RUTHLESS KING

46 AMORE MIO

Stella
I tighten my hold around Luca’s waist as he throttles the engine, and we zip
around another corner on the sleek motorcycle. A wild laugh escapes from
the adrenaline and the sheer happiness. It’s been a week since I moved back
into the penthouse, for real this time. Not that I had that many clothes to
remove from my crappy old apartment but the few belongings that
remained were important.
Dad was gone.
His side of the apartment had been emptied. He’d ran out on the last
month’s rent, his unpaid debt, and me. A few months ago, that would’ve
broken me, but now with Luca at my side I could endure anything.
“Almost there, princess.” Luca’s shout distracts me from dark thoughts
of the past.
“Where are we going?”
“If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise, now would it?” I catch a peek of
his mischievous grin through the helmet’s visor.
I focus on the surroundings, the lush green and quiet streets of the
wealthy suburb of Eastchester. The neighborhood begins to look more familiar as he slows the Ducati and pulls up in front of a sprawling yard.
Luca cuts the engine and removes his helmet, then mine. He takes my
hand and helps me off the bike then covers my eyes with his free hand.
“What are you doing?” I laugh.
He spins me around a few times until I’m dizzy and breathless from the
nervous giggles.
“Luca!”
“Okay, okay.” He presses his lips to mine, a slow, sexy kiss that has me
panting for more. When he releases me too soon, I grumble a curse.
He lets out a husky laugh, hand still covering my eyes. “Are you
ready?”
“Yes!” I hiss.
He turns me a quarter way then removes his hand. A huge lawn
stretches out before us and a pad of concrete fills the central space. My
brows knit as I regard the semi-familiar land. It isn’t until my gaze settles
on the pond with the small dock in the back and the thick trees that it all
comes back to me.
“The picnic?”
A slow smile crawls across his face as he takes my hands. “I bought this
land a while ago, but I was never quite sure what to do with it. I love my
penthouse, and it’s perfect for one of the city’s most eligible bachelors but
—”
My heart thumps out an erratic staccato as his eyes lance into mine.
“One day soon I’m going to ask you to be my wife, and this will be our
home. I want to fill it with your warmth and laughter, and eventually, but
not too soon, tons of our children.” Mischief sparkles in those dark eyes. “I
hope your heart grows stronger with each day we spend together.”
My jaw drops, and all the air evacuates my lungs. “Luca …” He’d said
those exact words to me at the cemetery all those years ago, and it had
gotten me through the first awful weeks without my mom. Heat burns my eyes, and my heart sprouts wings. It’s the only explanation for the mad
flutters.
“I love you more than there are stars in the sky, Stellina, amore mio. I
can’t wait to start this life with you. Do you like it?”
I wrap my arms around Luca’s neck and smother his words with a kiss.
“I love it.”
“Good. Because Mamma is just dying to have us closer.”
I smile against his mouth, the idea of a real family bringing more tears
of joy to my eyes.
“It’ll probably be another year or two before the house is complete, but
I figured with you starting at NYU, it’ll be easier to live in the city for now
anyway.”
My almost fiancé had of course insisted on paying for my next two
years of university. A tiny part of me was sad to say goodbye to my dreams
of sunny Florida, but I could never say goodbye to Luca. I didn’t like the
idea of him paying my way through college, so he agreed to a loan.
How I was to repay it was still unclear. He insisted on sexual favors, but
somehow that just didn’t seem fair since I’d be getting just as much out of it
as he would.
He kisses me again, interrupting my musings, and I’m immediately
swept away in the frenzy. His fingers dig into the hair at the back of my
neck as he deepens the kiss. Fire builds in my core as he nibbles on my
lower lip and moves lower, sucking on my neck. The man is like a teenager,
constantly covering me with hickies. He insists it’s so that anyone who sees
me knows I belong to him, but the truth is I was his long before he marked
me.
He pulls away to breathe against my lips, “Should we go for a swim?”
“Mmhmm,” I murmur.
Luca sweeps me off the ground and swings me into his arms. I capture
his lips again as he blindly stumbles toward the pond. I paw at the buttons of his shirt so that when we reach the crystal-clear lagoon, he’s already half-
naked. I pause as my fingers find the date tattooed on his chest. The one he
tried so damned hard to keep hidden, but now means so much to me.
He stops when we reach the thick copse of trees, piercing gaze intent on
mine as I run my finger over those five tiny numbers. “We’ll always
remember him. Together.”
I nod and blink back the quickly forming tears. “Per sempre.” Forever.
His lips find mine, and he kisses me softly. Behind the cover of the
thick trees, I undress him and he slowly strips me down until I’m bare.
Cradling me in his arms again, Luca runs across the dock and leaps in. I
let out a squeal as the cool water envelops my heated flesh. His lips descend
on mine before I can draw in a lungful of air. So I breathe him in, reveling
in each nibble, every touch. He wades to the edge of the pond and wraps my
legs around his waist. His hard cock nudges at my entrance as he glances at
me beneath hooded lids. “I love you so much,” he whispers, fingers digging
into my hips. “Ti amo, amore mio.”
I sink onto him with a groan. His cock fills me so completely, my head
falls back, and I moan his name. “Luca ….”
“That’s right, baby.” Gripping my hips, he guides me up and down as
we float at the edge of the peaceful pond. I press my body flush against his,
but it’s never close enough. I need to feel him inside me, next to me,
everywhere. I clench around his cock, each thrust of his hips driving me
closer to the edge.
“Dio, sei bellissima, amore,” he growls as he plunges deeper.
And I feel beautiful with him. I feel perfect through his eyes. No man
has ever made me feel so cherished, so adored. I grind my hips against his,
desperate for the friction, for the thrill of the approaching release. I’m
hopelessly addicted; I need Luca Valentino like I need air in my lungs, my
heart to beat and my soul to live.
Luca Valentino was my beginning, my middle, and is my perfect end.