Content Warning: mild sexual references, suggestive poses, and like… naked legs and stuff.

103

“Somebody asked about you yesterday,” Franco said, eyes on Vittoria. “He’s no longer asking. Or breathing.”

Carlo thanked him and snuck a look at Vittoria. It had been two weeks since the assassination attempt, and people were still flooding to Monte Vista. Most just wanted her dead, but Franco had let him know that there were others.

“And those others,” Carlo said now. “The ones you said are waiting…”

“They’re saying they want her to come back and take charge again.”

“Did you get their names?” she asked.

“Matteo Arrighi is their leader, so to speak. He says there are more with him who would like to see you come back.”

“He never liked me much. I don’t trust him.”

“Then neither do we,” said Carlo. “Let them stay where they are for now, but don’t tell them where Vittoria is. If they step out of line, you know what to do.”

Franco nodded.

106

“I’ve been looking up some old contacts of mine,” Vittoria said. “They should be willing to help me out.”

Carlo looked up at her and felt a pang of desire. The knowledge that she was a gang leader and stone-cold killer hadn’t made him want her less. Quite the contrary. And ever since their talk, she had been unashamedly flirty with him. She’d brush him when walking by or move inappropriately close, and when he was just about to break and claim her, she’d move away and say “There’s work to do, darling.” He hadn’t the faintest clue how he could have missed that she was pure evil. Pure, beautiful, seductive evil.

And she was staring at him, a smile playing in her eyes, as though she could guess where his mind had been going. The little minx bit her lip and said:

“That okay with you?”

“Do you trust them?” he asked.

She rolled her eyes. “No. That’s why I’m still alive. But with the right kind of persuasion, perhaps some kind of promise that the Good Guys are on my side…”

107

Carlo straightened up in his chair, and next to him Franco chuckled.

“Very well. Tell them that.” Carlo nodded. “Just don’t tell them where you are.”

She spun and walked out of there with rocking hips and a little smile at him.

“She’s dangerous,” Franco said.

Carlo glanced at his accomplice and lowered his voice. “Am I doing the right thing here?”

Franco tapped a foot. “That’s not for me to say.”

“I was afraid you’d say that.” Carlo leaned back in the chair. “I can’t keep my head on straight around her. If you can’t tell me if I’m being an idiot, who can?”

“It won’t be any harm. You can have your fun, and then if it turns out she’s bad news…”

“Wish it were that easy.”

His accomplice turned to him and only said: “Oh.”

Carlo took a deep breath and ran his fingers through his hair, tried to quieten the feelings and the fire and it was no use. If it had been only the desire to have her for a few days, that would have been different. He wanted quite a bit more than that, though.

“I don’t think I can help you there,” Franco said.

“No.” He stood up. “Look into her. Ask those guys who want her to come back what kind of leader she was. You tell me directly and keep it quiet.”

Franco nodded and left, while Carlo followed Vittoria.

109

Vittoria was scrubbing the counters furiously, as always. Sometimes, he wondered if she really did think completely clean surfaces were dirty or if there was just some manic energy she needed out. Was it just tidiness or a coping mechanism? All he knew was that he couldn’t keep going on like this, so he moved up behind her and pulled her to his chest.

“I want you,” he whispered in her ear.

She stood still, not moving.

“You asked me two weeks ago if I still want you, and the answer is yes.”

Even before she answered, he knew what she was going to say:

“Well, there’s work to do, darling.”

She twisted out of his grasp and walked away.

109a

“Am I ever going to live that down?” he asked, his heart racing after seconds of closeness.

“Nope.”

She sped up, he followed, she sped up a little more and made it to the next room. He grabbed her, caught her waist and pulled her close to him. Vittoria laughed, making no attempts to break away.

“You’re also never going to live down the parasol,” she said. “Or kicking me out.”

He kissed her.

110

He felt her almost stumbling and letting out a little sound like surprise, but he wrapped his arm tighter around her and held her there. At first, he kissed her softly and slowly, over and over and over, until his head spun and she clung to his jacket. He let the kisses grow more urgent. Harder. His tongue came out to meet with hers and by the time he came up for air, his breathing was heavy.

111

“You’ll be the death of me,” he growled. “The way you’ve been around me lately…”

“Now you know what it’s like being around a damn tease,” she whispered.

“Oh, I’m the tease?”

“Yes. Ever since the day you kicked me out of your house, you’ve been like this. Mr. Use-Me-Up-and-Throw-Me-Away. And no, you’re not living that one-.”

He shut her up with another kiss.

113

Even as his entire body hummed and he longed for more, Franco’s words rang in his ear. Vittoria was dangerous and not just because she could kill him without breaking a sweat.

“What are you up to, darling?” he whispered.

“Up to?”

“Mm.” He lifted her chin with a finger, taking in her lovely face. “I’m wrapped around your finger, and because I am, so is the rest of Monte Vista’s underground. It’s very convenient.”

“So you think I’m using you?”

“I don’t know yet.”

He tried to kiss her again, but she drew back and looked at him with a smile that both scared him and sent excited thrills down his spine.

“Let me make one thing very clear, Mancini,” she said, putting a hand on his chest. “I don’t fuck around with just anyone. I have taste. And if I didn’t want this, you’d be dead.”

He picked her up, pushed her against the door, and kissed her hard.

114

“Nothing like casual death threats to get a guy going,” she whispered against his lips.

“You have no idea.”

He claimed her lips once more and carried her upstairs.

115

Vittoria started awake when she felt a hand on her head.

“Just me,” Carlo said, as he started to stroke her hair.

It took a moment for her surroundings to register, but then it all came into view. She was in her bedroom at the farm, dressed in Carlo’s shirt, and though her body was still humming with hormones and joy, a sense of dread was in the back of her head.

She wasn’t sure yet if she liked this unusual tenderness of his. It didn’t seem right that someone would be so passionate, but so gentle. No one had ever looked her in the eyes without hesitation like he had when he made love to her. For that matter, nobody had ever stuck around afterwards and stroked her hair and whispered softly at her. But he did all of that.

116

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Stroking your hair. Would you rather I stop?”

“I guess not.”

So he continued, eventually drawing her into his arms. When he turned her around to face him, his eyes were so tender, she wanted to look away and tell him to stop the nonsense. None of this was right. It was like the parasol and the romantic movies and the painting and his hugging her while promising to take care of her.

He was a walking contradiction.

119

He turned her around to face him and looked at her with his head cocked.

“This makes you uncomfortable.” It wasn’t a question.

“You don’t think this is odd?”

“Nothing odd about it,” he said, kissing her softly. “Did you expect me to leave while you were sleeping?”

“Of course. That’s how this usually works.”

“What, so because I’m a criminal, I must also be a scumbag?”

“Isn’t that the general definition? Besides, I seem to remember someone saying he was going to use me up and throw me out. I figured that’s what you’ve done now.”

120

He tightened his arms around her.

“Don’t remind me of that. It’s true, that’s what I used to do.”

“Are you going to tell me your tragic backstory, now?”

Carlo laughed and pressed a kiss to her neck. With his fingertips, he stroked her cheek gently.

“Nothing tragic about it. I used to do that kind of thing in my teen years. Girl after girl. Promised them the moon and the stars, left the next morning, never picked up the phone when they called me. That was only until my dad found out, though.” He broke into a huge smile, another contradiction. “I’ve never seen my old man that mad, before or since. I remember what he said so well: ‘I didn’t raise a slimy little snake all these years, did I?'”

121

“You’re a strange man,” she said.

He rested his forehead on hers. “Do you want me to leave now?”

Vittoria couldn’t say. This was foreign territory. The realm of cheap romance novels and those romantic movies he seemed to enjoy. This was that scene, with the heart to heart, where he finally confessed his love, and she swooned and they made love all night, and it was a scene she couldn’t feel herself fit into. She told him.

He nodded, then pulled her into another kiss. This one deeper, warmer, and somehow still gentler than the previous ones.

“I don’t think I want you to leave,” she admitted.

122

He moved his lips to her neck again, then her collarbone, and lower, while his other hand undid the buttons on the shirt. His breath got heavier, and she felt her body relax and melt into his. Suddenly, he stopped kissing her. He leaned on his elbow and cupped her cheek and his eyes were desperate. Her heart was in free fall.

“Vittoria, I’m so fucking in love with you.”

Feeling lost? If you’ve forgotten previous chapters and need a recap you can find my recap page here. Be aware that it contains spoilers for the story.

Author’s note: Hiiiiiiii! So, we’re back in Monte Vista this week 🙂 I hope you guys are having a great time. I’m at a neat little hotel in the middle of a forest, so safe to say I’m doing pretty awesome.
This chapter was hard to write. Nothing new there, though. Vittoria is still damn hard to write, and I never get her right in my first draft. There are always rewrites. On top of everything, this is pretty much the most sexual I’ve gotten in my writing and I’m not terribly comfortable with writing that kind of stuff. So. Yeah. Hope it wasn’t too painful to read, and I wish you all a happy weekend ^_^ Cheers!


0 Comments

sempreviva · October 21, 2017 at 1:06 pm

Wow, Vittoria has transformed into one bossy lady and it seems that Carlo can’t get enough 😉
I loved the tension and sensuality in this chapter, and what I loved most is that in the end, Carlo was the one to surrender and reveal his feelings to Vittoria 🙂
Looking forward to reading where all this will lead to!
Great chapter! 🙂

    notjustabook · October 22, 2017 at 6:22 pm

    Ha, ha, yup, she never really got tired of being a leader, I guess 😉
    I’m glad you liked it – I always felt that if any of them were to break first, it’d be him. He’s much more open with his emotions, so I felt it was suitable.
    Thanks a lot for your comment 🙂

magpie14031983 · October 22, 2017 at 4:30 am

#JawDrops

Ok… Now that we have that out of the way:

“I’m so fucking in love with you” that just got me! Big bad-ass Carlo is the first to say it. Usually, it’s the woman’s “job” to say it first in fiction (and more often than not in RL too), so it was brilliant to see this macho man put his heart out there like that.

Oh, and, try to approach the “sex scenes” the way they’re in a PG13 movie. You see some skin and a lot of kissing, then the next we see, they’re in bed after. So, pretty much what you just did lol. You’ll find it easier to write if you don’t think we expect you to get raunchy. There are some stories where it just seems right (Trip, I’m looking at you here 😁 Senna too). But, in some others it can get a bit too much. I think it’s also down to the author themselves. The fact that you’re not comfortable with raunchy, means that you’ll probably seem forced if you do write it. I’m not saying don’t write it, just, don’t feel you have to… And, now I’m hoping all the above ramble made sense…

Love you, Lou. And love your writing too!

#IllAlwaysReadWhatYouWrite

    notjustabook · October 22, 2017 at 6:29 pm

    I never actually thought of it that way, but I guess you’re right 🙂 The way I wrote them, I just always though Carlo is the more sensitive and in tune with his feelings because he’s had quite the different upbringing.

    Yeah, that’s pretty much what I went for haha! I personally don’t feel like adding graphic sex scenes because: 1. Don’t like writing ’em – at least I don’t like publishing them. 2. Often, they don’t serve a purpose. 3. In the case of my Sims game, I’d rather nod add graphic poses and all kinds of… uh… ‘custom body parts’. I have a boyfriend who sometimes sees my game, as well as a younger sister. It’s awkward enough explaining why I have a naked upper body for my female Sims (it was ’cause of someone who was going to only wear a bandage xD).
    So yeah – generally not touching that. Just wouldn’t feel comfortable.
    Thanks for your kind words as always, Mags 🙂 <3

loladiamond01 · December 16, 2017 at 2:34 pm

You don’t have to be too graphic to make your writing sensual and sexy. And I’m glad you didn’t if it doesn’t suit you. It was a wonderful read 🙂 And I totally get you, because I’m not comfortable in this field either.

Lila Remonn · February 8, 2018 at 5:56 am

He said ‘I love you’! That was fast! But not entirely unexpected either, with all the tension and straining emotions here. It made me laugh how Vittoria was teasing him with the there’s work to do line, I mean, he got what he deserved for doing that 😛
Oh, so he was a player! That makes sense. It’s funny how it was his dad to put a stop to his shenanigans.
I totally understand what you mean with writing those type of scenes. I’m struggling to write some for Gen 3 right now, since I personally hate that kind of stuff, but I also don’t want to be too awkwardly PG-13? Like it doesn’t make sense for the generation’s atmosphere for it to be so mellow, especially since the main character is hyperaware about everything. And most of the readers seem to be adults who are fine with writing graphic-ish scenes into their stories. But then again there’s me + younger readers + a few of my friends read my story lol…

amyqueen · May 27, 2018 at 9:08 pm

I lived for all of Vittoria’s teasing this chapter, haha. She’s amazing, if Carlo wasn’t so smitten with her, I’d wonder what was wrong with him. He’s come across as such a softie, I’d never expect him to have a player background – I figured he would’ve been a one woman kind of guy, but I suppose people change. I’m not surprised he’s the first one to say I love you.
I totally feel you on the sexual stuff, I think you had a lovely balance of not being overly or underly explicit in the chapter, but then again I’m not the most experienced in that area XD All I can say is it was satisfying to read :3

Monte Vista Stories | Reflections on Generation 1 | Not Just a Book Sims · May 27, 2018 at 4:12 am

[…] instead of the time skip, I wanted to have a scene after chapter 8 where Vittoria freaked/got angry because Carlo said he was in love with her. I couldn’t make […]

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