Undressed By The Mafia God

Luca stretched when he stepped out of the shower, rolling his shoulders until the tightness in his muscles loosened.

The hot water had helped. Happiness had been good that afternoon. He stepped into the bedroom with a towel hanging low on his hips.

Veronica sat at her vanity, working through her night beauty routine. Bottles, jars, serums, and creams were arranged before her in careful order. Luca had no idea what most of them did. He only knew they were expensive, and apparently required more steps than cleaning a gun. She saw him through the mirror.

Her eyes travelled over him slowly, from his wet hair to the hard lines of his chest, down over the towel riding dangerously low. "Show-off," she spat, returning to the jar in front of her.

Luca gave the smug smile that had annoyed this particular woman into marriage. He strolled to her and bent behind her chair, placing a kiss on the side of her neck. "I like it when you look at me greedy," he murmured.

"Get out of here." Vee lifted one hand, threatening him with a scoop of cream on her finger. "Don’t distract me."

"You were distracted before I came over." He chuckled against her skin.

She swatted him with the cream-covered finger, smearing it across his chest.

Luca looked down at the mark, then calmly rubbed it into his skin. "Curious."

Vee glanced at him through the mirror. "What?"

"How much of this gets in my mouth?"

Her face went blank. "Why would you have it in your mouth? Are you a child?"

He placed both hands on either side of the vanity and leaned closer. "You apply it on your skin, and I like to lick your skin. Do you see where I am going with this?"

"There is a simple solution."

"What?"

"Stop licking me."

"Girl, I would rather get shot."

Veronica shook her head, but her smile betrayed her. "You are ridiculous."

He kissed the top of her head and straightened. He moved towards the closet. "It was nice today. The barbecue."

"It was."

"We should do it more often."

Veronica turned back to her vanity, applying something beneath her eyes with careful little taps. "We would if you weren’t working Marco to the bones."

"I am not working him to the bones."

Vee gave him a look through the mirror. "Valentina told me he has been spending both days and nights at Commisioned."

"He has responsibilities," Luca said even though working all through was Marco’s idea. He still decided to cover for the man, shoulder the blame. "Speaking of Marco," he added, "I would like him to return to Italy."

Vee stopped applying the cream.

Slowly, she turned on the stool to face him properly. "Why?"

Her brow lifted. "We all just got back. Its barely been two weeks."

"Yes."

"And you want to send him away again?"

Luca leaned against the closet door, arms folding over his chest. "I need him there."

"For what?"

The wrong answer would make her suspicious. The full truth would break her heart and he didn’t even have proof yet. The full truth was that he wanted Marco away from New York.

He would not say that to Veronica. He wasn’t sure if he could ever say that to her. She had suffered enough. He chose the answer closest to truth. "Yes, uhm..." he pushed away from the closet. "I want him to handle Elio’s training. You know, show him how stuff gets done at the wharf and with the other territories."

"Luca... that is going to take a long time," Vee said and added. "Val would have to go with him."

Luca pulled on a pair of shorts. It was a pointless exercise. They both knew it. The damned thing would be on the floor by the end of the night anyway because Veronica Genovese had a way of looking at him that made clothing feel like an error. "Something tells me Val would rather stay here with you...She loves you too much."

He did not want Marco in Italy merely for Elio. Elio was part of it, yes. His cousin needed training, and possibly a full psychological rewiring if he was going to stand anywhere near the famiglia’s chair.

"I’m so glad you and Val have worked your way back to where you once were," Vee said quietly. "Thank you for not holding her immaturity against her."

He straightened and crossed the room to stand before her, then took her hands and pulled her gently to her feet. She rose with her hand sliding against his chest.

"Anything for family, Bambola," he said.

That was the problem. Once Luca accepted someone into his circle, the walls closed behind them. He protected them, punished for them, killed for them. Forgiveness did not come naturally to him, but loyalty did.

Vee smiled up at him. "You’re such a good man."

Luca lowered his head and kissed her. Vee kissed him back, fingers curling against his jaw.

Then Luca pulled back with a wicked tilt of his mouth. "Is that why I haven’t gotten a thank you for saving you the stress of worrying about a nursery? Because I am naturally a good man?"

"Oh," she said slowly, "you want a thank you, uhn?" Her eyes glinted with mischief.

"It is the least you could do," he said.

"I’ll get you your thank you." She lunged for him with a laugh, her fingers aiming for his ribs. Luca caught the movement too late because he had been too busy enjoying the sight of her happy. She tried to tickle him.

But the moment she twisted, pain flashed across her face. She winced and pulled back sharply.

"Fuck!" Luca caught her hand at once.

The humour left his body so fast it might as well have been shot. He held her now bandaged hand carefully, his thumb hovering as if touching the wrong place might hurt her more. His eyes moved over her wrist, her fingers, her face, searching for damage.

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