36. Trilby

T rilby

I lay on the hospital bed with my eyes closed, listening to the bleeps of the monitors. It all feels a bit extreme really. I've been here for ten days now and I'm pretty certain the poison is out of my system.

The Dolls Eye poison that is.

There's a whole different kind of poison running through my veins now.

Savero has gone. Dead. I'm no longer engaged. Papa has his port back. Everything has gone back to how it was before, except nothing feels the same.

Like a brain that has been put through serious trauma, I'm changed.

Sera, Tess and Bambi have visited daily with news of how the scandal of Savero's deceit and subsequent murder has spread all the way from New York to Chicago. Poison is the coward's weapon in the Cosa Nostra. And though it hasn't yet been proven, everyone suspects Savero killed his own father, the revered don, Gianni. For that reason, he's been put six feet underground without so much as a sidelong glance from a priest.

Allegra has popped in to bring me an array of delicious cannoli that I'm not allowed to eat. Papa is the only one who's had to stay away because the port had to be untangled from all the deals Savero had set up.

Apart from the aforementioned metamorphosis, I feel pretty good; the doctors are pleased with my progress. I should have been discharged by now.

But someone won't let me leave.

And that someone is leaning up against the doorframe watching me ‘sleep.'

I refuse to open my eyes because I don't think I can look into his.

Two days ago, while I was ‘sleeping,' he confessed he's finally agreed to fulfil his father's wish and assume the role of don. Someone called Augie is his new underboss and Nicolò's loyalty has been rewarded with a new job out in Vegas, running a sizeable casino business.

Cristiano is now the don of the Di Santo crime family.

"I know you're awake." His voice slips beneath the sheets and slides across my skin making me feverish. "You've been awake for six days."

FML .

"When are you going to acknowledge me?"

I lift a finger.

There. Acknowledgement made.

I can hear his smile, damn it. Right before his footsteps close in on my bed.

I do my best to affect an air of boredom. "Shouldn't you be at ‘work'?"

He stands over me. "Work can wait."

The bleeps quicken and I silently curse the heart monitor. It is now obvious to Cristiano that his presence has a physical effect on my heart rate.

"Open your eyes, woman."

I don't mean to, but my annoyance at his command and the use of that word overrides my best intentions. Those full-bodied irises are the first thing I see and I sink into them.

When I finally drag myself out of those depths, he's shaking his head, his arms folded across his bloody enormous chest.

"How do you do it, huh?"

I inhale sharply, unable to tear my eyes away from him. "How do I do what?"

"Get more fucking beautiful every day without lifting a finger? And that one…" he points at the finger I just lifted, " doesn't count."

My insides swirl like a whirlpool.

I swallow and the air sticks in my throat. "Why are you here, Cristiano?"

He blinks and the smile falls from his face. "I want to make sure you're ok before we get you discharged."

"I'm fine. I want to go home."

He opens his mouth to protest but I beat him to it.

"I'm no longer engaged to a Di Santo," I say slowly. "I'm not at risk of imminent death anymore. I haven't been home in ages and that's where I want to be."

He nods as if he's trying to convince himself he's in agreement. "Fine. When you're settled you can come to the house and pick out anything you want to keep from the closet I got you."

"Can't you return it?"

He shrugs. "Too much hassle."

"More hassle than having me come round and dilly dally about which clothes I want to keep?" Has he met me?

"Having you visit will never be a hassle."

His soft tone jabs me in the chest.

"Cristiano…"

Suddenly, he's crouching by the side of the bed, his face level with mine. It takes my breath away. This is why I kept my eyes closed these last few days; I knew he would weaken my defenses with a mere look .

"Do you want to know what I want?"

A puff of air escapes my lips and I snap them shut. Yes .

"No."

"I'm going to tell you anyway, because you need to hear it."

I go to turn my face away but he grips it in place.

"I want you ."

He stares at me while those words sink in. They send tendrils of heat across every nerve ending.

"I've wanted you since the night at Joe's. Fuck, I've wanted you since we were kids; I just had no idea we would meet again."

I purse my lips together because nothing good would come of me opening my mouth right now.

"I know you hate this life, Trilby. There's nothing I can do about that. It's taken me a long time to realize it, but this is where I need to be. I owe it to my father to continue this family in the way he would have wanted."

There's such sincerity in his eyes, I can't look away.

"And, I hate to admit this to you but…" His gaze roams my face as though he's trying to find a way in. "Coming back here, putting my ammo to use in your honor whether you asked for it or not, it's made me feel alive . Killing my brother for what he did to you? That's the greatest satisfaction I've gotten from doing anything, ever . I would do it all again, for you."

His grip eases.

"Why?"

"Because… I think I was made for you."

"Made?"

His brows knit. "In every way possible."

The damn heart rate monitor is having a conniption.

"It doesn't all have to be about the life, Trilby." He takes hold of my hands. "It can also be about us. I want to give you everything. Children, art, your family, your freedom…" He glances away, briefly, "to a point."

I hike my brows and his face softens into a devastating smile.

"I want to give you so many fucking orgasms you can't walk."

I blush up to my hairline.

"I want to kiss you until you can no longer feel your lips."

My gaze drops to his without thinking.

"I want you to be the lady of my house. I will never be able to spend enough money on you, but God help me, I'll try."

My mind spins back to the confessions he made outside the restaurant. They made my legs so weak I could barely walk. Now, my resolve is weakening so much I don't think I can refuse him.

He leans into me so that his breath coasts over my lips and my eyelids flutter shut.

"Remember what I said, little one."

My thighs tremble at the pet name he's adopted for me.

"There's violence…"

My lids pop open just enough to see the fire in his eyes, then he flicks out his tongue to tease the top of my lip before pulling away. "…and there's violence ."

My lips part in a gasp and he closes his mouth over them, thundering into me with a kiss so hot and unbridled I can't breathe.

The force of him pushes me into the bed and I mindlessly thread my fingers through his hair, holding on to him tightly.

A growl rumbles through his chest and into my mouth and his tongue licks around it, making me heady with lust. He's on his feet, his hands stroking over my face, my throat, my shoulders. I wriggle upwards trying to free myself from the bedsheet because I'm so hot I need air. The heart monitor is going berserk so I yank the wires from my body and the beeping stops.

Cristiano lifts his lips to murmur against my skin. "I was enjoying that."

I curl my fingers into his hair. "Don't gloat." Then I pull him back onto my mouth.

Within seconds I'm lost again.

His hands slip below the sheets and tug up the nightgown I've been forced to wear.

"This is sexy," he says softly.

I adopt my most sultry voice. "Wait till you see the bed pan."

He rewards my sharp tongue with a nip and shoves the sheet down over my thighs.

Then he gives me what I need. All of his weight.

He stills while I revel in the length of his cock pressing into my thighs and stomach. I tip my head backwards and let out a long breathy moan.

"Oh fuck, Trilby," he whispers hoarsely. "Stop doing this to me."

I lower my head and frown. "Doing what?"

"Making me want to fuck you in public places when anyone could walk in and see us. We're in a hospital in case you hadn't noticed."

I lift my head and bite his bottom lip earning myself another growl. "I don't care."

"Then I have to, for your sake." His torso stiffens but I can feel his conviction slipping away with each kiss I press to his jaw.

"Stop it," he moans.

I smile against his neck. "No."

"Oh good lord." He gasps when I slide my hand down to his pants and cup as much of his cock as I can through the fabric. It leaps into my hold and he buries his face into the pillow muffling a frustrated groan.

"Just fuck me for heaven's sake," I murmur into his ear. "I've been waiting for ten damn days."

He lifts his head and spears me with a hooded brow and a look of pure filth.

"Spread your legs."

Yes.

I wriggle my legs out from under him then a crack pierces the air and I slide head first into the head board. Cristiano's weight rolls off me, while I fold up like a concertina at the top of the bed… half of which is now collapsed on the floor.

"Jesus!" Cristiano is standing over me in seconds and scooping me up in his arms. "Are you ok?"

I look around myself in shock. "What happened?"

He lowers my feet to the floor. "We broke the bed."

I pan back to him, my brows arched.

He holds up his hands. "It wasn't just me, Castellano. There were two of us on it. And it wasn't one of the standard issue ones. That fucker was flimsy ."

I narrow my eyes and smooth the cotton down over my legs. "It's held up just fine for ten days."

When I look up again, he's staring at me.

"What?"

"Marry me." His tone is sharp and unyielding.

I frown. "Don't tell me what to do."

A corner of his lips ticks up until he wipes it away with his knuckle. "Ok then, please will you marry me?"

My chest flutters. "I'll think about it."

He grabs the back of my head and swallows my petulance in a messy tongue kiss. When he releases me, he shakes his head. "You are pure insolence, woman."

I smile and shuffle after him in my bare feet and apparently sexy hospital gown.