Chapter 22: The Night Before

Ines sent me to bed at nine with a cup of warm milk and an order not to see the groom until the ceremony.

I lasted until eleven.

The house was dark when I came down the stairs in my bare feet.

A line of firelight showed under the study door.

I opened it without knocking.

Gabriele was on the leather couch with his sleeves rolled up and a glass in his hand, not drinking.

He looked up.

"Ines will have my head," he said.

"Ines is asleep."

"Ines is never asleep."

"Then lock the door," I said.

He put down the glass, crossed the room and turned the key.

When he came back, I was standing on the carpet where I had knelt to clean his arm.

"This is where I kissed you first," I said.

"This is where you walked out."

"I remember."

"I've regretted it every night since."

"You should," I said. "Sit down, Don Lombardi."

His eyebrows rose, and he sat.

I walked up to the couch and stood between his knees.

I was wearing a nightgown and nothing under it.

He saw that at once.

His hands came up to my hips, and I caught his wrists and pinned them against the leather on either side of him.

"Underboss only," I said.

"Is that an order?"

"It's the terms. You'll keep your hands where I put them."

He let out a short, unsteady laugh.

"Yes, ma'am."

I climbed onto his lap with my knees on either side of his thighs.

He was already hard against me.

I took my time.

I kissed his mouth, and then his jaw, and then the place under his ear that made his breath catch.

I undid his shirt and bent to kiss the hollow of his throat.

His chest rose and fell under my hands.

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