Luca stretched when he stepped out of the shower, rolling his shoulders until the tightness in his muscles loosened.
The hot water had helped. Happiness had been good that afternoon. He stepped into the bedroom with a towel hanging low on his hips.
Veronica sat at her vanity, working through her night beauty routine. Bottles, jars, serums, and creams were arranged before her in careful order. Luca had no idea what most of them did. He only knew they were expensive, and apparently required more steps than cleaning a gun. She saw him through the mirror.
Her eyes travelled over him slowly, from his wet hair to the hard lines of his chest, down over the towel riding dangerously low. "Show-off," she spat, returning to the jar in front of her.
Luca gave the smug smile that had annoyed this particular woman into marriage. He strolled to her and bent behind her chair, placing a kiss on the side of her neck. "I like it when you look at me greedy," he murmured.
"Get out of here." Vee lifted one hand, threatening him with a scoop of cream on her finger. "Don’t distract me."
"You were distracted before I came over." He chuckled against her skin.
She swatted him with the cream-covered finger, smearing it across his chest.
Luca looked down at the mark, then calmly rubbed it into his skin. "Curious."
Vee glanced at him through the mirror. "What?"
"How much of this gets in my mouth?"
Her face went blank. "Why would you have it in your mouth? Are you a child?"
He placed both hands on either side of the vanity and leaned closer. "You apply it on your skin, and I like to lick your skin. Do you see where I am going with this?"
"There is a simple solution."
"What?"
"Stop licking me."
"Girl, I would rather get shot."
Veronica shook her head, but her smile betrayed her. "You are ridiculous."
He kissed the top of her head and straightened. He moved towards the closet. "It was nice today. The barbecue."
"It was."
"We should do it more often."
Veronica turned back to her vanity, applying something beneath her eyes with careful little taps. "We would if you weren’t working Marco to the bones."
"I am not working him to the bones."
Vee gave him a look through the mirror. "Valentina told me he has been spending both days and nights at Commisioned."
"He has responsibilities," Luca said even though working all through was Marco’s idea. He still decided to cover for the man, shoulder the blame. "Speaking of Marco," he added, "I would like him to return to Italy."


VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABEL
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Undressed By The Mafia God