Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 84446 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 422(@200wpm)___ 338(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84446 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 422(@200wpm)___ 338(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
“Oh, god,” I said, feeling the flush rush up to my cheeks.
“That good, huh?” Avery asked, beaming at me.
“This seems wildly inappropriate,” I decided.
“Why? He’s not actually my blood,” Avery said. “Or Cinna’s for that matter. We’re all just girls here. Does he dirty talk? I bet he dirty talks.”
“He… does,” I admitted, not sure I could get any redder. “But, like, not just… not just… narration.”
Cinna and Avery shared a confused look.
“He… he has nice things to say,” I said, wishing I’d never opened my mouth.
“Renzo gives praise in bed?” Avery asked, mouth falling open. “You lucky duck, you.”
I did feel lucky about that, actually.
Even just remembering those words he said to me when he was touching me or buried in me made my insides flutter and swoop like birds taking flight.
And sometimes, if I thought about them long enough, I found myself wet and aching for him.
Insatiable, that was how I felt about him.
“Did you, like, seduce him?” Avery asked. “I mean, I think most of us figured this was, you know, an arrangement. Like you know how Isabella wasn’t expected to bang Primo Esposito when he made her marry him. I mean, at least that’s my understanding.”
“I, uh, I don’t think I’m capable of… seduction,” I admitted.
“Oh, come on. You’re a fucking bombshell,” Avery gushed.
“It’s not… it’s that… I hadn’t…”
“Oh,” Avery said. “Oh,” she added, voice more airy as she and Cinna shared a look of, I don’t know, confusion and concern intermingled. “Oh, Lore…”
“You don’t need to—“ I started, but trailed off, not knowing what to say.
“Did he know?” Cinna asked.
The way my gaze skittered away must have told them all they needed to know.
There was a long moment where no one spoke. But it was Avery who broke the silence. “I mean… I guess it’s good to have your first time with someone as experienced as Renzo, though.”
“Right?” Cinna asked with a snort. “I got popped in an alley between buildings at sixteen by a guy who snuck me a beer and told me I had great tits. It lasted all of two minutes and the only memorable thing about it was how he tripped over his own pants afterward.”
That got a laugh out of Avery.
“Hey, I mean, you do have great tits,” she said.
“And now only worthy men get to rest in the hills,” Cinna said, patting the center of her chest.
“How come Dav isn’t worthy?” I asked, enjoying this very adult-feeling conversation. I’d never really had girlfriends to talk to. And never about sex, for obvious reasons.
“Not to be crass,” Avery started.
“Since when?” Cinna shot back.
“But I was once at a party where Dav had two girls in the bathroom with him. They both were… having a really, really good time. I’m pretty sure that guy would eat like a starving man.”
“That’s never going to happen,” Cinna said, shrugging it off.
Avery and I shared a look that said we both now were invested in it actually happening. But Cinna missed it as she reached for her phone as it buzzed.
“Okay. I have to run.”
“Of course. Asses to kick. Glass ceilings to break…” Avery said, getting something dangerously close to an actual smile out of Cinna.
“Something like that.”
“Thanks for the coffee,” I said. “Even if it hurt your pride to order it,” I added.
The conversation after Cinna left was much more casual, just filling me in on the goings-on with my family before, eventually, she had to get going too.
“Please keep in touch, though, okay? Especially with Nico,” she implored at the door. “He’s not handling this well.”
“I will,” I said, accepting the hug she offered. “Thanks for checking in on me.”
Alone, I thought about what they had to say.
About how they clearly both knew Renzo better than I, his wife, did.
An idea formulated.
“Elian,” I called as I opened the door, finding him seated there.
“What can I do for you, Mrs. Lombardi?”
As much as I secretly loved being referred to as Renzo’s wife, the affection I was starting to feel toward Elian made me kind of wish he would use less formality with me.
“Do you know how late Renzo is working tonight?” I asked.
“I can ask.”
“Okay,” I said, nodding. “Also, I have all this cash, but I don’t have a card to use to place an order with. Could I, like, pay you the cash, and have you order some things for me?”
“Anything you want,” he said. “I’ll go grab it. Someone else will be here soon to take over.”
“I don’t want you to have to do it. I was going to order.”
“It’s not any trouble,” he insisted with that raised chin that all of these mafia guys used to assert that they were going to be stubborn about something.
Feeling bad about it, I handed over my long list to him.
And an hour after he was off his shift, there was a knock, and a ton of groceries waiting for me.