Page 16 of Claimed By the Werewolf Boss

I groan and shove my face in my paperback. Definitely going to have to learn to be quiet.

“The Benetti men sure do have a way about them,” she agrees. “We clearly hit the hottie jackpot.”

Her gaze shifts just enough, and I see Andrea walking towards us.

Unlike his uncle, he’s cut with obvious bulging muscles from all the time he spends doing…

something. He’s not a gym bro, so maybe his corporate job isn’t as white collar as I thought.

He’s got to get those muscles from somewhere, right?

“One green smoothie.” Andrea smiles as he presents Junelle her drink. “Marcello said he’d be back before dinner.”

“Where’d they go?” I probe.

“Eh, apparently Nonna thought she saw a rat.” He shrugs overly much.

My blood runs cold. Nope. Big no. I can’t deal with mice or rats or any rodents. I know there is some statistic that when you live in a big city you’re always within five feet of one, but I can’t believe it. Even thinking about it makes it feel like they’re scratching and crawling all over my skin.

“What’s going on?” Valentino asks, picking up my legs to sit on my lounger. He puts my feet back on his lap and starts rubbing up and down my calves. The action calms me slightly, but I still feel a chill rake down my spine at the thought of rats.

“Don’t want to talk about gross rodents,” I say quickly, scratching at my arm. “Just anything else.”

The three of them exchange looks.

“Did you put on enough sun cream?” Valentino asks.

He’s moving before I can say I slathered myself in it.

Andrea and Junelle start talking about the DJ for the wedding, but I’m struggling to focus.

Valentino moves me. Like really moves me.

Like I’m a coffee mug on a desk who just needs to be scooted an inch to the left so it doesn’t spill on graded papers.

He squeezes in behind me on the lounger, pressing his wet body against my dry one.

Well, one part of me isn’t dry.

“Don’t worry about the rat.” He squirts cream, the smell of sunblock wafting up over the smell of seawater. “He’s a problem for me to handle.”

“Didn’t know exterminator was in your job description,” I joke.

“All a part of the job as the big boss.”

He’s so serious when he says it. I’m really not sure how to respond and thankfully I don’t have to. His big hands smooth across the open back of my swimsuit.

I thought this one-piece would be more appropriate for today, seeing as this is a whole family gathering thing, but Valentino barely touches the straps and they are slipping off my shoulders.

He massages cream across my freckled skin, pressing his thumbs gently into my muscles.

My body melts under his firm touch, and my eyes roll back as he rubs away the knots in my shoulders.

I bite my lip to keep from moaning.

Sex ban. Sex ban. I will not show weakness in front of Junelle and Andrea. I’m stronger than the pulsing heat growing between my legs as Valentino sneaks his finger into my suit to ghost across my breasts. I just stare at my book, only to realise these two fictional idiots are mid fuck as well.

I’m absolutely going to fail.

“Is the water cold?” I ask, voice strained and squeaking.

It wasn’t two days ago. I know it’s the perfect temperature. We just need to get away from my best friend before I make a fool of myself. We’ve been through so much together, but I can’t be this horny in front of Junelle. There has to be a limit, right?

“No, it feels really good. You need to cool off, baby?” Valentino’s lips brush across my ear as he speaks. As he leans into me, his hard dick pushes against my low back.

He is doing this on purpose.

“Join me.” I don’t ask. If he really wants to tease and play games in public, he’ll follow me.

The first step into the water makes goosebumps erupt across my skin.

Valentino is right there with me, waiting his turn to climb down the ladder.

It’s better to take the plunge and get adjusted quickly, so I leap the rest of the way into the water.

Coolness rushes across my heated skin, but the desire rippling through my core is still there, hot and heady as I break the surface of the salty water again .

I wade around the pier, smiling at his family as they play in the shallower waters.

One of his cousins, I think, points at her float to ask if I want it, but I shake my head.

With a little effort, I swim further out.

At the far end of the pier, there are large rock formations to keep the waves at bay.

There are no posted rules about swimming past that point, so I’m hoping we can have some privacy just on the other side.

Valentino follows me without question until I’m pulling myself up onto a flat rock. He gives me a boost when I get one leg up.

“Cooler now?” he asks, a cheeky little smirk on his lips. He spreads my thighs until he can stand between them.

“You’re such a tease.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He feigns innocence. “I was simply helping the most beautiful woman on the pier protect her skin.”

“Uh-huh, and your dick was helping you how?” I smooth a hand through his wet hair, slicking back his black locks until he looks like he actually might be a mob boss. A smile plays on my lips. Now that’s a thought. A mafia man always makes for a hot love interest.

“Keep petting me like this and we’ll see just how helpful he can be,” Valentino says, leaning further into my touch .

“Are you getting nervous about tomorrow?” I ask, changing the subject.

“What’s there to be nervous about? It’s going to be a great day.”

The way he says that hits me a bit oddly.

Like his defences are up for something that I thought would lighten the mood.

Of course, tomorrow is going to be awesome.

Junelle has been keeping her dress a secret and I can’t wait to see it.

I also know the menu for dinner looks like it will be to die for.

Assuming my dress still fits.

“Are you giving a speech or anything?”

“Yeah, Andrea said if I didn’t, he’d have the boys destroy my house,” he scoffs.

“The boys?”

“Just friends back home,” he says quickly. “Speaking of which, what are your plans when we get back?”

Butterflies erupt in my stomach. I try to school my features, to keep the smile on my face soft, but I’m barely containing myself. “Why you asking?”

“I know a spot, and I wanna take you to it.” He kisses my leg, dragging his teeth across my inner thigh.

“What kind of spot?” I breathe heavily.

“One of my favourites, has the second-best view in Tolson.” Valentino’s so close to my pussy now, the heat of his breath making me ache for him. “After the view of you in my bed.”

“Who says I’m going to be in your bed?”

It’s just a tease, a playful little taunt, but just like this morning, a growl rips through Valentino. His hands wrap tighter around me and drag me to the edge of the rock. It cuts into my ass but puts me at the perfect angle for his face.

“I think you need a little reminder, dirty girl, that you belong to me. This ain’t just some vacation fling, this is the start of you and me.

” He pulls my swimsuit to the side, revealing my wet pussy.

My heart pounds in my chest as his words circle around me like a spell, bringing out all the feelings I try so hard to keep tamped down.

“ Nothing is going to keep me from you. You are mine, forever .”

Those words stick with me through every kiss and orgasm he gives me on that rock.

Forever, forever and ever . Every possessive thought I’ve ever written into a book has manifested into this man, and I’m falling for it.

He’s all those red flags, and the obsession lurking in the depths of his eyes makes my heart ache for more.

He drinks from my body until I’m too weak to swim back to the pier.

But he carries me, holds me tight as we lounge in the shade of the umbrella, feeds me little pieces of fruit until the sun starts to set. There isn’t a moment today when I am not surrounded by Valentino Benetti .

It’s not until dinner at the villa, seeing everyone surrounding the table and laughing like one big happy family, that I wonder if this could really be my new life.

I’m wearing the same dress from our first date, the gingham having the exact same effect on Valentino tonight.

He can’t keep his hands to himself. It reminds me of how Andrea was when I first met him.

It had been so blatantly obvious he was obsessed with Junelle that I nearly wrote a whole book about them.

Is that what’s happening to me now?

Valentino and I are seated right next to each other, and I know that wasn’t the original plan based on the empty setting nearer the middle of the table.

Rather than being closer to Junelle, I’m seated right next to the head of the table like this is actually some kind of mafia-type shit. This isn’t The Sopranos though, right?

Right?

Based on everything I know, based on everything I have seen these past few days, based on Valentino, I can’t stop thinking that maybe “shipping” isn’t their only business. It’s not like I could find Andrea on ConnectIn when I first met him.

Junelle would tell me though. She wouldn’t keep a secret like that from me. It might not be something she could outright say, but I think she’d drop hints for me to put the pieces together .

If this were something dangerous, she wouldn’t put me in harm’s way.

Just like I would never do that to her either.

I can’t stop the panic though that I’m in over my head all of a sudden.

The weight of this trip, of everything with Valentino, comes rushing back to me.

All those years of learning to hold myself back are now colliding with the realisation that I might actually be falling for a mafia boss.

“You alright, sweetheart?” Valentino asks in a hushed tone as dessert is cleared away.