Mercenary (Gangsters of New York #3) - Bella Di Corte Page 0,48

any of them. Until I found Adriano in the kitchen.

“Corrado,” I said.

“Out swimming,” he said around a mouthful of food. He shrugged. “He swims after his workouts.” He swallowed the bite, or stuffed some in his cheeks for later, and showed me how to get outside.

The grass was soft beneath my bare feet, and the sun was hot on my face already.

“What’s wrong?” Adriano said, narrowing his eyes against the glare as he stared at me. “Why are you movin’ so slow? You got a cramp or somethin’?” He used his tongue to clean a piece of food from his front tooth.

I tried not to laugh, but all I could manage was a grin. I was moving slow because last night was my exercise, and I was feeling it in my bones. He must have thought I was grinning at him, and slowly, his puffy cheeks inflated even more when he smiled at me.

“Come on.” He nodded toward the garden. “I talk to you too long and he might dump me in the lake and use me as fish food.”

“Why is that?”

He shrugged. “He either has an arm around a woman to keep her close, or it’s around a man’s throat. It’s either love or hate for him. Not that he’s ever been in love before you…”

I followed behind him, wrinkling my nose when the wind blew. His cologne was something that could only be described as unpleasant, and it usually made me sneeze in confined areas. It was like pepper.

He stopped a few feet away from the pool and then went back the way we came. I set my hand over my eyes, watching him so I would know where to go.

“Mrs. Capitani.”

I turned to find Corrado hanging on to the side of the pool, his skin glistening in the sun. His hair was slicked back, making his chiseled features seem even sharper. His eyes were a shade or two lighter than his skin, which made him look almost wicked.

Corrado pointed to his lips. I walked over to him and bent over, about to kiss him good morning. Instead, I hit the water and went under. I came up spluttering, wiping the hair from my face.

As soon as my eyes would focus, they focused on him. He was smiling at me.

Bastardo! He had pulled me in.

I hit him in the face with water.

He came after me, and I tried to get away. His arm came around my waist, pulling me hard into his chest. My legs were useless. They floated.

“Bruto,” I said, splashing him in the face again.

He laughed some, kissing me behind the ear. “You like when I’m a brute,” he said, sucking on my earlobe.

I closed my eyes, placing my hands over his wrists, letting him float me around the pool. My eyes opened when he set me against the wall and undid the tie of the robe. It floated off a second later, and he brought me close again, nothing between us but the water. I wrapped my arms around his neck, my legs around his hips, leaning my forehead against his.

“What if the men see?” I whispered.

“They know better,” he said. “I doubt any of them want to go blind. My men watch the areas they’re ordered to, or they watch other men under them. Only a few watch me. Nothing slips past me.” He lifted my chin, examining my neck. He placed a firm kiss on a spot that was a little bruised from the night before. “This hurt?”

“No.” I shook my head. “Just a little tender. My culo…” I made a face. “That hurts.”

I opened my eyes to judge his expression. He had none either way, but there was more to it.

It took me a minute to figure it out, but after he had left me alone this morning, I thought about what had happened before we left my grandparents’ casa. He had been watching me talk to Ezio, who had returned from Greece a single man. I could tell by the look in Corrado’s eyes that he did not like it. At first, I thought his mood was because of his grandfather, but after what he had said and what he had done the night before, I connected the dots. He was jealous.

“It’ll be my pleasure to kiss that, too.”

I smiled. “You did. It did not help.”

“The water will.”

“It is nice,” I sighed, leaning my head back, turning my face up to the sun, while his mouth worked over my throat. “Where