Ti Amo (Battaglia Mafia Series) Read online

  In the room he found his daughter asleep. He smiled down at her. When did they create a baby? Was it the first night in Bellagio or the last night they made love in Sorrento? Whenever it happened it was evident that their daughter possessed all of the good they shared during their short time together. Now it seemed that they disagreed on the very nature and meaning of love. And that was his fault.

  The shower stopped.

  His gaze shifted to the door. Mira probably thought the worst of him. He owed her some kind of explanation. When he went to the door and opened it a haze of warm steamy damp air drew him in. The rich creamy vanilla soap mixed with a hint of lavender she’d brought with her to bathe with overwhelmed him. Mira had a thick white towel patting her skin dry. Deep in thought she barely noticed him, but when her eyes lifted to his, their gazes locked. She didn’t cover her nudity from him. Instead the look of frustration in her eyes from his sudden appearance expressed how Giovanni felt. One look at her and the beast in him didn’t want to talk it over. He wanted to fuck her, claim her, and recapture all of what he’d lost the day she disappeared from his life.

  “What now? I’m tired, Giovanni. I’m not arguing with you anymore.”

  “I want to talk.”

  “Too bad. I don’t!” She wrapped the towel around her curves and his chest tightened with disappointment. Did she not know how absolutely ravishing she was to him now? The steam had frizzed her hair making it thicker, untamed with wild curls.

  “I understand. I only want you to listen.”

  Mira crossed her arms and glared at him. Giovanni exhaled a deep breath. He shook his head smiling. “There’s so little that scares me, Bella. This? Us? I’m out my head.”

  When she didn’t respond he tried again. “I lied to you about your boutique. I had it closed twice. I manipulated you because, I don’t know, it’s what I do. What I’m saying is I fucked up, and I have not forgiven myself for it since.”

  He closed the door.

  The hurt look in her lovely eyes made him feel like shit. He was doing and saying all the wrong things.

  “Fabiana—.”

  “I don’t want to talk about Fabiana.” She stopped him. “I heard your apology, just go please. I’d like to finish getting ready for bed.” She turned away from him to reach for her nightgown. He seized her in a gentle manner. His hands on her arms, his forehead pressed to the back of her skull. She didn’t resist his touch and he was grateful. “You were right. I was never harmless. I was your nightmare. Have I ruined everything between us? Is it too late?”

  “I didn’t mean what I said. You push too hard, Giovanni.” Her voice broke with emotion. She turned to him. She captured his face. “If you would stop trying to prove to me how tough you are and just talk to me, we could learn to understand each other. Talk to me. Help me understand.”

  “I am a monster.”

  “Don’t say that,” she kissed his lips, his face was cradled in her hands. The tenderness from her made him greedy for control. He struggled between indulging and pushing her away.

  “I’m sorry,” Giovanni said. “Losing you hurt so fucking bad Bella. I couldn’t handle it. I just didn’t know loving you would be painful. I wasn’t prepared. Nothing my father, Flavio, nothing they taught me prepared for coping with what… what we lost. I’ve done things…”

  “Giovanni, stop.”

  He opened his eyes and looked into hers. She was real. Standing before him with forgiveness in her eyes was the woman who haunted him for two years. Could the nightmare finally be coming to an end?

  “What are we going to do? We really don’t know each other. So much has happened,” she said her voice quivering. “It hurt me too. Really bad. It still does,” she said and tears dropped from her eyes. “How do we start over?”

  Her hands slowly lowered from his face and went down his chest. He stared down into her lovely face drowning emotionally in the beautiful swirls of her eyes. He had lost himself more than once when looking into her eyes. He brushed his knuckles across the side of her face. She seemed to enjoy his touch. Her features softened with a renewed glow of love. Damn. If he lost her again it would kill him. To take her back into his heart was a serious matter. She’d never be free of him again. Should he warn her? What would it cost him if he did? What would it cost her if he didn’t? “Do you know what ti amo means Bella?”

  “I love you.”

  “Sí. I love you so much I’ll do anything to make myself worthy. I love you so much that I will never let you go again. Do you hear me? Never.”

  She blinked as if she understood. He knew she couldn’t possibly conceive the meaning of his words. But her willingness to learn lessened his fear. “Now you tell me Bella, what will it take to have you love me again?” His voice faded when he felt her hands land on his sides. Every muscle in his abdomen tensed thanks to her gentle touch. She stepped toward him instead of away.

  “I swear I never cried as much as I did for you cara.”

  “I cried too,” she said.

  “Mirabella such a beautiful name for my donna,” he whispered. “Ti amo cara. I want to make things right for us. Say you love me too.”

  She pressed her warm damp body closer to his. “Ti amo,” she said softly to him.

  Her forgiveness freed him. She lifted her arms to circle his neck and he positioned her smaller, feminine body up against the bathroom door. She stood on her toes to kiss him. Giovanni unbuckled his belt and ease down his zipper. His mouth covered hers and he devoured her with a deep kiss. Once freed he had to bend his knees a bit to thrust his cock into her tight channel. She breathed deeply. Giovanni continued to thrust with his knees flexed, and drove himself in and out of her silky walls. He loved the way her body responded. Constricting around his shaft as he gritted his teeth trying to withstand the bolts of pleasure shooting up his cock and shocking his spine.

  A sweet cry of submission escaped her mouth. Her lips were swollen from his ravishment, her face twisted in pleasure. She hooked her leg around his waist and the tip of her tongue slowly ran over her top lip. Giovanni withdrew the head of his cock then thrust forward repeating the action by working his hips from side to side. He tried desperately to hold back the climax that had build like a tornado in his gut. Damn if she wasn’t too in control. While pinned to the wall with him pumping his length in and out of her she moved her body sweetly. Her nipples did lovely swirls against his chest.

  “Faster! Harder! Do me, baby,” she demanded, her nails went down his back.

  He sucked her neck hard, licking and pulling the sweet skin between his teeth. She moaned another cry of submission as he pumped his cock up into her with rapid, quick succession. His breathing was harsh against her ear and his pace more demanding than their love deserved. But he had waited so long to feel the warmth between a woman’s thighs again.

  He gripped under her ass. He heaved her up the wall and resumed full control. Instructing the way she rose and fell on his thickness by the tight hold to her hip. She held to his shoulders, her eyes closed, her sweet lips parted a fraction. Liquid heat poured over him, every muscle in his body felt aflame as he pushed down his climax once more. He wasn’t ready. Fuck no. He had just begun. Like a man possessed he thrust into her harder and faster. He could feel the melting heat and tremors through her pussy and knew she was coming apart for him. It would be the first orgasm of many he’d give her tonight. So he unleashed as well…

  Giovanni lay on the sofa in a t-shirt and black boxer briefs. He had a thick wool blanket thrown over him. His face was covered in a sheen of sweat and the erection in his boxers pained him so much he was rubbing his dick while only half awake. He sat up and looked around. For a moment he blinked, confused. The last rush of thoughts going through his head were those of making love to his woman. It was like a shockwave. It was nothing more than another fucking dream! He glanced to the empty bottle of wine he had placed on the coffee table. Reality cleared the fog covering his memory. He’d gone upstairs to locate a blanket. He
must have crashed on the sofa. Which meant she was beyond that closed door still pissed with him. Another dream. One of those miserable fucking dreams he’s had for two years, while mourning her. He hadn’t confessed how scared he was of losing her, or how guilty he felt for her suffering because of him. No, he had pushed her away as he’d done everyone else in his life.

  Sitting upright he put his face in his hands and sobered. Dominic warned him he’d disappear if he didn’t try to find something to live for. Well he had a reason. She was back in his life. Why his heart couldn’t or wouldn’t trust her return was beyond him. All he knew was that he needed her desperately.

  He wished he’d seen her pregnant with Eve. He would have loved to be the first to hold his daughter and peer down into her face when she opened her eyes for the first time. Sighing he closed his and let go of his disappointments, vowing to make new firsts with her. After a long insufferable hour of sitting next to the dimming fire he rose from the sofa and headed to the bedroom. The door was partly open and he pushed it wider gently. They slept on their sides. Eve’s face was buried in her breasts, a place he wished he was.

  Going to the bed he pulled back the covers and sidled up beside Mira. He laid his head on the pillow and pushed his face into her hair inhaling the soft clean smell of her. Running his hand up and down her hip he pushed his desire up against her lower curves. Mira opened her eyes sleepily confused by the contact. She looked back over her shoulder, and he seized her mouth with his. She kissed him back as he slid his hand under her nightshirt to her center. Stopping the kiss she grabbed his hand. “Don’t,” she said softly. “Eve.”

  She turned over and faced him. He touched her face. “I have not forgotten how special you are to me. I want to earn your forgiveness. Give me the chance.”

  “You’ve been pretty shitty to me.” She whispered back. “I don’t want to trust you, Giovanni, only to be hurt again.”

  “Shhh, you won’t. I will prove myself to you. For our daughter. I swear to you it’ll be different this time. I swear it. Blame me Bella. I can take it. Just promise me you won’t leave, ever again.”

  She closed her eyes. He kissed her lids and rubbed his nose over hers. Her arm went around his waist, and her body became flush up against his. He cupped her ass and squeezed. “Ti amo.”

  “I love you too. I’ve been so lonely for you. I missed you,” she whispered back.

  In the darkness of the room with their daughter sleeping beside them Giovanni told her everything. The night he learned she died, the way he closed himself off to people. How often he prayed for her soul and his. She listened, kissed his lips, and stroked his jaw. She pressed her sweet body up against him and told him her secrets. How she often cried after she left him. How painting was the only freedom she had. And she shocked him when she shared that she left breadcrumbs for him. She thought herself weak for wishing to return to him, but now she believed differently. They shared a soul tie with Eve and she never wanted to sever that bond. She’d been waiting for him. Only him.

  Listening to her truths released him. And eventually he found peace in her arms and slept.

  Chapter Five

  One, two, three, taps against his cheek. Giovanni blinked several times before opening his eyes. A new day shone brightly through the bedroom window with his disheveled hair in his eyes he focused on the tiny pair of blue eyes peering into his. Eve swung her hand and smacked him lightly against the nose and mouth.

  Giovanni laughed at his little girl’s eager welcoming. “Good morning, cara.” He gently took her wrist and pressed her chubby hand to his mouth to kiss her open palm.

  Eve pulled her wrist free. She reached to touch the beard covering his jaw. She rubbed the spry hairs between her fingers. Giovanni moved his face closer to hers so their foreheads bumped. She smelled of fresh baby sweetness. Apparently he had come too close. Eve pushed his face away sitting up. Sucking on her pacifier she scanned the room curiously. This would be the most wonderful way to wake up. He’d make sure his baby girl’s crib was placed in the room with him and Mira so he could see her sweet face every morning. “You looking for Ma-ma?”

  Quick, her head shot around on her small shoulders at the mention of her mother. He wondered if she would talk more if she didn’t constantly have the little plug in her mouth. He reached to remove it, but found his daughter was a mind reader too. She ducked and then suddenly backed away. Before she could scoot off the bed, Giovanni reached for her and pulled her back to him.

  “Come to Papa.” He sat her on his chest. The questioning look in her eyes made her appear to struggle with whether the new man in their lives was friend or foe. Giovanni knew it would take time for her to bond with him and see him as her true father. He removed her pacifier and she frowned at him. Her gaze dropped to the bumblebee plug in his hand then rose to meet his. She spoke in her baby voice. The words she formed were melodic and incomprehensible. Giovanni chuckled. “She speaks?”

  Eve didn’t see the humor in the situation. In fact she narrowed her jeweled eyes on him just before she snatched her pacifier from his hand and popped it back into her mouth. She had now lost interest in the game and scooted back to climb off his chest. Giovanni caught her again enjoying her stubborn determination; he sat her on his chest keeping her still. “My little belladonna, Papa’s going to call you lucciola. Do you know what that means?” He reached up and smoothed her soft brown locks of hair backward. “Lucciola means firefly. That’s what you are my little firefly. Buzz! Buzz!” he tickled her side. Eve squealed with laughter.

  Mira entered the room with a baby diaper in her hand. She wore a white t-shirt. He noticed the points of her thick erect nipples pressing through the cotton, and her shapely hips and ass escaped the cover of the nightshirt she’d chosen. He was glad he hadn’t seen all of this when he crept under the covers with her. It would have been impossible to control himself. Especially considering the dream he’d had of her just minutes before.

  “Morning you two. Buon giorno, Mama’s baby.” Mira smiled at Eve.

  “Unh!” Eve stretched both arms, pleading with her mother to free her from captivity. He had to release her. Mira laid her flat and began to peel back the sticky tape on both sides of the diaper. Giovanni sat up to watch.

  “Somebody’s a little ripe, isn’t she?” Mira chuckled. She glanced over to Giovanni. “I’ll give her a bath later. But you’ll need to send someone out for food. There’s nothing here but wine.” She returned her attention to her daughter. “Lucky for him I packed your cereal and juice, huh baby? Or else daddy would have to get breakfast pronto!”

  Giovanni smiled. In minutes Mira was done. He again reached for Eve. He couldn’t keep his hands off her. He never cared for kids or babies, though many were placed in his arms. He was the godfather to over two dozen children in both Italy and Sicily. Never once did he bond with the child he held. But Eve was different. He couldn’t be more in love with her. She came to him willingly. Mira rolled the diaper into a tight ball and then dropped it in the wastebasket. She climbed in bed. Eve lay between them both.

  “What is this about fireflies?” Mira asked.

  “Lucciola lucciola, gialla gialla… metti la briglia alla cavalla… che la vuole il figlio del re… lucciola lucciola vieni con me,” he sang. Eve clapped. She sat up to bob her head at the sound of her father’s melodic voice. Giovanni turned on his side and sang the nursery rhyme again, shaking her thigh. When it was over he kissed Eve’s arm.

  “How sweet. I love to hear you sing,” Mira grinned at him. Damn if her smile wasn’t brighter than the sun. She made him feel so warm and loved with that smile he faltered in his singing. Either she didn’t know or understand the power she held over him. She fell back on the pillow and tucked their daughter in under the covers. “Where did you learn the song?”

  “My father would sing a lullaby to me when I was a little boy. Reminds me of Eve. You speak Italian now, why don’t you translate it for Eve,” he said with a raised brow. He had noticed Mira�
�s comfort around the language.

  “I do speak a little. I’m not that great. But I learned.”

  “For me?” Giovanni asked.

  “For Eve,” Mira winked. “I wanted her to know Italian and English. Look at her, she’s the best of both worlds isn’t she?”

  “Yes she is. Grazie, for a such a special gift Bella.” Giovanni smiled.

  “I’ll translate. Eve, look at me baby.” Her daughter’s head turned and she blinked up at her mother. “Papa said, firefly, firefly, yellow and bright… bridle the filly under your light… the son of the king is ready to ride… firefly, firefly, fly by his side.”

  “Would my girls like me to tell you the story of the firefly that goes with the lullaby?”

  Mira chuckled and sat up against the headboard. She brought Eve in her lap and cradled her against her breast so she could face Giovanni. Her daughter refused to be held like an infant. She broke free of her arms and crawled over to the center of the bed and plopped down clapping her hands, bobbing her head.

  “Looks like you have a fan of your singing. You want daddy to tell us a story baby? Go ahead. We can’t wait to hear it.”

  He cleared his throat. “When I was a little boy my Papa would take me into Tuscany whenever he had overnight business. He always made it an adventure. On summer nights we would go to Lake Garda and fish long before the sun was set to rise. I can remember sitting in the boat with him and my Uncle Rocco on the lake with the forest surrounding us. I was terrified of the swarming lights buzzing everywhere.”