Negotiation: A Mafia Romance Page 10

  She shook her head, trying to force Haley from her thoughts, and returned her focus to her lover. He had removed her panties by now, but left the thigh-high stockings behind. The garter belt was gone too, leaving her only in stockings and high heels.

  He lifted her into his arms and carried her toward the bed. “This brings back memories,” he quipped.

  She laughed, holding tightly to him as he laid her on the bed, forcing him to come down with her, though she suspected he had planned to anyway. “You do like to sweep me off my feet.”

  “This time, at least I didn’t hit you with a car first.”

  She allowed a moment of seriousness, staring deep into his eyes for a second. “It wasn’t the best thing ever, but I can’t regret that you hit me with your car. It brought us together.”

  “There’s my silver-lining Katie,” he said affectionately. “I love that core of optimism you have, and I find it refreshing, if a bit bewildering.”

  She rolled her eyes. Armo claimed to be a pessimist, always prepared to see the worst in people, but she’d never seen that side of him. She liked to think maybe she brought out a different side, but it was just as likely that he was simply maintaining a front to fit in better with his brothers. Larenz, the oldest of the triplets, was severe and stern, and she could see both Armo and Dante tried to imitate their brother at different times, albeit unconsciously. She was certain they would be embarrassed if anyone pointed out how they oftentimes emulated their oldest brother.

  Armo started with her mouth, kissing a line down her body as his tongue flicked out to trace her skin, and he paused to nibble on his favorite places. She squirmed when he took one plump nipple in his mouth, sucking hard enough to send a jolt through her, one almost tinged with pain. It didn’t detract from the pleasure, but it was a new reaction, one she attributed to how forcefully he had sucked on her flesh.

  She soon forgot about it as electric sparks shot down her body, following in the wake of his tongue as he made his way to her pussy. He spent a few moments torturing her first, pressing kisses up and down her thighs, and even behind her knee once, before nibbling his way back up the ever-increasing sensitive flesh, until he was hovered over the heart of her, but still not touching. With a small sob, Katie buried her fingers in his hair and dragged his face closer to her slick folds, needing to feel his tongue inside her.

  With a chuckle of satisfaction, he gave her what she was silently demanding as he let his mouth cover her flesh, his tongue slipping between her lips to explore her slit. She whimpered and thrust against his face as he began to lick his tongue up and down in maddeningly slow motions before slowly homing in on her clit, which he traced in slow and careful circles. She hovered on the edge of climax in no time, because he knew exactly which places drove her wild.

  She let out a moan of protest when he brought her right to the edge, but lifted his head before she could go over. “You sadistic bastard.”

  Armo laughed, looking unbothered by her words. “I love your pillow talk, baby.”

  A second later, he shifted their positions to arrange them both so that his cock was angled against her opening. He rubbed the head against her wetness before he began to slide inside. A jolt of desire surged through her, and she marveled again at the sensation of skin against skin. It was a new experience for both of them, since they had only recently begun to eschew condoms, once she had started taking birth control pills the month before. Sex with Armo was amazing with a condom, but with no barriers between them, it was even more fantastic. She couldn’t explain why or how the absence of one thin latex barrier made such a difference, but it certainly did.

  His pace started out slowly and carefully, but he soon grasped her hips and began to thrust more forcefully. She dug her fingers into his shoulders and clung to him, meeting each thrust with a rise of her hips, desperate to feel all of Armo inside her. It was always like this, whether they made love slowly or simply had a quick fuck. There was always a desperate need for each other. The heat and hunger between them never seemed completely satisfied, no matter how many orgasms they had. She hoped it would always be that way.

  She cried out his name as she came, her sheath convulsing around the length of his shaft. A moment later, Armo’s cock twitched as he spilled his release inside her, and his fingers dug almost painfully into her hips for a moment as pleasure coursed through him.

  They rocked together a couple of more times as her heart rate slowed, and blissful aftermath left her a limpid mass on the bed. He collapsed atop her, though careful to support his weight, before rolling over to lay beside her.

  Their gazes locked for a moment, and she was awed by the tenderness she saw in his.

  “Katie?”

  “Yes?” She was strangely breathless for a moment as the mood seemed to change, going serious. For just a second, she was convinced he was on the verge of telling her his feelings, but she could see the moment when he changed his mind. His expression closed slightly, and though he sounded basically the same, there was a definite difference.

  “I think I’m going to have that shower now. Do you want to join me?”

  Disappointment filled her, which she struggled to hide as tears pressed against the back of her eyes. She refused to let them fall, especially with him watching. Instead, she shook her head. “I should, but I’m just too tired now. You wore me out.”

  He winked at her as he rolled out of bed, and she moved just enough to cover herself with the sumptuous bedding. She would probably leave makeup on the pristine white pillowcase, and she felt a twinge of guilt for making extra work for the staff, but it wasn’t enough to motivate her to slide from the super-comfortable bed after his vigorous round of lovemaking.

  She needed sleep, and she soon succumbed, even though she would have preferred to fall asleep in his arms. She knew that wouldn’t happen tonight, because he had made the effort to distance himself again. It was a frustrating cycle, but at least she was sure there would be less time between his next attempt to confess how he felt, going from his previous behavioral patterns. He would withdraw for a few hours or days, but then he’d warm up again, and eventually, he would hover on the edge of confession once more.

  She would wait for him. She loved Armo, and she was even more convinced now that he loved her as well. She just had to be patient and allow him to find his way.

  Buy ACQUISITION here.

  Buy MERGER here.

  Sneak Peek: MERGER

  Blurb

  It’s like a fairytale when Larenz rescues Grace from a bad situation in Mexico. He sweeps her off her feet and into marriage within a week. It’s only after the wedding that she discovers her husband has more in common with Machiavelli than Prince Charming. The ruthless mobster deliberately targeted her as a bargaining chip to use against her father, who is heading up an investigation into the Moretti family’s mafia ties. Their relationship is a merger, not a marriage. He believes Grace is sweet and subservient. He actually thinks she won’t give him any trouble at all.

  Her new husband has another think coming.

  Chapter One

  Larenz looked through the crowded crush of people, barely hiding a grimace at the club décor. Whoever owned the place had clearly been going for edgy and exotic, but had instead achieved something that looked like a dystopian novel had thrown up inside. It wasn’t the kind of place he would ever frequent, and it was nowhere near the level of sophistication the club he shared with his brothers, Boulevard 3, offered its patrons. It couldn’t even compare to the nightclub in his resort, but he wasn’t there to dance and mingle.

  He was there for one specific purpose only. In less than a minute, he found his quarry, the sole reason he had ventured into the club after the man he had tailing Grace Faulkner had called with the location of where she and her friends had ended up.

  As he navigated his way through the crowd, he examined the young woman standing with her back to him a few feet away. She looked different from the mousy little girl in the pictures t
hat had been attached to the file that his men had put together for him. Most of those had come from school activities and the occasional school picture.

  This girl was clearly no longer in school. As she turned almost in his direction, but not quite close enough for him to see her eyes, he caught his breath at the sight of her body displayed by a too-tight, too-short black dress. It did nothing to hide any of Grace Faulkner’s assets, and he felt a stirring of anger at the idea of her blatantly displaying her body for everyone. She belonged to him, and though she didn’t know it yet, she would soon enough. When she understood her new role, he would make sure she never wore something like that again.

  Right now, he had to focus on the plan, and he made eye contact with Javier, who was a local contractor he’d contracted to help him find and follow Grace Faulkner. He was about to give the signal for Javier to initiate the plan, which was to have the other man aggressively hit on Grace before Larenz came to her rescue. As he glanced her way again, he realized the fiction might not be necessary. There was a man standing near Grace, far too close for Larenz’s liking.

  Apparently, too close for her liking too, judging by the expression on her sweetly rounded face. She looked irritated and fearful, and though he couldn’t see where the man’s hands were, he could discern they weren’t in a place where Grace wanted them to be. Acting on instinct and abandoning the script, he waved off Javier as he strode forward just in time to hear her voice for the first time.

  “Let go of me, Paul. You’re clearly drunk.”

  “And you aren’t drunk enough yet, Grace.” The young man giggled as though he’d made a hysterical joke.

  She scowled at him. “What would Chrissy think about you trying to paw me?”

  Paul shrugged, looking unconcerned. “I doubt she’ll know. She took off to the bathroom with Britney and Tiffany, which means they’re probably in there snorting coke or something.”

  Grace’s eyes widened, and she was clearly shocked by the revelation. “No way. They aren’t that stupid.”

  Paul chuckled. “You wouldn’t believe how stupid that trio can be. We have plenty of time if they’re doing what I think they’re doing.” With that, Paul angled his body to push her against the wall. Grace had already clearly pressed herself back as far she could, and as Paul’s head descended, she turned hers and pushed her palms against his chest in an attempt to wiggle free.

  Larenz was surprised by the surge of possessiveness that swept through him at the young man trying to grope Grace. He hadn’t anticipated any kind of reaction, and certainly nothing like that. He’d expected to play a role and seduce young Grace into falling head-over-heels for him, but there was no acting involved when he strode forward and lifted Paul off his feet by the scruff of his neck and dragged him a few feet from her. “Don’t touch her.”

  Paul got quickly to his feet, having stumbled and fallen to his knees when Larenz set him down so roughly. He glared at him, though his gaze didn’t quite meet Larenz’s. From the subtle drop of his shoulders and change in posture, it was evident Paul had realized Larenz was the alpha dog in the situation. That didn’t mean he planned to give in easily, and his bluster was plain to see when he put his hands on his hips and glared at him. “Who the hell do you think you are, man?”

  “She told you to let go of her.”

  Paul glared at him. “So? What business is it of yours?

  Dom glared back, allowing his disgust to show. “I don’t like watching you manhandle an innocent young woman.”

  The young man laughed. “Innocent? Hell, she probably is, and I’d be doing her a favor by busting her cherry.”

  The last word had barely escaped his mouth when Larenz lost control of his temper and punched the snot-nosed brat in the face. His nose made a sickening crunching sound, and there was a softening mush of flesh under his fist where it connected with his nose. Paul slumped to the floor, cradling his face and moaning as tears came to his eyes.

  “Paul,” screeched an annoying voice from a few feet away.

  He looked at the source of the sound in time to see a tall blonde girl, flanked by two other blonde girls—though he suspected all three blondes came from a bottle—rushing toward the man sprawled on the floor as fast as their ridiculously high heels would allow. The one who had spoken knelt beside the man Larenz had just punched, rubbing his shoulder in a consoling fashion before glaring up at Dom.

  “What the fuck is the matter with you, old guy? You shouldn’t even be here.”

  His lips twitched, but he managed to hide his amusement. She had him there. He was clearly a decade too old to be in this rat hole, but he ignored the question. “I take it that’s your boyfriend, Chrissy?”

  Her eyes widened as he identified her, and she started to look uncertain. “How do you know my name?”

  “I overheard it when your friend over here was reminding Paul that you probably wouldn’t like it that he was trying to feel her up.”

  Paul groaned again, though it was difficult to tell if it was from the pain in his nose or from Larenz’s revelation.

  Chrissy turned her gaze to Grace, anger sparkling in her eyes. “You were trying to seduce Paul? That’s a really shitty thing to do.”

  Larenz started to defend the girl, but she surprised him by stepping forward, hands on her hips. From what he had read about her, he had expected her to be a timid, quiet thing huddling in the corner. That was why he’d come up with the plan involving Javier, because he’d expected her to need a rescuer.

  “I wasn’t trying to do anything with Paul, except get him to leave me alone. I even reminded him that you’re his girlfriend, and you wouldn’t like him trying to touch me. I didn’t do anything wrong here, Chrissy.”

  “I clearly did.” Chrissy sniffed at her. “Britney and Tiffany were right. I never should have invited you along on this trip. I wouldn’t have bothered if your mother hadn’t called my mother and asked for a favor. You might be a legacy, but that’s the only reason you’re part of our sorority.”

  Grace’s expression betrayed nothing, and she shrugged. “It’s not like I ever wanted to be part of your sorority anyway. I was only doing it to please my mom.”

  Paul was trying to get his feet, and Chrissy was distracted in the process by trying to help him. Larenz barely hid a smirk when she started to sway on her too-high heels as he put too much weight on her. She squealed and cried out for her backup blondes, and the three of them somehow managed to lift the inebriated young man, who was still streaming blood from his nose, to his feet.

  “You should clear out of here now,” said Larenz. “I imagine the club owners will have called the police by now.”

  Chrissy didn’t even look at him, but she did pause to glare at Grace. “Don’t bother coming back to the hotel room. You won’t be welcome there.”

  “That’s fine,” said Grace, glaring at the other woman until they had disappeared through the crowd. When they were no longer in sight, her shoulders suddenly drooped, and fear was obvious in her expression. She turned away from him, and he couldn’t explain why, but that didn’t sit well with him. Larenz stepped back into her line-of-sight, forcing her to look at him. “Are you okay?”

  She shrugged a shoulder. “I guess, except everything I brought on the trip is in that room aside from my passport and my money. I don’t have enough of that to get through if I have to buy a room, so I guess I’ll just head home early.” Her eyes widened, and she let out a small groan. “Except the tickets are nonrefundable, nontransferable, and not subject to change. Crap, I guess I’ll have to call my father.” She looked fearful of the idea.

  Larenz made a note of that reaction, filing it away for future use. “I’m sure he just wants you to be safe.”

  She nodded. “I’m sure he does, but he’s going to be pissed off when he finds out I flew off to Mexico for spring break with my friends… Not that they were much of the friend variety. I knew this whole thing was a bad idea, but I just…” She trailed off, looking forlorn.

&
nbsp; “Just what?” he prompted gently when she remained silent.

  Lilly lifted a shoulder with a shrug, which caused her shining brown hair to fall backward down her back. He had a sudden urge to run his fingers through it, which was bewildering. He hadn’t expected to feel any sort of attraction to the young woman whom he had targeted. He’d expected to have to go through the motions and think of another woman when trying to get hard for Grace, so it was a shock to find out she was having an unexpected effect on him and his libido.

  “I guess I just wanted to fit in for once.”

  He found a stir of pity for her, which was also surprising. He wasn’t a man often swayed by the suffering or emotions of others. He was actually feeling her out when he said, “What’s the worst he’ll do? Scream and shout a bit? I’m sure he’ll send you a ticket anyway.”

  Her lips tightened. “I’m sure he will, but then he’ll just use this against me too. He likes to think I’m young and naïve, which I clearly am, but Dad will use this as another excuse to smother me.” She let out a long sigh. “Still, I guess there’s no alternative.”

  He forced his expression to look sympathetic, though he was gloating inside. “I guess it’s best to get it over with then, but if you need a ride, I can give you one.”

  She gave him a smile, and it did strange things to his chest. He ignored the skip of his heart for a moment, forcing his expression to remain neutral and not reveal a bit of what he was unexpectedly feeling inside.

  Conflicted.

  That was the only word for it. For just a moment, he entertained doubts about his course of action before shoving aside the uncertainty. There was no other course of action available to him, and he had to proceed as planned, not just for himself, but to protect his brothers and their families, along with his parents and sister.