“Were you caught?”
“No. Thanks to you,” Dante offered a half bow. “Had your brothers been with him...” he used his thumb to make a slicing motion across his neck.
“Idiotas,” Athena seethed, rolling her eyes. “You’ve put yourself at risk of that very thing once again. My father knows where I am. He could show any time with the polizia.”
“That’s why we are here, Bella,” Georgano explained. “We’re on our way to the hills. To join up with our cousins. Come with us.”
“Stupido!” Athena spat, her fist raised for another blow. “That’s out of the question.”
“Why?” A knowing light appeared in Dante’s squinted stare. “Already comfortable here with the Tesano?”
“And if I am?”
“He’s dangerous, Athena,” Dante cautioned, all traces of easiness gone from his tone.
Georgano took her arm. “Is he keeping you prisoner here?”
“Fool,” she shook off his hold. “What kind of captor lets his prisoner roam free for the better part of a day? I’m free to come and go as I please.”
“Come with us, then,” Dante urged.
Athena snorted. “I have no desire to live among the hills with bandits.” She enjoyed men, but that was asking too much even for her. Besides, she had no wish to live on the run, being hunted by the authorities.
Dante’s and Georgano’s cousins in the hills lived among the bandit troupes. The ruthless groups preyed on weary travelers seeking new homes when their lasts had failed them. More often however, it was the unsuspecting travelers, intrigued by the famed beauty of the Italian countryside, who fared most poorly against the thieves. Doomed travelers were at risk of losing more than their purses during those encounters. Women were often robbed of their virtue, while others lost their lives. Such encounters led to bandit factions squaring off against each other in bloody fights for retribution when one of their own was victimized.
“No thank you,” she refused. “There’s no benefit to a woman by being there.”
“There is no need to worry, Bella,” Georgano cooed. “You’d be treated like a queen. Everyone would know you are ours.”
Athena sighed, wondering how she’d ever thought two such as these could ever hold her interest beyond a few quick tumbles.
“What power do you expect to hold over such a group, being new to it yourselves?” She probed, watching the men trade baffled looks.
“Does this mean you aren’t coming?” Dante asked.
“Stupido,” Athena breathed, shaking her head once more.
Georgano’s eyes narrowed with curious intent. “I think my friend Dante is right. Our little flower has succumbed to the sting of another bee. Is that right, Athena? Do you belong to the Tesano now?”
She lifted her chin. “I belong to no man. Commitments close too many doors.”
“Is the door still open to us, Bellissima?” Dante asked, his tone a teasing one.
Athena kept her expression unreadable. “Until you bore me,” she said.
The mens’ laughter shook the room as they closed ranks around her. Dante drew Athena high against him while Georgano moved in from behind to lift the hem of her shirt.
A lusty kiss commenced between Athena and Dante while Georgano sucked at her nape as he squeezed her hips and thighs. The kiss turned lustier with Athena’s moans charging the air when she sensed Georgano’s fingers stabbing her sex. The threesome disconnected with Georgano taking Athena with him, while Dante unhooked his gun belt, dropping it near the door with the rest of his and Georgano’s belongings.
Georgano dropped his belt and trousers before taking one of the chairs surrounding the dining table. He settled Athena over his erection. She braced against the table, moaning her pleasure until Dante sat before her on the edge.
“Bellissima,” he once again complimented her beauty and pulled her head to his lap.
~7~
Dusk had just transitioned to night by the time Liam returned home. He had decided they would move forward on the job for Carlo DiCenzo. It was an early return for him. He and Nandi tended to stay out ‘til well past midnight whenever they got together.
Sometimes the outings were all about frivolity, but most often they were for business. Transporting fabric was a lucrative endeavor, but it was nowhere near the zenith of his ambitions.
America was that zenith. It had been since he was a child with no concept of the future. His parents’ stories of their travels had instilled in him and his brothers an eagerness to explore. Liam had no wish to traverse terrain already scoured by the footprints of so many others. He wanted to explore new lands.
America was that new land. Until now, it was a trip he thought he’d make on his own. Now, he wondered if that journey might include Athena Cavalese.
Just then, a chilly wind whipped with furious intensity and he took that as a sign that he was allowing his thoughts to run wild. He continued his trek toward the front door. He walked in and almost forgot to close the door at his back. He paid little mind to where his coat and hat landed as he moved past the table. He had always considered himself blessed to have a home and a fine one at that. There were so many without shelter and forced to room in the hills without a place to call their own. Yes, he considered himself blessed indeed and yet he had never felt the warmth of home inside the walls.
His home provided shelter and little else. It had certainly never exuded the kind of welcome he experienced that night. The place was aglow, not only from the hearth that blazed and roared from the sitting room, but the candlelight flickering on the bedroom walls.
He usually kept the spare room doors shut, but they stood open tonight and filled the house with light and hospitality. He noted the kitchen, decorated by sprigs of color. He recognized much of that color came by way of his mother’s dishtowels which he’d packed away in her trunks.
Flowers that took root around the front porch, now accentuated the counter space and dining table. As dazzling as it all was, nothing could touch the mesmerizing fragrances riding the air.
Liam felt his stomach quake with hunger, his mouth on the verge of watering. He saw her then, leaning on the doorframe that led to his room. Her hair was up in a loose twist that allowed tendrils to escape and dangle at her jaw and delicate neckline. She wore a yellow sundress that was loose on her frame as it was shorter and more petite than his mother’s. The straps slid from her shoulders, alluringly while the hem brushed the floor and barely left her toes visible.
Liam searched for words so as not to unnerve her with his staring.
“I’m sorry to be so late. Are you alright?”
“Oh yes,” she took a tentative step forward. “I enjoyed being here.”
