Chapter 8: Sunday: A near kiss

My stomach growled, waking me up around six a.m. the following morning. I had the munchies—that hunger for something nice to eat you get after you have been drinking. Most people get it right away while they are still under the influence of alcohol or whatever, but for me, it was usually the next morning. Like today. I craved something yummy. In my case, whenever I had the munchies, I usually yearned for pizza or something sweet. This morning, it was something sweet.

I headed to the kitchen in my pyjamas because, at this time, on a Sunday morning after a late night, my family were unlikely to be up, so I didn’t bother changing. As I thought, there was nobody around. I opened the fridge to see what goodies Nonna had left over from yesterday’s dinner.

Tiramisu! Fantastic! Squealing in delight, I grabbed the dish and a spoon and plonked myself down at the breakfast bar. I took a huge spoonful and groaned in pleasure at the creamy, bittersweet coffee taste. This was one of the best desserts Nonna made. Tiramisu in Italian basically means “pick me up” or “cheer me up”, so it was absolutely perfect for a morning-after case of the munchies.

Taking several more blissful bites, I moaned to myself in utter delight. I was just eating another gorgeous mouthful when the door opened, and Romi walked in. He stopped dead in his tracks as I was in the process of licking my spoon. I saw desire flare in his eyes as he looked at my mouth. Well, well! This was an opportunity too good to miss. I bit my lip to hold back my grin. I was going to make the most of this.

“Want some?” I asked innocently, licking my lips slowly.

He didn’t say anything, but his eyes tracked the movement of my tongue. I quickly loaded another spoonful and brought the spoon back towards my mouth in slow motion. I put it between my lips, letting my eyes half close and very, very slowly sucked the creamy dessert off.

“Hmmm, it’s really good!” I said, licking my lips again and grinning mischievously.

Romi had been stuck to the spot, his eyes transfixed on me, but suddenly, he moved. He strode over, reached his hand out towards me, and removed a stray piece of cream from my bottom lip with his finger.

My eyes locked with his, and just before he could remove his hand, I grabbed it, put his finger in my mouth and sucked hard. I groaned as his eyes flared again. There was no mistaking that this man was interested in me. I released his finger with a pop and then sucked on my bottom lip.

“Hmm,” I moaned, my eyelids fluttering heavily with desire.

Holy hell! I couldn’t believe I just did that.

We stared at each other, and I wondered what, if anything, he was going to do or say. It felt like we were in a trance, bewitched by each other, unable to break the connection between us.

My core clenched, and my nipples ached the longer we looked at each other. Romi licked his lips, his breath hitched, and his face lowered towards mine. I was sure he was going to kiss me. I felt the excitement bubbling inside of me as his head dipped closer. I lifted my chin up to meet him and closed my eyes in anticipation, the magnetic pull between us making a kiss inevitable.

Or it would have been if the bloody kitchen door hadn’t opened at that precise moment and broke the spell! Damn!

We jumped apart quickly as Nonna entered, and I shoved another spoonful of tiramisu in my mouth, trying to act normal and knowing I was failing dramatically.

A quick glance at Romi showed he was having just as much trouble. He squirmed and looked totally like a little kid who had just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

“You two are up early,” Nonna said, looking between us and raising her eyebrows in question.

“I was hungry!” I mumbled around another mouthful of tiramisu, not quite meeting her eyes.

God, had she seen how close we were? Had she realised we were about to kiss? Was she able to feel the sexual tension between us? I hoped not. If she was aware of any of this, she didn’t let on and simply smiled, grabbed another spoon, and dug into the dessert with me.

“I’m heading out a run,” Romi mumbled before practically bolting out the door, looking like he couldn’t escape quickly enough.

Geez, I hoped he wasn’t regretting what nearly happened. No. I was sure he was probably just uncomfortable at nearly getting caught kissing me. I understood that. I just hoped that it wouldn’t stop him from trying to kiss me again soon because I really wanted him to kiss me.

Knowing Romi well, meant I knew he would be struggling internally with his attraction to me and the implications that he would have on us and our family. However, now that he knew the attraction was mutual, surely he would want to pursue it regardless of the difficulties involved? I certainly did.

Having finished off the tiramisu, I trudged back upstairs. Sitting down heavily on my bed, I pursed my lips, wishing Nonna hadn’t interrupted us. She really couldn’t have picked a worse time. I wondered how soon it would take Romi to make another move on me. Would he do it by himself, or would I need to instigate it again? I hoped he would do it of his own accord.

Even though I returned home planning to seduce Romi, now that I knew my feelings were reciprocated, I really wanted him to make the first move. I guessed I was old-fashioned deep down. Chewing at the side of my thumb, I mulled over what I should do. After a lot of humming and hawing, I decided to give Romi a few days to react. If he hadn’t made his move by then, I would need to initiate things again.

It was going to be difficult to wait, but in the meantime, it wouldn’t hurt to put together a plan of action in case I needed it. Dad had always taught us to be prepared, and it would be good to have a few ideas ready to pull out of the bag when the next opportunity arrived, and I knew just where to find them.

Smirking to myself, I headed to the library and searched through several books by my favourite romance authors, looking for inspiration. I spent the morning researching, and by lunchtime, I was armed with a number of scenarios I could use depending upon whatever opportunity presented itself.

Unfortunately, none did because the man himself had disappeared—literally. I looked for him at lunch and for the rest of the day, but he was nowhere to be found. At dinner, I subtly asked Marko where he was, but apparently, he finished his run and then headed off straight away on Bratva business and hadn’t returned.

Well, I consoled myself with the fact that at least he wasn’t avoiding me after our near kiss, as I had begun to suspect. Hoping he’d return later, I spent the evening downstairs, but by midnight, I realised he probably wasn’t coming home and headed up to bed feeling quite deflated.

My fingers itched to call or text him, but I couldn’t think of a good enough reason to do that, especially at this time of the night. I didn’t want to appear clingy and put him off me, so I refrained from contacting him.

Forcing myself to go to bed, I tossed and turned as sleep eluded me. My mind kept thinking about different possibilities for Romi’s no-show. I lay in bed, my imagination taking me down a rabbit hole of worry as I wondered where he was and what he was doing.

It seemed likely that he had worked late and decided to spend the night at his flat. Although I wasn’t sure, it was in a fit state for sleeping in. Alternatively, he could have been in one of the two apartments we had kept in central London. We had them so that if anyone was out late, working or otherwise, and couldn’t be bothered with the forty-minute commute home, then they had somewhere to crash instead.

Of course, my brothers often used the apartments if they were entertaining ladies, too, and that was my problem. Jealousy coursed through me as my mind kept thinking about that scenario. Could Romi have a girlfriend I didn’t know about?

Whenever I called Marko, I always made a point of asking about everyone’s love life, including Romi’s, and he hadn’t mentioned anyone, but what if Marko didn’t know? Or what if Romi picked some random women up tonight? I knew he felt desire last night and this morning; what if he decided to sate it elsewhere and stay away from his troublesome little cousin?

Tears pricked my eyes at that thought, but I pushed them away. I didn’t know if he was with anyone else, but I didn’t want to believe he could be. The attraction between us was too strong for that. I might be wholly inexperienced, but I was sure of it. I was just being silly. He had either been busy and had worked too late to come home, or he was avoiding me, afraid of the problems a relationship with me would cause. I hoped it was the former, but knowing Romi as I did, it was probably the latter.

Feeling bloody frustrated, I rubbed my tired eyes. I was exhausted and needed to get some sleep. I wanted to look my best whenever I got to see Romi next. Being unsure of how he felt about us was killing me, and I needed to confront him about it. I wouldn’t give Romi enough time to talk himself out of his attraction to me, which I figured, with his strong sense of duty and family commitment, he was probably trying to do. So, I determined that if he hadn’t returned by tomorrow, I was going to find out exactly where he was and go find him myself.

With that decision made, I stuck my earphones in and listened to a soothing meditation until I drifted off to sleep.