by Penelope Sky
I rolled her to her back and kept going, my hand digging into her hair. The heat cranked up almost instantly, setting us both on fire. I kissed her harder and deeper, my cock so hard it wanted to split in two.
I missed this.
I missed the passion, the chemistry.
I never had this kind of affection with anyone else, when I wanted to kiss a woman and never stop.
My hand moved between her legs, and I felt her clit through her panties. That little nub had been unavailable for so long. Now I circled it with my fingers, making her draw a sharp breath at the intensity. I wanted to slip my fingers inside her to feel her grow wet for me, but I steered clear of her healing flesh. I continued my kisses as I fondled her clit, breathing deeply into her mouth as I pushed her into a climax that made her hips buck. She rocked against my hand as she moaned into my mouth, her nails slicing me deeper than usual. It’d been just as long for her as it’d been for me, and she crumbled apart until she was a mess of sexual satisfaction.
Maybe she wouldn’t be so mad at me anymore.
Just because we couldn’t have sex didn’t mean I couldn’t make her toes curl.
When she finished every single aftershock of her pleasure, she rolled me to my back so she could do me next.
Yes.
Her mouth started at my balls, sucking and licking them, until she glided her tongue up my length. Over my vein like a bump in the road, she moved all the way to my tip then licked up the drop that formed there.
This was the best.
She lifted my big dick and shoved her throat over it, her mouth gaping open to accommodate me. Her flat tongue lubricated my shaft most of the way, at least, as far as she could go. She pulled up again, licked my tip, and then kept going.
It’d been weeks since my last orgasm. I didn’t have any pride left to last a long time. I had nothing to prove to this woman. She knew exactly what I was capable of. My hand moved to the back of her neck, and I guided her over my length so I could come. “Here it comes, baby…” Like the good woman she was, she didn’t gag. She took my load deep into her mouth and swallowed it like a pro.
I lay back and closed my eyes as I exploded, my body pulsating with happiness as I filled her mouth. The sensation spread from my fingertips to my toes. It was so good, making all my muscles tighten.
She licked everything away until my dick was as clean as it’d been when we started. She crawled up my body and held herself on top of me. “That was—”
I cupped her face and kissed her, not caring about the come in her mouth. I rolled her to her back and moved my fingers between her legs once again. Now that I had this connection again, I didn’t want to lose it. I wanted to enjoy every second of it, to treasure this woman I’d taken for granted too many times.
I woke up earlier than Siena, so I changed Martina’s diaper, gave her breakfast, and then spent some time with her over my own breakfast before I put her back in her crib for an early morning nap.
Then I went to work.
It allowed Siena to sleep as long as possible before she spent the entire day with our baby. At least she was refreshed before she took up the task.
I headed to work then sat behind my desk in my office. Bates hadn’t shown his face, only working with clients through emails and handling everything remotely. He knew what would happen if he crossed my path.
I was still livid with him.
Siena and I had finally found our way back to each other, but it was full of uncertainty and terror. I wasn’t sure if she would ever fully forgive me. If the shooting hadn’t happened, she still would have been angry, but not so pissed off. So Bates fucked that up for me—big-time.
Not to mention, he could have killed her. If his aim had been off just a little, she could be brain-dead right now.
To my surprise, Bates stepped into the doorway. Dressed in a fresh suit like he was ready for a day at the office, he stared at me hesitantly, like I might pull a gun out of the drawer and shoot him in the head.
It was tempting.
Bates continued to watch me, trying to assess my mood.
I leaned back in my chair and opened the top right drawer. Inside was a blade, a blade perfectly designed to slit someone’s throat. I shut the drawer, pulled it out of the sheath, and then played with it between my fingers.
Bates didn’t cross the threshold into my office. “So you’re still mad, then?”
“You tell me.”
He glanced at the knife. “Yeah…I think so.”
“You’re stupid to show up here.”
“I was hoping you’d had enough time to cool down.”
“Cool down?” I asked incredulously. “You shot my woman. You could have killed the mother of my child.”
“I was never going to kill her.”
“It was dark. Sometimes the hand slips.”
“My hand doesn’t slip, and you know that.”
I spun the knife between my fingers. “You seem confused. Not killing her isn’t the issue. Shooting her in the first place is the issue.”
“And I apologized—”
“Which means nothing.”
“What if I apologized to her?”
I scoffed. “She doesn’t care enough to hear your apology.”
“Then what can I do, Cato? I know it was a dick thing to do, and I’m sorry. I don’t have a legitimate justification.”
“No, you don’t.” I tossed the knife on the desk. “It took me weeks to get her to speak to me again. Weeks to get back into her bed. Weeks to get her to kiss me. She would have forgiven me if we’d done things my way, but I almost lost her because of you.”
“She would never leave you. She loves you too much.”
“And you’d shoot the woman who loves your brother?”
“She still needed to be punished—”
“I will decide how to punish my woman. Not you. This isn’t the fucking bank. There are no joint decisions when it comes to my private life. You had no right to overstep your boundary like that. I’ll never forgive you for it.”
It was the first time he seemed genuinely heartbroken. “Cato…come on.”
“Come on, what?” I hissed. “I asked her what she wanted me to do about you. I told her I would kill you if that’s what she wanted. Whatever vengeance she wants, I’ll honor. You know what she said?”
His skin started to fade to the color of paper.
“She said she never wants you to hold our daughter. Ever.”
Instead of being relieved by that sentence, he seemed heartbroken again.
“Do you understand me?”
“I would never hurt—”
“That’s not why. You’ve lost your rights as an uncle. She’s stripped away your title, and I’ll honor it.”
“I think I would rather be shot…”
“I’m not done.” I held up a finger. “That was her justice. I have my own.”
He leaned against the doorway, prepared for whatever sentence I would hand down.
“One day, you’re going to meet the woman you can’t live without. And when that day comes…she will pay the price.”
He started to breathe harder, like the sentence had struck a chord. “You don’t think that’s a little unreasonable?”
“Not in the slightest.” I held his gaze without blinking.
“But she’s innocent. Siena—”
“Was punished for her crime. You took it further than necessary. I will hurt your woman the way you hurt mine. And I promise you, I will keep my word.”
“Good thing I’m not into monogamy…”
“For now. But trust me, she’ll walk into your life when you least expect it. I’ll be waiting for that moment, Bates. When I see that affection in your eyes, that devotion that’s written all over my face every day, I will fulfill my promise.”
“Couldn’t you just kill me instead?”
I smiled, getting the exact reaction I wanted. “No. That would be too easy.”
“Siena doesn’t seem l
ike someone who would approve of this.”
“Because she doesn’t know—and you aren’t going to tell her.” He’d betrayed me once. He’d be stupid to do it again.
He didn’t argue with me, but he was clearly disgruntled. “Then where do we stand?”
“We’ll never be the same again. But I won’t stab you—if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“No, I don’t care if you stab me.” He walked farther into the room and approached my desk. “You aren’t just my brother, Cato. You’re my…” He couldn’t say the rest out loud. “I can’t lose you. I need you. And I don’t mean for the business. I mean…you’re the most important person in my life. I love you…” He dropped his gaze as he turned emotional. “I’m sorry for what I did. Really. Truly.”
I was eternally grateful when Siena forgave me, especially when I couldn’t have blamed her if she’d never forgiven me. I felt like I should extend that mercy to him, but what he did was unforgivable. “I’ve never felt so terrible in my life. When I saw her hit the ground…I felt like I’d lost everything.”
“I know…”
My eyes watered just thinking about that moment, that moment when I thought the bullet pierced her brain and ended her life. In that split second, it made me realize that all the money in my account meant absolutely nothing. All the success I’d found was laughable. My greatest accomplishment was finding that woman. “Bates, I love her.”
His eyes softened as he took a deep breath. “I know, man.”
“I love her more than anything in the world—even you. What I feel…” My hands balled into fists as I tried to describe the sensation. “It’s happiness. And it’s the first time in my life I’ve ever actually felt it. All the women before her were just practice. They were just ways to kill time until the right woman walked into my life. Now that I have her, I feel complete. And when I thought that was gone…I was gone.”
Bates listened to every word. “Have you told her?”
I shook my head. “I’m too much of a pussy.”
“You could have told her to get her to forgive you.”
I shook my head. “That’s not how I wanted to say it. I didn’t want her to think I was only saying it to get her back. That would be cheap—and make it less meaningful.”
“Then call her and tell her.”
“I’m not doing it over the phone. I’ll do it when the time is right.”
“Well, she already knows, so I guess it doesn’t matter.”
After what I’d done, maybe she didn’t believe it anymore. “I hope so.”
After a long pause, Bates sat in the leather armchair. “How’s Martina?”
“Wonderful.”
“Really? She doesn’t cry and shit all the time?”
“Are you trying to get on my good side?” I asked sarcastically.
“You know what I mean. Being a father can’t be easy.”
It was a drastic change from how my life used to be, but I did enjoy having her around. I had to change my priorities and work out in the evenings since I needed to take care of her in the morning, but being a parent was about making sacrifices. “It’s a lot easier than I thought it would be. I guess it’s because she’s my daughter…so I don’t mind taking care of her. And I have it easy. Siena is the one who takes care of her all day while I’m at work.”
Bates nodded. “Do you want to have more kids?”
“As many as she wants to have.” She’d told me she wanted to marry me and make more babies with me, even before Martina had arrived. Now that I’d admitted my feelings to myself, I knew that was exactly what I wanted.
“It’s crazy to think that just a year ago you were the asshole playboy who only believed in threesomes.”
“Yeah…it is.” I was a different man until that woman walked into my life and told me off. I got her pregnant by mistake, but Martina ended up being the greatest thing that ever happened to me. Without her, I would have killed Siena that day…and never would have what I had now.
“But you’re happy…so I’m happy for you.”
“Took you long enough.”
He shrugged. “I’m a little slow. But you already knew that.”
I had to work late that night. My clients flew in from China, but their flight got delayed for bad weather, so I had to stick around for a few extra hours.
When Siena got worried, she called. “Hey, you’re usually home by now…” She didn’t outright ask for an explanation, probably because she didn’t want to seem jealous like she’d been in the past.
I liked it when she got jealous, so I didn’t care. “I had a meeting that got pushed back. Bad weather delayed their flight. I just finished with them, and I’m going to be heading home soon.”
“Good. It’s dark already.” It was almost summer, so the days were getting longer. It seemed like just yesterday when winter made the sun go down by five.
“Yeah, I know. How’s our little girl?”
“She’s good,” she said, her tone picking up noticeably. “Just gave her dinner and a bath. Now she’s in her pajamas and ready to see her father before she goes to sleep.”
“I can’t wait to see my girls.”
“We can’t wait to see you.”
I stayed on the phone with her, tempted to tell her how I felt. Thinking about both of them at home waiting for me made my heart burst in my chest. I didn’t miss the bars, the booze, or the boobs of my former life. The only thing I ever missed was my family waiting for me at home. But I didn’t tell her the truth, wanting to make sure I looked her in the eye when I told her how I felt. “I’ll see you when I get home.”
“Alright.”
I waited for her to hang up before I walked out of my office and left the building. My car was waiting for me, so I got in the back seat and stared out the tinted window as we drove through the city and headed to the countryside. Three cars were in the front and three were in the back, protecting me everywhere I went. If someone wanted to take me down, they would have a hard time doing it.
When the car reached the countryside, a large explosion nearly broke my eardrums. My instinct was to duck and get out of view of the windows. Bright light filled the sky in all directions, billowing flames reaching into the darkness. Even inside the car, I could feel the heat from the fire.
Shit.
I reached under the seat and grabbed the loaded pistol. “What the fuck is going on?”
The driver called for backup, and I sat up to look around. All the cars in my entourage had exploded. Some were still on fire, and others had rolled off the road and into the grass. It was safe to say all the men were dead. Their cars had been loaded with explosives and timed to go off at this particular moment.
That meant the war with Micah and Damien wasn’t over.
I only had time for one phone call, and as much as I wanted to tell Siena I loved her before I was killed, I had to call Bates.
Thankfully, he answered right away. “Are you still at the office—”
“Someone took a shot at me. All the cars in my fleet have been destroyed by explosives. I’m still in the car, but I know more are coming. No idea who’s behind this. I’m three miles outside of Florence.”
Bates didn’t ask any questions. He switched into survival mode. “I’ll round up the other guys now to intercept you. Stay on the—”
A tank came out of the darkness and slammed into my car.
My seat belt was off because I’d removed it to duck on the floor. My body went flying with the momentum, slamming into the side as the car rolled from the blow. I was pushed off the road, rolling continuously and hitting my head on every surface. The phone kept flying. “Bates, if you can hear me, I’ve been hit by a tank.” The phone probably broke on impact.
The car finally came to a stop, and I was disoriented. The spinning and the collision had nearly broken me in half. My head beat like a drum, and my wrist felt injured. My gun was on the floor, so I grabbed it and prepared for anything.
The fro
nt door opened, and a man took out the two men in the front seat.
Fuck, I was next.
I was the last one alive on purpose. They didn’t want me dead right away, not until they got what they wanted. They would torture me until they broke me. The gun in my hand shouldn’t be used for defense, but suicide. Why suffer when I could just end it now?
But then I thought of Siena and Martina.
I couldn’t give up—not yet.
The back door opened, and Damien poked his head inside. “Mr. Marino, beautiful night, isn’t it?” His eyes gleamed with mirth, like he’d been counting down the days until this moment arrived.
I shouldn’t have shot him in the shoulder. I should have shot him in the head. “I’ve seen better.”
“Awfully arrogant for the last man standing.”
“Just because my men are dead doesn’t mean I’m alone. And so much for that truce, huh?”
“It was a stupid move on your part…and all for pussy.”
My fists wanted to pummel his face, but I had to keep my cool. I had to pretend Siena meant nothing to me—otherwise, they might use her against me.
“I’ve been wanting to fuck that cunt for a while. So I understand your fascination.”
It took all my strength to do nothing. “Do you always talk this much?”
“When I’m in a good mood. Now, get out.” He stepped back so I could climb out of the car. I left my gun behind because there was no point in bringing it along. Once I stepped out of the car, it would be taken from me. Hopefully, Bates was still on the line and had heard that conversation. Even if he didn’t, he would figure out who took me. He’d been suspicious of Damien for months.
I stepped out of the car and brushed off my suit like I still had all the power in the situation. “What now? Dinner? Movie?”
Damien chuckled. “You know what’s next—and you aren’t going to like it.”
I was returned to Florence and their headquarters. I kept looking out the window hoping my men would show up and take me back, but they never managed to intercept me. I knew my brother was doing everything possible to get me back, but once I was inside their fortress, it would be impossible to get me out.
