Chapter 16

VALERIO

N ight settled over the garden like a velvet cloak as the day’s warmth lingered in the air.

A gentle breeze drifted in from the sea, carrying the scent of salt and brine, mixing with the fragrant blossoms that framed the pool.

The rhythmic and soothing sound of the waves crashed faintly in the distance, like an ancient lullaby that only the ocean knew how to sing.

Above, the sky stretched in a vast canvas of deep indigo punctuated by a scattering of stars that flickered like distant fires.

The crescent moon hung close, casting a silver glow over everything it touched. The pool’s surface rippled with light like liquid silk, reflecting the heavens in its depths.

The warm wind moved with a gentle rustle through the trees, causing the leaves to flutter and whisper, their soft murmur blending with the far-off sounds of the sea.

The garden appeared alive with subtle movements, the night creatures emerging to claim the world once the day passed.

Yet, a profound stillness settled over me and all that lived and breathed around the pool. It was a rare quiet—nothing seemed pressed or rushed, and time felt suspended.

I sat sprawled on a divan in the semi-darkness, a cheroot in one hand and a beer in the other.

Fuck, it’d been a shit show of a day.

Getting a glimpse into the underbelly of Naples had been eye-opening.

While my family had deals with many of the mobsters at the wake today, we’d done so from the shadows. Always via proxies and intermediaries, never having to sully ourselves with the riff-raff.

The reality of seeing the red-eyed gangsters of Naples’ unpleasant underside, who’d likely crawled out of their holes for the event, had been jarring.

I growled, recalling how, driven by insatiable greed, their cold, calculating gazes on Chiara promised danger and betrayal with every sly grin.

I sat back and took a drag of my cheroot, vowing never to permit them to get their claws into her.

Fuck them all; if they came in my way, I’d eviscerate the lot.

Once more, a genuine drive to protect her flared in me and I mulled on it.

I let the smoke curl from my fingers as the pool water rippled in the wind. Everything appeared suspended like the world was holding its breath.

Whisper soft footsteps sounded on the deck.

I glanced up to see Chiara in a silk robe loose around her shoulders.

Barefoot.

She stepped into the muted glow of the poolside lamps, her silhouette outlined.

We stared at each other for a moment, neither saying a word.

There was something unreadable in her eyes, a calm intensity that gripped me with a jolt of wild desire straight to my rock.

My heart throbbed.

Bellissima .

Raking my eyes over her from head to toe, I raised my beer in the air in a silent welcome toast.

She didn’t react except to jerk her chin at me.

I took another drag and leaned back to blow smoke at the stars.

Need thrummed through me, soul churning, my entire body pulsing.

Without breaking the silence, she slowly slid off her robe, revealing a simple black swimsuit that clung to her curves.

She approached the edge of the pool, her movements fluid and enticing. With a smirk on her lips, well aware what she was doing, to me.

She dove in with a quiet splash, the water folding around her.

Eyes sliced to her as she swam, cutting through with long, graceful strokes.

The sound of her swimming, rhythmic and soothing, filled the air. There was something almost hypnotic about it, the way she moved with such ease and grace.

My gaze locked on her, unable to look away.

After a few laps, she surfaced, moisture glistening off her skin as she pulled herself out of the pool.

She didn’t dry off right away, letting the droplets slide down her body as she walked over to where I sat.

Wordlessly, she took the cheroot from my hand, brought it to her lips, and inhaled.

The smoke curled out as she exhaled, a subtle smile tugging at the corner of her mouth as she returned the slim cigar.

The faint scent of the sea was in the warm air, a light breeze carrying the sound of rustling leaves from the garden.

The horizon stretched into darkness, the sky painted in deep shades of indigo and purple, with only a few scattered stars piercing through.

Her presence was a quiet force, something that didn’t demand but simply was, and for some reason, that silence between us said more than any words.

We both sat, listening to the soft lap of water against the pool’s edge, the world beyond the yard fading away.

I had an inkling about why she was lingering, and I mulled what I was certain was about to happen.

She had no idea who I was or that I was informed of her past life.

She appeared well-adjusted, fit, and self-aware, so it took some effort to remind myself she’d once been dependent on substances at one point.

She had a few years of sobriety under her belt, which meant she was following an effective recovery program.

There was no evidence of drugs in her home, and my intel on her was that she’d stayed clean for years now.

Chiara ate healthy, came across as balanced, and was keen to improve herself.

She practiced meditation and yoga and appeared eager not to let her past challenges define her even though her family kept trying to drown her in their shit.

Regardless, whatever ensued, I had to keep my heart from getting caught up in her aura.

Still, i frutti proibiti sono i più dolci. Forbidden fruit was always the sweetest.

So when she turned to me, stared into my eyes, tilted her head, and asked a silent question, I got the memo.

I set aside the butt of the glowing cigar in the ashtray. Beer bottle on the floor.

Sliding forward on the divan, I leaned into her, reaching, nabbing her waist, and pulling her hard and flush toward me.

She blinked as I shifted her under me.

Her hands went to my shoulders, then slid over my nape, gliding into my hair.

I dove, mouth crushed on hers.

This was no gentle coaxing.

It was a forceful, greedy meld of lips, limbs, and torso as I meshed my edges to her softness.

Need went wild in a thrilling ride of arcing desire all over me, kissing her with such thirst, slaking my yearning for her essence.

While filling her up with mine.

Our tongues twisted, and our hands stroked with urgency as we writhed on the divan.

I dragged my mouth from hers, desperate to taste more.

Lips nipped, suckled, and laved her skin, moving further down into her ear shell, blowing hot air into it that had her shivering.

Next, her nape, scented with her perfume. Glorious.

My hands found a life of their own, tearing away her robe, pushing down her swimsuit, and plumping her tits.

My mouth latched, and I went hard on the suck.

‘ Dio !’ she groaned, pulling my hair while the other stroked my nerve-flamed spine in circles that left me gasping.

I tried to ease lower between her wet skin and suit, but there was little give.

With a growl of frustration, I reared up, gripped her by the hips, and canted her ass high.

In one move, I ripped the garment off her, throwing the shreds of it to the side.

Eyes back on her, I feasted on her nakedness.

All exposed for me.

Generous tits, pink tipped, pebbled stiff, heaving for me.

Tummy mound soft and curved below the tiny chestnut curls that led to her beautiful pussy. Folds perfect, puckered, puffy, dripping, waiting to be loved.

She reared back, eyes gleaming as she stared at me while I dragged my tee off and stood for a moment to pull my shorts off.

Her eyes fell on my thick cock, which throbbed so hard it was up tight against my stomach, pulsing, mushroomed with such need it seeped cum.

She reared up on one elbow, staring at it like she’d never seen cock before.

Her hand reached out in wonder, but I knew the second she touched me, I’d blow.

I’d never been so jacked for a woman before.

I canted away from her with a growl. ‘No, belleza , this show’s mine.’

Then I was down on the divan, hands seeking, digits sliding through the wetness between her thighs.

She gasped and arched her spine, pushing herself on me.

I slid my thumb over her pulsing clit, snarling in satisfaction as her head whipped in bliss.

I bent my mouth to the nipple, sucking hard as I went to work. Filling her with two, then three digits, thrusting deep, loving how wild she was writhing under me.

She’d cupped her other tit and was plumping it in self-pleasure when I shifted.

I lifted one hand off her cunt, pushed her tits together, and sucked the pair into my mouth, tongue lashing their tips.

She bucked, leonine hair flying, crying out loud, all bets off.

Fotto, she was out of this world.

My hips jerked, seeking relief, rubbing my cock against her soft mound, driving us wilder.

‘Rio, fuck me,’ she moaned. ‘Fuck me now.’

Her hands had somehow slid between us, and she caught her prize.

At the first squeeze and glide over my cockhead, I almost came in her hand.

‘Damn woman,’ I groused, fingers at her nipple and lower to the juncture of her legs. ‘I’m going to blow,’ I groaned, thrusting into her squeezing hand.

‘Then fuck me, Rio. I crave you inside me,’ she challenged, eyes flashing as she squeezed me even harder.

With a growl, I sat back on my heels and spread her thighs, feasting on the view.

When she thrust her hips to me, offering herself, I melted. With need and emotion, for the look on her face, of such adoration and desire, for me , was enough to undo all my inhibitions.

I leaned in, one elbow, one limb sinking into the divan beside her.

Shifting until I was over her, head down, eyes on hers, lips meeting her mouth.

I wanted to savor her essence when I entered her.

I glided a hand over her heated, sweating skin from nape to mound, loving how she felt and the softness of her complexion.

She wrapped a thigh around me, encircling me, her hand grasping my hair, pulling me for a deeper kiss.

I slid a knee between her thighs and tapped my cock on her entrance. I alternated with my fingers, working her as she wetted my digits, readying her for me.

‘You’re no wolf,’ she breathed into my mouth.

I froze. ‘The fuck?’

‘You’re no wolf, dolce metà , the one creature I keep comparing you to. You’re a drago ,’ she went on, hips churning against my stroking. ‘You’re flaming me, scorching me.’

I chuckled, understanding her meaning. ‘ Sei la mia regina dei draghi .’

Damn, she was my dragon queen, as she grabbed my cock, stroking me with wild abandon.

‘No more, amore ,’ I rasped, even as my waist thrust in her tight grasp. ‘ Cazzo !’

I punished her with an extra hard flick of her clit, and she lurched.

‘Damn, even when we’re fucking, we’re sparring,’ she whispered, head tilted back in pleasure. ‘One hell of a chemistry!’

‘Makes it all so much hotter, no?’ I rumbled against her neck.

She moaned, so lost in ecstasy she’d no comeback.

‘Lips,’ I commanded.

Her head came to mine, and it was back to sucking on her mouth, even as I guided my head between her pussy folds.

‘Ready, leonessa ?’

She nodded, and I slid into heaven, into a white-hot, scorching, rippling vice.

‘Fotto!’ I growled, for the bliss was almost too much to take, grinding down on her.

She was also so tight, too tight.

Just as I thought it, she gasped.

This time, it wasn’t in pleasure, and I froze, lifting my mouth off her.

My eyes met her wet ones, down to the press of her lips, lower still to the stillness of her hips.

Fuckinghellshit. Cazzo.

‘You’re a virgin,’ I stated, between stiff lips, back aching from holding so still.

She nodded, a tear slipping from one eye.

I exhaled and shifted as if to lever off her, but her thighs came around me, clasping me fast, tight, hard.

‘Please, Rio, continue.’

‘Not when I’m hurting you,’ I growled, some of my tumescence softening, heart pounding, hating that I was harming her.

Also, not happy with not being informed about her innocence. I’d have been more gentle, more -

She arched her back, pushing her pussy into me so that it slid over my thrumming cock. I hissed at the wild sensation, shaking my head.

‘ Bello, per favore ,’ she begged, her breath hot in my mouth. ‘I need this.’

‘What about protection?’ I grunted.

She took a breath and smiled. ‘I’ve been on the pill for weeks now.’

‘You planned this?’

She shrugged, and I sucked my teeth, not entirely happy, for I’d thought I was doing all the setting up around here.

She smirked as if reading my thoughts, lifted her head, captured the back of mine, and kissed me long and slow. Her fingers worked my scalp, sending bolts of pleasure through me.

My doubts eased, fuck, anyone’s would have with that lithe, sensual body beneath them, cock still buried inside her folds.

‘You’re sure?’ I growled, my shaft harder than it’d ever been.

She nodded. ‘I want this. The pain has vanished now, lover.’

I narrowed my eyes on her, tagging the raw hunger in her face, going wild at the rippling of her cunt all along my throbbing cock.

‘All bets off?’ I growled.

‘They’ve been gone for a long time now, bello . Adorn me, my dragon. Love on me. Flame me, fuckin’ burn me up.’

Her whisper ignited me.

I began to thrust, at first with care, eyes on her face, watching every tiny shift in her expression.

When her hips jerked to meet mine, and her face convulsed in lust, I relaxed into a rhythm. Thrusting with even more power.

Until her hand came to my neck, pulled me in, and she growled. ‘Fuck me like you mean it, lover. Fuck me like a King.’

I lost it then, pistoning fast, rough, and far-reaching.

‘ Si, leone ,’ she breathed in my ear, ‘ Scopami più forte . Fuck me hard.’

I obliged her.

Pumping with force as her knees lifted and dug into my flank, her fingers clutching my ass as I rode her into oblivion.

Fotto , she was heaven, incandescent, a dream reverie.

Never had I had it this good. I felt so alive, thrumming, on fire, balls deep in her.

She kissed like a fantasy, too, our passionate lovemaking ratcheting ever higher.

Until, with a cry, she rippled so intensely around me and spurted, rivers of her cum flowing from her as she jerked into a wild climax.

Her lips left mine, and her head flew back, thrashing through her bliss.

Witnessing her unrestrained abandon sent me over the edge.

My spine convulsed as I blew into her pussy with such penetrating thrusts the heavy divan shifted and creaked beneath us.

Feral in her delight, she writhed as my cum scorched her.

I took her thighs and threw them over my shoulder, driving even harder as she moaned through a second orgasm, shaking as it washed over her.

‘Lips,’ I demanded once more, needing to come down with her tongue on me.

She obeyed, and we meshed again in a savage clash of neverending desire. Slowing to longer, languorous suckling as our hips slowed and our bodies glided to a stop.

Her entire body wrapped around me, hands caressing. Her fingers stroking my hair and nape was mind-blowing and intoxicating as waves of pleasure spread over my physique from the massage.

I’d never been so cherished as she clutched closer and trembled through yet another orgasm.

With a sigh, she rested, her head buried in my shoulder.

Still pulsing from my cumming, I reached between us, pulling out for a slight instant, enough so I’d reach her puffed-up clit.

Mouth gliding over her, I stroked her folds and thumbed her.

‘No, è impossibile ,’ she cried as her body spasmed once more.

I kept going til tears ran from her eyes, so wrought in wonder she appeared to lose all foothold of reality.

Writhing under me as I undid her, giving her the first of many wild rides.

I’d bedded many lovers. Some one-night stands, others temporary girlfriends.

Yet none had come close to the kind of ecstasy Chiara had given me.

None had made me want to send her to rapture until she would take it no more.

My heart throbbed, gone for her.

Fuck me. I had no voice, fight, or chance against the storm of her essence.

Forbidden fruit truly was the sweetest.