Kiss de La Notte - Book III (Mafia Romance)

Chapter Thirty-Six: Timber

*INSERT KISSES SCREAMS*

TGIF MF'S!!!! 

IF YOU LOVE ME (I KNOW YOU DO) DON'T FORGET TO VOTE AND LEAVES LOTS AND LOTS OF COMMENTS ON THIS CHAPTER FOR ME TO READ!!!

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That night, Lucius got up and left to head to his guest room. It didn't bother me, I had to get up early to review my notes one last time and he would have taken up my whole bed with his big burly man body.

The night came back in full the next morning and regret creeped in at the image of me letting Lucius practically spreading me out and devouring my soul. I finished packing my suitcase and reviewed my notes. I'd have to take my online psych exam in the car ride over, which I wasn't happy about, but since the devil that was dragging me to the lake house was just one room over to mine, I couldn't exactly avoid the situation.

I dressed in my favorite white cashmere turtleneck with a scarf and high waisted pants with high-knee boots. I opted for a light makeup of mascara, lip-gloss, blush and some highlight and pinned back my curls so they were halfway away from my face. When I went downstairs, Lucius was already at the kitchen table.

Lucius looked up from the steaming coffee in his hands and seemed to pause when he saw me. I waited for his reaction that my outfit was good as his hazel eyes lingered on my boots, but all he did was dunk one of Nonna's cookies into his coffee and turn the page of the newspaper in his hand. Someone wasn't a morning person.

The drive to the La Notte's lake house was long, nerve wracking, and blissfully quiet. Lucius had driven an SUV instead of his normal sports car, so I took my online test in the backseat to avoid any unnecessary distractions. The test took me almost the full hour to complete, and I nearly had motion sickness in the car by the end of it.

 I submitted the test, pissed at myself. What had started off as an easy semester had quickly become a struggle to get a B. I'd studied so hard for this exam, and I didn't feel confident about getting an A at all. Maybe a B at the most. The thought of getting anything lower made my stomach churn.

"Tougher than you thought it'd be?" he asked.

I met Lucius' eyes in the rear-view mirror and it all vented out.

"That was such bullshit," I said.

Lucius chuckled. "What happened, bambina?"

"What happened is this professor sucks. He was good at the beginning of the semester, but now it's like he's purposely trying to trick us, so we don't get perfect scores. It was all these random obscure questions. I hate getting anything lower than an A and this one feels like it's going to be a tanker." I hadn't meant to dump all of that on him like he was one of my friends, but here we were.

"When do you get the grade?"

I shrugged, crossing my arms over my chest. "He said we might get them back by tonight, but it's Friday, so I'll have to sweat this out until Monday." I shook my head in disappointment, feeling like I might actually cry. What the hell was wrong with my emotions lately? It was like everything made me cry.

Lucius wrung his hand out on the steering wheel, the material creaking beneath his powerful hands . "I'm sure it won't be difficult for me to find his address and social security number."

It took me a second to get it. The urge to cry transferred instantly into a burst of sudden laughter. I covered my mouth with my hand and smothered it just in case he was serious.

Lucius patted the passenger seat. "Come up here. You're making me feel like an Uber Driver."

We were stopped at a red light. Sighing dramatically, I put my laptop into its protection sleeve and stood up in a crouch in the car. I grabbed the side of his driver seat and the passenger seat and maneuvered in-between the seats, but it was more difficult in heels than I thought it would be and I managed to get my heel stuck in the left crevice of the passenger seat. Lucius quickly wrapped his fingers around my ankle and pushed my right heel out from between the seat and held me up by my arm before I plopped down into the seat. I tried not to notice how my arm felt hotter where he'd touched me underneath my cashmere sweater, or how being closer to him caused an unfortunate reaction of little butterflies in my belly.