Luca's pov
Cara might just be the only one who would mock my authority and get away with it. She didn't know how lucky she was. If it were to be another, they'd be finding out just how much of a mistake it was as we speak.
She swallowed at my declaration, something akin to reverence spreading across her beautiful face. She licked at her lips and blood rushed to my c0ck as the urge to kiss her filled me.
I had lost my wits the moment she barged into the library, everything that was being discussed relocated to the rear of my mind. Cadain following after her had sent a raging storm through me and I had skimmed through the rest of the agenda before basically sending the men on their way.
I reached down to breathe in her scent, the smell of flowers and vanilla hitting my nose like cocaine powder. God, how I've missed being this close to her.
I had been actively avoiding her ever since that day at Rico's, needing space to work out how that single fuck time had messed with my brain more than she ever did. Whatever I felt for her was growing dominant and I didn't know what to make of it. For the first time in my life, I was short of solutions. Cara was one puzzle I couldn't solve. She was a weakness I could not get rid of or overcome and I hated every bit of it.
I nuzzled into her soft blonde locks, loving the faint smell of her cheap rose shampoo. She might be a disaster about to happen but she was my disaster and I would never, ever give her up to any man. The alliance with the Irish be damned.
Staying away from her was pointless, a conclusion I brought myself to admit. It didn't even matter if she was across the world, in somewhere like fucking Australia, she lived rent-free in my head.
She didn't have to be present to fuck up my focus like she had done this past few days. It was because of her that Dominic had won in our last sparring, it was because of her I had missed a target the moment my father brought up her marriage plans in our shooting practice yesterday. It was because of her I had been so close to planting a bullet in Cadain's cranium.
I couldn't even stay away if I tried to. It took just three days for me to yield and drive to Rico's just in time to stalk her home last night. She had been completely oblivious of my lurking presence just like she was oblivious to the wreckage she brought on me.
My very own disaster.
"I won't let you marry Cadain and in a few days everyone else is going to know that." I growled into her ear and her slight shiver pleased me all the way to the twitch in my pants.
"I might not know much but I know enough to be aware of how that would piss everyone off." She whispered, curving her neck to the intrusion of my teeth.
"Unfortunately, I don't give a fuck." I said. Whoever gets offended can go fuck themselves. If McKell decides to cease our alliance for a failed marriage bond then he is a fool. An even bigger one than his father before him. It was clear the Irish always had more to gain from our truce, I could easily replace them with another.
Cara's slender hands found my chest, pressing ever so lightly. My skin heated at her touch and my heart thumped so hard I felt it pushing against my ribcage.
Only she could do that to it.
"Luca," she whispered and her voice traveled through me like a xylophone tune.
She was saying something else but I wasn't listening, I was too busy with nipping on her collarbone.
My hands slid down until it got to her ass, cupping the firm yet soft roundness of it. I wanted to feel my hips slamming into them as I took her from behind. It was one of my most revisited fantasies. That and watching her crawl on her knees to me.
"Luca," her tone was more forceful now and I indulged her with a grunt.
"Hm?"
"Someone, I think-" she trailed off when I grinded my hard on into her.
God, I was desperate to be inside her again.
"Someone what bambina?" I drawled, kissing the corner of her lip.
A breath left her parted lips and she blinked repeatedly as if trying to remember what she was going to say.
It happened so quickly. One minute I was pressed against Cara's luscious body then standing a few feets away the next.
My eyes flew to Cara and I wondered where the Amazonian strength had emerged from.
Amanda walked in a second later.
Her large smile slowly thinned out as she picked on the intense vibe in the space. Her eyes narrowed into slits and her gaze shot to Cara.
Shit. I had been too occupied by Cara and her delectable body, I didn't even hear her mother come in. I had been so consumed by her presence that my sense of security had disappeared, all the hours of training my father gave me down the drain.
Another thing Cara was responsible for.
"Am I interrupting something?" The question was brittle and harsh and I hated that she spoke to Cara that way.
"Yes," I said and both pairs of eyes shot to me. Cara's own look like they'd pop out any time soon and a dangerous thought flitted through my mind. What if I confessed to our less than platonic relationship? What if I threatened Amanda to leave my father? What if I made Cara unquestionably mine?
Dangerous, dangerous thoughts.
"No you're not, mother." Cara said in a slightly shrill voice, glowering at me.
I ignored her, my eyes zeroing in on Amanda. "I was updating Cara on the wedding." I said, throwing Cara a knowing look.
Amanda's frown loosened and she turned to Cara, "really?"
"I just said it didn't I?" I snapped and the woman visibly flinched. I earned another glower from Cara.
"Yes, mother. That was… what we were discussing."
She was a terrible liar but I tried not to botch up her efforts by smirking. My lie was going to be less believable if I did.
Amanda didn't look fully convinced but she was smart enough not to push it. She cleared her throat. "Well I was looking for you to ask if you- er… ran into Cadain."
Just like that, I instantly knew she was the one who sent Cara to the library and from the tight look on Cara's face, it had been a set up.
My stepmother was slowly making me lose any fucks I might have felt obliged to give as her stepson.
Cara's voice was clipped. "I did, thanks to you."
Amanda appeared uncomfortable with the sarcastic undertone but I knew it was only for my benefit. She wouldn't have given a f*ck about how Cara felt if I wasn't here.
She slowly faced me, her gaze avoiding mine when she spoke. "I have a couple of things to discuss with my daughter so if you'd excuse us…" She folded her shaky hands in front of her silk skirt suit. "I'd like to borrow her for a second."
I didn't miss the flash of alarm in Cara's eyes. Like hell I was going to leave Cara with her. I knew the moment I disappeared, she was going to grill her about what we had been saying or doing before she arrived. She was also going to press her about f*ckass Cadain.
Cara was sure to slip up under the pressure of her questions.
"You can say whatever you want to say to her later. Right now, she's all mine." I didn't care for the surprise or shock the double meaning of my words brought to both of them.
"But I-" whatever protest that was going to leave her mouth died a sudden death at the warning on my face.
"Leave." I growled out the command and she left just as abruptly as she had come in.
Cara let out a visible sigh, falling against a wooden shelf. The immense relief in her expression made me wonder just how bad her relationship with her mother was.
"You scared her." She finally said after a while.
Annoyance coursed through me. I was pissed that she still cared even when it was obvious her mother didn't return the feeling.
"I'm sorry but I can't find it in me to care." I snapped.
"I'm not surprised that you don't." She retorted, peering up at me. "You even said the same thing when I mentioned that the Irish would be pissed off by your decision."
"Good." I drawled. "Then you should be more careful of how you speak about Cadain in my presence because I won't give a fuck about what I'll end up doing to him either."
She stiffened where she stood, shock, fear and anger permeating her features.
"You wouldn't."
My smile was sinister. "Oh I would."
"Cadain doesn't deserve to be a victim of your vileness."
"Didn't know you thought of me as vile."
Her words cut me deeper than I expected. I loathed how she defended him. I hated that she thought of me that way, not that she was wrong but I didn't want her to ever view me that way. I didn't know why but I cared about what she thought of me, a lot. And I didn't want to be the ruthless don of the Costra Nostra to her.
Add that to the list of reasons why I was fucked.
"Oh you'd be shocked at what else I think you are. Cruel, pushy, infuriating and rude to name a few."
I drew back to look her in the face and she trembled softly at whatever twisted emotion she found in my eyes.
My smile was humorless. "You think I'm an assh0le."
Her answering smile was deceptively sweet. "Yes, a huge fucking one at that."
"And it makes you hate me."
"You won't believe how much."
"But you love my huge dick."
"I- what?" She exclaimed, frowning at me in confusion. Then the realization hit her and she finally picked up on where I was going.
Her entire face grew red in mortification. "You read it!"
She'd be surprised by how many times I did too. And by how much it pleased me each time. Never thought a day would come when my ego would be bursting at a drunk text calling me an asshole with a huge c0ck.
"Why?" She cried.
I raised an eyebrow. "because you sent it?"
Her eyes dropped to the floor. "Well I didn't expect you to actually read it."
She looked so damned adorable as she pouted the words, her cheeks redder than a beetroot.
"I always read my messages."
A frustrated groan left her. "Just stop, okay."
I couldn't help the smirk on my face. I wanted nothing more than to taunt her further but I knew her well enough to know she was going to run away and when she did, she'd spend a considerable effort avoiding me like a plague.
She acted rashly when cornered and I didn't want to walk into Rico's the next time I visit to find out she resigned once more or hear she moved to fucking Alaska.
Cara was crazy like that.
So I indulged her by actually following through with her request and I dropped the matter.
I moved to close the gap between us, watching as her restless movement slowly stilled with each step I drew closer.
Tilting up her chin, I said. "I'd like nothing else but fuck you with my huge dick right now but I have important matters to attend to, so I'd let you go just this once."
I sucked softly on her bottom lip then pulled away. It took all of my self control to actually do it. I badly wanted to deepen the kiss but I knew it wouldn't stop if I started.
She stared at me in silence and I was glad that she did. If she started running off her enticing mouth, the both of us won't be leaving any time soon.
I turned around and left, willing myself not to look back to see the aroused look I knew I'd find. My self control could only withstand so much. I was only a man at the end of the day.