He’s slow to start, deliberate in his actions, wanting to make this a kiss to remember. Just like that night ten years ago, my body hums and heats under his soft lips. But it’s different this time. It’s not Mauro kissing me, it’s us kissing each other. Another small piece of my heart floats out of my chest and nestles into his.

His tongue sweeps across my lips, asking without words if it’s okay. Opening my mouth, my skin ignites in a wave of goose bumps when his tongue slides across mine. We entwine ourselves in one another slowly until I don’t know where I stop and he begins.

I give Mauro credit, he’s as patient as the saint his mama probably prays to every night. Pressing my body to his, I’m the one who deepens the kiss. His arms tighten around my back and the feel of his powerful chest against my own makes my nipples taut.

Somewhere between the butterflies roaring into an uncontrollable flutter in my stomach and all my sensory alarms flashing overload, we sink into one another. Our mouths colliding one second, gentle the next. One of his hands runs up the length of my spine until his fingers reach my hair and he manipulates my ponytail holder, my hair spilling down across my shoulders.

His dark hair is smooth as my hands run up the back of his head, trying desperately to cling to anything. My legs beg to wind around his waist, but I force myself to stay grounded. Never have I ever felt so much from one kiss.

I’m not even sure which of us slows down, but long after our lips have stopped moving, our bodies are still entangled like wild vines.

“Let’s pretend that was our first kiss.” He smiles down at me.

“Not a chance.”

“That was a pretty spectacular kiss.” He presses his lips to mine one more time. “Definitely top ten.” His smirk says he’s joking. I lightly punch him in the stomach. “You sure you don’t want to forget that first one?”

“I’m positive, but I’ll take another kiss like this one anytime.”

“If you’re not going to pretend that was our first kiss then I have no choice but to try to erase it from your memory.” His head descends and again, the feel of his lips on mine catapult me back to euphoria.

We come up for air minutes later and I’m surprised and if I’m honest maybe a little disappointed. Mauro didn’t even try to cop a feel. His hands ventured down to my ass, but he stopped short. The only part of the kiss that was NC17 was his erection pressed into my stomach.

The lights flicker back on, the soft glow of the candles disappearing.

“If this place wasn’t so disgusting, I’d never want to leave,” Mauro murmurs, his lips pressed to my temple. “I’ll go check on the storm.”

It’s only now that I realize the sirens have stopped wailing outside.

He releases me and I miss being in his arms immediately. His footsteps pound up the stairs and I hear the back door opening.

“We’re good,” he calls out before he comes back down the stairs.

The first thing he does is extinguish the candles with a lick of his fingers and a press to the wick. I can’t help but smile at that.

“I’m starved. You want to go somewhere for dinner?” he asks.

“Sure.”

We each have an armful of candles as we head upstairs.

After walking around the house to make sure none of the windows are broken, Mauro suggests we drop off my car so he can drive us to dinner.

Right before I pull away from the curb, I let the image of the house sink into my memory. I’d never want to take back our first kiss, but this one was so much better.

I turn down the alley while Mauro parks on the street in front of the house. Lauren’s yellow Fiat is in the garage and my stomach drops, wondering what she’ll say if she answers the door when Mauro reaches it.

So, I do what any normal girl would do to protect the guy she’s falling for from her friend’s wrath—I race inside through the back door, sprinting to the front door and swinging it open.

Mauro draws back, but I press on his shoulders to turn him back down the stairs he just climbed. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing, just my stomach was rumbling the entire way over here. I need food.”

Mauro smiles over his shoulder.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Lauren’s voice at my back is like the squealing of tires locking up on dry pavement.

You know when you hear that noise followed by the sound of piercing metal crashing two seconds later?

“Taking our girl out without talking to the friends? I would have thought your mama taught you better than that, Mauro Bianco.”

We both turn to find her standing on the porch, hands on her hips. She’s wearing a pair of yoga pants and a baggy sweatshirt that’s printed with the words Physical Therapist - I’m here to fix your ass not kiss it.

Mauro chuckles to himself. “Lauren Hunt, hello. I guess I should be grateful that you didn’t jump on my back this time.” He jogs up the steps and puts his hand out. “I heard you’re going on a date with Luca. Good luck with that.”

Lauren shakes his hand and rolls her eyes at the same time. “That’s never going to happen.”

“I’m kidding. He’s a good guy. Deep down.”

Lauren leans back and yells into the house. “Van! We’ve got company.” She steps back and opens the door wider. “Come on in, Mauro.”

“We were just leaving,” I say from the bottom of the stairs.

Lauren peers around Mauro as he’s circling around, clearly confused as to why I’m still standing at the bottom of the stairs.

“You can wait five minutes. Vanessa’s never met Mauro.” Lauren smiles. The one that’s conniving and means she’s up to trouble. “We can order pizza.”

“Five minutes, Lauren.” I run up the stairs, grabbing Mauro’s hand and pulling him in behind me.

His eyes scour the inside of the house.

“Nice, right? Maddie redid this place.” Lauren leads us to the family room and sits down on the couch, patting the cushion next to her. “Come, sit, Mauro.”

His eyes veer to mine, but he sits, albeit hesitantly. “What’ve you been up to, Lauren?” He falls back onto the sofa, resting his ankle on his knee.

“I’m a physical therapist.” She points to her sweatshirt. “But I’m much more interested in knowing how this whole partnership thing is going from your perspective?” She waggles her finger between Mauro on the couch and where I stand.

“It’s going great, right Madison?” Mauro’s eyes find mine, a smirk on his lips.

“Yep.”

Lauren narrows her eyes, trying to dissect my inner thoughts.

“What’s going on? I’m about to head out.” The echo of Vanessa’s heels sound down the stairs before she appears in the room wearing a skin-tight dress that ends right below her ass.

Suddenly, I feel frumpy and boring.

Mauro stands up from the couch, crossing the room, his hand already out before Vanessa has even looked up from her phone.

“If this is about your vibrator, I’m going to say it again, Lauren, I didn’t take it. That’s not something you borrow from someone.”

“Van,” I say and knock her elbow. She glances up at me, smiles. “Hey, did you get caught in that storm?”

I shift my eyes and she follows the direction of my gaze. “Oh, shit, have you been standing there for longer than one second?”

“Well, I don’t think Maddie twitched her nose and he appeared.” Lauren laughs. “I didn’t say you borrowed my vibrator, I was simply asking if you saw it when it was delivered. Do you ever even listen to us anymore?” Lauren blows at a hair that’s fallen down onto her forehead.

Ignoring Lauren, I introduce Vanessa and Mauro. “Vanessa this is Mauro, Mauro this is Vanessa, our third roommate.”

Mauro shakes her hand. “Nice to meet you. Your dad is the commander of the eighteenth district?”

Vanessa’s smile falters. “He is.”

“My brother Cristian says he’s a good man.”

Vanessa drops his hand, her focus back on her phone. “He can be.”

Vanessa’s a master at hiding her true feelings, but I’ve known her long enough to know that she’s giving Mauro the answer he expects.

Mauro’s eyes find mine, a smile on his lips. I hate that for a second I feared that Mauro would be attracted to Vanessa. She was definitely his type in high school. I loathe the part of me that refuses to let go of all my baggage from that time in my life.

“Have a seat, Vanessa, we’re going to put Mauro through the wringer about his intentions with our girl.”

“No, you’re not. Mauro and I are going to get something to eat,” I say.

Lauren tilts her head. “Surely, he doesn’t care. You don’t have anything to hide, do you?”

This is getting annoying. Does she think if he’s using me he’s going to divulge that to her right here and now? She acts like she’s some ace detective on Law & Order who can squeeze a confession out of a person of interest with just a few pointed questions.

“Enough with the protective dad act,” I say.

Vanessa is still buried in her phone, her fingers going a mile a minute. “One question from me and then I’m out.” She surprises all of us by joining the conversation.

“No girls, we aren’t going to do this.” I shake my head.

Mauro puts his arm around my shoulder. “No, Mad, it’s fine.” He shifts his attention to Vanessa.

“Do you like our girl?” she asks.

“Yes.”

“Then I’m good. I think it goes without saying that if you hurt her, you can expect a visit on your doorstep from me. And Lauren.” She nods to where Lauren still sits on the couch. “Oh, and do me a favor and tell your brother to stop fucking calling me. I’m not going to go out with him.” She turns and walks toward the back of the house, probably to catch another ride in a black town car.

“Are you dating someone? Is that why you won’t date him?” Mauro calls out and Vanessa stops walking, slowly turning around.

Lauren and I are silent, waiting for her to answer.

“No, but I don’t date people who work under my dad. That’s a bad situation for all involved.”

Then she’s gone through the back door.

One down, one to go. Unfortunately, it’s the piranha that’s still circling.

“You get one question, Lauren.” I turn to face her, but Mauro sits down in the chair across from her.

“Three is more than fair,” she says.

“Two,” I negotiate and she wiggles in her seat and rubs her hands together.

“First question. Was it a coincidence that you showed up to bid on the same property as Madison?”

Seems like a waste of a question to me. Obviously, it was a coincidence. But I’m happy that’s what she asked because it could have been so much worse.

“Yes.” He gives a sharp nod of his head.

“Question two. You’re not using her to screw her over in the future, are you?”

“No.”

“Question three—”

“No, Lauren that’s it.” I hold my hand out for Mauro to take. He doesn’t accept it.

“It’s fine. I’ll answer as many questions as you want.” He sits up, resting his forearms on his thighs. “But before you ask, I’ll just save us each a bit of time.”

Lauren sits back, crossing her arms over her chest in a way that suggests he’ll never win her over, but she’ll let him try and fail.

“First off, thank you for bidding on me at the bachelor auction. Though our first date didn’t go as well as I’d have hoped, it put Madison on my radar. The property thing was a complete coincidence, but I’d like to think it was fate stepping in. Now, she told me what an asshole I was in high school. Don’t worry, I’m still trying to figure out how I could have possibly forgotten the first time I kissed her.”

Lauren’s eyebrows scrunch and she glances my way.

Shut up, Mauro.

“But I plan on making that up to her. I like Madison. A helluva lot more than a friend. This is new to both of us and we have to tread carefully with the business partnership and all, but I guarantee you, my intentions are pure.” He leans back into the chair, his hand out for me to take it. “Any more questions?”

“Just one.” She holds up her finger. “What the hell is he talking about a kiss in high school?” She glares my way.

“Nothing.”

Now both of them are looking at me. I throw my hands up in the air.

“That night of the bonfire when I drove him home…”

Please don’t make me retell this story.

Her eyes narrow. I silently slice my finger across my throat. She takes my hint and gives me a quick nod.

“Oh, that time when Mauro was drunk and all over you because he wanted you so bad? I completely forgot about that time,” she says.

Be jealous girls, she’s all mine.

The light in Mauro’s eyes dims again with that pitiful puppy look, staring up at me.

“She’s kidding, Mauro.” I place my hand on his arm.

Jeez does he do push-ups every night?

Lauren shakes her head and Mauro shifts his attention to her. The two share a look of ‘she’s way too nice.’

“What? You love me just the way I am.” I stand, looking at Lauren, whose eyes move to Mauro.

My cheeks flush because now Mauro took that as I think he loves me.

Lauren busts out laughing.

“Go you two. Try to screw the niceness out of her will you, Mauro?” She grabs the remote and the television lights up.

Even Mauro’s red now. Lauren has that effect on people.

“You’d rather sit at home and watch television than go out with my brother?” Mauro asks, grabbing my hand in his to lead us out of the room.

“Yes.” She points to Mauro. “And what does that say about your brother?”

Mauro chuckles. “So, I have your permission to take Madison out to dinner, Warden Hunt?” He raises our hands.

“I suppose so. But, if you screw her any other way then doggie style, missionary, or reverse cowgirl, then I suggest you walk around with a jock cup permanently in place because I’ll be coming for you.”

Mauro gives me a look like ‘is she fucking serious?’

“You’ve been warned,” I whisper.

“Night Lauren,” he says and I give her a quick wave too which she responds with two thumbs up and a million dollar smile behind his back.

I try to ignore the warm feeling in my chest once we’re back outside and he’s leading me to his truck.

I’m going out with Mauro Bianco, someone pinch me.

He opens his car door and I slide in. “Tough girl. But I like it that she’s around to look out for you.”

The door shuts and I watch him round the front of his truck.

Okay, I’ll admit, I pinched myself. I had to see if this was real or not.