Lucca's Lust: The Luminara Series Book 3 (52 page)

“We’ll see. Now no touching me. Turn around and let me wash your hair,” she orders, twirling her finger in the air to turn me around. I grumble, moan, and huff, but turn around and let her wash my hair if it means I get my wicked way with her.

The minute her nails scratch my scalp and her fingers knead and press the tension in my head, I become languid and unknotted. Fuck, she is good. After washing me all over, she leaves me to remove my boxers while she dries herself off.

By the time I switch the shower off and reach for a towel, she has her robe on and holds a towel out for me. I yawn, feeling sleepy … more relaxed, but drowsy from the alcohol, crying, and steam from the shower. It appears to have squashed my hard-on for now.

Lexi dries me off the same way I normally do for her. Closing my eyes, I sway a little until she leads me to bed. We talk a little until she rolls me onto my front. She lights some scented candle she has on her dressing table, a lavender smelling one that Nonna gave her. When she lubes up her hands with oil, I have visions of her using that elsewhere. She seems to have other ideas. Magically, she works her soothing charm on my shoulders, neck, and back.

Heaven.

And … this is why she is a physiotherapist, a bloody good one at that. It is moments before any leftover tension leaves my body and is replaced by a feeling of floating. My heavy eyelids slowly begin to close over until I lose myself to sleep.

Part Two: Lucca’s Therapy

Chapter 3

Scandal

Stretching back in my office chair, I rest my hands behind my nape and sigh. Closing my eyes momentarily, my head pounds again and feels like lead. I woke up feeling refreshed after a full night sleep, a rarity for me these days, but it has been throbbing again as a result of several meetings and three intense conference calls my PA Suzanne and I have had with my business associates at Osurac Industries.

I had left Lexi sleeping in bed this morning because she looked so peaceful. I probably worried her last night. This morning I had a little more energy and wanted to run on the treadmill to clear my head. Normally I would go running outside, but I refuse to be separated or too far away from Lexi, so the treadmill is the alternative option to keep me close to her.

After a quick shower, I got an early start with work.

Suzanne has been here for the full week because I need her time and help, especially as I have had to spend so much time away from head office. After that horrendous tabloid scandal, the prying press, and the influx of interest after my press conference, I have had to increase security and take extra measures, not only protecting my dolcezza and her family, but I need to protect my businesses and associates as well.

It is a huge responsibility and one that I do not take lightly. I work tirelessly to ensure I effectively manage my businesses and take care of my loved ones. I do so without hesitation. But now after my break down last night, I am aware that something needs to give. Casey wants me to sleep more and spend time away from Lexi. It is not happening, so I will consider delegating more operational and business dealings to my associates to lighten my work load.

Casey has accompanied her sister, Suzanne, on this trip to my Tuscan farmhouse at my request. During our stay here in Tuscany, I have flown both Suzanne and Casey over from Scotland on my Osurac Industries jet at various times. When my girl is fragile, when Grace is fragile, and when my businesses appear to be fragile … I bring them over to help.

Suzanne works along with Marco and helps keep me up to speed, manages my diary and staff, and streamlines anything and everything possible from a business perspective. Not only do they help manage Osurac Industries in the most dynamic, professional, and pragmatic way, they also have my back on a personal level as well. Suzanne and Marco are two of the most trustworthy individuals I know.

I look after them and they never fail to go that extra mile for me and for my dolcezza, Lexi. I am indebted to them, which is why I increased both their salaries this year as they have had to take on so many extra responsibilities. They never hesitate or quibble. They do it for me, for us, and I will be forever grateful.

Leaning forward, I slacken my electric blue coloured tie, unravel it, and throw it on my desk. Opening the top buttons of my shirt, I take a long, deep breath and rub my thumb over my bottom lip, contemplating what Casey said to me last night.

Switching off from my work, all business thoughts put aside, I think about Casey suggesting I suffer from PTSD, which provoked a certain vulnerability deep inside me. I let my guard down. I showed weakness, exhaustion, and uncertainty, and for the first time since I brought Lexi here to Tuscany to keep her safe I broke down … and in front of Casey.

The build-up of stress and worry obviously needed to be unleashed because I did feel better after getting it off my chest, exhausted but somewhat better. And as much as I hate to admit it, the proper sleep I had last night helped me focus on my business this morning.

I have harboured my emotions to stay strong for my beautiful girl because she needs me. She needs me to be strong. She needs me to be positive, and she needs me to protect her. Everything I have done and every choice I have made I have done for Lexi.

I have promised her nothing but brightness and to keep her in my light, and I am not about to turn dark on her. She does not deserve or need any more darkness in her life. I must be strong for them all: Lexi, our little one, and for Grace. Taking Casey’s advice, I will execute her steps and address them. It needs to be done.

Deliberately, I have concealed a lot of my emotions from Lexi recently because she is fragile enough worrying about me too. I need her healthy and happy, and I need to look after her. I know how anxious she is, and worrying about me only upsets her. I’ve been selfish, but she surprised me last night by being so understanding.

I will always and forever avoid upsetting her and put her first, which is why I give her all of me. I give her all of me us because I promised her light and she deserves nothing less. I give her the bright, optimistic Lucca who cherishes and worships his dolcezza with every thought, gesture, heartbeat, and breath. But I also gave her weak, scared, and vulnerable Lucca.
All of me
. And Casey was right, it did feel better telling her how I really feel.

Picking up the napkin I was using, I throw it on the platter of half eaten sandwiches from lunch. My appetite has not been great recently, and I know that Lexi and Grace have both noticed. Intuitively Casey identified almost immediately that I was displaying signs of stress when she arrived at the beginning of the week.

I brought her here to help Lexi and Grace, but Casey cornered me after our meal on her first night. She was sure to be discreet, not to alarm Lexi, but she insisted that I have a few sessions with her again because she thinks it is necessary for me to clear my head in order to take care of Lexi and our little one in the way I desire to.

With unconditional love, affection, care, and protection.
With positivity
.

She was adamant that I need to refocus and address the fears I have about abandonment if I want to be able to give them that.

Casey had a long therapy session with Lexi this morning, and she is currently taking a break before having a session with Grace this afternoon. I suggested that they sit outside on the alfresco area and take advantage of the lovely weather before the real winter and it begins to get chilly.

The sun and fresh air has been wondrous for Lexi, especially as she is now over her long period of acute morning sickness but, she does tire very easily. I did not get to spend any time with Lexi after her session this morning because she was so mentally exhausted and needed to sleep, and I had another conference call to dial into.

It is days like this that I wish we had the house to ourselves so I can wipe my girl’s tears, bruise her lips with my kisses, and savour her sexy body until she is so spent that she falls asleep in my arms. Then I would pray and whisper my promises against her soft skin while she peacefully sleeps in my arms.
Bliss.

I have missed our contact and intimacy today because of her therapy session this morning and my heavy workload, and last night I was hoping to have her after she worked me up in the shower, but I completely conked out. For the first time in ages, I fell asleep before her.

Days on our own have been fairly limited in the past few months because. Grace and other family and friends have been staying here, and our security agents are normally always with us unless I authorise them to have time off.

After arriving back in Tuscany I had a state-of-the-art security system installed in the farmhouse, around the grounds and the vineyards. Lloyd has also equipped me with a selection of pistols of his choice after I obtained a licence to carry such weapons. He has given me countless lessons and full training in case I ever need to use them if Lexi and I are on our own.

I need to be equipped and skilled, and I want to be able to protect my dolcezza if security is not with us. Lloyd frowns upon me authorising the security team time off because he thinks that they should always be on duty until Michael Parks is apprehended. I remind him that there is no one more protective of Lexi than I am, and we need our alone time. I will never let anything happen to her.

She has been with me every day since the night I flew home from my business trip and found her in BarAsta in Glasgow. The night that devious little bitch Kimberley callously tried to shatter her by telling her that Michael Parks was looking for her.

Kimberley has upset Lexi on numerous occasions with her twisted, meddling, and immature little games, and for that I plan to destroy the wicked bitch and her sorry ass. It still renders me speechless that I trusted Kimberley entirely and willingly allowed her to be involved in my personal and business life before I met Lexi. My trusting personality and generosity where Kimberley is concerned has proven to be a very painful lesson learned indeed.

I promised to leave her without a name after her last attempt at humiliating and upsetting Lexi and that I did. I had my friend and solicitor Omari Fayed and a private investigator dig up enough dirt on her to discover her cocaine addiction, money laundering, and outstanding debts.

We also discovered she was running several online small illegitimate stock companies. How Suzanne and I never knew or recognised this was happening when she was working under Suzanne at Osurac head office is beyond me.

My investigator tells me that after we retaliated and confronted Kimberley, she dyed her hair black so she looks almost unrecognisable. Desperate to conceal her identity, she changed her name and disappeared after my press conference. All very bizarre.

It is the best thing for everyone that she is out of the way. I do worry that the dangerous devil will rear her evil head again sometime soon. And after picking up the pieces of her last slaughter, I pray that she has learned her lesson and will never bother us again because it was messy and hard work. The heartache it caused both Lexi and I was soul-destroying.

She obviously did not contemplate the consequences when she devised her malicious plan to expose and humiliate us. Now she needs to protect herself from the press and ultimately the police. Her little plot opened a huge can of worms, one which has caused every reporter and tabloid in the UK to dig into Lexi’s past and out her personal life. That has been hard to stomach for Lexi, Grace, and the entire family.

Kimberley has not only tried to ruin our reputations but that of Lexi’s family because the sordid past they tried to bury is gradually being brought to the surface.

Kimberley was a bright girl with a prosperous future until she fucked it all up by abusing my trust and backstabbing and hurting Lexi and my little sister, Orianna. To say I am disgusted with her behaviour is an understatement, and I will never forgive her for what she has done to my family.

I am so sickened that I ever let her close to me, and it kills me to think that her meddling began through jealously. If I could turn back time I would, and Kimberley would not be a part of Orianna’s, Osurac Industries, or my life. Period.

Our life is complicated enough with the imposing threat of that evil fucking bastard Michael Parks, but now we have been stripped bare and exposed to the world. My sweet beautiful girl is now an open book and the most talked about person in the tabloids.

I could fucking scream like a wild, caged animal. I hate the intrusions inflicted upon Lexi and Grace leaving them so exposed. I do not give a flying fuck what they print about me or dig up on me. I can deal with it, but it crushes me the way my beautiful girl has been targeted and publicised so brutally and disrespectfully.

She has spent her entire life hiding from the reality of her past by being private, avoiding petty gossip and painful confrontation, and she has tried her goddamn best to move forward. Now she is hiding for reasons that seem so unjust and hard to comprehend. It is a complete mindfuck in its own right.