Chapter 1
The lights came on, people yelled "Happy birthday!" and streamers fell from the ceiling when I entered the banquet hall. I slipped and nearly fell on my ass when my foot landed on one of them. Party favors in my world often doubled as weapons of personal destruction. I laughed and clapped and thanked everyone for the surprise. The sooner I convinced them I was appropriately grateful for their generosity, the sooner I could move to the NC-21 rated portion of the night, my gift to myself.
“Happy birthday, Mari.” Rachel Carelli, my best friend, had a flare for the dramatic. Her assignment for the evening--hijack my plans and bring me here under the guise of work-related emergency--had been fulfilled with gusto. She hugged me like she hadn’t seen me in years. In reality, she’d walked into the building with me a few moments ago.
“Thanks, Rach. I’ll make sure you pay for this.” I smiled, making sure she could see all my teeth and my bad intentions. A camera flashed in our faces. Excellent. The second I smile d like a homicidal maniac, my baby brother, Ricky, immediately popped a picture. No wonder our family albums looked like a series of prison shots. He liked to tell his new girlfriends that he has a crazy sister the family had to sneak back to Mexico when the police came to question her about the mysterious death of her ex-husband. For the record, I still lived in Portland with the rest of my family and my ex is alive and currently eating chips in the corner with his new wife.
“Ricky, you little bastard, give me that camera.” Okay, Rach wasn’t the only one who has a penchant for dramatics.
“Ay, Mari, don’t talk to your brother like that.” My mom --Carmen to everyone else-- slapped my arm then pulled me into a hug. At five foot even, my mom was a good six inches shorter than me, and almost a foot shorter than Ricky. When she wanted to hug, which was often, Ricky and I had to compromise. My options were either bend slightly to embrace her properly, or have her hug my middle. Oddly enough, I didn’t want her face pressed into my cleavage. “Are you surprised, baby?”
“Very.” I kissed my mom’s cheek. “Thank you.” Inconvenient or not, this party took a lot of work and planning. My mom deserved my gratitude, not impatience.
My phone vibrated in my pocket. Probably a text message from Luca. I pulled my phone out as discreetly as possible—which for the record, wasn’t very discreet since I was the focus of everyone present—and checked my message screen.
Where are you, sexy? I’m hard and ready for you.
Damn it. I bit by lip and tried not to think about all the things Luca had promised to do with his hard cock. The promise of Luca made me ridiculously wet. I hoped like hell the reality lived up to the online fantasy we'd created together. Tonight was the night to find out. I texted him back.
Slight delay. Surprise birthday party. Be there as soon as I can.
“Everything okay?” Rach looked concerned. Maybe I should stop scowling and start working the room. The sooner I showed a sufficient amount of gratitude, the sooner I could escape.
“Fine.” I typed out one last message to Luca .
Stay hard.
I was about to slip my phone in my pocket when it vibrated with another message from Luca.
Where’s the party?
Before I could respond, my uncle Francesco scooped me up in one of his life changing hugs. He told me once that it was his goal to hug so hard the other person saw God. He wasn’t kidding. The way he squeezed cut off oxygen flow to my head and every other part of my body. If he hadn’t let go soon, I wouldn’t have just seen God, I’d have stayed with him permanently. Somewhere in the middle of his greeting, my phone flew out of my hand.
“Uncle Frankie!” I gasped and pounded him on the back. I hoped he’d take it as a sign of surrender and let me go. “So glad you could make it.”
He kissed both my cheeks with
The lights came on, people yelled "Happy birthday!" and streamers fell from the ceiling when I entered the banquet hall. I slipped and nearly fell on my ass when my foot landed on one of them. Party favors in my world often doubled as weapons of personal destruction. I laughed and clapped and thanked everyone for the surprise. The sooner I convinced them I was appropriately grateful for their generosity, the sooner I could move to the NC-21 rated portion of the night, my gift to myself.
“Happy birthday, Mari.” Rachel Carelli, my best friend, had a flare for the dramatic. Her assignment for the evening--hijack my plans and bring me here under the guise of work-related emergency--had been fulfilled with gusto. She hugged me like she hadn’t seen me in years. In reality, she’d walked into the building with me a few moments ago.
“Thanks, Rach. I’ll make sure you pay for this.” I smiled, making sure she could see all my teeth and my bad intentions. A camera flashed in our faces. Excellent. The second I smile d like a homicidal maniac, my baby brother, Ricky, immediately popped a picture. No wonder our family albums looked like a series of prison shots. He liked to tell his new girlfriends that he has a crazy sister the family had to sneak back to Mexico when the police came to question her about the mysterious death of her ex-husband. For the record, I still lived in Portland with the rest of my family and my ex is alive and currently eating chips in the corner with his new wife.
“Ricky, you little bastard, give me that camera.” Okay, Rach wasn’t the only one who has a penchant for dramatics.
“Ay, Mari, don’t talk to your brother like that.” My mom --Carmen to everyone else-- slapped my arm then pulled me into a hug. At five foot even, my mom was a good six inches shorter than me, and almost a foot shorter than Ricky. When she wanted to hug, which was often, Ricky and I had to compromise. My options were either bend slightly to embrace her properly, or have her hug my middle. Oddly enough, I didn’t want her face pressed into my cleavage. “Are you surprised, baby?”
“Very.” I kissed my mom’s cheek. “Thank you.” Inconvenient or not, this party took a lot of work and planning. My mom deserved my gratitude, not impatience.
My phone vibrated in my pocket. Probably a text message from Luca. I pulled my phone out as discreetly as possible—which for the record, wasn’t very discreet since I was the focus of everyone present—and checked my message screen.
Where are you, sexy? I’m hard and ready for you.
Damn it. I bit by lip and tried not to think about all the things Luca had promised to do with his hard cock. The promise of Luca made me ridiculously wet. I hoped like hell the reality lived up to the online fantasy we'd created together. Tonight was the night to find out. I texted him back.
Slight delay. Surprise birthday party. Be there as soon as I can.
“Everything okay?” Rach looked concerned. Maybe I should stop scowling and start working the room. The sooner I showed a sufficient amount of gratitude, the sooner I could escape.
“Fine.” I typed out one last message to Luca .
Stay hard.
I was about to slip my phone in my pocket when it vibrated with another message from Luca.
Where’s the party?
Before I could respond, my uncle Francesco scooped me up in one of his life changing hugs. He told me once that it was his goal to hug so hard the other person saw God. He wasn’t kidding. The way he squeezed cut off oxygen flow to my head and every other part of my body. If he hadn’t let go soon, I wouldn’t have just seen God, I’d have stayed with him permanently. Somewhere in the middle of his greeting, my phone flew out of my hand.
“Uncle Frankie!” I gasped and pounded him on the back. I hoped he’d take it as a sign of surrender and let me go. “So glad you could make it.”
He kissed both my cheeks with
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