LAUREN

Antonio hasn’t stopped moving around the kitchen since we arrived back at my penthouse. I can’t take my eyes off him either. His shirtsleeves are rolled up just below his elbow, tie thrown over the chairback next to me along with his suit jacket, and his hair is out of place as he dices up tomatoes like he went to culinary school.

When the board meeting ended, he barely let me grab my purse before he ushered me out of the Interstellar office and into his waiting Escalade. I didn’t fight him either.

I should not have gone into the office this afternoon, and I should have trusted my team to handle everything in regards to the merger. I wasn’t ready to face the barrage of questions that I endured for over an hour. Luckily, Josh stepped up and helped fill in the chunks of information that I didn’t have when necessary. I’m still pissed at him for handling the details of the deal without me, but what’s done is done.

Antonio glances up for a moment as I gawk at him from across the marble-top island. “So, how did the meeting go?”

“Fine.” I lean forward and absently stroke the bit of skin that’s not covered near my collar as I watch him wield the knife like he’s a Food Network star.

“Fine good or fine bad?”

“What are you making?”

I don’t feel like talking about the boardroom or the merger. In fact, I don’t really feel like talking much at all, but I know Antonio isn’t going to let it go so easily.

He doesn’t take his eyes off the cutting board as he pushes aside one diced up tomato and reaches for another. “Pasta sauce. Now answer the question.”

“You’re making homemade sauce?” My jaw drops. “Doesn’t that take hours?”

While on the island, I learned that Antonio liked to cook and he was good at it too, but homemade sauce is an entirely different level of cooking. Something I’d never been able to master in all my years of trying, even though I tried dozens of times.

“Yes, homemade sauce. It’s a recipe my mother used to cook when she didn’t have a lot of time. Stop deflecting.”

I’m chomping at the bit to ask about his mother. He has never mentioned his family before, and I want to know everything about the man I’m falling in love with. There’s still so much I don’t know.

I sigh, but I decide to answer the question so I can find out about his family. “Everything went fine. The board had a million questions. Most of which I could answer, and the ones I couldn’t, Josh answered without a problem.”

A low, deep growl escapes his throat as he tosses the pile of tomatoes in the pan at his side, covering the onions that had started to dance across the bottom. “I’m sure he could.”

When he doesn’t ask another question, I jump at the chance to get to know more about Antonio. “You haven’t spoken about your parents before. Are they still alive?”

He tosses his head back, throwing back the few pieces of hair that have fallen onto his forehead. His hands are covered in tomato juice, and all I can see is the man before me. I don’t concentrate on work or the merger. I only see Antonio, the chef with the Italian accent, casual and relaxed. “My father works and travels a lot, and my mother does charity work.”

He pauses and stares at me as he wipes his hands clean, but he doesn’t give any more details.

“Where are they?” I ask because I won’t let him off the hook so easily. He knows about my parents. I’ve shared so much about my father that Antonio knows more about me than I do about him. I’m about to remedy that and make it an even playing field.

“They live in Italy on Lake Como with my sister and her family.”

“You have siblings?”

Jealousy slices through me briefly. Being an only child hasn’t been easy. I had Tara, but even then, I wasn’t always top priority. Holidays had become something I dreaded as the years passed. All the talk of family get-togethers made my stomach twist into knots with envy.

Antonio tosses in some spices, but I can’t read the labels from across the kitchen island. I know it’s something he must’ve bought because I only have the basics. And by that, I mean salt and pepper to season my takeout when I’m home early enough to eat here.

“I have five,” he says.

“Five?” I whisper.

“Two brothers and three sisters.” He smiles. “You can meet them if you’d like.”

Whoa. That’s a leap I am not sure I am ready to make so quickly. Meeting family means commitment, and although Antonio has totally captured my attention, I don’t know if we’ve moved to that level yet. “I was just curious. Tell me about them. Are they as driven as you?”

He laughs softly as he stirs the sauce that smells like something from my favorite Italian restaurant. “In their own ways. Enzo, my oldest brother, owns a farm in Italy and produces some of the finest olive oil that you’ll ever taste. Catarina, my oldest sister, is an artist. She specializes in restoration work and has brought back to life some of the most important damaged art pieces in history.”

“Wow. I wish I were artistic,” I grumble.

I was the kid in class who couldn’t draw a flower without it looking more like an inkblot test than any actual object.

“Your art can’t be contained to a canvas. Your imagination is too big for such a small space.”

His compliment warms my insides, and I smile across the kitchen. “Thank you.” No one has ever said anything so beautiful about my inability to draw or paint, but his words make sense.

He gives me a quick nod before continuing. “Flavia is the baby of the family and is spending a year traveling the world before she goes to university to study journalism.”

“I envy her. I never had the chance to do that, but I wanted to more than anything. Now I don’t have time, and I’m too old to go backpacking across Europe.”

He laughs, wiping off his hands again and coming to stand at my side. “My dear.” He sweeps a few strands of hair behind my shoulder, grazing my neck with his fingers. “You can go anytime you want. Instead of a backpack, we’ll take luggage and use my private jet.”

His words make my heart skip a beat. “You make it sound easy.”

“You’re the boss, Lauren. You can do anything you want.”

“Leaving the company for an extended period of time wouldn’t be wise right now, especially if I did it with you.”

“We will have to take some business trips. You’re going to need to know everything about Cozza while I learn everything about Interstellar.”

I glance down, wishing his words were true. “You’re a dreamer.”

Antonio places his fingertips under my chin, forcing me to look up at his beautiful, smiling face. “I’m a realist. There will be a lot of travel in the next few months, and there’s no one else I’d rather do it with than you.”

“What about your other siblings?” I change the subject because I’m not ready to think about tomorrow, let alone a few weeks or months away.

He cups my chin. “They can come too if they want,” he says with a wink.

I playfully slap his arm. “I’m being serious. You didn’t finish telling me about your brothers and sisters.”

“Let’s see.” He moves back across the kitchen, putting much-needed distance between us. Although I’d like nothing more than to press my body against his, my stomach is winning the internal battle of wills. “I told you about Flavia, Enzo, and Catarina already. Violetta is a classically trained pianist, and much to the horror of my mother, she joined a punk band two years ago and has been living out of a van as she sings in dive bars. She’s the wild one of the group.”

I don’t know why, but I laugh. “And the last brother?”

Antonio slowly stirs the sauce as it perfumes the air with the most heavenly scent. “Stefano.”

My stomach rumbles, but I push aside my hunger pangs when Antonio doesn’t continue. “And he’s…?”

“He and I are twins.”

“I didn’t know you had a twin.”

“It’s one of the reasons I keep such a low profile. I’d hate for people to mix us up because we look so much alike.” He smirks because he knows half the time I’m not even sure I like him either. “And Stefano’s the nicest person you’ll ever meet, but only if he likes you.”

“I must meet him because he sounds just like you.”

Antonio places the pot of water on the stove to boil before leaning against the counter. “It’s complicated.”

“You’re complicated. How’s he any different?”

He gives me that cocky grin that makes my heart skip a beat. “I know, but Stefano doesn’t necessarily live his life on the right side of the law.”

“So, he’s…?” I push my nose sideways with my index finger, giving the signal for crooked.

“What’s…?” He repeats the motion with his eyebrows drawn inward.

“Like, he’s in the mob?”

“They don’t call it that in Italy, but something like that. I don’t want to know, so I keep my nose out of his business.”

“You’re safe, then.”

Antonio raises an eyebrow. “Safe?”

“From Stefano stealing me away from you.” I laugh so hard, I snort.

Antonio crosses the kitchen with ease, almost as though he’s floating as he walks, elegant and smooth. “Baby, I’d never let anyone have you. Not even my brother.”

My belly flips, but this time, it isn’t from hunger.

ANTONIO

I still, leaving my cock buried deep inside her. “Say it,” I growl in her ear, my front flush against her back.

“I can’t.”

My finger sweeps across her clit, and her body jolts against me. “You wanna come, baby?” I press my hand flat against her, pulling her ass upward and pushing my dick deeper.

She lifts her head, turning to look me in the eyes. “You play dirty,” she whispers against my lips.

“There’s no other way to play.” I smirk.

The game had been fun, but now I’m dying for the orgasm she’s holding out of reach for both of us. I may have given her my position at Cozza, but I’ll remain in charge in the bedroom. The admission is simple for most people, but the way we started makes everything more complicated.

“I’m…” She grinds her clit against my palm, trying to get what she wants without saying what I want to hear. When I cup my hands, making it impossible for her to get off, she finally gives in. “I’m yours, Antonio. I’m yours.”

Hearing her finally say the words is like music to my ears. I pull back, arching my body on top of hers before I slam inside her so hard, her body moves forward across the bed. She pushes back, meeting each thrust with a cry of passion.

Every ounce of pent-up energy, frustration, passion, and longing pour from my soul, building into an orgasm that could tear us both apart. I slow a bit, playing with her clit as I pull out and pump my dick back into her.

My spine starts to tingle as the climax grows, radiating throughout my body. I can’t breathe. She follows me, but not as quietly, as the orgasm grips us both.

“Jesus,” she whispers underneath me before I’ve had a chance to say a word.

I’m too busy concentrating on each breath as my heart hammers inside my chest, threatening to break free. Dear God. The woman does it for me like no one else ever has. I don’t know if it’s her unwillingness to make anything easy, but every step along the way she’s had me by the proverbial balls.

I roll onto my side, pulling her down with me onto the comforter. “Mmm,” I mumble, unable to muster any intelligible words.

My thoughts are scattered. Less than a month ago, I had dreams of ripping Interstellar away and making it my own. Now I’m handing the entire company over to the woman I just fucked. Either I’m hopelessly in love with her, or I’ve officially gone off the deep end.

I close my eyes and stroke the soft skin on her arm as she curls into me. My life, although crazy at times because of business, has never been as peaceful as it is in the moments when Lauren’s at my side.

I never thought I’d be here. The last twenty years have been a dizzying array of women parading around and shaking their asses in front of me, hoping I’d drop to one knee and propose marriage. A few tempted me, but none have gotten as close as Lauren Bradley. There’s something about her, something in our connection, that makes me want to claim her as my own and put a ring on her finger.

“Are we fooling ourselves?” she asks, peering up at me just as I open my eyes.

“What do you mean?” My post-sex brain haze makes the simplest thought almost impossible.

She raises herself up, placing her hand on my chest as she stares into my eyes. “Can this really work? I mean, we’re electric in bed, but…”

“We’ll make it work, Lauren.” I lift my head, placing a kiss on her forehead and letting my lips linger against her skin. “I won’t settle for anything or anyone else.”

“When word gets out about us, people are going to hate me,” she confesses.

Pulling her on top of me, I brush her hair away from her eyes. Her heart’s beating as fast as mine, almost in sync. “Why would they hate you?”

“They’re going to say I slept my way to the top.”

I laugh softly, touching her chin as my thumb strokes her bottom lip. “You were already at the top, my love. You’ve proven yourself with the Mercury engine and well before that, in fact. I’m sure every employee will hate both of us equally, but we’re not meant to be liked. When you’re at the top, the people underneath are forever gunning for your failure.”

Tiny lines form across her forehead, and her lips flatten. “That’s not always true.”

“It’s always true. They pray for our failure. It’s the only thing they can cling to in hopes of someday taking our jobs. But now we have each other to watch the other’s back, so it’ll be harder for them to knock us off our game.”

Her fingernail grazes the skin on my chest as her features soften. “You really think us working together is going to be a good thing?”

Before I kiss her, I say, “We’re going to take over the world, Lauren. We were pretty damn strong separately, but together, we’re unstoppable.”