Desired Too (20 page)

I forgot where I was and was literally walking her flush up against my parent’s home.

Shit, she tastes amazing!

“Do you forgive me?” I asked her between kisses, thinking of sneaking her upstairs to my old room.

“Mmmm hmmm. As long as you don’t have any more surprises tonight.”

I shook my head. “Nope. Not a one… Well… Maybe one.”

I leaned back and looked into her questioning eyes. I knew this part was going to be hard and she would be pissed, but I thought that now was the great time to tell her what had been on my mind since we left my apartment. She needed to know what steps I had taken pertaining to us.

However, I never got the chance because mistake number two happened.

“Hey, don’t you even think about escaping. We haven’t seen you in weeks, and now that you’re here, you’re trying to leave?”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I could feel heat piercing my back as well as my front.

The voice behind me continued, “For you to be MIA from me and Junior is unfucking acceptable!”

“Junior?” Raquel spat and moved back from me.

I quickly reached for Raquel’s wrists and gripped tight. I turned to face my quarry when I swear Raquel did something with her hand to break her wrist free, causing my hand to bend awkwardly and let her go.

I turned back to face a very angry Raquel.

“Junior?” she questioned as she backed further away from me.

“Raquel, calm down. It’s not what you think.”

“Not what I think? Oh, no, it looks exactly like what I think.”

I reached for her again and she pulled away from me.

I called after her. “
Cara Mia
… I…”

Our visitor added fuel to the fire. “My darling, is that what you just called her? Are you kidding me?”

I closed my eyes and tried my best to stay calm. I said, without turning my back on Raquel. “Yes, Georgia, there are actually women that don’t have the same views as you about terms of endearment.”

It got quiet for an agonizing few seconds, then mistake number three happened. I guess this wasn’t my night. I glanced to my right as Georgia came into view with tears in her eyes. I doubled back to her.

“What’s wrong? Is everything okay?” I asked her.

She nodded emphatically, looking at both Raquel and me. Her enormous and contagious smile crept along her face as she rocked Junior in her arms.

“Oh my God!” she exclaimed.

“Oh no,” I confirmed without preamble.

Raquel’s enraged look turned suddenly to puzzlement and genuine fright as Georgia turned into a blubbering mess.

“What’s going on?” Raquel asked tentatively.

“Is this her?” Georgia asked me, as she looked Raquel up and down.

I sighed deeply and took my nephew from Georgia’s now shaking hands.

“Raquel, this is Georgia. Georgia, this is Raquel” I kissed my nephew, then added, “Yes, Georgia, this is my Jane.”

A squeal erupted in the night air as Georgia quickly wrapped her arms around Raquel. Raquel looked at me with such bewilderment that I almost laughed. She didn’t have a fucking clue as to what was going on.

I shook my head, but I chuckled. “For goodness sake, Georgia. You’re going to scare the woman away.” I brought the baby up to my face and wiggled my nose against his. “This little guy is Junior,” I told Raquel. “He’s my right hand man.”

When Georgia stepped back, she still had a huge smile plastered on her face.

“You have no idea how amazing it is to meet you,” she told Raquel.

Georgia then looked at me and nodded her head. “Shit, Angel, she’s fucking hot. She’s chocolate with sass written all over her. And she’s doesn’t look like a skank. I definitely approve.” Georgia then leaned into Raquel. “Shit, girl, you should see who he’s normally escorting.”

“Georgia!” I reprimanded, but Raquel just laughed, which made me ease up a little.

“Yeah, girl, I’ve seen them,” Raquel replied. Then she leaned into Georgia and conspiratorially said, “He was lost without me, but I’m here now.”

Georgia’s smile grew even larger. “Oh my goodness, I love her. Fuck this up, Leonetti, and I’ll fillet your nuts, you got that?”

“What did I tell you about cussing in front of my nephew?” I scolded.

“Nephew?” Raquel looked at me, stunned, and then looked to Georgia. “So you’re married to Eddie?”

“Hell no!” came out of Georgia’s mouths and mine.

I added, “
Cara
, this is my cousin’s family. The one I told you about, Lincoln.”

Finally, I saw Raquel relax and smile.

My smile, however, dropped the moment I caught a good whiff of Junior.

“Shit, Georgia. Does his shitty diaper have something to do with you coming out here to look for me?”

Georgia laughed. “No, I swear this time it wasn’t… Honest.” She laughed again as I frowned and held the baby out in front of me.

“Man, little guy, what the hell does your mama feed you?” I turned from the two pain in the ass women in my life and said over my shoulder, “Do you think you can manage to introduce Raquel to the family while I handle Junior here?”

I turned around and found Georgia smiling as she placed her arm through Raquel’s. She said to me. “It will be my pleasure.”

Thankfully, the night did get better. Raquel was able to relax, and I watched how my family welcomed her with open arms. I will say it didn’t happen right away. Actually, it was weird at first. When I came back from changing Junior, Raquel was sitting next to Georgia, seemingly trying to ignore the skeptical eyes around her.

When I walked in, I greeted everyone and kissed my mother and grandmother on their cheeks. I sat next to Raquel, placed my hand around her neck possessively, yet gently, and brought my lips to hers. She was stiff under my touch, but I knew it was more from the shock of my behavior than anything else.

I hovered over her lips, just enough to look her in her eyes. “Do you want anything,
Cara Mia
? Dessert? Wine? Something stronger? Gin, perhaps?”

I grinned and moved back from her just enough to give her room to breathe, but I kept my hand around her neck. This was what I wanted. I’d told her this. I wanted her to see and be around those closest to me, and I wanted my family to see and get to know the woman I would lose my mind over. I concentrated on Raquel and not the gasps and shocked faces that surrounded me. I really tried to ignore Georgia too, but she was blinding me with her smile.

Raquel kept her eyes on mine as she smiled shyly and shook her head. “No thanks. I’m good.” She then turned to Georgia, “Can I hold him?”

“Of course you can,” Georgia answered, then signaled for me to hand over the baby.

After that, everything was fine. Well, for Raquel anyway. Georgia took Raquel over to the other two important women in my life, and as I went to find my father, they seemed to have bonded instantly.

I made a mental note, however, to ask my mother what was up with Georgia. I loved that woman to death, but that night, she was acting a little bit more weird than normal.

Anyway, my meeting with my father was brief, but I learned there were rumbles of some trouble from one of the families in town. Apparently, again, someone accused me of being out of control, unpredictable and unstable. A few weeks ago, I would have agreed. However, it had been a while since I’d done anything to earn that title. I’d been… well… I’d been a bit distracted.

I told Pops that I would look into it and we left it at that. As my father and I puffed on a cigar and talked more about business, Pops told me he hadn’t heard from Eddie all day. He was supposed to be there that night, but he hadn’t showed.

I wondered about that, so asked him about it, but my father just told me, “He called to say that he wasn’t coming tonight. I thought that strange too, but he said he was busy trying to ease some of the tension with some families. He said he’d stop by to talk to me tomorrow. He had some things he needed to share, some developments that I needed to be made aware of.”

I nodded indifferently, but I’m not going to lie, I was a little on edge. I hadn’t heard much from Eddie. He’d been quiet. Better yet, he’d been a little too quiet. I expected him to be there that night. Eddie was one of those people that never missed Sunday dinner. He needed to get his attention from our parents in any way possible, so for him not to be there had alarms going off in my head.

In addition, the rest of the night for me was one of the most painful fucking things that I had ever been through. I blamed Georgia-fucking-Lincoln. I didn’t know what I was thinking leaving Raquel with Georgia. After I had my meeting with my father, smoked a cigar and talked business, I was ready to go. When I finally left his office, I could think of nothing else but getting my hands, lips, and tongue on Raquel until I exhausted us both.

I was so ready to get out of there. Don’t get me wrong; I loved my family to death. Walking into the family room, seeing Raquel smiling and laughing with my family, made me all mushy inside. However, my family knew me. They knew how I got down. I’d eat my mother’s cooking, smoke a cigar with my father, and then leave to fuck my date’s brains out. It was tradition really. So, I thought of nothing else that night, but getting my fill of my woman.

Therefore, you can imagine how fucking pissed I was when I moved into the family room to collect “my woman” and found that she was sitting on the couch with my mother, grandmother and Georgia looking at damn baby pictures. She looked at home; really she did. Again, I was thrilled, but a man has needs, and I
needed
my woman.

We made eye contact, and I gave her the signal. Do you know how she responded to my signal? She blew me a kiss and stayed her ass right next to my mother. I stood there stunned for what seemed like forever.

Did she just ignore me?
I shook my head.
Nah, that didn’t just happen.

I moved deeper into the room, causing her eyes to fall on me again. I was ready to give her the signal again, but this time sweet, sweet Georgia became Benedict Arnold.

Georgia looked at me. “Geesh, Angel, it won’t hurt you guys to stay a little while longer.” She then started laughing, picked up a picture, and handed it to Raquel. “Well, at least until she’s seen this picture, where you decided to try on your mother’s makeup.”

I closed my eyes and mentally reached for my Glock, the moment I heard Raquel squeal with laughter. I looked over at my father, who just walked into the family room, hoping he would step in and throw a little Leonetti weight around. All he did, however, was look at Raquel, then at me and laughed.

Yeah, Pops, real fucking funny.

At about twelve in the morning, I couldn’t take it anymore and ended up sitting on the back patio of my parent’s house. My family was still going strong. My woman, the traitor, ended up being the highlight of the night. She lit up every room, putting smiles on everyone’s faces. That’s just who she was. She could make anyone feel good just by talking to them. I could see the approval on my father’s face, even though he was trying to hide it from me. He wanted me to be happy; I knew this. I knew he also wanted this family’s future secured. He had to know there was nothing more important to me than making sure that the Leonetti name stayed true. I could understand his trepidation, considering I’d been MIA on most nights. However, there was nothing I wouldn’t do for my family. Well... maybe that wasn’t entirely accurate, I wouldn’t do shit for Eddie.

Despite my misery, Raquel seemed to be really enjoying herself. She found kindred spirits in Georgia, my mom, and mama Bella, and had been with them most of the night. I tried to keep calm. I was ready to get the hell out of there the second I pulled up to the house, but after a while, realizing that I was alone in this, I couldn’t take it anymore and headed for the back patio.

This sucked…

I closed my eyes, leaned further back in the lounge chair, closed my eyes and placed my cigar in between my lips. It was brisk out there for late September, but I welcomed it. I needed to calm down.

“So this is where you escaped to.”

As I opened my eyes, I pulled from my cigar, and as I exhaled, the sight of Raquel caused me to choke on the smoke I was holding. Shit, I couldn’t help it. Damn, this woman was beautiful as she glided toward me, wrapped in one of mama Bella’s hand sewn throw blankets. Her curves, her smooth as silk brown skin, her beautiful lips, and those thighs of hers. I couldn’t get enough of her. She was just so spectacular to me. In every way a woman could be amazing, she was it. She drove me out of my mind. She pissed me off all the time, but I didn’t want it any other way.

It was time to show her who I was; no more holding shit back, trying to ease her into my life. It was better that she learned now how much of a bastard I was because there was no way that she was ever leaving me again.

She grinned at me as she crawled in between my legs.

“You have time for me now… Is that it?”

She smiled. “Oh, stop pouting.”

She turned and rested her back against my chest. I caressed her cheek, then wrapped my arm around her waist. I was trying not to fondle her, but it was getting harder and harder. I ran my hand over her smooth thighs.