Chapter 18

After the bath, even though I was still quite tipsy, OK drunk!

I still called Ma.

“My daughter, did you have a good day?”

“Yes, thank you. How are you?”

“Good, good now that you are good.”

“About Nico and….”

“Tesoro! This time I organised everything. You need to just relax and know they are with god and I have taken good care of their families. We take care of our own. You relax and get some sleep.”

“When will the funerals be? I don’t want to miss them?”

“When you return, we wait for you. Now go and sleep.”

“Ok. Thank you. I’ll speak to you soon”.

“Buona notte mia preziosa figlia.”

The next day, Landon had us busy looking at new houses.

Somehow, he had it organised that we viewed all the houses we had chosen only yesterday and some more.

Once again, I suppose having money means doors open quickly.

“So I am guessing this is the one” Landon says in my ear before he starts kissing down my neck, holding me close.

I love the feel of his hard chest against my back, the way his whole presence seems to engulf me, project me.

The house was originally an old miner’s cottage that they renovated and then extended to a luxurious 4 bedroom home all with the beautiful features I love. The cornices, ceiling roses and timber floors had me falling in love instantly! And the views from the large lounge/dining windows over the beach were to die for.

The house is on 30 acres with one of the boundaries on the beach. It has a separate little 3 bedroom cottage up at the road that the current owners rent out. It would be perfect for the guards.

Sure, it wasn’t as grand as the other place that I refuse to go back to, but we can renovate it if Landon wants.

I wouldn’t dare ask how much it costs as I know my knees would buckle at the price.

We had looked at so many houses and some were nice and I could see us there, whereas others like the concrete house, definitely not. Each to their own, but a house built purely from concrete and glass felt too cold for me, no matter what the views were.

I nodded my head and melted into him. “Do we have to move back to Italy though? I could move in and happily live the rest of my life here.”

He chuckles “We will be back, I promise”. He gives me a squeeze.

“We will have to organise a caretaker to look after everything while we aren’t here.”

I can feel him smiling into my neck “Already organised.”

I roll my eyes. “Of course.”

Landon went to speak to the realtor who was sitting in his car, letting us have some privacy after the initial tour.

I never in my wildest dreams thought I would ever live in a house like this. Well, I never would have dreamed that I would be dating the Italian Mafia boss either!

My stomach started to rumble by the time we left. I shouldn’t have been surprised when Landon took us to a beautiful beachside restaurant that he, of course, had booked out.

Did I say earlier that I never thought I would be spoilt like this either?

I love seafood so gorged myself on many different dishes they had and got some take away as well! Landon just chuckled at me.

The rest of the week was hard without Nico. Everyone tried to cheer me up, which I appreciated. The guards even bought me cookies and cupcakes to make me smile.

Most of them, especially Gio, kept reminding me that he went out the way he would have wanted. He died with honour but I still felt guilty.

They are used to this life. They grew up around this and this kind of death.

I grew up around death in the country, however it’s different with the slaughter of an animal for food. Or a problem with birthing or we had too many roosters, so we had to get rid of a few we couldn’t sell. We ate them though, so they didn’t go to waste.

I have also dealt with the loss of grandparents, but once again, this is completely different.

This death had guilt attached to it no matter what anyone said. I just couldn’t shake if off.

“Where is she? Shopping time girl”, the screams that echoed through the penthouse woke me up was a smile and a shake of my head.

I rolled in Landon’s arms to see the big grin on his face.

“I am guessing you organised something today?”

He just smiled and pecked my lips as the doors burst open.

“Enough hanky panky, it’s shopping time!” Kylie screeched “I will give you only 15 minutes to shower and get ready or I am barging back in.” She taps her watch and closes the door behind her with a wicked knowing smile.

I sighed in relief that she didn’t jump on the bed as we were both naked.

“I thought we were heading to the farm?”

“Later, after, you spend the day with your friends.”

This man! I kissed him and sprinted for the shower before he got other ideas. There was a frustrated g***n from the bed as soon as I jumped out.

Landon had also organised for Kylie to be the credit card keeper so I couldn’t say no! That woman is more stubborn than an Italian mumma! Yes, I make myself laugh!

The next 4 hours, Kylie and Mia dragged me through every expensive store they could find. I wouldn’t have been surprised if they had spent the night before mapping it out, especially since they seemed to have a shopping list of what I would need for Italy in their heads… guessing Landon’s doing again!

Yes, yes, I will admit it was fun, but then again it was the company mostly!

I didn’t want to think about how much we spent and Kylie wouldn’t tell me!

At the end, my feet and face were killing me. My smile hardly left my face as we laughed and talked and joked.

I didn’t even mind the 5 guards that followed us around in 2 groups. I had them all week, so was used to the extra security now.

“So when do you leave?” Kylie asked as we slumped on the couches as the hotel staff took the bags into the walk-in robe.

“Saturday“

“And when are you flying us over?” Mia quickly asked.

“Whenever you want. Just say the word and it will be arranged”, Landon chimed in, leaning against the doorframe with a big smirk on his face. Of course, he was happy I spent money, he was always pushing it.

“Really? What about in 2 months? I am sure I can get leave for 2 weeks.” Kylie turned to gauge his reaction.

“Message Kate the dates and it will be done”, he walked over kissing my forehead before walking out.

That certainly made the girls happy!

They left an hour later and we headed to the farm.

Landon stayed for tea then headed off, letting me spend the night and next day with my parents. He knew I needed this time, sometimes he seemed like a freaky mind reader!

I stayed in my old room reminiscing on how much everything had changed.

I actually enjoyed getting up at 6 to help with the cows.

I knew I could never stay on the farm, it just wasn’t my thing, but coming back and helping every now and then felt good. Tiring but good!

“Yeah, he seems alright. He treats you right, that’s the main thing” dad suddenly said from beside me as we were fixing one of the fences.

“He is and he does. I’m still nervous about moving to Italy.”

He stops and looks at me. “I know he is not just an entrepreneur. Will you be safe?”

WHAT! My heart suddenly stammering in my chest!

“What do you mean?” I try and say confused.

Dad laughs at me, “I may be old, but I’m not blind. I would prefer he had a cleaner lifestyle, but that’s your call. Your life! I just need to know you will be safe.”

I shake my head at him. My dad rarely surprised me and when he did it was always something profound. My dad had always been more aware and more in tuned than what anyone gave him credit for.

He never interfered though, saying it wasn’t his place. He would just make it known he was always there.

When one of the neighbours was having a hard time, dad was there in a flash helping. We didn’t know what was going on or why he was always over there as well until it all came out 4 months later.

There was no way I was going to tell my dad what had happened last weekend though. I am sure I would finally see my dad truly stressed.

Poker face time… although I need to think of it another way so I am not lying and he can’t see straight through me. Landon does do everything to make sure I am safe, so…

“I will be more than safe. He is extremely over protective.”

“Good! Enjoy then! Live your life! Experience the world and everything we haven’t.”

“I will and remember you just have to name the date and we will fly you over in a heartbeat to visit. Even if it is for just 2 days, or a month, you’re always welcome.”

“Don’t tell your mother that!”

“Too late!”

He smiled and rolled his eyes. I know he is going to be getting an ear bashing until they come over.

We finished the fence and headed in. Landon was picking me up at 4 to head back to the city.

Mum, Lucy, Mandy and I were in tears as we said good-bye.

Cam and Dad kept it together but I could see their eyes going red.

Matilda gave me tight hugs but didn’t seem that phased. Or maybe her new doll I gave her was just more interesting. I couldn’t help but laugh as she held it even tighter.

It was weird thinking that I couldn’t just drive up and see them whenever I wanted.

I always said I would have loved to live overseas but never thought it would happen. It was still all surreal.

I reminded them we would organise and pay for everything if they wanted to visit and we would be back in 6 months.

Landon gave them all a hug, not that mum gave him a choice! He promised to look after me and we were always just a phone call away.

He gave Cam and Mandy an envelope wishing them the best with the new farm and baby.

I nearly fell over when they opened it to find a $20,000 cheque.

“We can’t…” my brother started.

“You can and you will. You’re family!” Landon simply nodded and smiled before he led me to the car.

This man! I realised for him that money was nothing but for him to still do it!

We waved good-bye and beeped as we left.

“Thank you! You didn’t have to.”

He shrugged and kissed my knuckles “I suppose I shouldn’t have bought the new tractors that will arrive next month as well.”

“What? For who?” I couldn’t stop the tears that started again.

“One for your dad and one for your brother. Your dad told me about how he needed an upgrade, so I decided Cam needed one as well.”

My hands, as always, had a mind of their own as they grabbed his face and I kissed him hard. He didn’t need to do that! Even just the cheque was enough, but the tractors were too much!

“You’re family” he had said so nonchalant! He has already accepted them as family, like we are already married. Like we have been together years, not weeks!

“Hmm don’t start what you can’t finish until we get home Amore” he mumbles into my lips.

I pulled back to see the massive smile on his face. He winks at me, making me blush.

I’m almost in shock the whole way home thinking it all over and what dad had said. The man next to me has done nothing more than love me, protect me and treasure me in every possible way.

If he wasn’t the mafia and I wasn’t attached and I didn’t have to have guards with me 24/7, it would be like a fairy-tale. He even forked out what could be nearly a million dollars on my family!

I would be a complete and utter i***t not to go and not to give this a go.

As soon as we got back to the penthouse, I put my bag down, took my shoes off, smiling to myself. “Time to finish”, I called as I smacked him on the a*s and sprinted for the bedroom.

The evil laugh that came from behind me had every nerve ending in my body ignite in the best possible way.

I ran as fast as I could, giggling like an i***t all the way. His heavy footsteps echoed down the hallway close behind me.

Just as I made it to the bedroom door when I was lifted up from behind. “You think so,” he chuckled as he then threw me on the bed.

I tried to quickly roll to the other side but he caught one of my ankles, dragging me back to him. Quickly caging me in by kneeling over me as he tried to get my hands.

“No! No!” I laughed as I tried desperately to keep them out of his grasp. I tried desperately to get to those precious ticklish spots instead.

Seeing him laugh like a little kid when I first found out he was ticklish was one of the best moments that always brought a massive smile to my face.

I had just got a small cackle out of him before my hands were being held above my head. The gleam in his eyes told me I was in for some fun.

“Since when did you have permission to smack my a*s?”

“Always since its mine” His smile grew as his eyes flicked from mischievous to love, then back again.

He knelt down pecking my lips “Mine.” Then he gently bit my bottom l*p before proceeding to my neck.

“Mine” he gave me a light bite before moving to my left breast. “Mine.”

“Ouch! Brat!” that one was quite hard or was it because my n*****s were now standing at attention from the s****l desire radiating off his body.

I struggled to stop him from biting my other n****e.

“Mine.” He growled as he finally bit into it after having to hold me down more.

“Mine.” He bit my stomach as he used his spare hand to undo my jeans.

I didn’t struggle against him until he bit me again though on the side.

“Ouch! You are so in trouble!”

“What are you going to do about it?”

“Make you bad spaghetti with a ton of salt and make you eat every last drop.”

He looked at me with mock horror and roared with laughter “Sacrilege”. He bit my other side before he let go of my hands and yanked my jeans and g-sting off in one go.

How he does that I have no idea! It takes me a good 5 minutes to normally peel my jeans off like any normal woman!

Before I could say or do anything, he yanked me to the edge of the bed, putting my legs on either side of his head.

“Mine” he growled into my clit before he lightly bit it.

“You hurt her and I will put a ton of pepper in the spaghetti as well and record your reaction for Ma.” Yes, I just called my clit a her!

I stopped complaining as his tongue swirled around in the most mind-blowing action that made my whole body warm and tingly.

He then continued to devour me, hitting every spot just right until I was a screaming mess.

I only had a second before he pushed me up the bed, flipped me over onto my hands and knees before he entered me.

We had stopped using condoms only recently after getting drunk and forgetting one the first time. His reaction was cute, as he said if I was worried we could get the morning after pill.

He then rambled about how he was more than ready to have kids though if I wanted to. I had never seen him that uncomfortable and well… flustered!

I had to stop the reaction of wanting to puke at the thought of kids so soon and concentrate on his cute reaction!

I smiled and told him not to worry as I had already been on the pill to control my period for quite a few years.

The feeling of him filling me, making us one was always one of the best feelings. My body reacted to his every touch, his every thrust, his every g***n.

He never slammed into me to start with after that one time. It was always a controlled slow thrust that let me accommodate him.

Always so gentle with me, always so in tune to my body and needs.

I arched my back and went down onto my elbows on the bed, making him go deeper.

He g*****d as he held onto my h**s tighter and thrust into me.

“Rub your clit” he commanded through his g****s and grunts.

I wasn’t going to say no, so I moved my hand back and started rubbing circles on my already swollen nub.

It tickled to start with, as she was already so sensitive after the first o****m, but it didn’t take long until all the sensations of him pounding into me made my body react.

The build up was fast, then teetered on the edge as my body relished the sensations.

“All mine!” he growled, sending me over the edge.

I came hard with him following quickly after.