One Night Stand With The Mafia Boss
Chapter 23

Landon POV

I stared at my phone in disbelief.

I had just gotten off the phone to The Alessandro Russo who had just called and organised a meeting.

He had met Gi and Kate at the market and was willing to open the line of communication.

Our families had not been at war but had not been on speaking terms for a long time, maybe over 50 years.

We used to have a very lucrative business arrangement back in the 40’s until there was a falling out.

Ma and now I have been trying to see if we could patch the rift for the last 20 years.

It would be worth millions if we could come together.

And on one afternoon after meeting my world, my Amore at the market and he was willing to meet me.

I knew it was due to Kate doing something. The elder had mentioned I had found an angel.

That strange feeling in my chest that only started after meeting Kate spread through me again, no longer foreign but welcome.

The start in her new home had almost gone effortless until the incident with Leo. I didn’t blame him though for what he said, she IS the china doll amongst the bulls.

Very armed, very deadly bulls!

Leo had called me straight after with the “I think I f****d up” urgently spewing out of his mouth as soon as I answered the call.

When I found Kate, she was slumped down on the sand looking at her phone, her whole posture showing her dejected thoughts.

Doing everything I could to engulf her, making her feel safe and loved before I slowly got her talking.

As always, it didn’t take her long and I loved the way she melted into me, having to touch my back.

Leo had been a whiny baby since, annoying the s**t out of me, continuously apologising and asking what he could do to make it up to her. I had never seen Leo like this.

She already had him twisted around her little delicate finger after that first disastrous meeting in Melbourne that she took in her stride!

And don’t get me started on Ma’s obsession, but I knew that was coming!

She is so f*****g perfect!

Leo had done a great job keeping everything in order while I was away. The s**t storm that happened the night after we landed no one saw coming but we had it handled.

It felt good to feel the flesh against my fists again.

To watch the cocky f***s turn into bloody puddles.

Watching the light leave their eyes just inches from my face was like a breath of fresh air.

The only thing I didn’t like was the look on Kate’s face when she saw my knuckles. I did quick work to distract her from them though.

My need to always be touching her, holding her or filling her, taking over every fibre of my being. Speaking of which, my l*p twitched as I knew exactly what I wanted to do to her tonight to thank her for the Russo meeting.

My pants grew incredibly tight at the thought of how I was going to ravish every inch of her as she screamed my name ran through my head.

My phone dinged again, bringing me out of my, all too common, thoughts of what to do with my world’s delicious body. I looked down to see it was Uncle Andy wanting to meet before my meeting with Alessandro Russo. Seriously, that man knew every time anyone had a s**t.

How? He has eyes and ears everywhere and I wouldn’t be surprised if he had them all bugged or a crystal ball. This was why he was also a trusted Elder and my dad’s main trusted advisor other than Tom.

My phone dinged again and this time it was Ma telling me to invite Alessandro Russo and his family to Sunday lunch. Of course, she found out as well, probably from Gi. Actually, that is probably how Uncle Andy found out, Ma! She would have been straight on the phone.

The b***d curdling scream brought me out of my thoughts and back to the current situation. A wicked smile spread my face as I stretched my shoulders and stalked back into the building ready to have some fun.

Kate POV

The rest of the week was filled with me going to lunches, brunches, tea and everything else at Ma’s, with at least a quarter of Sicily, I think.

I met business partners, friends, partners of anyone remotely connected, Gi’s friends and others. Gi joked about how she had to book it in the schedule Ma had for me and warned me that next week would probably be the same.

Everyone was lovely and even though there were a lot that didn’t speak English or very broken English, Ma or someone else translated and made it not a problem or uncomfortable at all. I felt bad not that Ma would let me and I was scolded on more than one occasion for apologising for not speaking Italian.

Landon had been busy every day but would make sure he was home for tea and we would curl up on the couch or in bed and catch up at night.

He was more and more relaxed as the week went on, so must be happy that I was fitting in, but I also think it has to do with work, as his knuckles seemed to finally have time to heal by Saturday. Only 1 scab left, which was good.

I had been surprised by how everything seemed to easily fit into a groove with Landon and all my anxiety had mostly subsided until Sunday.

The day of the big family lunch and this time it was going to be everyone , well, so I was warned, including the Russo family, which was a big deal. We had met Mr Russo at the market but it also did show there was something else there, like I suspected.

Everyone went to church in the morning, except me. I asked if that was going to be a problem and was told no as they would just pray for me instead. I was fine with that and just pottered around the house.

What they forgot to warn me about was the makeup and hair stylist that turned up, Mirabella or Bell. I texted Landon and he apologised for forgetting to tell me.

The woman was lovely and spoke English fluently. We comfortably chatted and she tried to teach me new frasses of what to ask for when it comes to hair and makeup.

I asked for very light makeup as I didn’t think it was appropriate to look like I was going out clubbing. She laughed and agreed.

We decided to do my hair half up, half down, with some big curls at the end.

I was VERY grateful for the help to pick out my dress and jewellery.

Landon arrived home just as we were finishing up. The hungry look in his eyes definitely showed his approval.

The woman went rigid as soon as he arrived and quickly made her leave. Sometimes I could forget who he was, other times it was a little bit of a slap in the face.

I made sure to grab her card so I could call on her again. She was happy to oblige and said she would make sure she was available any time I called.

“You look perfect, Amore,” he pulled me close and gave me a quick peck.

“I hope so! Do you need a shower or anything? What time are we due?”

“Calm. I will have a quick shower and change, then we will go.” He looked me up again. “I would love to ask you to join me but I know the answer.”

I laughed “Yeah no!”

“You mean Yeah Nah!” he put on the worst Australian accent he could muster.

“Are you mocking me?”

He chuckled and swatted my a*s as he walked to the bathroom. I waited a moment until I knew he was undressed and quickly walked in and spanked his a*s as he was about to hop in the shower. Proud of myself, I sprinted out laughing.

His laugh bellowed out of the bathroom “You will pay for that later.”

“No I won’t!” I called back and went downstairs with my shoes, bag and phone.

He came down only 10 minutes later in a new suit that, of course, fitted him perfectly, like all his others. He really was f*****g hot!

“Ready to go or do you want to finish eye f*****g me.” He raised a brow with that sexy smirk of his.

“Give me another second.”

He chuckled and stood waiting for me.

The banter was a welcome distraction for my nerves.

The car was waiting out the front. It was the flashiest and most expensive thing in red. I had no idea what type of car it was though and, I didn’t really care. I was just happy it wasn’t open-topped so my hair wasn’t ruined.

Landon opened my door for me and helped me in before going to his side.

“Ready?” he asked as we got in.

“No, but we all know I don’t have a choice.”

He chuckled as he grabbed my hand, kissing my knuckles before taking off.

I know there are going to be so many eyes on me today, so shoulders back, back straight, brightest smile and pretend that I fit in. YEAH RIGHT!

You could tell right from the start it was organised right down to the parking attendants that were waiting for us.

Two young men that looked only just old enough to drive walked to our car. One on my side to open my door and help me out and the other on Landon’s side as he then got in and drove the car away.

Landon wrapped my arm around his. “I promise not to leave your side.”

“You better or you’re sleeping on the couch!”

He chuckled briefly before putting his mask of power back on. It was amazing to watch as he went from the loving, carefree man I had in the car to the man that exudes power and danger from every pore and would make anyone bow down in fear.

There were staff along the way to make sure no one got lost. I thanked them all as we went.

We walked through to the garden that was set up beautifully.

There were already a lot of people here from baby’s right through to the older generation.

As soon as we stepped outside Ma, the hostess with the mostess was there waiting as she gracefully welcomed everyone. She was wearing a gorgeous white dress that I remember she bought on our shopping trip. Her hair and makeup were perfect as always.

“My son and daughter!” Well, at least she acknowledged Landon this time. I held in my laugh as I knew we were on display.

“Ma, you look amazing as always”. I kissed her cheeks 3 times.

“Come, there are so many people you have to meet. First a drink.” She turned as a young girl quickly walked forward with drinks of what looked like Champaign, different wines and some amber liquid that could be whisky or something.

Ma grabbed the white wine and handed it to me as Landon grabbed the amber liquid. “I made sure your sweet wine was here.” My heart swelled at the thought that she did that for me, always making sure I feel welcome.

“Thank you Ma. I really appreciate it.” She waved it off.

“Now Mr Russo and his family have arrived, you must say hello.”

Landon just nodded and started to lead us away as Ma went to the next guests arriving.

I finally got a good look around. The garden was pristine as always but now had lots of small tables and chairs scattered around, extra sculptures and flower arrangements with lots of servers everywhere in black and white, making sure no one was left wanting.

There was even a small day care type area towards the back. There were 3 young women in pink shirts with black pants playing with some kids. You could see it was fully decked out with small tables filled with paper, pencils, toys and everything.

Ma had everything sorted!

I recognised Mr Russo immediately. His eyes lit up as soon as he saw us. He was wearing dark grey suit pants and a white shirt but still exuded money and power.

The people with him all turned and made room for us as he nodded to us.

He and Landon shook hands first before he came in for the 3 k****s, so we had progressed to the next level from the hand shake.

“Landon, Kate. Pleasure to see you both. My wife Maree, eldest son Alex and youngest Stef. Apologies my middle Tony could not make it.”

Maree was a woman most likely in her 60’s who looked like she was in her early 40’s and a model in her previous life. Her perfect body was covered in a designer flowy floral dress. Her short hair was perfectly styled and her makeup light and done to perfection.

Alex looked like the typical Italian you expect in Australia with the dark greased-back hair. He looked to be in his late 30’s in the customary light grey suit pants with a white shirt unbuttoned at the top showing a tuft of chest hair.

Stef was just a younger version of Alex, just in his early thirties with tan pants and a white shirt.

I gave the wife the 3 k****s and shook hands with the 2 men as Landon shook everyone’s hands.

“It’s a pleasure to see you again.” His warm eyes always made me feel relaxed around him.

I am not stupid. I know he is here due to business and I could only hope it was legal as he didn’t give off the undercurrents that nearly everyone else here did.

It was interesting to see how excited everyone seemed to be about their presence. A lot of people were watching our exchange with smiles on their faces, so it must be a new prospective business partner, not that I would ask as I know today is not about business and I would almost be upset if he was a drug or gun runner.

I know at least Alex had a wife from the wedding band, so I wondered why he didn’t bring her, maybe just testing out the waters.

“Thank you for coming.” Landon nodded.

“Of course we would not miss it.”

“So is it true you bought out a stall of toys to be handed out at the market?” Maree suddenly asked, with surprisingly not the thick Italian accent but a real New York twang. I wasn’t expecting that and how did she know?

“Oh, um yes.” What else do I say?

“Why?” Alex asked, his face full of curiosity, yet there was still a small smile there. He seemed to be like his father and not like Landon’s family.

I just shrugged. “I had the money and I am a true believer in paying it forward when you can.”

“Oh like the movie, I love that movie!” my smile took over my face as Landon kissed my temple. “That was very nice of you. We organise hampers and some soup-type kitchens for those struggling. Would you be interested in helping out?”

“Absolutely! Warning, I am not that good of a cook though, but I can chop up vegetables.”

That made everyone chuckle, even Landon had a smile on his face and seemed to have relaxed. I certainly saw how Stef and his father nodded to Landon, that good old Italian approval thing.

“We would also like to contribute as well.” Oh, smart move by Landon if it is a new business adventure and I will definitely not look a gift horse in the mouth if it means helping those less fortunate!

“Oh yes definitely!”

“Oh you are a gem! Are you free for lunch this week?”

“Absolutely!”

We spoke a bit more and Maree and I exchanged numbers before Gi pulled me away to meet some more people as Ma stepped in to chat with them some more.

Gi looked stunning in a baby pink fitted dress that looked stunning on her.

I spent 3 hours meeting another quarter of all of Italy as I heard some people had flown in from the main island or even from their holidays in Africa to meet me. Yep, didn’t feel self-conscious or on display at all!

There were a few faces I knew, like Louis, Leo, the Uncles and Aunts, except that Uncle Franceso still had a stick up his a*s. I made sure to say hi to a few of the guards as well, even though they were on duty off to the side watching everything.

Landon did as he promised and never once left my side, even walking me to the bathroom, which I told him he didn’t have to. I tried to shoo him to go and speak to the guys as I sat with Gi and her friends but once again he didn’t budge, just laughed at me and kissed my forehead.

I was happy that all the women, even the absolutely stunning model’s kept their distance and wandering eyes in check. I was expecting at least one woman to openly flirt with Landon or give him the good once over, but no.

Leo and Louie though, had women falling all over them. I couldn’t help but laugh and roll my eyes. I wouldn’t be surprised if they disappeared into a bathroom with at least one of them during the day.

We had at least half a dozen or more “so when is the wedding?” questions thrown at us, probably more with some not speaking English and Landon having to translate. I am sure he answered those and covered it up by telling me a different question.

Landon was always the first to answer with his “as soon as she’s ready, hopefully very soon though”. Yeah smooth!