Riccardo by Elle Raven, Aimie Jennison Read Free Book Online

the kitchen to come and steal one. Perhaps I was totally wrong about him in thinking he reciprocated my feelings. I had to be wrong.
    God, I was beyond infatuated with him. I loved him. Especially after everything that happened with my mother that awful day. He had always been there for me and I thought we finally made a connection. I could never forget the way he held me and comforted me in his strong arms. His smell, his soothing and gentle words still invaded my senses. Anyone who knew Riccardo knew he was anything but gentle, but to me he was. He saw me at my worst; upset, desperate, inebriated, spoilt and angry. I didn’t care that he was my father’s best friend. I still wanted him. He was all I thought about, all I wanted.
    “You ladies almost done here, frying the doughnuts?” Sierra asked, walking in with Matias on her hip. My heart melted at the sight of my little brother. He was such a cutie. I adored him. He looked exactly like my father, like a little clone.
    “Almost, we just need to ice them with the icing sugar and we’re done,” I explained. I rushed over to her and squeezed Matias’ chubby little cheeks. “You are such a gorgeous little birthday boy, in your little Armani suit. Oh, Sierra, he looks adorable. Where did you find it?”
    “I found it online. You should see the little girl clothes on there. They are to die for. But no way am I having another kid. This little guy is way too much of a handful as it is,” Sierra admitted.
    “I bet he is,” I said and we both laughed.
    “On a serious note, have you had any more thoughts about that design course we were discussing the other night? We never got around to finishing our conversation and you were about to show me something on the internet. I’m so sorry about that,” Sierra apologised. “Matias always chooses the wrong time to be grumpy or unsettled.”
    I looked over at Nonna Angela to see if she had overheard Sierra. I didn’t want anyone to know about my idea of wanting to study. While my therapist planted the seed, I had been thinking about it for a long time. In fact, I'd had my eye on an Interior Design course in Italy for a while. I'd love to learn more about the culture and my family there. I just needed to think of a way to talk my father into allowing me to go. Perhaps Riccardo might see me as a mature woman and shake off the constant stigma that I was a little girl. I needed to prove to him that I was a woman, his woman. Every time I thought about him, every time I saw him I had this achy feeling in the pit of my stomach. That feeling escalated with every passing day. It consumed me and I was so close to bursting at the seams with lust for him, I might just die.
    “Yes, I have thought about it, a lot,” I whispered. “But let’s talk about it later, okay? The food is all ready to go, and we should get the party started. People are getting hungry.” I really did not want to discuss this with Sierra now, especially with Nonna Angela around. She had the tendency to interfere and have her say when it wasn’t necessary.
    “Dio, Gesù Cristo!” Nonna Angela slammed the tea towel on the counter top in anger. “I cannot believe it!”
    “What?” Sierra and I asked in unison.
    “We have run out of icing sugar. We can’t have zeppole without icing sugar,” Nonna Angela announced, looking upset.
    “ Nonna , it’s okay, we are bound to have some more somewhere in this house. How about I look in the pantry? If there is none there, I will run to the supermarket and get some. Zeppole needs icing sugar, lots of it.”
    “Oh, yeah, that’s the best part, licking all the icing sugar off the doughnut once it melts into all the hot oil. God, I can already feel my arse multiplying in size just thinking about it,” Sierra said, making us laugh.
    My father walked in at that moment and grabbed Sierra’s arse. “Your arse looks perfectly fine to me, sweetness.”
    “Jesus, don’t sneak up on me like that, Sebastiano. I’m