To that, my tough-as-nails kid practically sucked the tears back in his eyes, stuck out his chin, and gave me a firm, manly nod.
"Go find her," he demanded even as I heard my mom's heels clicking across the floor.
"I will, bud. I will."
Chapter Sixteen
Alessa
I took a shower as Santi and Brio got ready to roll out, then made my way out into the main area to grab some much-needed coffee.
To find Salvatore standing in the kitchen with an amber bottle of cleaning liquid and a rag. As soon as he saw me, he made several deliberate squirts of the solution onto the island, giving me a knowing look, his lips curving up into the smallest of smirks.
"Really important to keep the common surfaces clean," he said, making a show of scrubbing the island where, admittedly, my naked ass had sat the night before.
In my defense, it had been high on my priority list to come out and wipe everything down we might have touched the night before.
Salvatore just so happened to beat me to it.
"You never know what kind of filthy, nasty things can happen on them," he added, smile breaking out a bit more.
"Ha ha," I said, shaking my head at him as I moved toward the coffee pot.
"I am just teasing," he said. "Well, partially. Fucking on the counter does require some actual cleaner afterward. But it's good," he decided, shrugging. "I think you two work. Hell, you've practically been a family since you moved in."
"Sh," I demanded, sure I heard Avi stirring in his room. My gaze flew down to the floor, not wanting any of our scattered clothing to be found by Avi, not sure what kind of explanation I could give for something like that.
"Brio took care of it," Salvatore explained.
"Oh, okay. Good," I said, going toward the coffee pot, trying not to be embarrassed. We were all adults. They, arguably, had much more sex than I likely did. Sure, Salvatore had been away for a long time. But it sounded like he was more than making up for lost time. He claimed that chicks dug the idea of being his first post-prison fuck. Never mind that he slipped that line to all of them.
"Anywhere else I need to sanitize?" Salvatore asked, smirking as he held up the rag and spray bottle.
Damnit, there was.
"There," I mumbled, waving my hand toward the counter where Santi had leaned against with me in front of him. "Then that's it," I added as he set to work cleaning. "Salvatore," I called.
"Yeah?"
"We're not saying anything to Avi," I told him, tone serious.
"Don't typically go around telling the spawn who their parents are fucking. But I'll be extra careful. Know the situation is delicate."
"Yeah," I agreed, belly flip-flopping over the idea of him hearing the news, then flipping out, thinking I was trying to take his mom's place or something.
Time felt like it was moving slowly for me, but it hadn't been very long since the poor kid first got the news.
It had been, what, two and a half months only. Something like that. It was way too soon for him to see his dad with someone else. Especially since he didn't know his parents weren't technically together.
Besides, we weren't sure what we were yet. It was new. Like brand new. We'd only had sex once for God's sake. We would need some time to talk and figure shit out.
Maybe it would only ever be one fuck.
There was no mistaking the way my stomach twisted at that idea, though.
Apparently, after a lifetime of wanting nothing but casual from men, I finally wanted something more than bodies satisfying needs, more than mutual physical pleasure.
Though, in the interest of full disclosure, there had definitely been some mutual pleasure, that was for damn sure. In fact, that might have been the best sex of my life. Because it was just good, sure, but also a part of me thought that the actual connection between us made it all that much better.
Maybe that was what people meant when they said sex was better with someone you loved.
I mean, not that I loved Santi. But I felt, you know, something. Affection, at the very least. Yeah, that worked. I definitely felt something soft like that toward him.
And, what's more, I liked the feeling. I wanted more of it.
I mean in bed with him post-sex the night before, with his body curled into mine, that had been in the top ten best moments of my life.
That said something, didn't it?
I didn't know what it said, or what it meant, or how to feel about any of it. But it was there. And it was worth exploring.
If we decided it was going somewhere serious, well, then we would have to do some thinking and talking. About and to Avi, sure, but also our Families.