Arranged love

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I STORM THROUGH the large house and toward the kitchen. Flipping on the light, I shriek when I run into a small body.

“I’m so sorry,” Mia rushes out. “I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

“You’re fine,” I tell her, letting out a long breath. “What are you doing up so late?” I ask, noticing that she’s changed out of her bathing suit into a purple silk nightgown. It has lace straps; one has fallen off her shoulder. The hem touches the floor, but it has a long slit up her side, showing off her thigh. Her face is clear of any makeup, yet she still looks runway ready.

“Can’t sleep. You?”

“Same,” I mumble. I think all that sleep I got on the plane screwed me over. Then add in the time change and all the new information I’ve learned. Any one of those things could be the cause.

“Want me to make you something?” she offers.

“Oh, no. You don’t have to do that.”

“Nonsense.” She waves me off. “Do you like biscuits and gravy?”

I smile. “They’re my favorite.”

“Then that’s what I’ll make.”

“Do you cook a lot?” I ask, pulling out a barstool and sitting down at the kitchen island.

She nods, grabbing stuff from the stainless fridge. “I love it. I have a lot of time on my hands, so over the years, I’ve learned to cook all sorts of food.”

“Do you go to college?” I ask, being nosy.

She snorts. “I wish. I’m not allowed to go to school.”

“What do you mean not allowed?” I don’t know much about Italian education.

“Women in my family aren’t supposed to have a brain.” She rolls her eyes. “I never even went to high school.” My eyes widen. “I had nannies who taught me all that I know, which I’m afraid isn’t much.” She smiles at me. “I’d love to go to college. Not only to learn, but the parties.” Placing her elbows on the island, she drops her chin into her hands, giving me a smile that lights up her face. It makes her look younger than I know she is. “Do you have any wild stories you can tell me?”

I laugh, thinking about the time me and Emilee were with Bones and Luca in the game room. “Not that you’d want to hear.”

She frowns.

“They involve your brother,” I inform her.

Her face scrunches. “Yeah, I don’t care to hear those.” And then she straightens herself.

“So you’re here all alone?” I change the subject.

“No. There are always guards and house cleaners. The twins are somewhere around here tearing up Italy. They come and go.”

I thought my father selling me was bad, but he didn’t ship me off alone and forget about me. This girl has been completely abandoned. She’s been left in her own world and closed off from anyone. “What about your mother?”

She shakes her head. “My father won’t allow her to leave New York. She rarely gets to go to Vegas.”

Fucker!

“Boys?”

A blush fills her cheeks. “Oh, no.”

This woman is so innocent. “Have you ever been on a date?”

She shakes her head and laughs. “No.”

“Oh, you like someone, though,” I observe. I know the look a girl has when she’s got a crush. “Who is it?” I know it’s no one I would know, but again, this is just me being nosy. And plus, it’s felt like forever since I’ve had some girl talk. “Tell me all about him.”

“Well …” She bites her bottom lip. “I’ve never told anyone this, but I’ve always liked Oliver.”

My eyes widen. “You have a crush on Nite?”

“Shh.” She laughs softly, her eyes darting around the large kitchen, but we’re all alone. “He would never like me, though.”

What? “Mia. You’re absolutely gorgeous. Not that looks have everything to do with it, but he’d be lucky to be with you.”

She averts her eyes to the kitchen island. “You’re lucky, you know? With Luca. That he got to pick you.”

“What do you mean?”

“In our world, our father chooses who their children will marry and what families will be connected. Luca has loved you for a long time, and while he was here, he spent the entire time looking for a way to make you his wife.”

“Here?” My eyes widen, and I release a long breath. “That’s why he came to Italy? It was to be with you.” I answer my own question.

She gives me a sad smile. “He was a total grouch the whole time. I called him sour tart.”

I laugh, trying to imagine Luca allowing anyone to call him that. “Sour tart?”

She nods. “You know those sour candies that makes your face twist? He walked around like that all the time. He hated leaving you. He hated lying to you even more.”

My chest tightens.

“He was on a mission.”

“To what?”

“To find out what leverage he needed to get you.” My heart beats faster. “Father had a woman chosen for him, but Luca wasn’t having it.” Her lips pull back. “Thank God. Maria wasn’t right for him.”

I totally ignore the fact that she just said their father wanted him to marry someone else because that doesn’t matter. Obviously, Luca got what he wanted-me. “Do you know what he found?”

She shakes her head. “No. But I knew the moment he found what he was looking for because he no longer wore that sour look. He wasn’t smiling and bouncing around the house or anything, but he was determined. He packed up his stuff and left weeks later.”

I sit back in my seat, my chest heavy.

“Hey, I’m sorry I upset you.”

“No.” I shake my head. “I’m sorry I took him from you.”

She gives me a soft smile. “Luca was always supposed to be where you were.”

LUCA

I feel the bed dip, and then the covers are yanked away. “Haven …” My voice trails off as she straddles my hips. “What are you doing?” I ask roughly, starting to fully wake from my sleep. The room is pitch black, so I know it’s not morning yet. After she stormed out of the room, I didn’t bother to go after her. I got into bed and passed the fuck out.

Her small hands make their way up my sides and over my chest. Then she drags her nails down over my skin. I hiss in a breath at the sharpness.

“Haven … what are you-”

“Shh,” she interrupts me. Then I feel her chest on top of mine.

I lift my hands, and they tangle in her hair before her lips softly touch mine. “Don’t ruin this,” she whispers.

“Ruin what?” I ask, wondering where this is going.

“You. Me. Us,” she answers, trailing her lips down my jawline and to my neck. She kisses my skin, and I push her head downward with my hands still in her hair. My cock is hard. Has been since I felt her on top of me.

She gets the hint and moves lower. Her hand grips the base of my cock, and I feel her tongue circle my head, but I change my mind.

I push her off me and onto her back. She doesn’t protest. She knows I’m not in the mood for foreplay.

Grabbing her thighs, I shove them to her chest and stomach. I take my cock in my hand and rub it against her pussy. She’s wet, just as I knew she would be. I push into her, and she whimpers. I reach around and grab her arms, pulling them across her legs and pin them down parallel.

I can hear her panting. The room fills with soft noises of her struggle at this angle. I have her caged in. Tilting her ass a little bit, I start to fuck her.