“YOU’RE COMING to dinner tonight, right?” Camilla asked. “I told Ma you probably would.”
She darted through the flood of students weaving around the halls inside the college. A blonde bumped into her, and didn’t even bother to apologize. Bitch. The exit door was just a few feet away, thankfully.
“Did you hear me?” August asked.
“Sorry, just give me a second to get outside,” Camilla said. “I don’t know if the college suddenly got two hundred more students, or what.”
In the cold March air outside, Camilla took a deep breath. The refreshing chill relaxed her far more than the stuffy halls of the college. Most times, she didn’t mind. Today had been a different story altogether.
Maybe she just needed a damn break.
“All right,” she told her friend. “What was that? Are you coming, or not?”
“Mom and I are for sure. Dad might end up working late.”
“Good, so I’ll see you then. Or did you want me to pick you up?”
“I’ll drive with Mom,” August replied. “I’m heading over there to drop off my dirty clothes anyway.”
Camilla almost laughed, but managed to hold it back. August was grown up in a lot of ways, but she was still like every other eighteen year old fresh out on their own, too. Her mom washed her clothes once a week, and came over to clean her place when needed. August didn’t like to have that pointed out, however.
“Okay.”
“Love you.”
“You, too,” Camilla told her friend.
She hung up the call, and headed for the parking lot. She was able to remote start her car from inside her last class of the day because of the proximity to the lot. The taste of spring hung heavily in the air with the damp sprinkle of rain, and the disappearing snow. Still, winter kept clinging to the weather with the bite of cold and occasionally snowflakes.
Camilla was ready to put away the thick jackets, ugly boots, and wool hats. She needed to get back to cute dresses and strappy heels.
Anytime now.
She checked her watch as she slipped into the warm Mustang GT. By the look of the time, she had lots to spare before she needed to be at her parents’ Newport home for a dinner her mother planned. It gave her time to get home, change out of the scrubs she had to wear for school, and maybe relax a bit.
She loved school. Loved to learn, and the challenges it posed. Her goal of becoming a NICU nurse was still very much alive and well in her heart.
Lately, though, school felt like a fucking chore. Something she had to do, and not something she really wanted to do. Getting up early and staring down six or more hours of classes a day was becoming more and more daunting.
School had never felt like that to her before.
She wasn’t sure what exactly was causing her restlessness and lack of interest, but she needed to shake it, and fast. Before it became a problem she couldn’t handle, and it began bleeding over more into her school work.
At least it was finally March break.
Camilla had one whole week to do nothing. That was exactly what she planned to do, too. A couple of her friends were heading to Cuba. Another was going to the Dominican with her family like they did every year.
She had been invited to join both, and she refused them.
What she really wanted to do was absolutely nothing.
Nothing for school.
No demands. No classes. No papers due. No group work.
Nothing for life, either.
No shopping, partying, or adulting.
She just wanted to chill.
Camilla’s tires spun on the wet pavement when she pulled out of the parking lot. Familiar city streets passed her by as she made the thirty minute drive to her apartment. Inside her place, she turned on some music to bleed the lecture and group work she had participated in out of her damn head. She took a quick shower, pulled on dark-wash skinny jeans and a silk blouse, and fixed her makeup.
By the time she had pulled on the knee-high suede boots, she heard the faint hum of a ringtone filtering through the rock song blaring in her apartment. She darted out of the walk-in closet to find her phone had gotten buried beneath her bag and coat.
“Shit,” Camilla said as she saw the name on the screen.
The missed call taunted her, and teased her. All at the same time. Her month had been crazy busy. She hadn’t been able to talk to Tommaso a lot after their Skype call because of it. Once or twice, but it was always short and to the point. It kind of felt like he had been busy doing whatever he did in Chicago, too.
He never complained, though.
He never asked for more from Camilla.
She could see he had called twice while she was in the shower, and then the third time that she had heard, but missed.
Tommaso’s number instantly lit up the phone again, and she picked it up before the first ring even finished. “Hello?”
“Hey, babe.”
Her grin grew wide damn near instantly. “Hey, you.”
“You busy right now?” he asked.
“Not right now. I’ve got a few minutes to chat.”
“I’m not actually interested in talking at the moment, Cam.”
“Why would you call, then?”
What the hell else did people do on the phone?
Tommaso’s laughter echoed through the speakers. All dark, rich, and dangerous at the same time. A deep bass that rumbled through the phone, and vibrated into Camilla’s bones without even trying.
She didn’t know what it was about this man, but he had some kind of hold on her like nothing and nobody else. She wasn’t sure how to get him out from under her skin, or if she even wanted to.
“Are you going to come get me, or what?” Tommaso asked.
Camilla stared dumbly at her reflection in the mirror of her vanity, unsure if she had heard him correctly. “What?”
“My flight landed at LaGuardia thirty minutes ago. I need a ride.”
“You didn’t think to let me know ahead of time that you were coming into the city? I would have already been there waiting for you when you landed.”
Six long months had already passed since he had been in New York. Of course, she would have jumped at the chance to pick him up had he told her.
Camilla briefly wondered if her brother had known about any of this, but figured it didn’t really matter.
Tommaso was back in New York.
That was all she wanted.
Now, he was just waiting for her …
“I was thinking you might like a surprise, actually,” Tommaso said, chuckling. “Are you going to come get me, Camilla, or what?”
It took her all of one second to answer him that time around.
“Don’t move a damn muscle, Tom.”
Camilla’s heart thundered as Tommaso strolled her way at a leisurely pace. His lips curved into one hell of a smirk that probably ruined her panties. The glint in his gaze as his stare drifted down her body had her blood heating, and her skin tingling. He wasn’t the least bit ashamed to be checking her out like he was. He wasn’t even close enough to touch yet, and she was already on fire with her want for him.
Yep.
Poof.
Ovaries destroyed.
God, what was it about this man that made her kind of crazy?
Phone sex, racy texts, and Skype were not nearly enough to sedate the need she had for Tommaso Rossi. Camilla had figured that out quickly enough. Now that he was here, she couldn’t wait to get him somewhere private, and satisfy the lust pooling in her gut.
Damn.
The spot didn’t even have to be private.
She really didn’t care at this point.
All of his confidence, danger, and sex appeal radiated with every step he took. He had a small duffle bag slung over his shoulder that he held by the strap with a single finger. Like an afterthought he was bringing along because for the moment, all of his attention was fully focused in on her.
He’d given her the arrival gate to meet him at, but nothing more. He’d been sitting on a bench, and already looking her way when she finally spied him.
Despite all the changes she went through over the past six months—from her hair, to her makeup, and even style—Tommaso was still the very same. Dark smile, dark suit, and dark intentions.
Especially when it came to her.
Seeing him coming her way was both overwhelming and terrifying. In good and bad ways. She had missed him terribly, and phone calls were not the same thing as actually seeing him. It also scared her to death because of how much she had missed him.
It was never more apparent to her just how much she wanted to see him again than in that moment. So yeah, that scared her a little. For the moment, she pushed the confusing feelings aside. This was not the time to deal with them.
Camilla’s excitement spilled over, and she bolted forward when she couldn’t contain it any longer. Tommaso laughed, and dropped his bag just in time to open his arms for her oncoming hug. She expected him to just embrace her, but instead, he lifted her right off the fucking ground without a bit of hesitation.
Her shriek of surprise was drowned out by Tommaso pressing a bruising kiss to her lips. A kiss that burned through her bloodstream like a forest fire intent on killing any reservations her heart might have been feeling in that moment.
Camilla tangled her hands into Tommaso’s hair, and wrapped her legs around his torso as their kiss deepened. She didn’t care about the catcall that echoed, or the laughter from nearby. It wasn’t like they were the first people to make a public scene at the airport.
All too soon, Tommaso was setting Camilla back on her feet. She stared up at him with a wide grin as his hands cupped her face. With a husky chuckle, he kissed her smiling lips three times in quick succession.
“Missed you,” he said.
“You did, huh?”
“Of course. Like you didn’t already know that.”
Camilla winked. “I thought maybe you missed me.”
“Cam, you know good and damn well you were driving me crazy all the way in Chicago. Don’t even try to pretend differently.”
“I won’t.”
Tommaso let out a hard laugh. “I didn’t think so.”
“How long are you going to be here?”
A huge part of her wished she could take the question back as soon as she asked it. Another part of her wished he wouldn’t answer. She didn’t want to learn he was only going to be there for a couple of days.
Hell, a week wouldn’t be long enough.
Yep.
Heartsick.
It had only really been sex—that’s it. A couple of conversations thrown in, and nothing more. She wasn’t even sure how a hookup had turned into something else entirely.
Camilla didn’t know what to do with any of it, so she ignored it all instead.
“We’ll see how long I’m here before somebody calls me back,” Tommaso said, offering nothing else.
She had a mind to push him for more information, but convinced herself not to. They had lots of time to talk about all of that later, anyway. It didn’t have to be right now.
“Do you have a hotel booked or something?”
Tommaso shrugged. “This was all kind of last minute. I just booked a ticket, and came. Here I am, babe.”
Camilla wet her bottom lip, and asked, “Do you want to stay with me? I mean, I’m on March break for a week, so I don’t have anything else to do but stay in with you.”
And shit, that sounded like gold to her.
Silky, hot, and priceless.
She would probably still be left wanting more.
“If you want me to,” Tommaso replied.
Yeah, she did.
She really did.
“Stay with me, Tom.”
His warm palms slid along her throat and jaw again, and he pulled her in for one more kiss that felt anything but innocent. He held her tighter, and all she could do was surrender to the taste of him, and the way his tongue teased hers.
Like a promise, she thought.
She couldn’t wait to get that tongue of his working somewhere else. She had missed that little talent of his.
All over again, Camilla’s heartbeat was racing out of control, and her chest grew damn tight. Still, she didn’t stop kissing Tommaso until he was the one to pull away first. Like the first time, he placed softer, sweeter kisses to the seam of her lips as she watched him through lowered lashes.
An errant thought reminded her of something important. A promise she had made, and couldn’t be late for.
“We have to go to dinner,” she whispered against his lips. “But then you are all mine. Understood?”
Tommaso’s thumb stroked her jaw line. “Where?”
She didn’t miss how he didn’t give her a response on the second part of her statement.
“My parents’ place. I can’t get out of it, or I would. Especially because I would really like to go anywhere with you where I could just get on my back or climb on top.”
Tommaso bared his teeth at her brazenness. “That so?”
“Yep. You’ll have to come with me to the dinner, but I don’t think my parents will mind very much.”
“Sure, babe. I’ll do dinner with them.”
Her gaze drifted over his features, taking in his grin and gray-blue eyes. The shadow of stubble on his cheeks and jaw tickled against her fingertips.
“They’ll probably make a big deal out of you being there. Or maybe they won’t, but who knows. Cross is supposed to be coming, too, so maybe you’ll have somebody else on your side if they do try to be cute with you. Just ignore them if they say anything.”
“Why would it be a big deal at all?” he asked.
Camilla refused to look at him, then. She didn’t really know how much of her dating profile he knew, but it wasn’t anything good to look at. She had made it clear to him once that this wasn’t supposed to be very serious between the two of them.
Or rather, she didn’t do serious.
Hadn’t, her mind taunted. Truth was, she hadn’t been with anybody since meeting Tommaso months ago. Nobody seemed to catch her interest.
But they weren’t something—they didn’t have titles.
So it didn’t matter.
“I don’t bring home dates. This would be a first for them.”
Tommaso smirked. “I’m not really a date, Cam. I’m a friend.”
He was not just a friend. He was far more than a friend.
Camilla liked it and hated it.
She just wasn’t ready to admit it yet.
“Cam.”
The surprise in Calisto’s voice was only matched by the widening of his eyes as he opened the front door. His gaze darted to the man standing beside her, and then quickly back to his daughter. She pressed her lips together to keep from laughing out loud at the effort her father was putting forth to put his calm composure back together.
Her dad, the crime boss.
Her dad, always smooth and collected.
Her dad, currently looking like he had swallowed a fly.
Oh, she loved her father. She was absolutely what some people might consider a daddy’s girl, and always had been. She probably always would be.
Camilla still got far too much enjoyment out of shocking her father. She was pretty sure it was only his kids who could actually do that to him. She had yet to see anyone else do it the same way they did.
It was just a little too hilarious.
“You brought a … friend,” her father said.
“I did,” she replied.
Calisto’s gaze drifted back to Tommaso.
It was only then that he finally decided to speak up. “Evening, boss.”
“Just Cal tonight, Tommaso.”
“Sure, Cal.”
Calisto widened the door, and stepped back. “Come on in. I don’t know why you bothered to knock, Cam. You never do.”
Because she had greatly wanted to see the look on either her mother or father’s face when they opened the door to see what awaited them on the other side. It had not been disappointing.
“Your mother is in the kitchen,” her father said. “I’ll be in there when you’re ready.”
He gave a little wave, and then headed back down the hallway.
Tommaso looked to her with a cocked eyebrow. “What was that about?”
“He’s going to warn Ma that I brought someone.”
“Come on, now.”
“No, I’m pretty sure that’s what he’s doing.”
“Should we give them a minute?” Tommaso asked.
Camilla shrugged. “It’s been long enough. Let’s go.”
She slid her hand into Tommaso’s, and wove their fingers tightly together. He brought her a little closer to his side as they headed for the kitchen.
The closer they got to the kitchen, the better Camilla could hear the whispering hisses between her parents.
Yep.
Her dad was absolutely giving her mother the heads up on Camilla’s extra guest. Just like she said. All she could do was shake her head.
“Told you,” she said to Tommaso.
He laughed lowly, and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
Camilla walked into the kitchen with a wide smile, and Tommaso was right behind her. She didn’t miss how her father’s gaze dropped to the two’s connected hands. He quickly looked back to Camilla’s mother.
Emma, on the other hand, didn’t look away as fast.
“Oh,” Emma mumbled. “Well, hello.”
Camilla held back her grin, and Tommaso tightened his fingers around hers like he had seen her amusement. Seemed even with a warning from Calisto, her mother was still shocked.
“You don’t mind putting an extra plate on the table, right, Ma?” Camilla asked.
Emma recovered quickly with a nod. “Yes, of course.”
She expected nothing different.
Her mother was a lot of things, but rude was not one of them.
“So, do you want to introduce us properly, or …?” Emma let her sentence hang out in the open as she nodded in Tommaso’s direction.
Tommaso only chuckled under his breath.
“I mean, if you want to,” her mother added.
Camilla was well aware her mother knew who Tommaso was without needing proper introductions. The two had more than a handful of conversations about the Chicago-born man, and sometimes those chats were because her mother wouldn’t leave her the hell alone. Not to mention all the information her mother had been fed from August and Calisto.
But fine, if that’s what her mother wanted …
Camilla would play that game.
“Ma, Daddy,” Camilla said, not even bothering to hide the roll of her eyes, “this is Tommaso. He made a special trip down from Chicago to see me. Since I was already having dinner here tonight, I figured he could join me.”
Emma nodded. “Okay. Hello, Tommaso.”
“A special trip?” Calisto asked, not giving Tommaso the chance to respond.
“I kind of missed New York,” Tommaso said.
He shot Camilla a smile.
She returned it with a wink.
“Huh,” her father said.
That broke Camilla’s daze.
The awkward silence echoing in the kitchen certainly didn’t help.
“All right,” Camilla said, side-eyeing her father, “We are going to take a walk through the back property until dinner is ready. Shoot me a text, in case we’re too far to hear you yell, Ma.”
“Sure,” Emma replied. “I can do that.”
Camilla gave Tommaso’s hand another squeeze, and then tugged him to follow behind her as she left the kitchen. The silence from before stretched on. She didn’t hear either of her parents say a single word.
She had no doubt the very second the back door closed, the two would be whispering to one another again in the kitchen like earlier.
“That wasn’t so bad,” Tommaso said as they headed for the trails on the back property. “I think you made a big deal out of nothing.”
“No, I really didn’t. They just hid their surprise better than I thought they would.”
“Maybe.”
Tommaso tugged her in close again, and Camilla hugged him around his torso as they headed onto the trail. On the trails, they couldn’t be seen from the windows because of all the trees. Camilla took the opportunity of privacy to stop Tommaso, and pull him down for another kiss.
“What was that for?” he asked when she pulled away.
Camilla shrugged. “For coming here.”
“To the state, or dinner?”
“Maybe both.”
“Mmm, I don’t mind. Someone is worth the trip.”
Camilla arched a brow. “Someone?”
“Definitely you, Cam.”
Her smile grew sly in a blink.
“Keep in mind, dinner hasn’t even begun yet, and most of the family is invited. You could still be grilled yet.”
“Not concerned,” Tommaso said.
“I bet.”
Then, he smiled wider.
“I have something for you,” he told her.
“You didn’t have to bring something for me, Tom.”
Tommaso shook his head, and dug in the pocket of his black tweed coat. “It wasn’t anything big, so don’t worry about that. Mostly, Chicago wanted to remind you … and thank you.”
Camilla’s brow furrowed. “What are you talking about?”
He grabbed her hand, and flipped it over so her palm was up and open. Then, he placed an item in her hand that he had kept hidden after pulling it from his pocket.
Camilla peeked at the item the second Tommaso had pulled his hand away. A small, rectangular keychain rested in her palm. It was simple in design—white background, black letters, and a little red heart. It hung from a silver chain that a person could attach to a keyring or whatever else they wanted.
I heart Chicago, it read.
Because of course he would remind her of that conversation.
Camilla bit her lip, and her shoulders shook with the force of the laughter bubbling its way out of her chest. Tommaso’s laughter filled up the trail with hers. She reached for him, and fisted his jacket in order to pull him close enough that she could kiss his smirking lips. Then, she pushed him away just as fast, and smacked him lightly in the chest for being such an ass.
It was a stupid, silly gift. A cheap keepsake you could probably buy right off the street, and forget about it before it even made its way to the bottom of your luggage. She was pretty damn sure she had one that said something similar about New York, actually.
It would be nothing to somebody else.
It was a perfect memory of a day out with Tommaso for Camilla.
“You are terrible,” she said, “and I kind of hate myself for it, but I love this.”
“Someday you’ll admit Chicago is better,” he told her, “and you will be grateful that you already have this to show your love.”
“Lies,” she told him. “Nothing about Chicago is better than New York, and you know it.”
He grinned—sexy and dark in a blink all over again.
“Something about Chicago is going to be making you very fucking happy tonight, Cam. Do you want to try that again?”
A shot of heat and need drove through her body. From her toes, to her fingertips. She was entirely hot, needy, and unashamed all at once. Damn him for making her that way, too.
“You’re just about the only thing Chicago’s got going for it,” she said, meeting his gaze. “Just so you know.”
Tommaso nodded. “You know what, I’ll fucking take it.”