Bones (Bonetti Brothers #1)

CHAPTER THIRTY

ATHENA

“Wake up, sleeping beauty.”

I begin to stir, and feel soft kisses on my neck and open my eyes, blinking them quickly as I focus on Luca standing beside the bed. He leans over me, with a hand on either side of me on the mattress as he stares at me.

“You made me a promise. Time for you to deliver.”

I groan from the pain in my face. “You also made me a promise.”

His lips form a delicious smirk. “Did I? I don’t remember that.”

“Even more than something for this pain, I want to go outside.”

He straightens up and grabs a glass of water from the bedside table. “Sit up.”

I do, and he hands me the glass and two pills. “The medication the doctor prescribed.”

Staring at the drugs in my hand, I hesitate.

“Butterfly, I won’t hurt you, I promise. This is what he sent to the pharmacy. You can trust me, and you can trust Doc Johnson.”

I nod, but then wince from the throbbing in my head and take them.

“Maybe I should bring you breakfast in bed.”

“Luca, no!”

I jump up, because there’s only one thing I want. It’s hard to explain to someone that hasn’t lived in captivity for most of their lives, but I try.

“The most healing thing I can do is to go outside. I’m sure you don’t understand it, but the sun shining on my face, the warmth touching my skin, the open area. It’s everything to me. It makes me feel normal. ”

He runs his knuckles down my cheek with one hand, while taking the glass from me with his other. “Alright, beautiful wife. Let’s put your order in with the chef and we can eat outside, so we both get what we need.”

I get up and grab clothing from the closet, and slip on a purple dress I haven’t worn yet. Luca chuckles softly. “That got you to move.”

“Why is me eating so important to you?”

He steps closer to me, and places his hand on the side of my neck, and speaks low, “You’re mine, Butterfly. That means I need to take care of you, but not because I have to. I want to.”

Luca leans in closer and I panic. “Don’t kiss me.”

He lifts an eyebrow in surprise, as I giggle and cover my mouth. “I need to brush my teeth.”

Grabbing the back of my neck with one hand, and prying my hand from my face with the other, he closes the distance and slams his lips to mine. He groans as he forces his tongue into my mouth, and slides it against mine in a sloppy kiss, and pulls back with a chuckle.

“Such a sweet tasting dirty mouth.”

“Luca,” I whisper, while feeling my cheeks heat with embarrassment. Shaking my head, I turn away from him, and head into the bathroom to brush my teeth.

He stands in the doorway with his hands on the top of the frame, showing off every muscle in his upper body. Glancing at him, I scold him, “You don’t have to watch me.”

His eyes narrow at me, before he breaks out into a boyish grin. “Oh, but I like watching my wife. She’s absolutely captivating.”

I spit into the sink and shake my head, as I rinse my toothbrush off. “Yeah, these bruises are so pretty.”

He clenches his jaw. “No. They aren’t. Every time I look at them, I want to kill him all over again. If I had known, he would’ve never got his hands on you. I would have destroyed him before he came into my home and took my wife. Bruises or not. Black eye or not. You are still the most stunning woman I’ve ever seen. No other woman holds a candle to you. Fucking gorgeous.”

I walk closer to him and wrap my arms around his waist. “You’re very sweet for an asshole,” I say with a mischievous grin.

He growls as he returns my embrace, and leans down close to my ear. “Careful, Butterfly.”

His breath is warm and fans over my ear, causing me to shiver.

“Fuck, baby, you make me crazy. Let’s go, before I do something I’ll hate myself for.”

Luca takes my hand in his, and we walk out of the room, and down the stairs to a back door I didn’t know existed.

“You can come out here whenever you want, but must have a guard with you at all times. And I don’t want you in the pool unless I’m around, until you learn how to swim. I’ll hire an instructor for you.”

“I hope he’s hot,” I say with a smirk.

He chuckles. “ She will be.”

We step out into the warm sun and I gasp. If I thought the inside was nice, this is next level. I only saw part of the backyard when we got married. This is a completely different section. The entire area is covered with rock formations and waterfalls. In the center, there’s a massive pool that’s the bluest I’ve ever seen, with rocks on the far end and another waterfall flowing over them. Tropical looking plants are scattered throughout the area. This place is his back yard, but looks like a tropical oasis.

“Luca, this is amazing. How big is your property?”

Wrapping his arm around my waist, he pulls me tight against his side. “Our property, wife. What’s mine is yours. Our property is three hundred twenty-nine acres, and almost all of it is accessible to you. Only the warehouse is off limits.”

I glance up at him and ask, “Why? What happens there? ”

He chuckles softly, as he tucks my hair behind my ear. “Nothing good, baby. You don’t need to be in there. If you need me and I’m in there, one of my men will get me.”

I nod and he asks, “What do you want to eat?”

“What are my options?”

Leaning his head down, he kisses me on the forehead. “Whatever my wife wants, she gets. Tell me what you want, and our chef will prepare it.”

This is not something I’m used to. My father used to bring me breakfast and dinner. My morning meal was always oatmeal, which I hate, and I frequently wondered if that’s why he brought it to me. Whereas Manny would never give me breakfast. I got dinner three times a week, and sometimes lunch. Only enough to keep me alive. And I never had much of a choice with either of them. Complaining meant violence.

“Baby?”

I shrug. “I don’t know. I’m not used to choices.”

“What’s your favorite?”

I close my eyes and remember a more pleasant time. “When I was really little, my mom used to make me pancakes. And bacon.”

The memory is distant but still there. We used to sit at the table outside for breakfast. The birds chirped as I shoveled syrupy goodness into my mouth. There was laughter, so much laughter. Things were mostly good and then she left.

I open my eyes and blink away the unshed tears. “Pancakes and bacon, please. If it’s not too much trouble.”

Luca kisses me softly on the lips. “If my wife wants it, she gets it. I don’t give a fuck how much trouble it is. I promise you, our staff is paid well for their trouble.”

He pulls out his cell phone and dials a number. I guess it’s the chef when I hear his side of the conversation. “Mrs. Bonetti will have pancakes, bacon, and whatever extras you think of, because that’s not enough. I’ll have my usual, Teddy. And coffee. ”

Placing his phone back in his pocket, he takes my hand and we walk across a wooden bridge to a large patio, with a wrought-iron table with a purple umbrella covering it. Luca pulls out a chair for me, and I arch a suspicious eyebrow, but take a seat, anyway.

He chuckles as he moves to the chair on the other side of the table and takes a seat. “I can be nice to my wife.”

I giggle as I push my hair out of my face. “It would appear so.”

A server comes over with coffee and orange juice, and sets it in front of us, and immediately walks away.

“You live quite the privileged life, Mr. Bonetti.”

He grins at me with a nod. “I do, and now so do you, but I work hard for every penny we have, wife.”

“Breaking bones,” I joke before I take a sip of my coffee, and he laughs out loud.

“Is that all you think I do?”

Licking my lips, I say, “This coffee is really good, but to answer your question, I saw a mafia movie once. So you probably do a lot of the shady shit I saw on it.”

He takes a sip of his drink, and shakes his head as he swallows. “Don’t believe everything you read, or see on television.”

As soon as he says it, he swallows hard and says, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by that.”

I force a smile. “I know you didn’t. It’s okay. Most adults can read.”

Reaching out, he takes my hand in his. “We’re going to fix that.”

I’m just hoping I’ll be able to learn to read before our children do, because it would be humiliating to have to explain to our kids’ teachers that their mother can’t read. Luca has this idea that he can undo everything that was done to me, but he’s wrong. He can’t. As they say, you can’t unring a bell. I’m willing to try for him, because I’m falling madly in love with this man. I have every reason to hate him, yet I don’t. He is my happy place.