CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Matteo glanced over at his brother Giovanni who was clearly distracted. Throughout the entire meet up he was fiddling with his phone and looking frustrated. This was totally unlike him; Giovanni was always focused on work no matter what personal situations were going on at the time. Today on the other hand something was visibly bothering him.

"Giovanni" Matteo called out in an attempt to bring him back to the situation at hand. "I said we found one of the guys from the card game". Giovanni nodded "ok good, so what's the plan?"

"We're going to send two of our guys on the streets. We've been watching him closely and he doesn't oppose a physical threat".

"Sounds good guys, I'll let papa know about this progress".

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When Emilia walked into her apartment after work she noticed Rosalia had immersed herself in cleaning. Everything was in order and squeaky clean, to the point where Emilia became immediately suspicious. Rosalia was a very clean person when it came to their apartment but this was overboard. She knew something had been bothering her all day. "Rosa..." Her voice trailed off as she shut the door. "Oh hey" Rosalia greeted her without looking up; she continued vacuuming the rug which was clearly clean. "Ok what happened?

"Emilia I can't-"

"So something did happen?" Emilia immediately walked over to the wall socket which the vacuum was plugged into and pulled it out making the vacuum cease to a complete stop. "He touched you didn't he?" Rosalia dropped the vacuum and moved onto the kitchen still avoiding her best friend's gaze. "Rosalia, answer me! Do I need to go find him? I knew I should have told him not to come here". Rosalia finally stopped and looked at her friend; she let out a sigh and finally acknowledged her questions. "Yes you're right, he touched me. Before you say anything Rosalia, we didn't get very far because I stopped it"

"So why are you upset?" Emilia was the only one who knew what Rosalia had been through, she was the one who had consoled and helped her through some tougher times in her life which is why she was now so protective of her. "I'm upset because I wanted to want it!"

"So you didn't want it?"

"No Emilia, I did! But I couldn't. Jesus I should be able to just let go by now right? I should be able to let someone touch me shouldn't I?" Emilia walked into the kitchen and took Rosalia by the hand pulling her close into an embrace. The moment Emilia felt her friend's closeness she let go and began to get slightly teary. "Hey it's ok. You're just confused; it's ok to be confused". Emilia wiped her tears and pulled away reaching for a glass of water and taking a sip to calm her nerves. "I haven't seen you like this in a long time Rosa, do you like him?"

"I don't know him to know if I like him"

"Well you're obviously physically attracted to him sweetie. Look, don't shut him out yet, ok?" Just as she finished her sentence Rosalia's cell phone vibrated on the kitchen counter top.

'We should talk'

It was from Giovanni. Before she had kicked him out of her apartment he had picked up her cell phone and called his own number forcing the number exchange between them.

"Oh God I bet he thinks I'm a total idiot" Rosalia claimed shaking her head. She had made a fool of herself in front of him multiple times now; she was not even sure why he was still trying to speak to her. Emilia smiled, "well this is good, go talk to him" she suggested grinning from ear to ear. Rosalia did not look so convinced. "I don't think so"

"Oh I do. Come on Rosa! If you think there could be something there you should pursue it. You can't keep shutting people out like this. You don't deserve to be alone for the rest of your life. Just chill out, don't put so much pressure on yourself and have some fun. Now text him back before I do". She picked up her phone and handed it to Rosalia with a smile encouraging her to contact him back.

'I'm sorry about this morning. How about we meet for a drink?'

Emilia smiled reading the text over Rosalia's shoulder. Immediately there was a reply.

'I think you've had enough to drink after last night don't you? How about dinner at my place? I will order us something'

Rosalia sighed, not comfortable at all with the thought of being in his house.

'Sure - but let's make it my place'

'I'll be there. 7pm'

Emilia clapped her hands happily then hugged Rosalia giving her a big kiss on the cheek. "That's my girl. Now I'm going to make plans with some friends so you guys can have some privacy!"

You could cut the tension in the room with a knife. He arrived later than agreed but this suited Rosalia as she was nervous as hell and needed the extra time to pull herself together. She was not normally like this. Rosalia was typically quite strong. She had a very hard exterior which intimidated other women especially. In front of Giovanni though, she was falling apart. She could feel herself becoming undone every time he was around her.

"Hope you like Chinese food" Rosalia stated when he walked in holding a box in hand. "Sure" he replied making his way to the set table and taking a seat. "There's a great Chinese place across the street, it's actually pretty good. Emilia and I always get it from there. I mean it's no delicious Italian food but we know how to make that ourselves so we rarely go out for Italian" she looked at the box; which was now on the table, while she poured him a glass of white wine. "What's that?" She asked curiously. "Just a little something for you, but on the way over here it got me thinking that you might think I'm a creep for giving this to you". He placed his hand over it and slid it across the table to her. With her eyes on him she opened the lid revealing a black 9mm beretta. "I thought because the cops took your gun..."

"Holy shit" her eyes widened, "you can't give me a gun!"

"This one is better than yours, and it has no serial numbers. It's not registered and if you're going to get a gun it should be an unregistered one, trust me".

"I can't accept this Gio. I don't even know how to use it"

"I know" he took a sip of his wine. "I'd like to show you. That is if I don't scare you off again tonight".

"You know Gio, normal people generally just ask people out on a date. Or say things like 'hey can I see you again tomorrow?' Not 'oh hey here's a beretta I stopped by and picked out for you, was wondering if I could teach you to shoot it sometime'. See where I'm going with this?" Giovanni smirked, feeling the irony in her animated expressions as she spoke. "I'm not like 'normal' people Rosalia" he responded quite sternly yet with a hint of playful sarcasm in his eyes.

The pair were able to finish their dinner in a civilized manner, although the entire time their questions and answers were quite overly pleasant, like they were tip-toeing around each other avoiding what they really wanted to talk about. "So are you from Sicily, Rosalia?" He asked as she shuffled around the kitchen quickly cleaning up all evidence of dinner. "Yes, how did you know that? I was born in Palermo"

"Your last name is very Sicilian, plus when you spoke Italian at the police station, you were raging like a Sicilian would" he winked making fun of her, earning a laugh. "Oh really? What about you Giovanni?"

"Napoli" he replied quickly, "brothers or sisters?" He nodded, "yes I have 2 brothers and a sister all younger than me". Rosalia made her way to the coffee machine turning it on and flicked her head around to teasingly face him as she responded. "So you're the old man of the family". Giovanni began to stalk towards her with his eyes locked on hers the entire time, "you just can't help yourself can you?" He forced her around so her lower back was now digging into the bench top as the coffee machine behind her completed its automatic rinse cycle. "You seem to love making fun of my age" he leaned closer into her holding her wrists side by side on the bench making sure he held her securely. "Yet you weren't complaining this morning when we..."

His voice trailed off staring down at her catching a glimpse of her cleavage from this angle right above her - he was taller than her and over powered Rosalia with his domineering stature. Slowly he let go of her wrists and trailed his hands up the curves of her body all the way keeping his dark eyes locked in on her big blue eyes. They were filled with lust and uncertainty. When his left hand cupped her face and his right trailed across her jaw with the pad of his thumb stroking against her pink lip her breath hitched. He broke contact with her eyes and leaned in to whisper in her ear seductively, "I'm not too old for you now am I?"

For a brief second Rosalia thought her legs would suddenly give way on her, she was not equipped to handle someone of this nature. Quickly she snapped herself back into reality and finally found the strength to lift her right hand and place it on his chest in an attempt to push him away. He was too close and this was going to get her into trouble. Giovanni was having none of it though. With one quick swift movement he picked her up forcing her onto the bench top and he was immediately between her legs, his lips came crashing onto hers and as he stroked her tongue with his, his hands cheekily grabbed her legs wrapping them around his own waist. He smiled when he let go and felt her reciprocate like he knew she would and she pulled him closer with her legs locked around him.

Giovanni's lips trailed down her jaw to her neck where he suckled her skin. He was nipping; licking and biting a spot which made her tilt her head back and respond by panting heavily throughout the entire assault. "That's right baby" he murmured teasingly into her skin. "Tell me you want me again". Rosalia's head was spinning; words could not escape her mouth. Every time she tried to mutter the words 'stop' nothing would come out but her constant panting.

"Gio..." She begged, "Hmm?" He barely responded making sure he was going to mark her like an immature teenager. "Please…”