About Last Night, page 18
“Stop, please.” I said as I walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Please Matteo, please stop.”
“I will never forgive him for threatening to hurt you.” He growled. “Never.”
“I know.” I touched the side of his face lightly. “I know, Matteo.”
“I would do anything to protect you, Emily.” His eyes were dark as he surveyed my face. “All I wanted to do was protect you.”
“I don’t understand completely but we can talk about it later.”
“You’re more important than the diamonds, Emily.That’s how you know you love someone.” He held me to him.
“How?” I whispered.
“You care about their well being more than you care about anything else in your life.” He grabbed my hands and pulled me to him. “I love you so much, Emily. I love you so so much.”
“I love you too, Matteo. I really do.” I then turned towards my parents who were watching everything in shock. “You guys need to figure out where the diamonds are within the next hour.” I glared at them both. “Or I am never talking to either of you again. I’m fed up of how you live your life dad.” I stared at him and burst into tears. “You need to grow up and be a better father and husband. This has been too much. It’s all too much. You hear me?”
“Yes.” He nodded and didn’t say a word. “I’m sorry, Emily.” He reached into his pocket and took out a handkerchief. He opened it and took a diamond out and put it on the ground. He then took his shoes off and pulled off his socks and pulled out a small velvet bag and poured what appeared to be dozens more diamonds on the ground. “I’m sorry. I just wanted a fresh start. I thought this could be a way to start afresh. I’m sorry.” He stood up and I could see him starting to break down. “I thought this could be my fresh start. I thought I could finally be a winner and give you and your mom everything I’d always promised.”
“You wouldn’t have gotten far with those diamonds.” Matteo said with a look on his face. “Henry, come.” He called over to the stout man that was standing in the doorway. The man walked over to where my dad was standing and picked up the diamonds from the floor. He then proceeded to open his briefcase and took out a magnifying glass. He held the diamonds to the light and proceeded to check every single one of them.
“What’s he doing?” I asked Matteo confused.
“Remember when I told you I had to make some calls?” He said as we stood there.
“Yeah, why?”
“I was looking for a jewel appraiser.” He looked grim. “We have not one, but two thieves in this room.”
“What?” I was even more confused. “What are you talking about?”
“Henry, how much are these jewels worth?”
“Sir, I’d say about a hundred dollars.”
“A hundred dollars?” Luca was standing there staring at the man. “What the fuck are you talking about?” He looked over at Matteo. “What the fuck is he talking about? Those diamonds are worth $10 million.”
“These aren’t diamonds.” Henry held the jewels up in his hand. “These look like they are some sort of cut glass, fashioned to look like diamonds.” My eyes immediately flew to my parents and I could see all the color had drained from my father’s face.
“I swear I didn’t change them out.” He shook his head. “This is what she gave me.” He looked nervous. “I swear.”
Matteo nodded. “I know.”
“What the fuck is going on, Matteo?” Luca looked furious. “Where the fuck are the diamonds?”
“They are in this room.” Matteo said quietly. “I’m sorry, Luca.”
“Sorry about what?” Luca glared at him and Matteo pointed to the door, where Lucia was trying to exit.
“Lucia, where are you going?” Luca called out, frowning.
“I’ve…” Her voice trailed off as Luca walked over to her. “Luca…”
Luca reached forward and picked up the diamond necklace that was hanging around her next and studied it for a few minutes. “Come here!” He called to Henry. “Take that off, Lucia.”
“Luca.”
“Take it off.” He reached his hand out and she took off the necklace reluctantly and handed it to him. He handed it to Henry, who held it up and started inspecting it. His expression changed and he looked to be ecstatic as he surveyed the jewels.
“This necklace would be valued from about nine million to fifteen million, depending on the buyer.” Henry said, his eager hands touching the necklace delicately. “Each diamond is at least 5 carats. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.”
“I see.” Luca said and he frowned. “Lucia, why?”
“Why not?” She shrugged. “I needed a nest egg. Matteo has been useless. The family is losing respect. We will soon have nothing. I couldn’t live with nothing.”
“But I support you.” Luca was angry. “I was taking control.”
“I couldn’t wait.” Lucia glared at me and then at Matteo. “I want a fresh start.”
“Lucia.” He said and I could see and hear his disappointment. She just stared at him and left the room. He then looked over to Anabel and walked over to her. “Can we talk?”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“It’s been so long.” He touched her arm lightly. “Please?”
“Okay, but later.” She said and then I watched as she took a step away from him. It hit me then that Luca still affected her. Whatever had happened to them wasn’t still in the past. There was still something there. That worried me, but there was nothing I could do about it.
“Did you know?” I turned to Matteo. “Did you know that my dad didn’t have the real diamonds.”
He nodded and sighed. “I’ve known for a while that Lucia has been stealing from the family. I was pretty sure she had done a switch with the diamonds when she’d wanted to inspect them before they were given to your dad.” He sighed. “She would have been caught redhanded on delivery of the diamonds and then I could have confronted her and told Luca, but then your dad stole them and it thwarted all my plans.”
“So you were trying to do the right thing?” I nodded my understanding. “You wanted to find my dad so that you could prove to Luca that Lucia was bad. You didn’t want to harm my dad.”
“Of course I didn’t, Emily. Never. That’s not my personality. I’m a lover, not a fighter.” He leaned forward and gave me a quick kiss. “Please believe me when I say that.”
“I believe you.” I said and touched the side of his face. “There’s a lot I’m still mad about but I believe you.”
“Emily, what’s going on here?” My dad suddenly spoke up. “We’re leaving, right now!”
“Not now, dad.” I shook my head, but when I saw the scared look on his face, I reached over to him and touched his shoulder. “It’s okay dad. I’m going to be okay. Matteo is a good man. You’re the one that was in the wrong here.” I shook my head. “Why would you think it was okay to steal from the mafia? Do you have a death wish?”
“I love you, Emily. I’m so sorry.” He had tears in his brown eyes and I kissed him on the cheek, before looking deep into his eyes. “I hope you can forgive me.”
“We’ll get through it dad. We will.” I said and then I looked over at Matteo. “But I need to talk to Matteo first and I’m not leaving here without him.”
“Okay.” My dad said and went back to the couch to sit next to my mom, who was rubbing tears from her eyes. Charlotte had walked over to her and had her arm around her shoulder and was rubbing it. Charlotte offered me a sweet smile and held a thumb up. It was going to be okay. I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. It was all going to be okay.
“Can we talk?” I asked Matteo and he nodded.
“Of course.” He grabbed my hand and he led me towards the doorway. I looked over at Anabel who were still standing there and as I was about to speak I noticed Luca leaning forward and saying something to Anabel that I couldn’t hear. She shook her head and pushed him away.
“We need to talk, Ana.” He said in a gruff voice. “You ran away from me.”
“Every girl knows to run away from the wolf.” She said in a soft voice. “You would have eaten me up, Luca. You were already taking over my life.”
“Anabel.” He said her name with such emotion that a part of me wanted to stand there and listen to the rest of their conversation but a bigger part of me knew that I needed to finish my conversation with Matteo.
“Let’s go upstairs.” Matteo said as we left the room and we made our way back to the bedroom. We walked over to the bed and both of us sat there cross legged and facing each other. “Do you hate me?” He asked me softly.
“No.”
“Do you love me?”
“Maybe.”
“Can you ever forgive me?”
“I don’t know.” I shook my head and he sighed.
“I didn’t want it to come to this, Emily.”
“I think I believe that.”
“Just give me another chance.”
“Another chance at what though, Matteo? You’re the head of a mafia family. Even as I say that, it sounds ridiculous.”
“I love you, Emily. Allow me to love you. Allow me to love you and we can figure it out together.” He held my hands and drew them to his heart. “This is all new to me, but I know if I have you by my side I can make the changes I need to make. I can be the man you want me to be. Let me love you. Let me be the man that spends the rest of his life loving and laughing with you?” He gazed at me for a few seconds and then I leaned forward and kissed him softly.
“Okay, Matteo. I love you and I will give you this chance.” I listened to his heart beating as I pressed my head against his chest and then looked up and smiled at him. “I think we can get through anything together, my love. We just have to be honest with each other.”
“You’re right, my beautiful flower. Together we can get through anything. Together we shall take on the world.”
Epilogue
One Week Later
Mateo: Where are you?
Emily: Sorry, I’m just getting off the train. I’ll be there soon.
Mateo: I wish you would have taken a cab.
Emily: We can’t all afford to take a cab from Brooklyn to New York. I don’t make loads of money.
Mateo: I could pay.
Emily: I’m not taking your money.
Mateo: How far away are you?
Emily: Fifteen mintes.
Mateo: How are your parents?
Emily: My dad was sheepish. And sorry. Mom was sorry and regretful. She’s always taking control of their finances.
Mateo: That’s good.
Emily: My mom says hello.
Mateo: And your dad?
Emily: He says nothing. I don’t even think he wants to remember you exist.
Mateo: That’s going to be awkward at the wedding.
Emily: Funny.
Mateo: I miss you. Hurry.
Emily: You saw me last night.
Mateo: That was last night. I haven’t seen you today at all.
Emily: Soon, my dear. Have patience.
Mateo: You know I have no patience.
Emily: I know.
I rang the doorbell and Matteo headed to the door, with his phone in his hand. He opened the door absentmindedly and looked up at me in surprise.
“You’re here.” He grinned. “Already.”
“I’m here.” I said and nodded. “Can I come in?”
“Yes.” He said but we both just stood there. He stared at me for a few seconds and put his phone in his back pocket. He took a step towards me and placed his hands on my shoulders, his fingers playing with the bottom of my hair. “I missed you.”
“You said that already.”
“Not in person.” He shook his head and smiled.
“Okay.” I smiled back.
“Did you miss me?”
“Maybe.” I smiled again and shrugged. He licked his lips and nodded as a light came into his eyes. I wondered what he was thinking and so said. “Yes, I missed you.”
“I knew it.” He laughed.
“Can I come inside?” I asked and he laughed, grabbed my hand and pulled me inside. I noticed that there were lit candles all over the room. “What’s going on?”
“I wanted to shine a hundred lights.”
“Why?”
“To show you how much light you’ve brought into my life since you came into it.”
“You’re so romantic.” I laughed and touched his face. And then I asked him about Lucia and Luca. He stopped for a few seconds and then sighed.
“Lucia has gone on holiday to St. Lucia.” He pursed his lips. “And I don’t know what’s going on with Luca.” He shook his head. “I haven’t heard from him since we left Miami.”
“Oh.” I chewed on my lower lip. “You don’t think he will do anything crazy will you?”
“No.” He shook his head. “Luca isn’t stupid. Has Anabel heard from him?”
“Not that I know of.” I shook my head. “Though to be honest, I’ve only seen her once since we’ve been back. She has some crazy case and has been working a lot.”
“We should make sure she’s okay.”
“Yeah, me and Charlotte were talking about it. We’re going to take her out and make sure she tells us everything. We need to make sure she’s okay.” I felt awful that it was because of me that Anabel’s past had come back to haunt her. I hated to see my friend so distraught and I knew that she would just bury herself in work if we didn’t do anything to help her.
“Enough about them right now though.” He pulled me into his arms. “I want to kiss you.”
“Oh yeah?” I grinned at him, happy to be next to his warm body. “Are you going to kiss me all night long?”
“Yes.” He pressed his lips against my neck. “Seeing as we’ve given up sex for now.”
“So you’re really okay with going without sex forever?” I asked lightly.
“Well not forever, but I’m willing to wait until you’re confident that you want to be with me.” He said and touched my lips. “I’d wait until our wedding night if you wanted to.”
“That’s good.” I said with a small smile. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He offered me a weak smile. “I love you, Emily.”
“And I love you.” I said and then I started to undo the buttons of the trench coat, Charlotte had gotten me.
“What are you doing?” Matteo said as I started twirling around as I undid the buttons of the coat. “Whoa!” He let out a huge breath of air as the coat fell to the ground and I was standing there naked. “Emily?”
“Yes, Matteo?” I said innocently.
“What are you doing?”
“Getting comfortable.” I said as I walked over to him and pressed my body up against his. “Are you comfortable.”
“You’re going to make this very hard on me.” He groaned and I could feel his cock swelling next to me through his pants. “Quite literally.”
“Well what shall we do about that?” I licked my lips.
“Emily? What do you want me to do?”
“I want you to eat me up.” I grinned at him. “I want you to eat all of me and then when you’re done I want you to make sweet love to me all night long.”
“Are you sure?” He asked me, his hands already caressing my breasts.
“Yes, my love.” I kissed the side of his face. “I want you to give me a hundred reasons why being with an older man is so much better than a younger one. And I want you to start giving them to me now.”
“Anything to oblige you, my beautiful princess.” He growled and then he picked me up and carried me to his bed. He dropped me on the mattress and then grinned up at me as he kissed up my thighs towards my pussy. “Let’s start off at number one.” And as his tongue found my clit and started licking and sucking, I closed my eyes and smiled to myself. Who knew that a blind date could turn out so right in so many ways?
Thank you for reading About Last Night. The final book in the series is When We Were Us and this is Anabel’s book. It is available for preorder here. I will also be providing an epilogue to About Last Night in a couple of weeks, so join my mailing list here so you don’t miss it.
J. S. Cooper, About Last Night
