Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 73953 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73953 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
She tugged on my tie and groaned. “Luca, I’m so horny right now. Don’t go… Not yet. I need more time with you.”
I grabbed her shoulder and pushed her onto the mattress. She smiled up at me as I shoved her skirt up to her thighs, revealing her lacy panties.
“Spread your legs wider, my queen.” She shivered as I slid my hand up her inner thigh. “I can make you come in the next five minutes.”
* * *
The following night, I found Alex in my mother’s studio. She sat on the floor, as she usually did, and dipped her brush into a golden paint. It was like she was allergic to painting in a chair. Most of the time, she lifted the canvas off the easel and laid it on a tarp.
Alex looked up from the canvas when I stopped in front of her. “Is something wrong?”
I shook my head. “Can’t a man stare at his wife without something being wrong?”
She twirled a paintbrush between her fingers and chuckled. “I thought you were finalizing the new wedding plans.”
I dropped to the floor beside her on one knee. “All done.” I extended my hand. “There’s something I want to show you.”
She wet her lips with her tongue, a seductive look in her eyes. “Yeah, that’s what you said last night before you held me captive.”
“This is different.” I winked. “A surprise.”
Alex placed her hand in mine, and I helped her up from the floor. “Do I get a hint?”
“Nope.”
I led her across the room, my hand on her lower back.
“You’re making me nervous,” she muttered.
“This is a good surprise, baby. You have nothing to worry about.”
We climbed the stairs to the fourth floor. Marcello and my father had rooms at opposite ends. I had saved one room for Alex a long time ago, waiting until the day she became my wife.
At the end of the hallway, I stopped in front of a set of double doors and handed Alex a skeleton key. This was an old house, built back in the early 1900s.
I dangled the gold key from a silky red string.
Alex’s eyes widened as she grabbed it. “What’s inside?”
I tipped my head toward the doors. “See for yourself.”
Apprehensive, she turned her back to me and shoved the key into the lock. I hit the light switch on the wall, and Alex gasped.
Her hand flew to her mouth. “Oh, my God, Luca.” She spoke between her fingers. “You did this for me?”
I guided her into the room by her hip. “Everything I do is for you. Don’t you know that by now?”
She angled her body to look at me. “I knew you bought the paintings from my first exhibit. But I made sure no one could ever buy my paintings anonymously. How did you get these?”
“Please, I have my ways. I made deals with art collectors to get the rest of your pieces.”
Her eyes darted around the expanse of the room. It was a replica of my mother’s studio with hardwood floors and the same domed ceiling. Except this one was free of my mother’s influence. This studio belonged to Alex. Every painting in the Many Faces of the Devil series hung on the walls, along with framed photos of Alex from every exhibit and all of her sketches.
“You can paint your own fresco.” I waved my hand around the room. “The walls and ceiling are your canvas.”
Her eyes watered as she looked at me. “I can’t believe you’ve kept this from me for all these years.”
“I was waiting for the perfect moment.”
She strolled across the room, shaking her head as she stared at the paintings from her final year at the Rhode Island School of Design. “I always knew you had something to do with the break-in at my apartment.” Alex frowned as she looked at me. “Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to replace those paintings last minute?”
“I didn’t break into your apartment,” I confessed. “But I had someone who works for me do it. Back then, I was a fucking lunatic.”
Alex laughed. “That hasn’t changed.”
I smirked at her comment. “I was angry with you. You wouldn’t answer my text messages, and then I found out you were dating another artist. I lost my fucking shit. But when I saw your paintings, I knew I couldn’t destroy them. So I had my employee steal them. He only made it look like he ruined your pieces.”
She wiped away her happy tears and sighed. “You are such a psycho, Luca.”
I inched toward her like a hunter sizing up his prey. “A psycho in love is more dangerous than a man in love. Remember that the next time you test me.”
“No kidding,” she quipped. “I wish I could say I’m surprised you went to such lengths to keep tabs on me. But I always knew you were never far. I could always sense your presence, even when we were apart.”