Page 35 of Stolen Christmas
“Thank you again, Luca.” He kisses my hand and then walks us inside.
“Wow, your mother wasn’t kidding. The house is almost identical with just a few changes.”
“Yes, I didn’t do much to it. I allowed her to do the rest. Frankly, I don’t care about those things, so when you’re ready, you can add what you’d like.”
As we speak, a woman in her mid-thirties or forties approaches us. “Hello, Grace. I’d like to introduce you to my future wife, Angel. This is my housekeeper, Grace. She handles the day-to-day when I’m not around.” He addresses the housekeeper directly. “Tonight, my wife and I will just be heading to bed. Tomorrow, we’ll expect breakfast and I’ll be handling business, so please assist her with whatever she needs.” He takes my hand and then says, “Come, let’s head to bed for the night.”
“Goodnight,” I say to her as we turn toward the staircase. She nods politely but doesn’t say a word. He leads me upstairs, and we enter the master bedroom, which is even more beautiful than the one in the city.
“It’s breathtaking,” I whisper so low I’m not even sure he hears me.
“Let me help you get undressed,” he says, leaning in and breathing against the shell of my ear. Holy hell—I was tired and in awe, but now I’m turned on.
Still, the man is completely focused on his mission to disrobe me. Luca helps me with my clothes, lazily slipping them off and then placing tiny kisses on my neck. For a moment I think that we’re going to go a little further, but he stops and helps me into bed. Slowly he takes off his clothes down to his boxers and then climbs into bed beside me, turning off the side lamp and then pulling me into his arms, and we slowly drift to sleep.
It feels so strange; it’s almost as if we are a normal couple and not in this forced relationship. I snuggle into his arms, falling back to sleep until waking up to his caressing touch as we slowly engage in deep, sleepy lovemaking. He whispers endearments in Italian that I don’t understand, but it doesn’t matter because I feel like the devil has taken me to heaven.
I wake up and feel kisses all over my stomach. “Good morning,” Luca whispers.
“Good morning.” I run my hands through his thick dark hair, loving the way it feels in my hands. I stretch out my body and moan.
“How are you feeling?”
“I’m a little stiff, but I’m okay.”
“I need to go into the city. Do you want to stay here, or would you like to head back?”
“I need to go to my house. I don’t know what you have planned for this marriage thing, but I do own a home, you know.”
“Yes, I do. We can go there today after I get some matters taken care of. How does that sound?”
“I’d like that. Maybe you can give me back my phone?”
“What do you need that for?”
“I don’t know. What do you need your phone for?” I sass.
“Business and to talk to people.”
“Exactly. I might not have a job, but I have some friends.”
“Some friends should have lent you a hand before you were stripping in a club.”
“Speaking of, I never told him I quit.”
“I think that son of a bitch got the message, and if he didn’t, I can go deliver it personally.”
“Please don’t. There were some nice women there, and he wasn’t mean to me.”
“Of course he wasn’t, Amore. You were going to be his newest piece of meat. He was about to score big with you dancing for him. He wasn’t going to upset the prize just yet.” I suppose he’s right, but I still don’t want him to do anything about it.
“Let’s drop it.”
“Are there any friends you want to invite to the wedding?”
“No. It’s the holidays, and I don’t have anyone that close to me, anyway.” He caresses my cheek.
“I’m sorry about that. After I’m done with work, we’ll go to your home, and you can gather some things you’d like. I’ve asked a maid to come in and empty the fridge and to straighten up anything that might have gotten messy before you left. I know you left thinking you were coming right back.”
