LUCA

The simple statement cracked my chest wide open. She was willing to gift me her trust, despite my fuck ups so far, but I planned to repay it.

"Good. Relax. Let everything fade away until there's only sensation. Nothing but you and me."

Turning her palms up, I traced a pattern down her arm, my touch barely a ghost against the inner flesh. Her sharp intake of breath was my reward. Brushing the soft skin at the crease of her elbow earned me a hitched gasp. Note taken.

When I reached her wrist, the sultry moan that spilt from her lips had my cock jerk in response.

Fuck. I needed to hear that sound again. And again.

"You like that?" I stroked the sensitive skin again, entranced by the flush rising in her cheeks. Her candid reactions drove every fibre of my body wild.

"Y-yes."

"Good girl." The praise rumbled from deep in my chest, raw and gravelly.

The answering shudder filled me with satisfaction. She was so responsive, desperate for the blissful escape only I could grant her.

A whimper caught in her throat as I continued my exploration. The side of her neck, the hollow behind her ear, the edge of her collarbone—I paid particular attention to the spots that made her gasp and squirm.

With each sigh and breathy pant, my dick grew harder, straining against my trousers. But I focused solely on stoking her desire.

When my fingertip grazed her throat, her breath hitched. Unable to resist, I leaned in, my mouth hovering above hers. Our mingled breaths came faster, and her lips parted in anticipation.

"Please." Her plea was no more than a puff against my mouth.

It was torture. Sweet, delicious torture. The temptation to claim her lips was almost impossible to resist, yet this was not the moment. My only aim was to light her body with nothing but new sensations.

At the last second, I pulled back, denying us both. Instead, I tipped her head back to expose the slender column of her neck.

Just a taste.

My teeth grazed her throbbing pulse, drawing a strangled gasp from her. Tremors rippled through her body, and her back swayed in a delicate arch as I nipped and sucked my way to the spot behind her ear. Her legs shifted, seeking a friction point, and I pulled back.

"Time for restraints," I rasped. "Are you comfortable with me removing your jeans?"

"Yes." The word was barely a breath.

She melted into my arms when I scooped her up, her head nestling against my chest. The bed dipped as I laid her on the charcoal sheets. Lifting her arms above her head, I secured the padded cuffs around her wrists. "Does this feel okay? Remember, you're in control."

"Green." Her answer was immediate while she tested the restraints.

Good girl. So eager.

My fingers drifted to the button of her jeans, popping it open with deliberate slowness. Hips lifted in a wordless offering, and I dragged the denim down her endless legs, revealing inch after tempting inch of silken skin.

The polka-dotted cotton knickers shouldn't have been a turn-on, but fuck if the sight didn't make me harder.

Olivia had no bloody clue what she did to me, how wholly she consumed me until I was clinging to my sanity by a thread. My little doe worried about disappointing me, but here I was, awestruck by everything about her and the way she gave herself to me so completely.

This moment of unwrapping her trust was more precious than any other time I'd played with someone before. I was unravelling her, but somehow, she was unravelling me too.

Plucking a peacock feather from the table, I let the wispy barbs graze along her ankles, spiralling upward. Her stomach muscles tensed as she bowed off the bed, seeking more.

"Still with me?"

A fevered whimper was her only reply. She was drifting, lulled by endorphins and comfort, entering the mind space where there was only freedom and pleasure.

"Just feel, cara."

The complete surrender squeezed my heart. I moved to trace the exposed part of her collarbone and teased her covered breasts with the tip of the feather, drinking in her desperate whimpers. Having her so uninhibited, lost to bliss, was my ultimate aim tonight.

"Bellissima," I whispered, caressing her cheek, and she leaned into my touch, breathing ragged. "That's my good girl."

"More," she cried out, straining against the restraints when my finger drew slow patterns on her inner thigh. "Luca, please."

The broken rasp of my name from her lips made my blood surge. I would never tire of seeing her like this. Wanton. Needy. Utterly mine.

"Tell me what you need, little doe."

"Your hands." She rolled her hips, seeking contact. Demanding it. "I need you to touch me."

"Shh. I've got you."

Starting at her calves, I stroked up her legs. When I reached the crease of her thigh, I grasped her knees, spreading them wider to expose her damp underwear, her arousal dousing the thin cotton barrier. It took every shred of my control not to tear the scrap of fabric away and taste her.

"Look at you, you're soaked for me," I groaned. Cazzo, it was like reaching a long-awaited treasure, knowing you couldn't open it yet.

My fingers teased along the edge of her knickers, drawing lines around her navel, then dipped close to where she ached for more but never giving the direct contact she craved.

"I need—" she moaned, exposed and vulnerable, and it nearly undid me.

Lowering my head, I blew cool air against the soaked underwear, making her shiver and her stomach clench. Every inch of her thrummed with need.

Her hips bucked, seeking more. "P-p-please."

"Please what?" I teased another breath over her core, groaning as she lifted closer, chasing the sensation.

"Touch me."

How could I deny her when she begged so prettily? Relenting, I circled her covered clit with my thumb, her answering cry raw and primal. My touch was light, restricted by the material, but I applied just enough pressure for the friction to work her closer and closer.

"Luca." Fucking hell, I could never grow tired of hearing my name roll off her tongue.

Her moans pitched higher, her breaths shortened into gasps, and she tugged at the restraints as I stroked her through the fabric. She was so close.

"That's it, let go for me." Pressing my thumb to her clit, I rolled the throbbing bud in tight, merciless circles. "Come for me like a good girl."

A final breath on her core and an added feather-light touch along her inner thigh finally broke her. A sob tore from her as her hips bucked and her thighs clamped around my hand. I drew out every tremor with caresses until she went limp on the bed.

"Che perfezione," I breathed, unlocking the cuffs and removing her blindfold. "You were exquisite."

Gathering her pliant form into my arms, I tucked her against my chest, allowing her to float safely back to reality. She nuzzled into the crook of my neck with a drowsy hum, cotton sheets enveloping her as I tucked her under blankets.

"Rest now, cara. You did beautifully."

Her sleepy, satisfied smile lit me up inside as I stroked her hair, a purr rumbling through her. Olivia had stumbled into my life and turned everything on its head, but somehow, it felt right.

***

"Evening, Fratello." I kept my tone even despite the tension coiling through me, and it wasn't from my blue balls after the session with Olivia. "Working this late?"

Dante rubbed his temples, frustration creasing his features. "This casino contract. The new mayor's a pain in the arse."

Our father taught us the value of cultivating alliances within London's power circles from a young age. The Met Commissioner, politicians, bankers, and CEOs—legitimate collaborations on the surface, mutually beneficial arrangements beneath. We made influential friends, and they gained access to the vices we could provide.

"Cosying up to him might help. He'll figure out how to play the game soon enough." I glanced at the contract. "Want me to take a look?"

"Almost done. We'll review tomorrow." He closed the file with an assessing gaze. "Doubt you could focus properly after the last couple of days, anyway. Seems you've been rather preoccupied lately."

My chest puffed out with a steadying inhale. "Say what you have to say. Don't beat around the bush."

"Certo—let's recap then." His fingers drummed a beat against the crystal glass in his hand. "You caused a scene with the Donnellys over a waitress, then brought her back here last night and ignored my calls for the last twenty-four hours. Did I cover it all?"

When I didn't reply, he continued, "You tell me what the fuck is going on, Luca."

"Michael Donnelly put his hands on Olivia. I couldn't let that slide. What would you have done if you'd seen him do that to Giulia?"

With a whisky of my own, I sat across from him.

"Broken his skull. But Giu is our cousin. Family. This girl...she is nobody. An employee."

Heat flared through me, and I had to shut down the snarl pushing to the surface. "He broke the rules. We don't tolerate mistreatment of our staff."

"And you had every fucking right to kick him out, but you didn't need to break his nose over it." Dante's exasperated sigh was like sandpaper against my nerves. "We need the Irish on our side, not against us."

"Are you questioning my judgment?"

"Bloody right I am. This girl is making you sloppy, and others will notice."

My grip tightened around the glass until my knuckles turned white. The urge to shatter it with my bare hand was almost overwhelming. "Let them talk. It won't end well for them."

"Minchia, Luca—listen to yourself. You're not thinking clearly."

I rolled my shoulders, steeling myself for the revelation bound to detonate everything. No matter what, I didn't like being at odds with my brother. "Olivia's under my protection, so she is staying with us. For her safety."

A split of a second was all he needed to explode.

"Here? Are you out of your fucking mind?"

"Watch yourself, Fratellino." I had no intention of turning this into an argument, not when I was barely clinging to reason where she was concerned.

"No, you watch yourself." He glared, nostrils flaring. "Putting the alliance with the Irish at risk, now inviting her into our home? Do you want to bring the underworld crashing down on us?"

"She's settling in. Staying out of trouble so far." It wasn't a complete lie. No more snooping that I knew of.

My brother stared, unconvinced, but I knew that assessing look. He analysed every shift of my posture, every twitch of a muscle. The same focus he used on our rivals and allies was now directed at me.

"Ma, che sei grullo! You know this is fucking ludicrous. Did you consider the risk you're exposing Mother to in all this?" He swirled the remaining ice in his glass.

Did he think I was unaware of the precarious situation?

Blind to the potential liability?

Cazzo, I knew the risks better than anyone. Yet, for reasons I couldn't fully understand, I was ready to face them to keep her safe.

"I've got it handled." The response came out more clipped than intended.

The glass in his hand smashed against the wall, spraying shards across the floor. "Do you? Because all your damn decisions lately say otherwise. She's got you acting like a damn fool."

"Basta. Don't make me repeat myself."

"Or what? You'll take a swing at me as well? I'm trying to talk sense into you for your own fucking good before this fling brings us all down."

"You don't know a damn thing."

Fury rolled off him in waves as he closed the distance between us. "Then explain it to me. Explain why you brought a random girl into our home like some stray you've taken in. Why you nearly brawled with the Irish mob over her? Does she even realise you've put a target on her back just by association?"

His questions barraged me, echoing the same doubts I'd tried to ignore. What was I doing risking so much for a woman I scarcely knew?

Cavolo. This damn rollercoaster of resolve and doubt when it came to her drove me insane.

"Drop it," I gritted out. "I'm handling Olivia. She's not your concern."

"The fuck she isn't." His jaw ticked, the vein in his neck pulsing. "Everything you do implicates all of us. The syndicates, our allies, everyone downstream—they rely on us maintaining control. On you putting family first. If you slip up with her—"

"I won't."

My brother stepped closer. "Listen to me because this is the reality. Either cut her loose now or be prepared to put a bullet between her eyes if it comes to it."

Fragments of memories I had buried for decades tried to surface—my best friend's face, the bloody streak across his forehead. Dark days I never wanted to relive.

A split second of weakness, an overheard secret, and young Luca Moretti learnt the price of attachments outside the family circle of trust.

Never again—I had sworn over Matteo's grave. Yet, I was teetering on that same ledge once more.

"Watch. Your. Mouth." Gone was any pretence of calm or reason. My vision went red with the urge to break and maim for her. "You so much as think about harming her, and you'll regret it."

Dante blinked, anger shifting into confusion. He looked at me like I had lost my mind—perhaps I had.

"She's that important to you? You would turn on me for her?"

Would I? The intensity of my response sobered me. He was right to question my irrational reaction. Threatening my own sibling to protect Olivia was madness.

It wasn't the first time it happened, but it was the first time I couldn't stop myself.

I forced a harsh breath through my nose, struggling to rein in the possessive rage still pounding through me. "You're my blood, Dante. That will never change."

We stood staring at one another. I didn't know what else to say.

Bringing her here proved even more complicated than I'd anticipated. Could I keep my temper in check if he or anyone else challenged me on this again? I fucking had to.

My brother's shoulders fell slightly as he searched my face. "It's not about fucking, is it?"

Silence. Admitting how tangled these feelings were, even to myself, felt like handing him a loaded gun. She had cracked something open inside me, and the ferocity of it left me drifting, struggling to reconcile the man I was with the man she saw in me.

"Dio, Luca. Don't make me regret giving you space to handle this. This family comes first, always—you taught me that." He huffed out a breath, his words weighed down with resignation. "If she jeopardises everything..."

The unfinished warning hung between us. I should reassure him that Olivia posed no danger to me or the family. That my allegiance to our empire came before all else. But my tongue refused to form the hollow lie because I wasn't sure if that was true. Not at this moment.

"She remains under my protection, no matter what. I'll deal with any issues myself."

Dante shook his head. "Does she know what she's turned you into?"

Hell, did I?

Without another word, I turned, ignoring the accusing stare burning into my back. I needed space to get away from his and clear my chaotic thoughts before I checked on Olivia.

But even as I left his office, the truth of his question cut deep.

She didn't realise the power she had over me or the lengths I would go to keep her safe.

Now that I did, it terrified me most of all.