Talia stretched as she slowly came out of slumber. A muscle in her neck pinched and she winced, wondering if it was time to get a new pillow. As she opened her eyes, she realized her surroundings were unfamiliar to her.
Where am I? she questioned as she tried to push herself up onto her elbow. Then suddenly she stilled when something moved behind her, almost bumping her arm right from under her. She looked down to see a large sleeved arm next to hers.
Her eyes went wide. I guess it is safe to presume that that was the pillow.
She squeezed her eyes shut and bit the inside of her cheeks. No, no, no, no, no!
First, she took stock of her clothes, running her free hand over them and sighing in relief when she found everything still in place. Then, slowly, she turned her head to look behind her, trying to not make any sudden movements that would wake him. That was the last thing she needed. There was no need to turn too far, the man
“Signore.” Rafe gave a small grunt of acknowledgement when Enzo called out to him, his mind focused on the paperwork in front of him. It had been a long time since he’d felt energized and not forced to work. He was going to capitalize on that before things went back to normal. “You look different.” That got his attention. With his brows pulled together, he looked up at Enzo where he stood across from him on the other side of the mahogany desk and asked, “What do you mean?” Lips pulled, eyebrows raised, he answered, “Relaxed, rested… unlike your normal self.” One side of Rafe’s lips rose in half a smile. He looked relaxed and rested? He sat still and thought on those words and, truly enough, he didn’t feel that ton of weight on his shoulders, his chest didn’t feel packed and congested and he didn’t have that headache that had become normal to him. He was lighter, freer and if he could dare to say, happy. He hadn’t felt happy for the hell of being happy in a very long time. That was
She fought harder to break free but he only tightened his hold, wrapping his other arm around her to cage her in. When it was clear to her that he wouldn’t budge, she gave up with a slap at his chest followed by a glare that could reduce a lesser man to a whimpering fool. He wasn’t that. In fact, the sexual charge running through him made him even more arrogant.“Permission? No. Consultation? Most definitely.” He lowered his head and kissed her then, punishingly.She gasped in his mouth and pushed at him. He moved his other arm to wrap around her shoulders and held her firmly against him, not even air could pass between them. Her protests then changed as she fiercely kissed him back, rising and sliding up his body, as her pelvis pushed up seeking his. He lost it then.Rafe dropped his hands to her waist and hoisted her up. Her legs wrapped around his waist immediately. One moment of sanity told him that his door was still open. Yes, it wa
Elbows on the desk, thumbs at her temple and her other fingers intertwined over the forehead of her bowed head, covering her shame-filled face she said, “Carrie, I’m losing my mind.” She chuckled dryly. “No,” she continued, “I already lost it.”“Where? I’ll help you look for it,” she sniggered.Talia knew Carrie was trying to be funny but there was nothing the least bit funny about what had happened last night. Hot, mind blowing, and a little embarrassing, but not funny.“DeLuca’s office floor.”The sniggering stopped and Talia could almost hear Carrie’s mind work as what she’d said churned in her head, processing those three words and reading in between the lines. She felt a hand wrap around her wrist and begin to pull. Talia tensed her muscles, refusing to budge.“I’m sorry. I don’t think I heard you right!” Carrie yelled in a shrill
Talia’s blood ran cold as she sat frozen in her seat. Then just as quickly her body flushed as the memories of the previous night invaded her thoughts. This can’t be happening! Her mind screamed at her. She wasn’t ready to step into that office again just yet. The shame was still too fresh.“Why?” she squeaked.His brows pinched together confused and she realized then it would have been better if she hadn’t sounded like a mouse in a trap when she asked that.“You’ll find out once you go.”That was just it, she was scared to. What if what he wanted was that sequel Carrie was so excited over?“Do I have to?” she asked. The words quietly slipped out without a thought.“Any reason not to?”That caught her guilty ass by surprise. What was she doing? The last thing she needed was anyone getting suspicious about her and DeLuca’s… interaction.
Rafe glared at the closed door, his good mood disappearing as fast as she’d ran from him. That hadn’t happened as he’d expected, but then again neither had last night. He had an inkling of the type of woman she was, but he'd thought that she would want to be with him as much as he wanted to be with her, or for the very least to cling to him. He’d had women glue themselves to him for much less than a kiss and they’d, they’d gone beyond just a kiss, though not far enough. But still! He’d never given a wider opening to anyone to get what they wanted from him. He was more than ready to give her whatever she wanted, he even signed the proposal without reading it for crying out loud! Not his finest moment, but at the instance he wanted something priceless from her, so parting with a few million a year was worth it. Had last night meant nothing to her? It had meant everything to him. For one, he’d slept again, not as well as he had with her i
“I can’t believe you are here with me, again!” Carrie shouted over the loud music as she jumped around to the beat. Talia nodded, amazed herself. She was more of a jazz lounge kind of girl, and yet here she was again, at a club, skimpily dressed again, hoping to get Rafael DeLuca out of her mind, again. What was wrong with her? He was just a man, and yet he had her doing things she normally wouldn’t, like having an orgasm on the boss’ office floor. Talia ran her hand down the single braid of her hair. She needed to figure her life out. She needed to get a grip on reality and her sanity. Nothing good could come of it. “Instead of getting an ulcer over it, why don’t you just get it over with?!” “Get what over with?” She rolled her eyes. “Don’t act stupid. You know what I mean. Sleep with him.” Talia glared at her friend, wondering again, how they became and remained friends for so long. Carrie was way too liberal when it came to sex and Talia was not. She still believed in the one a
The banging on the door woke her. At first she thought the banging was the headache thanks to the several shots Carrie had shoved down her throat, but then she began to come fully awake and her mind shifted to the thoughts of someone trying to break into her house. That was until she heard a familiar accented voice call her name. Confused, Talia dragged herself out of bed and shuffled her heavy feet to her bedroom door. She opened it only to flinch at the loud banging that shook her door with such force, one would think there was a bulldozer on the other side. Thinking of her neighbors, especially the old lady down the hall that complained about every little thing — it was amazing she wasn’t already outside yelling about the noise — Talia ran the short distance of her open space living room and kitchen, between the two doors and yanked it open.“What is your problem?” she yelled at the intruder a decimal above a whisper.It took her a moment to realize who the six feet plus wide frame
Rafe grabbed the back of her head and brought her lips to his, devouring them like a man starved. Of what? He couldn’t explain, but there was something about her that made the animal in him want to claim her. All of her. The thing inside him that had been restless for months, wanting to claw out of his body but remaining stuck inside, it wanted her. Like a drug that calmed the storm inside him, he couldn’t be without her, he needed her. Just remembering how that bastard had his hands all over her made him so crazy, as he held her lips hostage with his, he let his hands run over her, replacing the touch of that asshole with his.Talia broke away from him, gasping for air. “Wait, I can’t breathe. This is way too intense!”Intense? She didn’t know half of it. Her flushed face and displaced large and loose shirt that didn’t hide the tight pebbles that her nipples had become only made it worse. He was so hard, his pants felt so tigh
Rafe walked into his home feeling very pleased with himself. His revenge was finally complete, and soon the Rossi and DeLuca names would be nothing. They would disappear like an unfounded rumor. And then he’d rebuild the DeLuca name clean of all his father’s evil. He patted Angelo on the back. “Come cugino, let’s celebrate!” Angelo shook his head. “Rafe, there is nothing to celebrate—” Rafe raised his hand and cut him off as he walked towards the bar sitting at the far end of the living room. “Not now, Angelo. You can be my conscious tomorrow morning after I’ve drunk my scotch, kissed my sons, and made passionate love to my wife.” “I can see the first two happening, but I’m not sure about the last.” Rafe turned to his wife’s voice with a smile. She looked lovely leaning against the doorway with a radiant smile on her face. He couldn’t believe the same woman had almost died two months ago. How am I so lucky? He beckoned her with two fingers and she strutted towards him. When she
Talia felt sorry for her. The woman was caught between her husband’s crime and her son’s revenge. She hadn’t deluded herself as to think Rafe would let it go just because she’d asked him to. She knew he was up to something, just not something so extreme. But it shouldn’t shock her. When he thought she’d cheated on him with Renaldo and Alex, he’d left her destitute. He’d taken everything except the house which she’d just finished paying off with half of her savings.She knew Rafe’s wrath when he was wronged, all too well. She didn’t envy them.“Why is Gabriella here?”“Alex is my brother,” she responded with a maliciously satisfied look on her face.Talia took a deep breath to calm her. She still had nightmares about him. She could hear his voice, as he taunted her, promising to do disgusting things to her. Each time, she woke up with Rafe rocking her in his arms, and
Months later…Talia waited until they were a few feet away from the nursery before she spoke. “You know you don’t have to come back to Boston with me.”Carrie pouted. “How can I not? You’re my best friend, and I love you.”“But you love him too.”She nodded with a heavy sigh.Who would have thought Carrie and Angelo would fall for each other? They were complete opposites with nothing in common. He was always serious, and Carrie was only serious at work, the rest of the time Talia always wondered if she was auditioning for court jester.But their friends with benefits relationship that had begun when she was in a coma, knowing Carrie maybe before—Carrie had always used sex to forget situations that scared her, ever since her parents’ died in a car accident—had blossomed into a serious relationship. They were genuinely happy together. And that was to end just bec
“Come on, wake up already!”Talia attempted to move her head away from the incessant chanting in her ear. What the hell did Carrie want?She tried to open her eyes, but they felt so heavy. She struggled until she finally got them to obey and quickly closed them again when she saw Carrie’s happy face looming above her.“Here, open your mouth and drink.”Talia didn’t argue. She felt like she had cotton stuffed in her mouth and down her throat. The cool liquid felt heavenly as she swallowed her first sip.She opened her eyes again and looked at Carrie’s smiling face. “I’m having a nightmare,” she whispered hoarsely.Carrie snorted. “No, we’ve been having a nightmare. It’s about damn time you woke up, you selfish bitch!”Talia’s mouth fell open. “What did I do?”“You were in a coma for a month, that’s what you
“This is a bad idea, Rafe. Think about what you are about to do,” Angelo repeated as he pulled into the driveway of the DeLuca mansion. “You’re not in the right state of mind.”Rafe fisted his hands, pressing them to his thighs to keep from reaching for his cousin and ripping his tongue out. He’d been repeating those words like a broken record since the moment Rafe woke up and blurted out his intention. When he wouldn’t relent and had demanded for his car keys, Angelo finally gave in, offering to drive him to his destination. Though his rage was burning strong and growing with every second, his body was still weak from shock.Never in his life had Rafe ever blacked out, besides that one time he had a panic attack over a year ago. The fear of losing Talia was so strong, it had robbed him of all his senses. It was like his mind and body agreed to shut down and hide because he couldn’t handle the thought of Talia dying.
Rafe stumbled into the ward and found Carrie pacing the floor. Her face was wet with tears, and his heart jerked.Please, God, let them be alright!“Carrie, where is she?” he rasped.Carrie looked at him for a long while before she spoke. “You need to convince her to let them do it! You just have to!” she cried, fresh tears rolling down her stricken face.Rafe took a breath to calm himself before he grasped Carrie’s shoulders. “Convince her to do what?”“Signore DeLuca?”Rafe looked up at the doctor who stood behind Carrie. He swallowed the fear and nodded.“How is she?” he asked, a tremor in his voice.The doctor sighed visibly with relief before he moved closer. “Her blood pressure is climbing dangerously high, and she refuses to let us deliver the babies.”For a second, Rafe had held the hope that that look of relief
“Say that again, he did what?” Carrie’s eyes bugged out of their sockets, ready to fall into her lap. Talia understood her reaction, she was still in shock.“Besides falling asleep in my bed and leaving me with no choice but to sleep next to him? He woke up this morning and went about his business like everything was normal and nothing had happened between us.”She pointed to the island that separated the kitchen from the living room, “He sat across from me, had his breakfast, asked about my plans for the day. Then he reminded me to stay off my feet as much as possible and then left saying ‘see you in the evening’ and if I wanted him to bring something for dinner!”Carrie blinked shaking her head. “Take a breath.”Talia did as instructed, feeling some of the anxiety leave her. She felt like she was in the twilight zone. There was this anxious fear at the familiarity of the wh
After a few seconds of silence, she decided to just ask again instead of just wondering, “What are you doing here Rafe?”His eyes opened then. After a beat or two he said, “it’s my home.”“Not for the time being it’s not. And I thought this was just one of your properties, don’t you live with your family?”He snorted, then sipped at the mug.This was one thing Talia always found unnerving when they worked together and even more when they dated. He didn’t talk much, only when he felt like he needed to. The rest of the time, it was as if they were to read his silence and understand what he wanted. It frustrated her at work but also posed a challenge. She wanted to be the indispensable employee who could decipher the boss’ silence and deliver results that he wanted. He was demanding, strict with high expectations but fair. That was why she fell for him, a character from her favorite romance no
Cool it hormones. Pregnancy had her emotions on overdrive, including—a recent development—her libido.What was he still doing here? She turned and her eye caught his belt, it lay on the far end of the couch with his suit jacket socks and watch. He’d gotten comfortable, which meant he’d had no intention of going anywhere after he’d tucked her into bed. The alcohol made sure of it. But, he just lived a short elevator ride down, surely he would have been able to make it?“What are you doing here Rafe?”He raised—no, he pulled up one arm, judging by how heavy it looked as he raised it—and pointed to the ceiling, with one finger, his hand bobbing as his wrist struggled to hold it up.“Carrie moved in,” he said with a slight slur.She sighed, exasperated, “Yes, I know. She’s in the spare bedroom.”Talia didn’t like dealing with drunks, no matte