Mafia love

Somehow, some way, I needed strength.

I watched Luc chop the vegetables and set them all out on the granite work top.

He’d done an assortment of sweet peppers, red onions, mushrooms, and olives.

He got to work on the dough he’d made earlier for the pizza. It had risen substantially from the yeast he’d placed in it.

“Perfect. That should go well on this.” He slid over a bowl of homemade passata.

I watched him, looking him over, trying to assess his mood.

We hadn’t really spoken since we got here.

Thankfully, but much to his a

They were on the other side of the house. I guess it was more appropriate to call it a separate wing. It kind of was. So, it was like Luc and I were alone.

“What do you think, goddess? Does it look like we need more basil, or I could add some chili; that would be nice. Let me add chili.”

“I don’t want chili.” It did sound nice, but I wanted us to talk.

He’d been on autopilot the whole time and had me sitting here just watching him.

“You like chili.” He blinked a few times.

“I’m not in the mood for anything hot now. Just make it plain. Add more basil.”

He held my gaze, and those blue, blue eyes took me in with worry. I stood up, and he flinched.

“Where are you going?”

“To get the salad.” I pointed to the fridge. “I could make salad.”

I moved to the fridge and opened the door. There was a bunch of vegetables I could use in there, but I went for simple and grabbed a head of iceberg lettuce and a couple of heirloom tomatoes. Gigi always put those in our salads.

Warm hands slipped around my waist, and Luc pulled me flush against his chest.

“I changed my mind. I want you for di

I put the vegetables back and turned in his arms. “You just spent over an hour fixing up for pizza.”

“But you don’t want it.”

“I never said that, and I do. I love your cooking.”

“At least that’s one thing good about me, right? You love my cooking, and I’m like a dog with mange you can’t cut lose.”

“Why are you saying that?”

He released me and moved back to the counter.

“Luc,” I prodded.

He looked at me, regarding me with that stern expression I hated. I decided I hated it because I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

“How was Sinclaire?” He sneered.

I’d been wondering when he was going to ask me about that.

“Fine.”

“Yeah, is that right? I’ll bet he just loved to hear his precious Amelia Taylor tell him how much she’s always trusted him wholeheartedly.”

God. I’d seen him jealous before, but this was him hyped up on jealousy and worry. It made him act irrational.

“Luc, he’s a friend.”

“You kiss your friends? Come on, Amelia, he wasn’t just a friend. When did you stop sleeping with him?”

I blinked several times and continued to stare at him. I couldn’t talk to him when he was like this. No way.

It was better if we didn’t talk.

Deciding just that, I turned and walked away. He caught me before I could go through the door, grabbing my arm.

“Let go of me.” I wiggled my arm free of his grasp, but I stayed there in front of him.

“Don’t go.” Now he sounded scared.

“I can’t stay here with you acting like some crazy person, and how dare you speak to me like that? Don’t you ever speak to me like that again, or the way you did earlier. I don’t know who you think I am, but don’t do it. I hate it. I hate taking orders, and I don’t want you ordering me around and asking me shit like if I slept with Sinclaire.” Heat burned my cheeks, and my stomach clenched. “I didn’t sleep with him, and if I did, it wouldn’t have been any of your business because I wouldn’t have done something like that when we were together. So, don’t, and don’t act like some saint, because you aren’t.”

He hung his head in shame and bit the inside of his lip. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Loving you is making me crazy.”

I couldn’t believe I was going to say this, but I had to. “Maybe you shouldn’t.”

“I can’t stop, and I don’t want to.”

“I don’t want you to either, because I love you, and I can’t stop loving you either. No matter what Sinclaire is to me, he’s not you. Even when I knew you were the man I shouldn’t love, I still loved you. I trusted him, of course, and yes, I did so wholeheartedly, but he never had my heart. I was so lonely trying to be someone I wasn’t. It was stifling and u

I had to toughen up and be this hard person I wasn’t. Luc, I’m a ballerina.

We love music, we love peace and serenity. We love creativity and inspiration. But I threw myself into a world of evil and violence thinking I could change the world and do my part to stop it. Maybe on some level I

felt responsible for who my father was. It’s hard to have all of that going on in your head and not have someone to trust. That is what I meant.”

“I get it, and I won’t ask you about him again. I’m jealous because he’s everything for you I’m not.”

“Like what? Didn’t you just hear me?”

“He’s a good man. I am not.”

“Define good, because from where I’m standing, I’m looking at the person who would do anything to protect me. Even if it killed you.” I knew that about him, and it terrified me.

“I feel helpless, Amelia.” He sighed.

“Me too, but if we lose each other, what do we have?”

He reached out and touched my face. The touch sent ripples of energy through me, and I leaned into his hand.

“I can’t lose you. I love you too much.”

“And I love you. Can’t we just… indulge in that?”

His eyes searched mine, and he nodded.

I reached up for his chin and guided him down to my lips, loving the feel of the sharp bone structure of his chiseled face.

We kissed slowly at first, then the kiss turned up a notch when he swept his tongue into my mouth and tangled it with mine.

The slight tug on my bottom lip made me melt and forget.

“Let’s go upstairs.” I pulled away, teasing, and smiled up at him.

“But…”

“But what, goddess?”

“We forget, we leave all the worries inside this room and become whoever the people we want to be upstairs.”

“The gardener and the dancer.” He smiled with longing.

“No… just Luc and Amelia.”

His smile widened. “I get to be me.”

“And I get to be me.”

I gasped and smiled as he swooped in and picked me up, hoisting me over his shoulder.

CHAPTER 7

Amelia

The minute we stepped through his bedroom door, I got lulled into the ecstasy of being with him.

I willed myself to take on the impossible task of forgetting all the craziness that was happening around us. Everything was happening so fast, and these were probably the last few moments we would have together as a couple who was crazy about each other.

This was our normal, and since I could have gotten an Oscar for best actress in my role as Amelia Taylor for the last close to eleven years, I felt that I could pretend for a little while longer that this was us.

I took my mind right back to about a month or so ago when Luc had first taken me to the ballet. That week was crazy. We couldn’t get enough of each other. We even missed work, and when we were at work, we used to steal time away in the stationary closet. I was certain someone must have heard us.