Bound By Blood: Anthology by Cora Reilly

 

Gianna

The day of Matteo’s surgery finally arrived. I picked him up afterward. He didn’t show any outward sign of being in pain, but Matteo being Matteo that didn’t mean anything. I’d tried to read up on vasectomies and, in general, the pain was described as moderate, so for Matteo it could really be nothing.

He settled on the passenger side while I took the wheel, which almost never happened. I wasn’t a bad driver but Matteo, like all mob men, preferred to steer.

“Feels as if I got a thumbtack in my balls.”

I snorted. “You’ve had worse.”

“True, but those injuries usually didn’t have me worried I wouldn’t be able to get one up.” Matteo touched my thigh. “We should give it a try.”

I sent him a disbelieving look. “You just got out of surgery and already want to have sex. You know the doctor said you need to wait a week before we do it.”

Matteo’s hand moved higher. I swatted him away.

“Come on, babe. One week is a long time, considering I’ve only been getting regular sex for a few months.”

“So sorry, my vajayjay needed time after being shredded giving birth to our daughter,” I muttered.

“So that’s a definite no to sex?”

“Definite.”

“Then lets at least get drunk tonight. Isa is being taken care of. We need to use our evening alone.”

We’d had one evening in the Tipsy Cow since Isa’s birth, but we hadn’t gotten shitfaced, nor had we gone to a club to party afterward, but still it had felt like a major accomplishment.

“You’re not supposed to have alcohol either.”

“No sex, no alcohol. At least, let’s find someone I can cut up.”

A laugh slipped out but I combined it with a scowl to show Matteo I thought he was being an idiot.

I patted his leg. “You get my eternal gratefulness for doing this.” It wasn’t even only meant as a joke. I really loved Matteo even more for taking responsibility.

I’d put Isa down to sleep and headed back to the bedroom but froze in the doorway. Matteo lay spread-eagle, completely naked, on the bed. “Have your way with me. I’m ready.”

I cocked one eyebrow. “Seven days. You kept track.”

“Come on, babe. Give me a helping hand— or mouth.”

Matteo curled his fingers around his cock, which was already hardening.

“Doesn’t look like you need help,” I said but arousal was already pooling between my legs at the sight of Matteo. His body never left me unaffected. I strolled over to him and tugged my top over my head then shook off my shorts. Naked, I stopped in front of the bed. I felt confident in my body again, which was the best feeling in the world.

Matteo sent me a grin. I climbed on the bed and straddled his head before I shoved his hand away from his cock and sucked the tip into my mouth.

Matteo moaned but fell silent when he buried his face in my pussy. His eagerness showed by the way he shoved his tongue into me. I moaned around his cock. Matteo answered with a groan that vibrated against my clit. Soon we were both panting. I was grinding myself against Matteo’s skillful mouth while he thrust upward into my mouth.

When he sucked my clit into his mouth, I exploded. My fingers around his cock tightened and I sucked him even harder until he too exploded in my mouth.

I collapsed on top of him, completely spent. Rolling off his body, I stretched out on the bed, wiping my mouth.

“And, does it taste different?”

I hit his six-pack.

“What? It’s a legitimate concern.”

“It hasn’t improved,” I muttered.

Matteo grabbed my feet, which rested on the pillow beside his head and tickled me. I let out a screech and tried to jerk free of his hold but he was too strong.

“You’ll wake Isa, babe. Laugh quietly.”

I rammed my elbow into his side, causing him to grunt but not to release me. My belly hurt from howling and tears pooled in my eyes. “Stop!” I gritted out. “Fuck me!”

Matteo momentarily stopped the assault. “You know how to distract me.” His voice was low and one of his hands traveled up from my ankle to my inner thigh.

“It’s not that difficult,” I got out and opened my legs.

Matteo pushed two fingers into me and began to fuck me with them, his intense gaze never looking away from my pussy. Soon my muscles began to spasm for another reason. I rotated my hips, driving Matteo’s fingers even deeper into me until I came with a hoarse cry.

Not wasting any time, I climbed on top of Matteo who was already hard again. “See, everything’s still working.”

I reached for a condom and slid it over his cock.

Matteo sighed. “The next few months will be hard.”

I lowered myself on him, causing us both to moan. “I hope so.”

Matteo chuckled and gripped my hips, but I didn’t need encouragement. I loved to ride him, to steer my, and especially his, pleasure with every move of my hips.

When we laid in each other’s arms afterward, I asked, “And, do you regret it?”

I could only imagine what kind of comments Matteo had gotten from Luca. Given our traditional culture, a vasectomy was something that might hurt his manliness.

“No. We don’t want any more kids and I hate condoms, so it’s our best bet to keep Isa an only child.”

I smiled. “Growing up with Flavio and Aria’s third kid, she’ll pretty much have annoying siblings to spend time with.”

“No doubt.”

I slung my arm around Matteo’s chest. Now that Isa was eight months old, things had calmed down. I had returned to giving almost all of my classes and Matteo’s and my sex life was almost back to how it used to be. Moments of panic were few and far between but Matteo or my sisters were always there to catch me if they came.

We all alternated watching our kids. That way we all got some much needed couple time, even Lily occasionally let me or Aria watch Flavio and Sara. With Isa under the same roof, sex was limited to our bathroom and bedroom, and we had to be quiet, but on the nights when Isa was with one of her aunts we really went all out.

Right now Aria and Luca still got the short end of the stick because they didn’t have a toddler yet, but their third child was due in a couple of months and then things would take a turn.

“You’re quiet. What are you thinking?”

“About how far we’ve all come. When Aria, Lily and I were teens, back in Chicago, and tried to imagine our future, we never imagined it to be like this.”

“I thought all girls want true love, a handsome prince and a splendid palace. I think you live every young girl’s dream.”

I huffed. “You are impossibly vain.”

“Why? It’s true, isn’t it?”

I gritted my teeth but I had to admit he had a point, especially Lily and Aria had often droned about finding true love and a good-looking prince. I’d rarely entertained such fantasies, already too jaded at that young age, and if I’d ever allowed them, I’d kept them to myself. “I was never like that. Disney princes never did it for me.”

“That’s why you got me.”

I pushed up on his chest, narrowing my eyes. “All right, so let’s say I really live my teenage self’s dream, what about you? Is this your teenage dream come true?”

Matteo grinned in a way that raised my alarm bells. “Every horny teenage boy dreams about a girl that can suck cock like a pro and ride like a cowgirl.”

I punched his shoulder as hard as I could.

Matteo chuckled. “Okay, okay. But I never dreamed about having a wife and a kid. I never thought that it was meant to be. Until I met you. I wanted you from the first moment I saw you and only wanted you more with every rude word coming from your mouth. Today, you and Isa are the embodiment of a dream I never dared to dream.”

I swallowed, stunned by Matteo’s words. “Asshole, why do you have to say something so heartfelt and lovable? Now I feel like the cold-ass bitch in our relationship.”

“It’s your parade role, babe. Embrace it.”

I punched him again but gentler, then I gave him a hard kiss. “You and Isa are something I never thought I needed but all I want now,” I mumbled as quickly as I could to get the words out of the way. Then I swung myself on top of Matteo. “Now let’s fuck this lovey-doveyness out of my system.”

“Your wish is my command.”

The screaming and laughter of children filled the back yard of the mansion. We spent a few weeks in the summer together in the Hamptons every year. It was chaotic but also the best time of the year.

“They outnumber us,” Matteo muttered as he sank down in the chair beside mine.

I held up a bottle of white wine. Matteo grinned and grabbed a glass from the table. I filled his glass then lifted my own. “To booze, the balm for every parent’s frayed nerves.”

“Can I have some as well?” Marcella asked as she stepped out onto the terrace in a summer dress that made her look like a runway model.

Marcella had Aria’s beauty, only the pale skin against the black hair was even more eye-catching. She was fourteen and men began to notice her. Every time I went shopping with her, I noticed the appreciative looks. Every man who knew of her father kept their eyes to themselves. Anything else would be suicide. I couldn’t imagine Luca ever being okay with Marcella dating anyone, much less marrying. The perfect man for her probably didn’t exist on this planet.

“Ask again in seven years,” Luca muttered from his position at the barbecue.

“Daaaaddd,” Marcella moaned with a roll of her eyes and went back inside.

“She’s at a difficult age,” Aria said.

“When aren’t they?” Luca asked.

A high-pitched laugh sounded. Isa was playing hide-and-seek with her cousins Flavio and Valerio. As usual, the boys did what she wanted, she was only four but already very strong-willed. Aria’s second son was only nine months younger than Isa, and Flavio one day younger. They were inseparable.

“Dinner’s ready!” Aria called as she set a salad down in the center of the massive patio table. Luca carried over a plate with grilled meat.

“Flavio, Valerio, Isa!” I called but they kept chasing each other.

Aria sighed. Matteo waved at Amo. “Come on, Amo, move your butt and help me catch the little monsters.”

Amo pushed out of his chair. Only ten and the kid was already taller than Aria. He and Matteo began running after the children who began screeching. Marcella came out on the terrace, Lily’s seven-year-old daughter Sara trailing after her like a lost puppy.

Eventually, Matteo headed back to the table with Isa wedged under his left arm. Amo carried his little brother Valerio upside down so the kid’s blond hair fell into his face. He reminded me so much of little Fabiano, it sometimes gave me a wistful pang until his gray eyes reminded me that he wasn’t my brother. Flavio trotted after them. He was easier to handle than Isa and Valerio but far more trouble than sweet Sara. Lily sometimes said it was a boy thing, but Isa proved that theory wrong.

Matteo set Isa down in the chair beside mine.

I gave her a stern look when she was about to get up again. “Dinnertime.”

My tone made it clear that arguments were in vain, so Isa nodded with a small pout. Lily waddled outside, pregnant again, followed by Romero who always kept a close eye on her now that she was about to pop any day now.

Eventually everyone sat at the table, and the food was even still moderately warm.

Soon we all dug in and chatter filled the table. I cut Isa’s steak and she eagerly wolfed it down, much to Matteo’s delight. The girl loved meat and her dad’s motorcycle but she never missed our weekly mother and child yoga either. I brushed a few of her reddish-brown curls away from her forehead and she gave me a grin around her fork, those bold blue eyes getting me every time. So far Isa hadn’t encountered any restrictions. She was allowed to brawl with her cousins. The older she got, the more people would speak up to tell her what she could and couldn’t do because she was a girl. I’d make sure they all shut up, and if necessary, I’d even let Matteo use his particular scary talents to keep anyone at bay who’d try to make Isa believe her potential had limits only because she didn’t have a penis.

Matteo leaned over to me. “You got your fierce mother bear expression. Worrying your pretty head about Isa’s future again?”

I gave him an annoyed look but didn’t deny it.

“Trust me, babe. I’ll make sure our girl has all the freedoms she wants as long as she never brings a date home, unless it’s her lesbian lover.”

“You are impossible,” I muttered, trying to stifle a smile.

“That’s why you love me, admit it.” Matteo kissed me briefly until Valerio let out an ewww.

“Your mom and dad are being disgusting again,” he said with a scrunched-up nose.

“I know,” Isa said as if she had to suffer under our PDA all the time.

“You wouldn’t be sitting here if your mom and I didn’t enjoy being disgusting,” Matteo said. I rammed my elbow into his side. Marcella shook her head in disgust and Amo let out a laugh.

“What does that mean?” Sara asked, and the younger kids all looked from Matteo to Romero then Luca.

The latter sent Matteo a death glare. “Ask Matteo.”

Matteo leaned back and opened his mouth. He would explain the birds and the bees in every detail if anyone let him so I wasn’t sure why Luca provoked him like that.

Aria hit her palm flat on the table. “No disgusting topics at the table. We’re having dinner now. Can’t we act like a well-behaved normal family for once?”

I shrugged. Luca seemed only amused by her outburst but tried to hide it.

At least the kids all sat up a bit straighter and focused on their food again.

“That’s how she got Luca in line,” Matteo said.

I snorted. And all hell broke loose at the table again.

I mouthed sorry to Aria, but she shook her head with a badly disguised grin. A normal family we were not, but none of us really cared.

The end