CHAPTER 14
AIDA
“This is the way my ma taught me how to make cannoli,” Lorenzo’s ma said, putting some ingredients into a bowl. I listened intently, not wanting to miss a single word she said. “First, you add all of the dry ingredients.” She glanced up at me. “Then the butter.” She placed the butter in the bowl and started to mix it with her hands. “You mix it until all of the lumps are gone.” She lifted her hands out of the bowl and pushed it toward me. “You try, cara.”
I grinned at the term of endearment she’d started using as I pushed my fingers into the bowl. I’d never made cannoli before. My ma always made savory things because it meant she could batch cook them. I was excited not only to be spending time with Lorenzo’s ma but also learning how to make them the traditional way that she’d been taught.
Ma cracked an egg into a bowl and added something else, whisking it up. “Is it lump-free?”
“I think so.” I wasn’t really sure, but one quick look over my shoulder had her nodding.
“Mix this into a dough,” she said, placing the wet ingredients in and watching as I tried to mix it all together. It mostly stuck to my fingers, and I panicked, thinking I was messing it up. “Here.” Ma reached into the bowl, pulling the mixture off my fingers and then taking over. She was a pro at it, and in no time had made it into the glossiest-looking dough I’d ever seen.
“What do we do now?” I asked Ma.
“We rest and chill it overnight.” She wagged her finger in the air. “Too many times, people try to rush the process, but you need to let all the ingredients merge together to permeate into a tasty dough.” She wrapped the dough in some plastic wrap and moved across the kitchen to the huge fridge. “Perfection takes time, cara.”
I nodded, understanding what she was saying. Sometimes it would take all day to make the perfect pasta sauce, but everyone wanted everything right away. We lived in a fast-paced world, one where we could place an order for food on our phones and it would be at our door thirty minutes later. Traditions were being lost, and I wanted to make sure I was doing everything I could to uphold them.
“Did I not say you weren’t allowed in here again?” Lorenzo’s deep voice came from the doorway.
I raised a brow and turned to face him, holding my sticky dough-covered fingers in the air. “You did.”
He stared at me, tilting his head to the side. “Then why are you in here with Ma?”
“I’m learning how to make cannoli.” I turned to wash my hands and then leaned back against the counter to give him my full attention. “You have a problem with that?”
“Yeah.” He stepped toward me, his eyes flashing, but I didn’t take any notice of his facial expressions. I was too focused on the way his shirt sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and the way his chest moved with each of his breaths. “You’re defying me again.”
“I am,” I breathed out, biting down on my bottom lip the closer he came. The top two buttons of his shirt were undone, and I couldn’t look away from his tan skin, remembering what was beneath the rest of the material. “What are you going to do about it?”
I knew there was nothing he could do, not right then anyway, because it was the middle of the day. Uncle Alonzo and Antonio had only arrived twenty minutes ago, and whenever they came to the house, they’d be holed up in his office for hours at a time.
“Don’t tempt me into something you’re not prepared to finish, Aida.”
I blinked up at him, having no intention of not following through. Weeks had gone by since I’d told him I would give us a proper chance, and since then, we’d done nothing but kiss.
I wanted more.
I needed more.
“Who said I wasn’t going to finish it?”
Ma’s footsteps echoed as she walked across the kitchen, and one quick look her way had me witnessing the smile on her face. She was seeing a side to Lorenzo I had no doubt she’d never seen before, but I didn’t have time to overthink it as she exited the kitchen, leaving Lorenzo and me all alone.
“Aida,” he warned, halting in front of me and placing both of his hands on the counter behind me.
“What?” I asked, meeting his stare and seeing the roaring fire in his eyes. He wanted this just as much as I did, so I didn’t hesitate. I didn’t wait for him to plant his lips on me. I dived for him, our lips connecting like magnets.
His hands came to my waist, yanking me closer to him, and I went without question. His cock pressed against me, and I reached down, pressing my palm along it over his pants.
“Fuck,” he ground out, pulling his face away from mine. His nostrils flared as he breathed heavily, his eyes turning so dark they were nearly black. Neither of us said a word, the only sounds in the room our gasps for air.
And then he was on me, picking me up like I weighed the same as a feather. I wrapped my legs around his waist, tilting my hips so I could rock my core against his cock. He faltered at the move, pausing in the foyer, and I spotted his office door wide open. Voices came from inside, and for a second, I wondered if he was going to realize he was busy.
But he didn’t. He simply took the stairs two at a time and headed right for his bedroom. The door swung open and slammed closed behind us. I registered that the sofa that used to be pressed up against the wall was gone, and in its place was a dresser.
I opened my mouth to ask him about it, but I didn’t get the chance because I was flying in the air, my back hitting the bed. “Umph.” I blinked, trying to get my bearings, but Lorenzo was already back on me, yanking down my leggings and panties in one smooth movement.
He slithered up to me, grasping the bottom of my top with both hands, then yanking at it. The material ripped, exposing my bare chest to him. “Fuck,” he groaned out. “Had I known you were wearing nothing underneath that, I would have come in here sooner.”
“I never wear a bra at home.” I gasped, trying to keep up with him as he slid back down my body and to the floor. “What are you doing?”
His lips lifted up into his telltale smirk, his hands pressed against my thighs, and then he parted them. “I’m taking what’s mine.” He dove between my legs, dragging his tongue up my slit, and it took all of my strength not to squeeze my legs together from the onslaught.
I moaned, gripping on to the sheets. “Lorenzo.” I lifted my hips higher, needing… “More.”
His fingers dug into my thighs, yanking me closer and lifting my ass off the bed. He took my clit into his mouth, sucking on it so hard I was scared I’d combust right there and then. The tip of his tongue flicked the bundle of nerves over and over again, and I reached my hand out to grab his hair. I pushed my fingers through it, jerking my hips into his face, not having a care in the world what I sounded or looked like.
Only Lorenzo managed to have me losing all of my inhibitions.
He slipped one finger inside me, swirling his tongue around and lapping me up like he couldn’t get enough of me. His second finger had me squirming even more, and when I looked down, I groaned. His gaze met mine, the dark and broody stare mixed with him sucking on my clit one last time making me shoot off like a firework.