A T H E N A

"I am his, and he's mine, in the end, it's him and I"

° ° °

After a one last glance to my parents, the car starts driving. I reach for my belt, but suddenly, two strong arms wrap around my waist and pull me against a flat chest.

What is he doing?

"Finally," he rasps huskily in my ear, and takes my earlobe between his teeth.

I gasp and look at the driver, but he's wearing ear pods, so he can't hear us.

"After all those days of sexual frustration, I have you all to myself, gattina."

He places a kiss under my ear, and trails down to the column of my neck. He nips at my flesh, and then licks to sore spot afterwards.

"Vincenzo, we can't," I begin, but he cuts me off. "Of course we can, Athena. Nobody can see us."

I know the driver can't hear us, but I'm still not comfortable with him being able to see it.

Vincenzo continues his sweet assault on my neck.

"I don't like that he's able to see us," I whisper to him, and motion with my head to the driver. Vincenzo curses under his breath.

"I knew I should've taken the other car," he mutters, and tightens his arms around me. I turn around and lay my head on his chest.

"How many cars do you even have?" I ask him, and raise my eyebrows.

I feel his chuckle vibrate against my cheek. "I don't know, five or something? Depends on the occasion."

I roll my eyes and sigh. "Rich people," I mutter, shaking my head.

The car moves at a fast speed. The music plays softly in the background.

"I still can't believe I'm going to New York," I whisper, catching Vincenzo's attention.

"What's the farthest you've been?" he asks, and wraps his arm around my shoulders.

"I've went to Portland and California, that's it," I answer. His thumb moves in circular motions. He moves my hair away from my shoulder and leans in.

"I can show you the world, if you want too," he whispers in my ear, his warm breath tickling my neck.

"I can give you everything if you just give in," he continues, placing light kisses on my neck.

I want to, I really do and I don't know why I'm being so reluctant about this all.

But there's just something that's holding me back.

Vincenzo sees me struggling and draws away. "But I'll start with showing you New York, I promise that you're going to love it, dolcezza."

I've never been to New York, but after all those pictures and books I've read about it, I'm sure I'll like it.

Vincenzo must've been there a lot of times. I actually wonder where he went in his life.

"Do you travel much?" I ask him. "All the time," he says.

I raise my eyebrows. "You do?"

He nods. "Yes, I'm not just an owner of a publishing store, I have lots of companies in different countries, and they need me everywhere," he says. I frown.

"So, did you came to Vancouver just for business? Are you leaving any time soon?" I ask him, not liking the idea of him leaving.

He smiles down at me, and I'd be lying if I said that isn't one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.

I can stare forever at his smile. "No, tesoro, I will not be leaving. I actually find it quite interesting here," he says with an amused glint in the eyes.

"And I wouldn't be able to be without you, of course," he says afterwards. I laugh.

"God, that sounded so sleazy," I laugh. He stares at me, his eyes going over my face and every feature.

"I like the dimples you have when you smile," he says and raises his hand, poking my cheek with his finger.

I blush a deep red and look down at me lap, not knowing what to say. He chuckles and tells me I'm cute, which makes me roll my eyes.

For the rest of the ride it's a comfortable silence, with mostly me trying to sniff his scent without him noticing. With my head on his chest and eyes closed, I can fall asleep any time now.

His chest is so soft and hard at the same time. I enjoy it.

And we continue to sit like this, him softly stroking my hair with my head on his chest, my hands fiddling in my lap and the driver continuing listening to music.

After some time, I open my eyes, and see we're nearing the airport.

I only went to this airport twice, when I came to pick up my cousin from Colorado and when dad decided it would be easier to travel to California by plane, and not by car like we usually do.

"We're already here," I say and sit up, Vincenzo's hand falling down from my hair. I look out of the window, and frown when I see we're not pulling up at the usual parking lot for everyone, but we continue to drive, to the back of the entrance building.

"Where are we going?" I ask him and turn to him, to see him looking at me with a smug smirk.

I narrow my eyes into slits, wondering what he's up to. The car keeps driving, all the way onto the field where the planes are. Confusion is written all over my face as I look around, watching planes land and rise. We drive over the field.

"What's happening?" I ask him, and turn back to face Vincenzo. He scoots closer me, his scent invading my nose.

"You didn't think we would travel with strangers surrounding us?" he whispers in my ear. Suddenly we pull up and when I look up and see what's outside, I scoot closer to the window, my nose almost pressing against the glass.

"Oh my God! You own a jet?!" I squeal in delight.

Outside there's a black, private jet, with the door open and the little staircase on the ground.

He chuckles from behind me. "I do, bella."

I turn to look at him, with a wide smile on my face before I look back outside, squealing like a kid on Christmas morning.

"You like it?" he asks. I let out a laugh. "You're asking me if I like it? I love it," I giggle like a child, but I don't care.

Because I'm going to travel in a private jet, for free.

The driver steps out, and goes over to Vincenzo's door to open it. Vincenzo steps out. I step out of the same door as his, and suddenly I feel a warm hand envelop mine. I look up at see him looking down at me through those dark lashes as he helps me getting out of the car. I smile at him.

"Thank you."

One moment, the driver is standing behind Vincenzo and the other moment he's carrying our suitcases to the jet. He's probably trained to be that fast.

Vincenzo puts his hand on my lower back and leads me to the plane. A greying man is waiting next to the stairs.

"Mr. Amoretto," he greets Vincenzo, and nods in my direction.

"Robert, how are you?" Vincenzo asks him. "I'm fine, how are you?" Robert asks. Vincenzo smiles and glances at me.

"I'm just perfect."

The man smiles. "Athena, this is our pilot, Robert Scott," Vincenzo introduces me.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Scott," I greet him, and shake quickly his hand.

"Likewise, miss," he responds.

Vincenzo turns to me. "Shall we?" he asks, motioning with his head to the stairs of the plane. Excited, I nod my head.

"Alright then, ladies first," Vincenzo winks and puts his hand on my lower-back.

We walk on the stairs in the plane, and once inside the plane I see a young man – probably early in his twenties – standing by the door, with a neutral look on his face.

I send him a polite smile as I pass him, which he returns with a nod.

"I didn't know he liked them young," he mutters, and I guess I wasn't supposed to hear it.

But I did. And I don't know how to react or feel about it.

Ignoring the sentence, I continue my way inside the jet.

There are four comfortable looking seats placed by the windows, a little bar and a large couch. There's a huge TV in front of the couch and at the end of the plane there's another door which I assume is the toilet.

"Oh my God," I whisper and look around with wide eyes.

"First time inside a private jet?" Vincenzo asks, amusement clear in his voice.

I nod, unable to say anything and walk further in the plane.

After I've looked around the whole plane, Vincenzo and I finally settled down on one of the comfortable seats.

"We're about to take off," Vincenzo says next to me. It's then that I realize that we're going to be going to New York.

Unconsciously, I take his surprisingly warm hand in mine and look outside the window of the plane. I hear his sharp intake of breath next to me, and feel him move closer.

"Are you nervous?" he whispers in my ear.

"Yes," I answer, and feel my heart racing in my chest. He laughs softly.

"Don't worry, principessa, everything's going to be fine."

And with that being said, we hear the speakers in the plane being turned on, with the pilot informing us that we'll be flying for 6 hours, and after that being said the plane begins to move and move until we're in the air and I'm looking down at the fields of Vancouver.

Unbelievable that my first time going to New York is with Vincenzo, without my parents knowing.

I feel two strong arms wrap around my waist and pull me against a rock-hard chest.

I turn to Vincenzo and lay my head against his chest, pleased with its softness and close my eyes.

After all this time, I'm used to Vincenzo's wandering hands, but I'm surprised that this time he's just rubbing his hand up and down my back, and his other hand is playing with my hair.

Enjoying the sound of his calm heartbeat next to my ear, I fall in a deep slumber I didn't know I needed, and fall asleep in Vincenzo's warm and strong arms.

° ° °

I'm laying down on something and soft kisses are placed in my neck, and I let out a sigh in content at the pleasant feeling.

"Wake up, bella," I hear a husky voice whisper near my ear. I groan and shake my head before I turn my head away and continue to sleep. At least that's what I wanted to do.

"Athena," the voice whispers in my ear, and kisses my ear, "there's only a couple of minutes left before we land, and I want you awake."

"Just five more minutes," I murmur. A soft laugh sounds near my ear.

"I'm not falling into that trap, mia cara, come on, you have to get up."

Lazily, I open my eyes and look around, to see that I'm lying on the couch, my legs entangled with those of Vincenzo and his arms are safely wrapped around my body.

"What happened?" I ask confused and look around again in the plane. 

"You fell asleep, so I moved us to the couch and you stayed asleep for the next 6 hours," Vincenzo chuckles, and moves my hair to the side to look at me properly. I frown. "I was asleep for the whole flight?" I ask confused. He nods, an amused glint in his eyes.

"Yes, bella, and now we're about to land, so buckle up."

Disappointed that I didn't get to enjoy the flight, I move over to the other seats and rub in my eyes.

The next ten minutes we stay seated, and when I glance out of the window my eyes grow wide.

"Oh my God!" I exclaim with a big smile. Vincenzo turns to me with a worried look on his face.

"What's wrong?" he asks. "We're in New York!" I almost yell happily and move over to the window, my nose touching the glass.

"Oh my God! Look at all those buildings!"

Vincenzo chuckles from behind me.

"Easy, Athena. They're just buildings," he says and lets his head rest on my shoulder.

When I see New York like this, in the air from a private jet, I don't really regret coming with Vincenzo at all.

I don't like it because of all the luxe, because I would've gladly payed for my own and stuff, but I'm glad because I said yes.

I'm glad because I'm doing this. And deep down I know that I'll love this trip and will always carry it with me.