35. Luxtyn

35

LUXTYN

I learned last night that Matteo is definitely a man of his word. He spent all night reminding me never to doubt him again as he proved himself in every position you can think of: doggy style, cowgirl, reverse cowgirl, up against the shower wall, bent over the side of the bed. And just as he said I would, I begged him for more every time.

I'm stretching in bed with Matteo still curled around me when he speaks. "I was wondering when you'd wake up," he mumbles, the sleep still present in his voice as he trails his hand down my bare stomach.

Placing my hand on his, I stop him. "What do you think you're doing?"

He grumbles a low laugh in my ear. "Was last night too much for you, Little Lux?"

"How was it not enough for you?" I ask, sincerely shocked at this man's libido. He's seven years older, and I'm the one who can't keep up with him .

"You drive me crazy." His tone is rough. Needy. "I just want to be inside you twenty-four seven. "

"Yeah, well, not today. Maybe not for a few days. I can barely move, my body's so sore. And my vagina?" I let out a humorous scoff. "It feels like it's on fire." I tense up at the joke I made because the realization of the lack of protection we used last night dawns on me. "Oh my gosh."

Matteo freezes. "What?"

"We didn't use any protection last night." How could I be so stupid? I remember talking about it, but then I got carried away and. . . shit .

Matteo immediately relaxes behind me. "Oh, that's it?"

I roll around in his arms to face him but not without letting out a groan at my aching muscles. "What do you mean, that's it ? Are you not concerned about that?"

Matteo's eyes remain closed as he lies there with his head on the pillow. "I already told you last night that I'm never going to wear a condom with you."

I jab his chest with my finger. "Matteo, getting pregnant is a real thing. Not to mention STDs. We haven't even had that conversation yet."

Matteo's eyes snap open. "First of all, I like when you call me Teo, so moving forward, that's the only name of mine that I want to hear off your lips. Secondly, you're not going to get pregnant, and even if you do, you're my wife. Having children is inevitable, and if it's sooner rather than later, so be it."

My mouth falls open, and I'm about to tell him I'm not ready to have children, but he continues. "And thirdly, I do not have any STDs. I always wrapped it up, and I also had Doc draw my blood and run tests on me the night you stabbed me to make sure I was clean." He looks proud as he says that. "And I haven't had sex with anyone else since I met you."

How efficient of him.

"Okay, so what about me? You don't know the guys I had sex with. What if one of them gave me something? "

His expression darkens. "Never speak about having sex with any other man but me again," he growls out. "And I already know you're clean. I had Doc do a full panel test on you when he did your DNA test."

I blink at him. "Why am I not surprised?"

"You didn't think I wouldn't be prepared, did you?"

I roll my eyes and shake my head at how over the top this man can be. "On a serious note, though. This whole baby thing? I'm not ready for that, so I think I should look into some birth control. The pill or something."

My mom talked to me about the pill when I turned sixteen. Since I wasn't having sex, I never went on it, and since I had only had sex a few times before last night, it's just not something I ever bothered myself with. But becoming pregnant in the near future gives me anxiety. I'm not ready for all of that.

He must see the seriousness in my expression and hear it in my tone because he slides his hand under my chin, tilting it up, and says, "I'll schedule an appointment with Doc for you."

"Um, okay?"

"Why are you posing that as a question?"

I think about that for a second before answering. "I don't know. I guess I'm just surprised at how easy of a conversation that was."

Teo laughs and pulls me closer to his chest. I snuggle into him and wrap my leg around his, entangling our bodies together. He places his chin atop my head, and it all feels so. . . comfortable. Normal. Like this is where I'm supposed to be.

We lie here together quietly until our breaths become in sync with one another before it dawns on me that I have to pop this perfect, invisible bubble I've put us in. Pulling myself back, I find Teo's gaze. "So were you able to find anything out about my mom last night?"

My heart beats erratically, like I'm about to have a panic attack as I wait for his answer. "I did," he says. His tone gives me nothing on what to expect. "Mauricio doesn't know when to shut-up once he's started speaking. The stripper barely had to do any work."

I stare at him expectantly, waiting for him to continue, and when he doesn't, I decide to mess with him. "We prefer being called dancers , Teo." He grows still and his eyes narrow in on mine. I shove at his chest. "Hey, I'm just kidding."

Grabbing my hand, he holds it to his chest right above his heart. The thumping of the organ seems to have picked up pace. "You might be kidding, but you should know I was not kidding when I told you last night that I'll kill any man that sees you like that again."

"I know. And I'm sorry about last night. I don't think I ever actually said those words to you. I didn't mean to upset you."

Cocking a brow, he looks at me as if he doesn't believe that last bit. "Oh, you had no idea I'd be upset about you stripping?"

I roll my eyes. "Okay, fine. So I knew if you caught me that you'd be upset, but I was pissed at you, so I didn't really care about that at that moment. I just wanted to help find my mom and it felt like you were keeping me from doing that." My voice gets soft because I did just want to help find my mom. "It felt unfair."

Matteo's face softens as if he finally understands where I'm coming from. It's crazy how quickly it's changed from this being his world and me just living in it, to what it is now. I'm not an expert, but this feels like a real relationship. A real marriage. Talking through things. Understanding one another. Yes, we had a hiccup with the strip club last night, but that also led to the most amazing sex of my entire life. And I want to say he felt the same way. It's like we've had a breakthrough in this business transaction .

Brushing a strand of hair behind my ear, he says, "It wasn't my intention to make you feel that way. I was trying to protect you. Being around those men is unsafe, and I won't risk anything when it comes to you."

"I know, and now that I've had some time to think about it, I realize it was an impulsive move." I chuckle to myself. "I mean I didn't even get any information out of those Silvestri guys. My plan was . . . not very well thought out."

"It definitely was not. But fortunately for you, mine was."

My eyes light up. "Did you find my mom? Do they have her? Where is she?" My questions come out in rapid fire. Not a beat separating them.

"Woah, woah, woah. Hold on. No, I have not found her yet, but I'm almost certain Silvestri didn't take her."

My brows crinkle. "What does that mean? If they don't have her, then who does? What did Mauricio say?"

"The stripper was doing her thing and Mauricio was drunk. She got him talking about what he does and asked him if he ever kidnaps people. Pretending like it was some turn-on for her. He confirmed that he does, but he hasn't done so in a while. I signaled to her to keep going and when she asked if he's ever had to kidnap a woman before, he had a look of confusion on his face and asked her what woman he would need to kidnap."

"Oh . . . okay. And you believe him?"

Nodding slowly, he says, "I do. But it's not adding up." He stares off in space over my head. "Nothing about this is adding up."

I let out a long sigh. "So now what?" I ask, feeling helpless. I don't know what to do, and I'm losing faith that we'll ever find her. And that's killing me .

"Hey," he says, pulling my attention back to him. "I'm going to call your father and see if he has any leads, okay? I'm going to work with him on finding her. I have to go into the city, but Enzo and Isabella are on their way here from the penthouse. Enzo needs to come with me, but there's plenty of security here already. I figured you and Isabella can hang out, even though I'm beginning to think you're a bad influence on each other."

That tugs a small laugh out of me, which I think was his intention. Reaching up, I wrap my hand around the back of his neck and bring him down to me, placing a light peck on his lips. "Thank you, Teo. I don't know what I would do without you."

"Don't thank me yet. Not until we have you and your mother reunited, which will happen." Teo's optimistic attitude is the only thing holding me together. The only thing keeping me grounded and from losing my mind. He'll never understand how much that means to me.

With a small nod, I trace my fingers along his chest tattoos, then notice small writing right above his heart. It's almost as if the tattoo artist had to find it a home among the other intricate ink. The words say Mother and Father in beautiful calligraphy and are stacked on top of each other with a date from three years ago separating the two.

I've been so worried about my mom that I haven't talked to Teo about his parents. What the hell is wrong with me? It's something I've been wondering about ever since he dropped that information at Angelo's house the other night.

He must see the question written all over my face because he says, "Go ahead. Ask me."

I bring my gaze up to meet his as I struggle to ask. "Y-your parents. What happened to them?" I whisper, nervous to hear his answer .

Teo swallows deeply before responding. "They were killed by Giuseppe Silvestri." His words slice through me as I let out a gasp.

"He asked my father to partner with him, so he could have access to his port. Silvestri was already using your father's port, but having access to more ports gives him more income and power."

Teo swallows deeply once more, and his eyes go sullen. "When my father denied him access, Silvestri decided to make an example by having them both killed. He had some guys dump their bodies about a half a mile outside our security gates."

Teo's jaw clenches repeatedly as he struggles with reliving the nightmare of his parents' murders. Cupping his cheek, I brush my thumb along his jawline, and he relaxes.

"I'm so sorry, Teo. You don't have to tell me any more."

"No, I want to. I need to get this out." He clears his throat as I bring my hand back down to his chest. "Enzo and I were the ones that found them. We were on our way back to the house. Those bastards left my parents lying on the ground with bullet holes right in the center of their heads and a note that said, This is what happens when I'm denied what I want. I knew immediately it was from Silvestri because the cocky son of a bitch had his family crest on the note. He wanted me to know, so that I wouldn't make the same mistake my father did."

The unshed tears stinging my eyes threaten to spill over at the pain in Teo's voice.

His eyes darken and his expression hardens. "So the reason I want to control your father's port is because I want to dismantle Silvestri's main source of income. I want to take it all away from him until the Silvestri name means nothing anymore. And then when that happens, I'm going to fucking kill him. I want him to go down knowing there will be nothing left of his name. Nothing of his family. His legacy will be void at that point."

His menacing tone should scare me, but it doesn't. Knowing he'll kill someone should scare me, but it doesn't.

"And you haven't been able to carry out your plan because of me," I whisper, staring at the tattoo he got for his parents. He was so adamant about taking over Angelo's port when he married me, but my own problems have overshadowed avenging his parents' deaths.

Placing a finger under my chin, Teo lifts my face so I'm staring deep into his eyes. "Don't do that. Your mother is the priority right now. Nothing will change what happened to my parents, but I can help you not have the same fate with your mother. My revenge will come, but for now it can wait until she's back, safe and sound."

A tear runs down my cheek, but Teo swipes it with his thumb before bringing his mouth down to mine and giving me a long, sweet kiss. I don't know how we ended up the way we are this quickly, but I know with Teo by my side, my mom and I will be reunited.