Taboo Flames (The Sicilian Sins #2)

Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18

Giovanni

“ I did promise to feed you,” I tell Aurora as I pat her dry with the towel after her bath.

“Can we just order in?” she asks. “Because there’s no way I’m stepping out of here in that dress.”

I take her hand and lead her back into the bedroom. The masked man has left already, and in his place on the bed are shopping bags full of clothes.

I had texted Carlos earlier with her clothing size and ordered him to buy her dinner dresses in different styles and colors she could choose from.

“For you.”

“You—wha—when?” she stammers.

“Get dressed,” I say. “The faster you’re done eating, the sooner I can start feasting.”

She sucks in a breath, her lips pulling into a dirty smirk as her gaze heats up.

“Don’t look at me like that, princess,” I warn her.

“Or what?” she asks boldly.

“Or we’ll never make it to dinner.”

“Dinner’s overrated anyways,” she says slyly.

I’m tempted to say fuck it to our dinner plans and drag her to bed, but that’ll be very ungentlemanly of me. And yes, I know the point is moot because I’m very far from being a gentleman. I smack her bottom, and she squeals.

“Get dressed, princess. You’re wasting time.”

She grins at me before going to search through the bags on the bed. From my vantage point on the chaise lounge, I see her make a face at the first two, then smile at the third.

She doesn’t bother going through the other bags. She just grabs the silver number and starts to pull it on sans underwear. I raise a brow at that. The dress fits perfectly over her curves, and the non-existent back makes her look absolutely delectable.

I watch her undo her hair from its ponytail and brush it out then start to apply makeup. The whole scene is very domestic, and I enjoy watching her get ready far more than I should.

When she’s done, she turns to me and asks, “How do I look?”

I look down emphatically at the tent in my pants, and she blushes.

“Keep that monster in your pants. We have dinner reservations,” she purrs with a grin. “And I hate being late.”

I adjust myself in my pants and stand up. This is going to be the most painful dinner ever, staring at her in that dress and knowing she doesn’t have a stitch of underwear under it.

On the drive over, I ring up the manager of the five-star restaurant and connect it to the car’s speakers.

“Mr. Lombardi,” he greets as soon as he picks up. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”

“I’m on my way to your establishment, and I’d like it cleared out within the minute,” I tell him.

Aurora looks over at me, wide-eyed. “What are you doing?” she whispers.

“I’m far too greedy to share your presence with anyone else right now,” I say to her, running my eyes up and down her frame. “And I don’t know how long I’ll be able to go before I rip that dress off you.”

She crosses her arms and glares at me. “I like this dress. I’d like to keep it in one piece if you don’t mind.”

“I’ll do my best, princess,” I drawl.

The manager clears his throat to remind me of the fact that he’s still on the call and can hear every word we’re saying. Good, everyone should know that Aurora belongs to me, and I’m the only one who will get to see her slutty and drunk on desire.

“Sir,” he begins hesitantly, “The guests we have here at the moment booked their reservations long before the year began and have been waiting for a while. Can I offer you a VIP seat instead? On the house, of course.”

“The only response to my request should have been ‘yes, sir.’ So now, let me make it clear to you. This is no longer a request. It’s an order. I’ll be there in seven.”

With that, I hang up. When I turn to Aurora, she gives me an unimpressed look.

“You’re such an asshole,” she tells me.

I chuckle.

The restaurant is nearly empty when we walk in. We are directed to the VIP section but find some men occupying another table. With a frown, I call for the manager and demand an explanation because there are still some people around despite my earlier order.

The manager approaches, looking nervous, and says, “I’m sorry, sir, but they refused to leave.”

“Did you tell them who gave the orders?” I bite out angrily.

He mops sweat from his brow with a handkerchief and replies, “They must be out-of-towners, sir. They were…eh…unfamiliar.”

I narrow my eyes at the four men being general nuisances by conversing in voices loud enough to raise the dead. I reach for my gun and am about to stand up when Aurora’s hand on mine stops me.

“Please,” she says softly, her eyes shining with fear. “Just let them be. We can pretend they’re not there.”

I direct Aurora to a table in the corner, where I have a clear view of the entrance. It’s a precaution that’s almost reflexive for me.

Dimmed lights wash the space in a muted, golden glow, giving it an overly dramatic romantic vibe, and from the look on Aurora’s face, she enjoys it.

I slide back down to my seat with a stiff smile. “I don’t think it’ll be as easy as you think.”

Right on cue, they let out another ear-splitting laugh.

Her look turns pleading, and I sigh.

“It’s beautiful here. I’ve never been,” she says, trying to distract me. “I thought I’d discovered all the fancy places in the city. I can’t believe I missed this one. This place will make for a great proposal scene.”

“You’ve watched too many soap operas.”

“And you’ve watched far too little,” she retorts with a laugh.

“I haven’t watched any,” I admit unashamedly.

Her eyes bug out of her head. “You’re lying! You can’t be as old as you are and not watch a single soap opera.”

I glare at her, and she giggles.

“I’m going to find one on Netflix, and we’ll watch it together. You can’t say no.” Then, she cocks her head. “Come to think of it, Gio. Outside of being a fearsome mafia man ordering me about and giving me orgasms, what do you do in your free time?”

“Giving you orgasms is a full-time job, baby.”

She rolls her eyes dramatically. “I’m serious here. I’m trying to get to know you. You seem to know a lot about me, but I can’t say the same about you.”

Little does she know that she’s far closer to me than anybody else in my life.

“Are you a secret crocheter?” she asks with a teasing smile. “Don’t be ashamed of it. I’ll think it’s cute.”

“I don’t want you thinking I’m cute,” I scoff. “I’m too occupied with running the cafe to have hobbies. My favorite things are making money and being inside you.”

“And being a dick to poor restaurant managers.”

I throw my head back and laugh. “That too.”

“You know what I?—”

Her words are drowned out by the sound of loud, boisterous laughter.

“Perhaps we can go somewhere else,” Aurora blurts out. “We could order takeout and stay home?—”

Another round of laughter echoes around the restaurant. I glance over at their table angrily, and a familiar face catches my eye.

It’s been about two decades, but that face is ingrained into the deepest parts of my psyche. It’s one I don’t think I’ll ever forget.

Sudden images of me curled up into a ball on the ground while a cruel face hovers over me, screaming mean words and kicking the living shit out of me, assaults me.

Salvador. That’s his name. A ruthless bully who made my life miserable for years, all because he was bigger than me and knew there was nothing I could do about it. Last I heard, his father went bankrupt, and his family relocated. Good to know he’s back, and it’s even better now that he fell right into my reach.

My fingers curl into fists at my side, and I can feel the blood thumping in my head.

My blood turns to ice in my veins, my anger making me go lethally cold.

“Gio, Gio.” Aurora’s voice snaps me out of my dark thoughts.

When I look at her, she’s staring at me with concern.

“Carlos will take you home now,” I tell her, my voice cold and hard.

“Why? What’s wrong? What’s going on?”

“Go, princess,” I order firmly. “There’s something I have to take care of.”

She follows my gaze to where the men are sitting. “What are you going to do? Just let them be, Gio. We can go somewhere else.”

Carlos appears behind her immediately, attuned to the change in my body language. He must have seen that I’ve entered killer mode.

“Take her back to my place and make sure she stays there,” I instruct him. Then, without looking at either of them, I make my way over to Salvador.

I hear Aurora calling out to me as she’s being dragged away, but I tune her voice out and turn a laser focus on my target for tonight.

“Hey, who the hell are you?” Salvador barks when I appear before them.

I study him critically. The me in the past would have never believed that one day, I’d stand before Salvador and not be afraid. He’s no longer the immense, all-encompassing shadow of my childhood days. He’s still physically big, but now he’s just a fat, out-of-shape man with thinning hair brushed back over his scalp.

The ill-fitted suit he has on looks like it’s one deep breath away from ripping, barely containing the bulk of him.

“You should have never come back. Returning here was the biggest mistake you’ve ever made,” I tell him ominously.

“Sal, who the hell is this fucker? He doesn’t know who he’s messing with, does he?” one of his friends barks.

“I don’t believe he does,” Salvador replies with an evil smirk. His eyes are intense, and they might scare some people, but not me. I am not like most people.

Salvador may be a god in his territory, but I’m the god killer, and I’ve just set my sights on my next prey.

Guns fly out of holsters, and in the blink of an eye, I have four guns trained on me.

Salvador laughs obnoxiously, trying to act like a big, tough gangster. He’s clearly still clinging to the memory of the days when he and his boys were the most feared kids on the block.

But those days are long gone.

All of a sudden, the sound of a pot clanging draws their attention, and I use the minute distraction to pull out my Glock and make four careful shots.

I shoot Salvador’s gun out of his hand and one bullet each into the other men’s shoulders, effectively disarming them. Pained howls go up in unison, and Salvador glances around, shocked and confused.

“Wha—”

“We don’t want to destroy someone’s property now, do we?” I say coldly. “Why don’t we take this outside then?”

The smug look on his face has been wiped clean, now replaced by terror.

“Look, my man.” He raises his hand in surrender, chuckling nervously. “I don’t want any trouble. We weren’t harming anybody, but even if we were, we didn’t mean to.”

“I’m not your man, Salvador,” I say with a humorless smile.

“I don’t even know who the fuck you are,” he responds exasperatedly.

“I’ll make you remember,” I tell him. I see the intent to run in his eyes a second before he bolts, but I’m two steps ahead of him and faster.

I leap for him, catching him by his collar. Then, I drag him out of the restaurant to the back parking lot as he screams and pleads.

I toss him on the ground, and he lands with a thud. He’s a sniveling, pathetic piece of shit, and something in me patches back together with an audible snap at the sudden sight of this phantom from my past being reduced to nothing.

“Please, just let me go,” he begs. “I won’t breathe a word of this to the cops. It’ll be like it never happened. I’m not loyal to those guys in there. They can fuck off for all I care.”

“As if a weasel like you knows the meaning of loyalty,” I say coldly.

Right on time, one of my men materializes by my side and hands me my brass knuckle dusters. At any point in time, about four men are on my trail. It’s a matter of security, but they are also useful for carrying necessary gear.

“I’m going to enjoy this,” I gloat with a dark smile.

“Wait, wait!” he grovels, crawling backward. “Do you work for Antonio? I swear I don’t have the money, I?—”

“Shut the fuck up, Salvador,” I snarl.

I unwind the chaplet from my wrist and hold it up to him. I watch him blink in confusion, and then, finally, recognition flashes in his eyes.

“Giovanni,” he gasps.

“Pleasure to meet you again, Salvador.”