Chapter 19

CHAPTERNINETEEN

“WOW. THIS IS yours?” Luca stared in awe and let out a low whistle at the beautiful boat Dom had pulled up to the dock. It somehow looked both vintage and modern at the same time, with a polished wood exterior that gleamed in the bright afternoon sun and the name “Giuliana” written in cursive along the back. The front of the boat had one long seat, like you’d find in a car from the fifties, and there was an open space behind it where you could stretch out and catch a tan.

“Yes,” Dom said from where he stood at the end of the dock. In a pair of shorts and a loose white shirt he’d left unbuttoned to his chest, Dom looked more relaxed—and mesmerizingly attractive—than Luca thought he ever had.

Seriously, it was distracting.

“Want to go for a ride?”

Luca thought back to a few nights ago when he’d been ridden, tied up in the pavilion above them, and he had a feeling Dom had said that on purpose. This boat trip wouldn’t be the same wild ride, but he was definitely up for a tour of the gorgeous lake he’d been admiring for days.

“Hell yes, I do.” Luca handed Dom the basket he’d found in the kitchen and filled with a variety of food from the market. Then he climbed into the boat and scooted down the long seat.

“What’s this?”

“Sustenance for later.”

“Ah.” Dom set the basket in the open back and then set about untying the boat from the dock. A few seconds later he lowered himself in beside Luca and threw on his sunglasses.

It didn’t seem fair that he looked so perfectly at home here all casual on the lake and also managed to completely slay in a suit in New York. But that was part of the attraction.

Although it also helped that Luca hadn’t seen an injured or dead body in all the time he’d been in Italy and had been able to push the psycho killer side of Dom conveniently to the back of his mind.

As Dom started up the engine and they slowly moved away from the dock and into the deeper waters of the lake, Luca couldn’t help his smile. How could he when this place was like a dream? A much better dream than he’d had in longer than he could remember.

Luca tilted his face toward the sun and took a big inhale of the warm, fresh air before slowly letting it out.

“If you keep your eyes closed like that you’re going to miss the view,” Dom said.

“On the contrary, I’m immensely enjoying the view. And the sun. And this chauffeured boating experience.”

“Chauffeured?” Dom scoffed. “You may not like it as much when I pitch you overboard.”

“I thought you left the threats back in New York.”

“Hardly.”

You can take the man out of the city… Luca thought as he settled into the seat, laying his arm out along the edge of the boat. With Dom the speed demon at the helm, they flew past the historic homes lining the coast.

“Are you a Star Wars or Bond fan?” Dom said.

“That might be the most random thing you’ve ever said to me.”

Dom slowed the boat down to a crawl and pointed out one of the villas along the lake. “Look familiar?”

Luca squinted under the bright sun and brought his hand up to shade his eyes. It did look familiar, but it took him a minute to figure out why.

“Wait, is that where Anakin and Padme got married? On Naboo?”

“I have no fucking idea. I just know they shoot a lot of shit there.”

“Oh. What’s it called?”

“Villa Balbianello.”

“Balbianello,” Luca repeated. “I like that. How come all the homes here have names?”

“Because back in the days before Christ—I don’t fucking know.” Dom sped the boat back up and headed away from the coast. “If you want the historic tour, you’ll need to find another guide.”

“Nah, you’ll do.”

“I’ll do?”

“Yeah.” Luca angled himself toward Dom. “I’ve got a nice view right here. You know, you’re not bad to look at when you aren’t covered in someone else’s blood.”

“Well, that could change. It’s still early.”

Luca gasped and clutched his heart. “Was that a joke? Dom Rossetti is cracking jokes in the middle of Lake Como like a normal human being?”

“Careful. That smartass mouth of yours isn’t doing you any favors.”

“No? What does my mouth make you wanna do?”

Dom looked over at Luca and lowered his glasses. “Either punch it or fill it. I can’t decide.”

Luca’s heart began to beat faster as he swallowed hard. Always the threat of violence mixed with pleasure. As if Dom didn’t know any other way.

“How do you do it?” Luca found himself saying. “How can you have this sexy, likable side to you and still do…all the things you do?”

“Like chauffeuring around Americans that talk too much?”

“I’m serious.”

Dom sighed and slowed the speed down a notch. He kept his eyes forward as he said, “It’s who I am, Luca. I didn’t have a choice.”

“But even if you could choose, you’d still want this life? The kidnapping, the killing…”

“I’ve never done something to someone that they didn’t deserve.” Dom glanced at him. “And yes, that includes taking you.”

“No regrets about that, huh?”

Dom looked away. “No. Ultimately, you are who you are.”

“A super-hot charmer who just happens to share DNA with a few horrible humans?”

That made Dom crack the smallest of smiles. “Something like that.”

“So that’s how you justify what you do? You hurt people you think deserve it?”

The smile dropped in an instant. “I don’t have to justify any-fucking-thing.”

“No, you don’t,” Luca said, treading carefully. “I’d just like to understand. I mean, you have to know what you do isn’t normal. Or right.”

“In what world? Yours? You grew up in a goddamn bubble, Luca. Welcome to reality. It’s shit.” The muscle in Dom’s jaw clenched, and Luca wondered if he’d gone too far. But he couldn’t help the curiosity that gnawed at him.

“You’re right,” Luca said. “I did grow up in a bubble, and I’m glad. The best thing the Fiores did was get rid of me.”

“They must’ve made quite the impression in only twenty-four hours.”

Yeah, they really had. Luca had been on the couch, his arms and legs still bound by the gaggle of Fiore madmen when he finally got a good look at Constantino. He wasn’t sure what he expected to feel seeing the man that had put him on this Earth, but his gut feeling had been revulsion. That instinct proved to be right on, especially when the man flat out said he didn’t want Luca. He only needed him.

Screw that. Luca deserved a hell of a lot more in his life than people who would use and abuse him. Not that long ago, he’d counted Dom as one of them.

But now…

Now Luca wasn’t the frightened man he’d been when they first met. Now he had questions, and he wasn’t afraid to ask them. After all, they’d left behind a mess back in the States, and what would be left to go back to? If that was the plan.

Luca chewed on his lip. “Do you think everything’s okay in New York? With your family?”

“I don’t know.”

“You haven’t talked to them?”

“No. It’s not safe for them to know where we are.”

“But Chef knows, right? You haven’t talked to him?”

“Once. But he’s not telling me shit.” Dom let out a sigh and pushed his windblown hair off his forehead.

“That’s driving you crazy, isn’t it? Being out of the loop.”

“No,” he said a little too quickly.

“Liar. I saw the way you were in the penthouse when you weren’t allowed to leave. You were like a caged animal.”

“Well, this time it was my choice to take myself out of it.”

“Why?”

Dom practically growled. “Jesus Christ with the questions.”

“I told you. I’m trying to understand you.”

“And I’m telling you, you don’t want to do that.”

“Maybe I do.”

“Why? Because I’m a great fuck and you need to convince yourself there’s something redeemable about me? Because you couldn’t possibly enjoy getting off to a psychopath?”

“That’s how you see yourself? As a psychopath?”

“Aren’t I?”

“I thought so. But a psychopath wouldn’t save me.”

Dom turned to him, a denial obviously on the tip of his tongue, but it never came. Instead he snapped his mouth shut and slowed the boat to a stop. As they rocked back and forth with the gentle lapping of the waves, Luca decided what the hell and kept going.

“Look, I’m alive and in this beautiful place when you could’ve left me with the people you hate. But you didn’t. You saved me even against your father’s wishes, so call me crazy, but I’m thinking you care a little about me. Like maybe the smallest amount humanly possible, but it’s there. But don’t worry, I don’t expect you to admit it.”

“Good.”

Dom stayed silent for a long time, staring out at something in the distance. Luca wished he could see his eyes, but Dom’s sunglasses shielded the truth Luca knew he’d see.

Okay. He’d tried. He couldn’t force Dom to open up, and at the moment, he wondered why he’d even bothered.

Luca sighed. It was too beautiful of a day to waste it, so fine, he’d put his questions away and enjoy the majestic view. There were other boats out taking advantage of the day, but in such a vast lake, they didn’t get too close.

The silence between him and Dom was deafening, though, putting a damper on what should’ve been a good time. Keep it light, he thought. Say something about the weather. Isn’t that what New Yorkers do?

“If I lived in a place like this, I’d never leave. It’s perfect.”

There. Dom couldn’t argue or find fault with that.

But Luca was proven wrong once again, as Dom stood up without warning and climbed out of the front seat to the back of the boat. He let down what looked like an anchor and then sat down at the rear, letting his legs hang over the edge into the water.

Welp. That action was answer enough, wasn’t it?

It didn’t look like Luca would ever find out who Dom Rossetti really was.