In the Shadows (Barresi Book 2)

by Lux Miller

  He freezes the moment I touch him, a staccato moan sounding from his lips. I smile and press my lips to his spine, right between his shoulder blades, as I slide my hands across his stomach and down to the program already in progress, wrapping my own hands around his and encouraging him to continue what he was doing.

  “Don’t stop on account of me, Luca,” I murmur against the back of his neck as I press my breasts against his back. I can feel his heart thundering against my own chest as I edge my hands underneath his so that I have direct contact with his cock. It’s thick and hard in my hands as Luca lets a guttural growl escape his lips.

  “Emily…”

  I don’t stop, but I do acknowledge him by wrapping one hand around the base of his dick, stroking in long, fluid motions that make him shudder. He grinds out words in between groans of pleasure, “What… are… you… doing? I’m going to come…”

  Nodding softly against his back, I murmur, “I know.”

  He moans loudly and yanks his hands away from himself. He braces them against the shower wall as the muscles in his abdomen tighten. I smirk and speed up my hand, intent on bringing him over the edge. I get in a dozen tugging strokes, but he suddenly shakes his head quickly, “Not like this… please…”

  He gently pushes my hands away from his dick and turns to face me, capturing my lips in a fierce kiss before I can utter a single word of protest. He tugs me against his body, underneath the spray of hot water as he devours my mouth, his tongue tangling with mine as he fights for control of a situation of which he clearly doesn’t consider himself to be in command.

  I pull my lips from his with a sigh, and he growls like a beast that’s been starved. I smirk in response and slowly lower myself to my knees before him in the shower. He jerks his gaze down to mine as the water beats down on me, soaking my hair and plastering it to my head and face. Luca opens his mouth to say something, but his words die on his lips as I slide mine along the length of his cock.

  He slams a fist into the wall, throwing his head back with a savage sound that’s nothing short of feral. I smirk around him as I bob my head in a syncopated rhythm that his knees shaking within moments. He twists one hand into my hair, his whimpers begging for me to keep going. I slide my tongue along the underside of his dick, hollowing out my cheeks as I suck softly along his length.

  Luca makes a sound somewhere between a moan and complete abandon as a familiar warm saltiness fills my mouth. I push through it as I swallow down his offering, pushing my lips as close to the thick base of his cock as I can manage. Though I gag slightly, I manage to hold him there for several moments until the corded muscles inside my mouth stop pulsing and the thick ropes of cum stop flowing into my mouth.

  I let his length slide from my mouth and stand up again in front of him, a smirk playing across my lips. He groans and stares at me with his own mouth hanging open just slightly. After several heartbeats, he shakes off the stupor and closes the gap between us, wrapping one arm around my waist and tugging me against him. He swipes the thumb from his other hand across my bottom lip, a shudder ricocheting through my body as he murmurs, “You missed a bit…”

  To my surprise, he pops his thumb into his own mouth and pulls it out slowly, his eyes watching me intently for my reaction. I bite down on my bottom lip as he slides his thumb out of his mouth with a soft ‘pop.’ He leans his face down to mine, the tip of his nose brushing against my cheek and whispers, “Mmm...salty…”

  My eyes flutter shut as he slides the hand from my waist to my stomach and then gradually up along the curves of my body until it rests against my ribcage, in between my breasts. Groaning softly, I let my head loll back slightly, and he glides his hand up to my throat, then back down into the valley before leaning over me.

  His breath is hot against my neck as he leans his head down and huffs into my ear, “Somebody has been a very naughty girl. Whatever should I do to punish her?”

  My own breath hitches in my throat as he slides his hand to the right and cups my breast in his palm, his thumb flicking over the nub that pebbles instantly at his touch. I groan in response and arch my back so that my body presses into his firmly.

  His voice is calm, but dangerously dark as he nips at my earlobe. “I’m not supposed to be allowing myself to be enamored with distractions, but there are things in this world that even the most stoic man cannot resist. The woman he loves, naked and soaking wet, at his beck and call is one of those things.”

  I exhale a ragged breath as he pries his left hand between our bodies and slithers it down mine until his palm is cupped against my pussy. I bite down hard on my bottom lip as he slips a finger between my folds, pressing the pad of his fingertip against my clit as he withdraws his hand. He repeats this motion half a dozen times before unexpectedly plunging a finger inside me. I keen in response to the sudden intrusion, and I can feel my walls tighten as he inserts a second finger.

  “Luca…”

  He presses his hot mouth against my neck and scrapes his teeth along the vein there. My heart is racing as he languidly circles my clit with his thumb, keeping two fingers seated as deeply inside me as he can manage. With the other hand, he massages my breast, paying attention to mound of flesh while purposefully avoiding the sensitive nub in the center.

  “Emily, as much as I want to, I simply don’t have the time to make love to you like you deserve. To maintain both of our sanities, can I fuck you now and make it up to you when the shit storm at work has passed?”

  I nod and he growls, standing up straight and yanking his hands off my body. He steps against me, obliterating any personal space remaining between our dripping bodies. He pushes the entirety of his weight against me until I’m forced to step backwards. Despite the large size of the shower, it’s only a couple of backward stumbles before I feel my back hit the cool marble tile with a thud.

  Luca slides one hand onto my hip, dragging it down the side of my body until his hand curls around my thigh, yanking up on it so that my leg is wrapped around his waist. He presses his body tightly against mine and repeats the gesture down my other side, pulling my other leg around his waist as well.

  He’s fully supporting my weight against the shower wall as his hands find their way to my ass, clawing into the flesh possessively as he pushes me up the wall and positions his body underneath mine enough that I can feel the crown of his dick pressing against my entrance. I nod at him, my eyes silently begging him to just do it already.

  He grunts and lowers me down onto him. I clench every muscle as he pierces my body, sliding the full length of his cock inside me until I gasp with surprise at the fullness. He digs his fingers into my ass cheeks and pushes my body up against the slicked wall. My breath hitches as I feel the emptiness of him leaving my body, but I exhale sharply as he yanks me back down, his dick plunging inside me with the definitive slap of skin against skin.

  Luca’s body moves fluidly as he repeats the motions, filling me with a gratification that I have to admit I’ve missed. Despite the pure carnal need that’s fueling our actions, fucking in the shower is scratching an itch that’s been driving me crazy. Screw romance. Right now, I need the pure physical pleasure of having my body used the way Luca is using it.

  The dirty sounds of skin smacking echoes around us, and Luca’s fingers continue to dig deeper and deeper into the rounded globes of my ass. He’s dug his nails in so deep, I’ll likely have marks for weeks.

  But right now, I don’t give a damn. I keep my eyes tightly closed as I howl his name is response to the pleasure coursing through my body. I’m about to come, and it’s no secret because my body is reacting to his violently. There’s no way he can’t tell that my cunt is spasming in preparation for an orgasm to wrack the rest of my body.

  As I open my mouth to tell him so, he mutters, “I know.” He pulls me down hard onto his dick and captures my mouth with his, his tongue desperately stroking mine as every inch of his body tightens. His moans are muffled as he fights for control of the tango happening in
our mouths.

  He pulls out of me with a dissatisfied groan and lets go of my ass. Stepping back from me slightly, he lets my body slide down the wall until my feet are back on the tiled floor. When I open my eyes, I find him staring hard at me, an unfamiliar look in his eyes. I gulp nervously and motion between us. “I’m on the pill, Luca. Remember that first time you jizzed inside me without a condom? I didn’t want to take chances. We’re protected, so it’s okay.”

  He narrows his eyes at me and shakes his head with a laugh, “Not what the look was about, but… hey, wait… why didn’t you tell me sooner? We’ve been fucking with condoms for no reason?!? I hate condoms now that I know what you really feel like inside…”

  I shrug a little. “Didn’t come up really and then, well, we haven’t exactly been fucking lately. Looks like you could’ve given up sex for Lent after all.”

  Luca shakes his head and closes the distance between us, pinning me against the wall again with his massive body. “Never. Remember how I said I might turn into a homicidal maniac?”

  I nod quickly, trying to determine if he’s joking. But he isn’t laughing. The fact that his raging boner is still pressing against my stomach tells me that him getting off twice wasn’t enough. He’s still wanting more.

  Blushing slightly as his eyes rake over my chest hungrily, I tap my wrist. “Considering you rarely take longer than ten minutes to shower and we’ve probably been in here for thirty… you should probably stop looking at me like you want a taste. If you bury your face between my thighs and snack on this pussy, you’re going to be another hour before you get out of here. I want you to eat me raw until I beg and scream for mercy, because I can’t possibly bear to come again. Then I want you to fuck me so hard that I can’t breathe, and my cunt is dripping with your juices. “

  Luca growls and slams his hand against the wall above my head. “Goddamnit, Emily… how the fuck am I supposed to go to work with that mental image in my head? Now all I want to do is stay home and ravage you until every orifice of yours is dripping with my cum.”

  I squeak softly in surprise, “Every…?”

  Luca nods, his eyes flickering with hunger. “Every single one.”

  When I just stare at him open-mouthed, he grabs both of my hands and tugs me under the stream of hot water with himself. He turns me around so that my back is against his stomach and begins to lavish my curves with his hands, caressing every inch of skin that he can reach. It isn’t until I open my eyes and stare down at him deftly moving his hands over me that I notice they’re covered with soap. As he strokes them up between my breasts, along my collarbone and over my shoulders, I can feel my body relaxing against his.

  He chuckles and continues his trek up into my hair where he massages my scalp and pulls his fingers back down the length of my hair, which has grown since I first came here. My curves had filled out with regular meals and my muscles have become firmer with the regular workout of satisfying the man’s sexual appetite.

  I can feel my eyelids growing heavy as his touches lull me into a relaxed state of mind. Between the incredibly feral sex we just had and the fact that it’s still dark outside and well before dawn, what little pep I had in my step before has vanished. I’m quickly succumbing to sleepiness.

  Yawning softly, I lean into him as his body twists and turns in what I’m assuming is him washing himself. After a couple of minutes, the water turns off and I’m lifted into his arms. The first thing I notice as I snuggle my face into his broad chest is the warm, fluffy towel he secures around me. The second thing I notice is the blast of arctic air that ripples over me as we step out of the bathroom and into our shared bedroom.

  He carries me through the room and lays me down, still wrapped up in the towel, on our bed. He carefully twists my hair up into another towel and pulls a throw blanket over me, kissing me on the forehead as he murmurs, “I regretfully still have to work today. If I could stay here with you, I would.”

  Sighing heavily, he brushes his hand over mine and mumbles, “Sleep peacefully, my love. I will defend my kingdom, and with it my Queen, until I can no longer fight.” His hand brushes down over my body, stopping over the place where I’ve been tattooed with an interwoven design including elements from both my past and my present, including a portion of Luca’s own tattoo. The way his hand lingers there lets me know that despite me never showing him, he’s seen it.

  He pulls his hand away and his warmth leaves my side as he mutters, “You own me, Emily. If ever it becomes necessary, I will offer my life in exchange for yours. You’ve broken down my walls, you’ve infiltrated my heart, and my soul be damned, you’ve done the one thing I swore to myself would never happen. You’ve made me fall irrevocably in love with you…”

  TWENTY-ONE

  “Check,” I murmur as I tuck my legs underneath me in the overstuffed parlor chair I’ve settled into. I’ve been camped out here in front of the antique chess board for the last hour as my opponent matches me move for move. Neither of us is willing to admit defeat, though neither of us has many moves available to us any longer. All of our power pieces have been captured and we’re currently playing a game of cat and mouse with nothing but a litany of pawns protecting our kings.

  Dante leans forward in his matching parlor chair and shakes his head in amusement. “How did I not predict this? I like to consider myself to be something of a master tactician and you, my dear, have spoiled my carefully laid plans. There’s no way I can stop you from getting a promotion.” He grips his chin thoughtfully, stroking his index finger along his jaw as he considers his options.

  “There’s no way I can let my brother’s girlfriend beat me at my game. I was the ninth grade all-city champion right before I let my life take a nosedive to hell in a handbasket.”

  I laugh softly, straightening in the chair. I let one eyebrow arch up as I consider what he’s telling me. “Wait… you played chess as a kid? I thought I was the only kid in America whose father thought it pertinent that I learned chess. I used to hate it when he’d insist I play him instead of going surfing in the evening swells. But back then, he was a doting father, and daddy got what daddy wanted. He hung the moon when we lived in Hawaii.”

  Dante nods, shrugging a little bit. “I dabbled a bit, but even chess couldn’t save me from myself and my boneheaded determination to go against everything my father stood for. It wasn’t my father who taught me. It was one of his associates who’d been taught by another associate, and so on and so forth. It proved to be beneficial for predicting our enemies’ mindset. Being able to be two steps ahead of them has been crucial to our survival in the cutthroat world of the underground.”

  I nod a bit, chuckling softly, “Sounds like how my daddy used to talk. What did he used to say? Oh yeah, it was, ‘A man well versed in his enemies’ mannerisms can outsmart them by offensively using their own stratagem against them.’”

  Dante coughs, straightening in the chair across from me. He narrows his gaze at me as a darkness flickers through the piercing green. It’s unsettling and causes me to shudder and tilt my head to the side with a look of confusion on my face. Shaking my head, I ask softly, “What?”

  He blinks himself out of him momentary stupor and shakes his head wildly as he reaches down to move his king safely behind a pawn, but anyone can see that he’s running out of moves. “Nothing. It just… sounds like your father was a wise man.” Little beads of sweat dot his brow, so if it wasn’t obvious, his body language screams that he’s nervous.

  I grin and reach across the board, snagging my newly minted queen and dragging her into a position to deal the final blow. Smirking, I whisper, “Check…” Dante tenses as his eyes meet mine again and I finish my statement, “...mate.”

  Dante narrows his eyes at me, staring hard like I’ve betrayed his trust or something. Truth be told, we’ve been playing since he got home from work almost two hours ago and this was the final game in a set of three. We went into this game tied, so with this victory, I’ve bested him, and he�
�s not happy about it. If Dante was a cartoon, right now there’d be steam billowing out of his ears.

  Several tense moments past before an amused voice from the doorway breaks our concentrated stare at one another, “She beat you again? Dante, you’re slipping…”

  I glance over to see Mike standing there, leaning against the doorframe. A smirk is plastered on his face and while he’s not whooping and throwing his fist into the air, he’s certainly enjoying Dante’s loss more than Dante is. Dante appears to be straddling the line between surprised and irritated — and it shows.

  I reach across the chess table and pat his knee, offering him a smile of truce. “I’ll tell you what… how about I go make you a pizza? Your momma picked up some arugula, fresh mozzarella, ricotta cheese, and some pancetta when she made our grocery delivery order, so I can make a Pizza Bianca for dinner. Does that sound okay?”

  Dante sneers slightly, but nods, sitting back in his chair with his arms folded across his chest. He’s still dressed for work in a summer suit in a fetching shade of baby blue that contrasts with his olive skin. A bright yellow, albeit now-unbuttoned at the top shirt accent the fresco material suit. A gray tie that now hangs limply with its knot at Dante’s collarbone brings the look together.