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Della

I stared at Dante and asked, “What’s wrong?”

He pushed his fingers through his hair and replied, “Luca has called us over to the corporate office.”

“Why?”

“With him? He’s all business, so warfare, probably.” Dante shook his head.

“Warfare?” I repeated.

Dante looked frustrated as he tried to explain, “Look, you know how my father acts about the Familia stuff?”

“Not really,” I said. “I mean he’s not Godfather scary but he is sort of scary about it.”

Dante laughed. “Yeah, well, Luca is scarier. Or he likes to think so. I think it’s just annoying and a bit egotistical. But I suppose there are many who are intimidated and afraid of Luca Luna Nascente.” He shrugged. “Then again, he told me once that I wouldn’t fear him because he is my big brother. Honestly, he’s really the only sibling I have that has embraced the whole mafia thing. Like he’s dad’s second. His soldier at arms.”

I took out my cell phone and typed in Luna Nascente and it had the answer, Rising Moon . “Luca the Rising Moon?” I asked.

“Yeah, something like that. You see, our father is known as the Dark Moon.” He shook his head and added, “Maybe I’m like a Moon Pie?”

Again, I giggled then I paused to ask, “Ok, what is a moon pie?”

He tisked and said, “You never heard that old song?”

I stared at him. “No…” I was already laughing as I knew this would probably be funny.

Clearing his throat, he sang out in a cheesy Italian accent, “When the moon hits your eye…Like a big pizza pie, that's amore…When the world seems to shine…Like you've had too much wine, that's amore.”

At his singing, I had to swipe tears of hilarity from my eyes and remind him, “It's pizza pie, not moon pie!”

Shrugging, he quipped. “So? But there is really such a thing as MoonPies. You know… they're round, full of marshmallow cream and chocolate coated.”

I slowly shook my head. “I never heard of one.”

He tucked his head back as he looked surprised by this fact. “No way! This snack is synonymous with the South, Della! THE most delicious treat that was invented like more than a hundred years ago. Well, we just cannot allow this crime to continue.” He used a fake determined tone. “I will have to have Oscar pull up to a MoonPie store immediately.”

I kept laughing as I smacked his arm. “MoonPie store? Come on…”

Dante grinned playfully at me. “Ok, you got me there, but I will be ordering a case of them when we get home.”

“A whole case?”

He nodded. “Everyone at the house loves ‘em. Even my father, despite denying it. I caught him in the pantry sneaking one or two, more than once over the years. He always tries to play it off, but I know he loves them.”

“Ok, you have sold me.” I wrapped my arm around his. “I am sure I will someday be…A MoonPie Girl.”

Dante looked over at me. “See? You're sexy, delicious, you love numbers and you have probably invested in a stellar IRA. Plus, a MoonPie Girl too? Damn. You are the whole package!”

I fell over sideways while laughter took my breath away.

He chuckled and patted my shoulder. “Try to get it together, baby. We got mafioso biddness to attend to.” He used a thick Italian accent. “Gonna meet the top wiseguy. The Cappo de Cappo. Mr. DeScalpela as he is sometimes called.” He rolled his eyes as he tugged me back up and went on, “Luca thinks he’s so badass and cool.” He shook his head. “In his little ‘mafia bubble’ he meets with the actual Familia Council and runs made-men foot soldiers to protect the corporation. That’s why my father is home a lot nowadays. And that reminds me, the rest of us should punch Luca properly in the teeth for that freakin’ disturbance. Cause Papa can be downright annoying. But Luca seems happy with it all, I guess?”

I slumped a little in the seat, happy, sated and relaxed. “So wait…” I just realized what he’d called his brother. “DeScalpela?”

Dante nodded as he looked out the window. “It’s just tough talk. Rumors to instil fear. Like my father’s cousin who is actually Alberto Mancini. But they call him Houdini Mancini because he supposedly makes people disappear.” Dante shivered a bit then went on, “Well, that name might be accurate, but the story goes that Luca Descalia likes to use a scalpel to torture enemies and betrayers. So they named him DeScalpela.”

I stared at him in a bit of horror. “What?”

He smiled and shook his head. “It’s just an advertisement, Della. Like scare tactics.”

“For what?” I asked, totally confused now.

“To deter people from sticking their noses into Descalia business?” Dante shrugged. “Like spread the scariest rumor and you’ll hardly ever encounter problems. It’s smart really.”

I slowly nodded. “Yeah, that sounds better than what I was thinking.” I smirked at him. “So why are we going to see him?”

“Like I said, he is Papa’s second and he probably wants a report from us about what happened today. He has been looking for this Deacon guy and wanting him dead in fact.”

“Dead?” I asked.

Dante nodded. “I joke about it, but the man is really the Cappo. Like the Descalia Captain. I don’t know a lot about what all Luca does actually and I don't want to know. I just loyally do the books at Descalia Corp and balance the budget. But he has been almost obsessed about Deacon ever since the man tried to kill Legend and Glory. Well, Tito, Rocky and Oscar too. They were there as guards. And he probably wants to cuss me out about being irresponsible again.”

“Again?” I asked him with a smile curving over my lips.

He smirked. “I don’t know if you noticed but I’m sort of this serendipitous kind of guy. Like every Friday at work, I order pizzas for the entire tenth floor, just so they can enjoy it. Or I throw a football party for lunch after ordering buffalo wings and Redbulls for the staff. I make sure we all have the most fattening donuts and lattes every workday morning. In fact, 4 eateries in the downtown area have standing orders that are permanent. And man, did Luca bitch about the cost and I scoffed, telling him it was a perfect tax write off. So, he shut up after that.” Dante looked smug then he shrugged. “I’m sort of a non alcohol-no hanky panky-high carb troublemaker, I guess you could call it. Despite the boring accountant job.”

I laughed. “Hey! I’m an accountant too, ya know?”

He took my hand, raised it to his lips and kissed my knuckles. “And the sexiest one I have ever met.”

I stared at him. “No one has ever told me that.”

“They should have but I am damn lucky they were too blind and stupid to have not seen it.”

I kept shaking my head. The one thing I never thought to be accused of would be sexiness. I rolled my eyes.

“You are,” he argued. “The minute you came into the study after they found you, I knew you were the woman for me.”

I scoffed at him. “Yeah, I bet. Hair all messy, red bloodshot eyes, ripped clothes and a vendetta to settle.”

Nodding, he patted my knee. “Yep, the whole fiery package.”

I burst out with more laughter. “For an insane asylum escapee, maybe!” I exclaimed.

We both laughed together.

Then I stared into his eyes. “You’re never gonna guess when I knew.”

He cocked his head at me and took a guess, “When I rescued you from Valencia’s punches?”

“No! I never even looked at you at that point. I wanted her to have two black eyes!” I giggled.

“Okay, when I kissed you on the stairs?”

I kept shaking my head. “Best day and best first kiss of my life but no.”

“Then when?” he asked as he looked super curious.

I grinned at him. “I knew it when you brought me that espresso the second day I was at the estate and said, ‘this’ll kickstart your Mario Kart.’ Then you laughed and it sounded like a kid’s laugh. It made me feel so lighthearted that I laughed with you.”

Dante blinked his eyes at me as he looked stunned. “A kid’s laugh?” he asked as if that was the only part he’d heard.

I nodded and took his hand to kiss his knuckles like he’d done to me. “Believe me that is a good trait. You made me laugh even though a minute before that I believed I would never smile again after what I’d learned about all the lies. I also thought your little snort-laugh was adorable. Plus, I love that game and never believed anyone else even knew what it was.”

“Wait… a snort-laugh?” He raised his head up and stared at me.

I chuckled and claimed, “It was cute, Dante.”

He shook his head as he looked totally skeptical. “So did the espresso kickstart your Mario Kart?” he teased.

I laughed. “Not like you have, Dante.” I grabbed his cheeks with my hands and tugged him close to whisper, “My life was turned upside down and I felt lost. Then you righted my Mario Kart…” I smirked at the analogy and planted my lips on his. I then poked my tongue into his yummy, hot mouth and kissed him hard.

He allowed me to lead. So I took advantage and swirled my tongue around his as I wrapped my arms around his neck. We fell into each other. The kiss went wild as fire took over. Before I knew it, we were running our hands over each other. I drifted away as my mind went numb and my body came alive.

He reached over and undid my seatbelt. Tugging me to his lap, he reached under me to spread my thighs and yanked my panties to the side then set me down on his hard length.

I gasped as he filled me and I let out a long helpless moan into his mouth.

He lunged up and then pulled me down with a tight grasp on my hips.

I was panting and mindless now as I’d gotten so wet. All I could think about was Dante and what he was doing to me. The feeling of his heat, of him filling me. The absolute electric racing of my heart and my skin tingling everywhere. Raising my bottom up, I slammed myself down as I took part in this illicit interlude of wild thrusting. I should have cared about where we were and what we were doing but I didn’t. My seemingly endless lust for this man totally took over.

The no nonsense accountants were not present. Instead, insatiable, impassioned lovers had taken our places.

He kept lunging up into me and pulling my hips down on him.

I could barely stand it as I realized I was coming already while he stroked into me with his tongue in my mouth and his cock into my core.

The next thing I knew I could feel his hot essence filling me as we came together, bodies locked and mouths fused. We groaned and desperately clung to each other as we dove over the edge of total bliss. The feeling of sensual perfection lasted for only a breathless minute or two, but it would be in my mind and soul for an eternity.

No matter what came after this…I knew one thing for certain now…I was deeply and irrevocably in love with Dante Descalia.

Finally, we breathlessly broke the desperate kiss and gazed into each other’s eyes.

“Damn, did we just do that?” he asked with a crooked smile.

I slowly nodded my head as I tried to catch my breath. Then I gave him the line I’d learned from my phone as I memorized it, “Sei un uomo molto sexy.”

His head shot up and he gazed into my eyes.

I laughed nervously and added, “It’s true. You are one hot man .”

He grinned at me. “I’m seriously impressed, sweet Della.”

“I got it from the phone translator,” I confessed with a small shrug.

He leaned forward and kissed me again.

This kiss was tender and sweet, like an adoration kiss. A perfect last move in the sensual dance we just performed.

“Boss?” Tito’s voice came over the speaker.

We froze and we looked at each other.

“Oh. My. God,” I gasped as I finally realized what we had been doing in the limo seat.

Dante chuckled and reached sideways to the button on the door. Tapping it, he replied, “Yes, Tito?”

“We are coming up to Descalia Corp.”

“Ok, give us a few minutes,” he replied and leaned back to me. “Grab the wipes from the console, babe.”

I looked over and saw what he meant. Leaning over, I opened the top and took a few out. “Have you done this before?” The question just slipped out on its own. I paused to raise up from his lap and move over.

“Hell no,” he said as he chuckled. “I’ve never even kissed a girl while in a limo.” He cocked his head at me. “I never liked doing intimate things in public.”

I handed him a few wipes then used mine between my thighs. “Oh, really?” I asked dubiously.

He chuckled and nodded. “Until you.”

I gazed into his eyes and believed him instantly.

He tossed the wipes to the trash slot on the panel and took mine to do the same. “All my rules went out the dang door when I met you, Della.”

I smiled at him. “Mine too.”

“Oh, really?” he asked the same way I did as he comically raised one brow at me.

I laughed at his melodramatic expression. “Yes, I only had one relationship in my life with a guy. We dated for six months before we…You know.”

He slowly shook his head as he joked, “No, I don’t know.”

I smacked his chest as I wiggled my hips to get my panties on straight. “I literally jumped into bed with you! Geez, after like what? Ten days of knowing you and we never even dated either? It’s just amazing.”

“It’s love,” he claimed. “Pure and simple. And please stop wiggling on my lap like that.” He scoffed. “Or we are gonna be embarrassed for sure when this car stops.”

I laughed. “Ok, ok.” I smoothed my hair down and yanked my sundress into place. “Do I look ok?”

“Ok?” he exclaimed. “You need to ask an unbiased source. I would think you were gorgeous while wearing a burlap sack.”

I kept giggling at his wisecracks. The man kept me smiling and he kept me happy. I sure never believed this would be true after finding out the truth of my life.

“We’re there,” Tito’s voice announced over the speaker.

I suddenly felt nervous. This Luca hadn’t been around at the mansion as far as I knew and he was the oldest of the Descalia sons. What if he didn’t like me?

“Why are you biting that sweet lip of yours?” Dante asked me.

I paused and realized I was doing just that.

He took my hand and squeezed it. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing…” I shook my head.

Grasping my chin, he looked into my eyes. “I want you to always tell me true. Even if it might be a rough subject or hurt my itty bitty feelings. You need to always share it.”

I lowered my gaze. “I was worried that Luca wouldn't like me.”

“What?” Dante exclaimed. “Won’t like you? Damn, Della. I don’t care what he thinks and you shouldn't either.”

I gazed up at him to see he looked upset now. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”

Dante grasped my arms and tugged me close. “I intend to marry you, Sweet Della. I want us to fly all over the world and see it together. I want kids if you agree. I want us under the stars, doing what we just did in this limo. I do not care if anyone approves, or if they like it or not. Only you and I matter.”

I gaped at him and asked, “Are you real?” I reached out to pinch his arm.

“Oww!” he yelped a bit dramatically. “That hurt.”

We both laughed.

Yes, the man was real, hot, funny and an accountant, no less.