Page 61 of Sins of the Orchid

I’d have to talk to her old man before he got wind of the situation. I already knew what I planned on doing. I would make an arrangement to marry her. I didn’t care what Bennetti’s conditions would be, I’d give it to him. She would be my wife, but only after she finished college. She had another year. Until then, I’d play her boyfriend. Whatever she needed. I could wait. I could be patient when I needed to.

“I should go home before my father or brothers notice I’m not there,” she murmured sleepily. It was almost eleven at night, and I was determined to keep her in my bed.

“They think you are with Adriano,” I told her. Luigi texted me, asking if Amore was staying over. It wasn’t anything unusual since Adriano and Amore have been joined at the hip since she was thirteen. I told him yes, keeping it short. “I told your brother you’d spend the night.”

She wasn’t the typical girl in the Cosa Nostra. The old Bennetti had to learn that early on or risk losing her. Amore liked her freedom, coming and going to her grandmother’s, and if he would have shackled her to the same rules of the Cosa Nostra women, he would have lost her. He knew full well that with one word from his daughter to her grandmother, the damn dragon woman would bring fury to his door. He’d fight but he’d lose.

Because Regina Regalè had her own power and superseded the whole of the Cosa Nostra and five families combined.

“I like the sound of that,” she said softly, her hands exploring my body, her eyes inspecting the ink on my arm curiously. She wasn’t shy about her body nor her desire. She owned it better than most mature women.

The need within clawed through me to take her again, fuck her and hear her moans, my name on her lips.Jesus!Just a few hours and she has already become my vice. Her smooth skin felt right under my rough palms, and she tasted better than anything. Her moans seared through my veins and into my brain. She’d remain part of me. I knew it as well as I knew my name.

“I like your tattoo,” she whispered, her hands skimming over my right forearm and all the way down to my fingers. “Does it mean anything?”

I pointed to the handgun wrapped in the tree vine, orchids, and the cross. “Cosa Nostra, God, and family.”

She studied it curiously.

“In that order, huh?” she teased.

Seven years living under the umbrella of the Cosa Nostra and somehow Amore avoided most of the brutality of our world. Though from what little she told me, she witnessed it when she saw her mother die. Maybe God granted her a reprieve after what she had been through. Or maybe it was her grandmother who insisted she be kept out of the Cosa Nostra and keep the Regalè fortune out of this world. “And the other tattoos?”

She sat up and pulled her knees to her chest, still holding up the blanket to cover her body. Her copper hair was stark against the light of the moon, white sheets, and her sun-kissed skin. She had blossomed into a beautiful woman. Italy suited her.

“When do you go back to Italy?” I asked her, avoiding her question. I didn’t want to tell her the skull represented the death I brought to men that dared cross me.

She sighed. “Day after tomorrow. I could only get a reprieve for three days’ worth of missed classes from the dean.”

I nodded in understanding. “How about I come and visit you?”

“In Italy?” I nodded and her eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Seriously?”

“Yes, in June, after school ends. Adriano said your classes end in the middle of June, and I’m guessing you are not coming home for summer again.”

I’d never admit it, but I was kind of disappointed when she hadn’t returned home, not a single time over the last two years. That damn kiss was something I thought about more often than I should have.

She shrugged her slim shoulders. “Probably not. I’m working in the Milan office in July and the London office in August. Then my classes start again.”

No wonder her family was so proud of her. Amore was just as ambitious and capable as her grandmother. Except Amore had a soft heart, unlike her dragon of a grandmother.

“That’s settled then.” I pulled her into my arms. It will be torture to survive two months without her.

“Santi?”

“Hmmm?”

“Are you alright?” she whispered.

Slightly shifting off the pillow, so I could see her face, I furrowed my brows and a noise of amusement escaped me. “Tonight was one of the best nights I’ve had in a while. A long while.”

Her cheeks flushed a pale pink, almost matching the shade of her hair. “I meant with your dad gone and everything.” Her fingers fidgeted with the hem of the sheet.

Pain vibrated through my chest; except this time, it didn’t make me want to go on a killing spree. Or into a rage pushing me to hunt down every member of the Venezuelan Cartel in the city. This time, it was more of a dull pain of a loss, and I suspected it had something to do with her.

“He was a good man,” she whispered.

“Yeah, he was.” I pulled her closer to me, and she put her head onto my chest.