“Don’t move,” she told Damian, “and keep them smiling for me.”
Throughout their entire vacation, she had not been able to get one really good picture of the three of them together. Cory was always moving too fast, or Joe was too interested in something else.
Kids were fun that way, she supposed.
But this here …
Perfect.
Lily took the picture, and smiled as she peered over the captured image of her boys.
“Best Christmas present ever.”
SIXTEEN
Alessa and Adriano
ALESSA
“Are you sure you don’t want me to stay just in case they don’t stay in bed?” Alessa asked.
Adriano chuckled as he pulled the darker curtains closed around their two kids. The girls had already been put to bed, and had been sleeping for a good half an hour, but that didn’t matter. As much as she wanted to go out and have fun with the girls, she also wanted to stay right here with Adriano and her girls.
Mom guilt was a bitch.
Funny how that worked.
“Lissa,” Adriano said, crossing the room to where she was sitting on the couch, “it’s fine, babe.”
“Yeah, but—”
“Go have fun with the girls, and enjoy the last night here. Okay?”
Alessa sighed, and smiled up at her husband. “Love you, huh?”
Adriano grinned, but the sight wasn’t anything new. He’d been smiling like that ever since he got his business out of the way on their vacation. Once he knew his deal had gone through and without a hitch, the man eased into this vacation like he had never had any worries to begin with.
She didn’t really have to wonder why, though. This was a big thing for Adriano, and he’d once again proved that just because he was younger than a lot of the men he worked with, he could still get his job done, and do it well. She wished he didn’t feel the need to prove himself as much as he did, but she was happy to support him no matter what he chose to do.
She was his wife.
What else could she do?
Besides, happiness was a good look on him, really.
“Come here,” she whispered.
Adriano leaned down, and rested his hands on either side of her thighs. Those fingers of his pressed into the bare flesh of her thighs where her skirt had ridden up just enough. Maybe it was all the hormones, or the changes they caused, but his touch was enough to send flames licking along all of her nerves.
Alessa reached up to cup his jaw, and drag him close enough that she could actually kiss him. She loved the way Adriano’s lips worked against hers—soft at first, teasing and tasting. And then rougher the moment she parted her lips to let him deepen the kiss. His tongue darted in to find hers, and the world shifted.
Things became a little more beautiful.
She had no control with this man.
None whatsoever.
A single kiss from him had her yanking him closer until she was able to get him down on the couch, too. Climbing onto his lap, she was quick to yank her dress higher before working at his pants. If she wasn’t so interested in getting one thing from her husband in that moment, she might have found it amusing how he didn’t even care that their simple kiss had turned into something far hotter for no particular reason.
Well, no reason that he knew.
For now …
“Jesus Christ.”
Adriano grunted when Alessa finally got his cock free. In her hands, he was smooth and hard. His cock pulsed with every stroke of her fingers down his shaft. She knew just when to squeeze to really get him making all those husky, sexy sounds she loved, but right then, she didn’t have the patience for any of that. She wanted one thing, and that was to get this man inside her.
He was all too happy to move her panties aside, his knuckles grazing her already-wet sex as she lifted above him. In the next breath, she was lowering on him, getting what she wanted the most, and nothing had ever felt better. There was something about the way he felt filling her up, and stretching her out that drove Alessa crazy.
It got better every fucking time.
“Oh, my God,” she breathed.
His hands found her ass, and his lips trailed over her jaw. A hard squeeze to her backside had her grinding in his lap while hot kisses drifted over her skin.
Warmth and bliss spread through her body like a wild fire. There was no escaping it, but she was all too happy with letting it ravage her anyway. Adriano gave her a second—one to breathe and get accustomed to the sensation of him settling a little deeper inside her pussy, and then he was moving again.
Flipping them both over on the couch so he could pound into her the way she liked best, Alessa couldn’t seem to take in enough air. Pleasure licked over her skin—pulling her muscles taut, and promising relief was soon to follow. It was harder than she thought it would be to keep those sounds of hers locked up tight—God knew they didn’t want to wake the sleeping girls in their makeshift room.
Adriano saved the day by stuffing two of his fingers in Alessa’s mouth. She sucked on his digits, her teeth biting down on his knuckles to keep those noises of hers at bay.
And then she was coming.
Fast.
Blinding.
It came on quicker than she realized, like the edge was suddenly there, and she was flying over it without anything below to catch her. Alessa didn’t mind falling, not when it meant Adriano was coming with her.
And he did.
His fingers slipped from her mouth as he buried his face into her neck, his thrusts came a little harder, and then his muffled grunt echoed against her skin. She felt him spill deep inside her clenching sex as he held her tight at her waist, and kept her pinned down to the couch all the while.
“Fuck,” he mumbled.
Alessa laughed breathlessly. “Well, that worked out just fine, didn’t it?”
Leaning up a bit, Adriano lifted a brow. “I’d say so.”
He dropped a kiss to her grinning lips.
“I bet I’m late now—they’re probably waiting for me to come out.”
“Yeah, we always wait on them, though.”
True.
Sometimes.
“Oh,” she murmured, her grin deepening. “I have one more surprise for you. One last Christmas gift.”
Adriano quirked a brow. “Do you now?”
“Mmhmm.”
“Where did you keep it hidden? Because I helped you pack everything, and I didn’t see anything.”
“Well, what if I bought something while we were here?”
“But you didn’t because you didn’t leave the huts, Lissa.”
Damn man.
He was too smart for his own good.
Alessa was just a little bit more sly than him, though. “I didn’t get anything—Abriella went and got it for me yesterday when she went to town with Tommas.”
“What are you—”
She didn’t give him the chance to finish his question before she pulled an item out of the pocket of her dress that had somehow managed to stay put even through their fast, frenzied fucking. Lucky, really. That’s why she loved dresses with pockets.
They held all kinds of secrets.
Flashing the item in front of her husband’s eyes, Alessa watched as Adriano’s whole face lit up. A smile split his lips, and reached his eyes. A happy laugh fell from his lips.
“Really?” he asked, staring at the pregnancy test she held.
Alessa nodded. “Really.”
He dropped a kiss to her mouth, then her nose, forehead, cheeks … everywhere he could reach, really. Alessa’s laughter lit up the hut, she couldn’t even try to hold it back. Not that she wanted to, honestly.
“This was the best Christmas yet,” Adriano murmured against her lips when he found his way back there.
Alessa smiled into his kiss.
The very best.
A Note!
Well, loves … I intended to write this Ch
icago War Christmas Novella for you last year, but life always has a way of getting in the way, doesn’t it? So this year, I made sure to get Maldives & Mistletoe done in lots of time so that you could read it in time for the holidays, and celebrate with the original crew from Chicago one last time.
I mean … maybe?
Who knows if this will be the last novel from this group. I am hoping to maybe write a book for Chloe from the original books, and Cory from the second generation. So this may not be the last you see of all of them just yet.
Thank you for coming along on this ride with me, loves.
Happy reading.
BK.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bethany-Kris is a Canadian author, lover of much, and mother to four young sons, one cat, and three dogs. A small town in Eastern Canada where she was born and raised is where she has always called home. With her boys under her feet, a snuggling cat, barking dogs, and a spouse calling over his shoulder, she is nearly always writing something ... when she can find the time.
Find Bethany-Kris at her:
WEBSITE
BLOG
FACEBOOK
TWITTER
INSTAGRAM
PINTEREST
GOODREADS
Sign up to Bethany-Kris’s New Release Newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/bf9lzD.
OTHER BOOKS
Andino + Haven
Duty
Vow
John + Siena
Loyalty
Disgrace
Cross + Catherine
Always
Revere
Unruly
The Companion
Naz & Roz
Guzzi Duet
Unraveled, Book One
Entangled, Book Two
DeLuca Duet
Waste of Worth: Part One
Worth of Waste: Part Two
Standalone Titles
Effortless
Inflict
Cozen
Captivated
Dishonored
Donati Bloodlines
Thin Lies
Thin Lines
Thin Lives
Behind the Bloodlines
The Complete Trilogy
Filthy Marcellos
Antony
Lucian
Giovanni
Dante
Legacy
A Very Marcello Christmas
The Complete Collection
Seasons of Betrayal
Where the Sun Hides
Where the Snow Falls
Where the Wind Whispers
Seasons: The Complete Seasons of Betrayal Series
Gun Moll Trilogy
Gun Moll
Gangster Moll
Madame Moll
The Chicago War
Deathless & Divided
Reckless & Ruined
Scarless & Sacred
Breathless & Bloodstained
The Complete Series
Maldives & Mistletoe
The Russian Guns
The Arrangement
The Life
The Score
Demyan & Ana
Shattered
The Jersey Vignettes
Find more on Bethany-Kris’s website at www.bethanykris.com.
Copyright © 2018 by Bethany-Kris. All Rights Reserved.
WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted material is illegal and punishable by law. No parts of this work may be reproduced, copied, used, or printed without expressed written consent from the publisher/author. Exceptions are made for brief excerpts used in reviews.
eISBN 13: 978-1-988197-75-3
Editor: Elizabeth Peters
Proofreaders: Tracy A., Mia B., Tori W. and Felicia F.
Cover Design © Sasha Elle
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, organizations, corporations, locales and so forth are a product of the author’s imagination, or if real, used fictitiously. Any resemblance to a person, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.