Willow smiled, and I watched true relief wash over her. I felt like such an idiot. All I had to do was make her feel loved. She didn’t want this life, and I didn’t want it for her, but knowing that it was something I had to do versus something I wanted to do made her feel differently. It was eye-opening.
Our food finally came, and the rest of the date was like something out of a romance movie. We’d taken a sledgehammer to the cement wall that circumstance had built between us, and it was like we were us again. We talked about everything we could imagine. We remembered old dates, talked about where our friends from high school were now, and I even got to gush about my Anna and Antonio. I took out pictures and showed her, and she cooed at how much they looked like Luca. I talked about Molly and how she made Luca into a better man, and I talked about Gabriel and how he was struggling with the business and probably needed to get out more than I did. Willow took everything in stride, listening to me the way she did when we were dating in high school, being there for me with each passing second.
She told me all about her house in L.A., and we joked about what it would be like for me to
live there with her, how her neighbors would probably hate us, and we’d need to move sooner rather than later to enjoy some privacy. I wished for it so badly. If I had a genie and could wish for three things, I would wish for that three times, and I told her so.
After dinner, I took her to walk along a river closeby. She always loved being outside in the fresh air. She wasn’t a camper, but every time any of our dates ended with us sitting outside, snuggled together under a blanket, looking up at the night sky, that was when she was happiest. I didn’t want the date to end, and if the look of disappointment on Willow’s face when I suggested I get her home was any indicator, she didn’t want it to, either.
I kissed the back of her hand before helping her into the car, and she responded by pulling herself up to kiss me.
“Let’s go home,” she said, and the phrase covered me like a warm, heated blanket.
“Yeah,” I replied. “Let’s.”
13
Willow
Disappointment was already hanging all around me as the car turned onto my mother’s property. I didn’t expect our date to go the way that it did. Alessandro was honest and open with me, and hearing that he wanted out of the life the same way I wanted him out gave me hope that maybe, someday, things would work out. If he could manage an escape from under his brother and this crushing pressure he felt to be loyal to his family, he could move to L.A., and we could be together.
Imagining it made me want it even more.
“What are you thinking about?” Alessandro asked, pushing a few locks of my hair back behind my ear.
“You,” I replied honestly, and we left it at that.
The car pulled to a stop, and the chauffeur got out, coming around to let me out of the car. Alessandro slid out after me, and we walked up to the door. I turned around, prepared to say something, but Alessandro cut me off with a kiss. His arms coiled around me and pulled me close, and my arms pulled at his waist, trying to get him even closer. Maybe if I pulled hard enough, we’d never have to part ways again.
“Thank you for tonight,” he said.
I chuckled. “I should be the one thanking you. This was amazing.”
He kissed me again on my cheek. “Good night, Willow.”
He turned around to start making his way down the stairs, and I was shocked. “Wait. What?”
He looked back at me. “What?”
I crossed my arms. “That’s it? A goodnight kiss?”
He turned around and walked back up the stairs to me. “Did you have something else in mind?”
I grabbed the edges of his suit coat and dragged him down to me, smashing our lips together. He let out a surprised huff but didn’t pull away, greeting me when I poked my tongue out to mingle with his. When I finally let go, we were both clamoring for breath.
“Got it,” he said. He waved his hand at the driver while I opened the door and dragged him inside.
We fumbled our way toward the stairs with his hands tangling into my hair, while I was already at work getting his suit jacket off. The stairs seemed like too sizable an obstacle. I didn’t want that much standing between me and getting Alessandro naked. I dropped his suit jacket to the floor and started to step backward toward the living room. As we crossed the threshold, I swung my hand out and smacked the switch, starting the fireplace. Alessandro’s hands were roaming all over my body. He grunted in irritation at the presence of my clothes. He dipped his head and licked a line up my chest and over my chin to slip his tongue back between my lips as his fingers flipped the buttons of my jacket apart. His eyes bulged when he saw I had on only a black, strapless bra underneath.
“Beautiful,” he murmured.
He smoothed his fingers over my skin, over my bra, and down to the front clasp. He flicked it open with ease, making me question for a moment if he truly hadn’t been with anyone else, but I didn’t want to consider the thought. I pushed the thoughts from my mind and sank into the feeling of Alessandro caressing my ass. He smacked it gently, and I let out a quiet breath. I dropped down to sit on the floor, and Alessandro followed, folding into me as we kissed again. We intermingled ourselves with one another in every way we could.
I worked slowly for the next ten minutes to get Alessandro out of every article of clothing he had on. He was sexy, that couldn’t be denied. His upper body was covered in tattoos, on his arms, chest, and stomach, and he had chiseled, hard, worked-on muscles that would put a bodybuilder to shame. Below the waist, he was well-endowed and already excited to be participating in the day’s festivities, and his thighs were cut and thick. He could be the model for a marble statue if he wanted to be. He was that kind of beautiful.
“Look all you want, baby,” he goaded, leaning back on his hands and giving me the full view.
I took my bottom lip beneath my teeth. “That’s good stuff.”