll be spending the day with your family will we have to kiss all day?” she asks as the car pulls out of the driveway.
I hit the button in front of me, and the partition slides up, giving us privacy. I wrap an arm around her waist and pull her into my lap. She struggles weakly.
“Let me go.”
“Sit still.”
She stills, and the instant obedience makes me rock hard in my pants again. She looks from under her lashes. “Something is poking me.”
“Ignore him, sweetheart. He’s just excited you’re here.”
A soft laugh falls from her lips, and I’m so mesmerized by that tinkling sound that I catch it with my mouth. Francesca melts against me, kissing me with such innocent passion thatit stuns me. I stop thinking. The urge to take her completely consumes me. Sinking my fingers in her hair, I angle her head and devour her sweet lips. I get lost in the aggressive tide of desire. My hands move down to her breasts and she moans.
The sound breaks the spell she had cast over me.
What the fuck am I doing? I can’t present her to Nonna Isadora looking like I’ve pulled her backwards through a hedge.
I tear myself away from her lips. For a few seconds, she stares at me with confusion then she swallows hard and scrambles off my lap. I let her, and she scoots all the way over to the other end of the seat.
I exhale slowly.
“Freya isn’t going to be at the party,” she says after a moment of silence. “She said something happened between you and Matteo and it will be awkward for them to attend. I asked Federico, but he said to ask you.”
“You spoke to Federico?” I turn to her, my blood boiling. I already warned Federico to stay away from Francesca. He knows better than to dare me. If he did, it won’t be the first time a Barone party ended up bloody.
“Only for a moment. Should I not speak to him?” she asks in confusion.
I grunt and turn my attention to the window.
“What happened to Matteo?”