by Bethany-Kris
Liliana laced her fingers together at the back of Joe’s neck, effectively keeping him locked in her barred embrace. Not that he minded. He certainly didn’t mind the sweet, soft kiss she dropped to his mouth, or how with nothing more than a nip of her teeth against his bottom lip, that kiss turned into something else entirely.
Like a little spark blown into a flame.
He couldn’t get her close enough when she kissed him—couldn’t get his hands on enough of her skin, and he certainly couldn’t get enough of those little tremors rocking her body. He kind of loved the way she tried to dominate their kiss, but she always let him win out in the end.
Joe’s hand slid up Liliana’s slick spine, and tangled into the damp waves of her hair. Tugging a bit to tilt her neck back, he took his time kissing down her throat, and tasting the salt on her skin. The spot beneath her ear was his favorite—she always gave these sweet, breathless moans when he sucked on that spot just hard enough to almost leave his mark behind. She couldn’t even stop herself from grinding on him the longer he loved on her throat and neck.
“So perfect,” he breathed against her ear. “Don’t you know that, Tesoro?”
“With you.”
Her response did something to him—like a kick in the fucking heart, but not one that really hurt. It felt strange, and good, and fucking terrifying. Absolutely everything about this woman kind of terrified Joe for reasons he wasn’t even sure he knew.
It was Liliana’s deft hand sneaking between her thighs to grab his cock that brought Joe back to the moment. The way she rubbed the head of his dick through her folds, and teased him with her touch, and the promise of her cunt.
“Say you want me,” Liliana teased.
Joe grinned. “You know I do.”
“Say it.”
He popped another kiss to her mouth, quick and fleeting. “I want you, Liliana—Ti voglio, cara bella.”
Through her lowered lashes, he saw her gaze darken. “You’re going to bring the Italian out on me now?”
“I save it for special occasions.”
“That’s unfair.”
“What is?”
“I can’t control myself when you talk like that, Joe.”
He shrugged. “Colpa mia, principessa.”
My bad, princess.
“Joe.”
Her grip on his dick tightened, and Joe let out a low grunt.
“Badare.”
“I am being careful—you stop this game of yours,” she warned.
He smirked. “Perdonami?”
Liliana wet her lips.
Her control was slipping.
“Forgive me,” he said again in English, “and I promise to have that pretty pussy of yours purring, Liliana.”
“You are … terrible.”
“Terribly good, maybe.”
Joe bucked his hips upward, and the action made Liliana’s hand stroke his dick. She gave him another one of her fake glares, but it quickly faded away when he caught her mouth with his own again. A deeper kiss than before—hotter, too.
How it was possible, he didn’t know.
“Killing me,” he whispered against her lips. “You better get my cock in your cunt before I get us both out of this tub, and put you on your knees.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad, either.”
“I could make you wait, too.”
Liliana’s eyes widened. “For what?”
“To get my cock—to come.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Hurry up then; time’s running out.”
Joe was lying through his teeth. He was in no better spot than her. All he really wanted was to be buried nine inches deep into her pussy, and fucking them both to bliss. She didn’t call him on his bluff, though.
No, instead she simply said, “Promise to do that after?”
Yep.
Dead.
Deceased.
He was done for when it came to this woman.
“Promise,” he said.
Liliana lifted from his lap to fit his cock between her thighs, and then lowered just enough to make her pussy swallow the head of his dick. He felt her delicate inner muscles clenching—teasing him again; she had to be teasing.
“Liliana,” he growled.
“Slow,” she said, leaning in close to whisper the words along his lips. At the same time, she lowered painfully slow on his length until he was buried balls-deep, and his world felt right again. How did that even happen? When had that happened? Then, her fingertips dragged sweet, gentle lines over his skin. “And soft, Joe.”
“Is that what you want?”
Bitten-red lips.
A tight, warm pussy.
Lust in her eyes.
“For now,” she murmured.
So, that was exactly what he gave her. What she asked for—how she wanted it. None of his usual tricks. Just them, sex, sin, and perfection.
There was nothing quite like the feeling of her pussy around his cock. All tight, and dragging him deeper with every thrust. Like this, he could feel even more. Bare, and taking her slow, he felt everything.
He didn’t tell her his dirty things when he was too caught up in the sounds falling from her lips, and the way his name curled around her tongue. She sounded so damn good when she was begging him for more.
Nice and slow strokes until her low whines turned into gasping cries. Soft kisses dotting her lips and cheeks and even her fingertips until he felt her shuddering breaths and the tremors rocking her hands.
Soft and slow until she came.
Soft and slow until she asked for more.
Then, he gave her that, too.
Joe leaned against the barre, and in the corner of his eye, watched Liliana through the opened bedroom door across the room. She was still sleeping contentedly in her bed even though he had crawled out of it a good ten minutes earlier.
He didn’t want to disrupt her.
He didn’t want to bother her.
At the same time, Joe had things to do now.
Things he needed to do.
It couldn’t wait.
“Rossi,” came the voice thick with sleep on the other end of the call. “Lucky I bothered to pick up this late at night.”
Joe glanced out the window, and took in the dark, quiet street down below. “Lucian—evening.”
“What do you need?”
“You should have told me.”
Lucian cleared his throat. “Since I know where you are tonight—don’t bother to ask how—I am going to assume you mean about my daughter.”
“At the very least,” Joe continued, ignoring Lucian altogether, “you could have told me why. It would have saved me trouble.”
“I didn’t owe you an explanation that wasn’t mine to give, Joe. I think you can understand that, especially if you know now what happened. Do you know?”
Joe grunted uncommittedly. “You had to know I had affection for her.”
“You have no reason to assume that, and even if I did know, I told you once that it’s not up to me where Liliana and men are concerned. I meant that.”
“I have every reason to assume, starting with the moment I asked to take her out.”
Lucian made a sound under his breath before saying, “I knew the night you met her at the mansion, actually. I could see it—it’s not my fault if people don’t pay as much attention to me as I do to them. It’s served me well over the years.”
“So again, you did know. You didn’t think letting me know—at the very least—that she had a bad experience with a man?”
“It wasn’t my place. I hired you to do a job, Joe. I would really appreciate if you would finish that job now so that I could … finish my part of it. I assume now that you realize why I left a particular name off your marks, hmm?”
Yeah.
Rich.
The fucking bastard.
It didn’t surprise Joe a bit that Lucian wanted to go after the man himself. Joe would give the man every dollar in every single on
e of his bank accounts if he let him do it instead, but he doubted Lucian would go for that.
Joe’s jaw ached from clenching so hard. “Rich sent her flowers today. She didn’t react well to it.”
Lucian’s tone came out cold and sharp when he said, “I will add someone else to her watch since I assume you’re going to take care of other things. As for Rich, he’s a suspicious little rat by nature. That’s going to work to my benefit—I want him to see me coming. I made a promise, after all. I like to keep those.”
“That’s a dangerous game to play with a dangerous man, Lucian. And it kind of seems like he’s playing his own game with Liliana right now, and I don’t like that at all.”
“What do you suggest, then? Because I will be following this through, Joe. One way or the other—I owe it to my daughter.”
Joe glanced back across the studio apartment, and found Liliana still sleeping. “Let’s remove the queen from the board altogether, and keep her out of his reach while the rest of this is finished. We’ll start with that.”
Lucian hummed.
Joe waited.
“I like it. Now, do your job, Joe.”
TWELVE
“WAKE UP,” Liliana heard murmured in the background of her dream. “Wake up, Tesoro.”
It was his kisses dotting up her naked arm that did finally wake her up, but Liliana was still pretty determined to keep her eyes firmly shut. Why risk opening her eyes, and Joe dragging her from the bed when instead, she could get him back into it?
This just seemed like a far better plan.
“You can’t stay in bed all day.”
“On the contrary, I can do exactly that, Joe.”
“Shouldn’t, then.”
“Who says? A break from life might be exactly what I need,” Liliana mumbled into the pillow. “You could even join me on this break. Doesn’t that sound fun?”
“It sounds like something. Get up.”
“Nope.”
Liliana refused to open her eyes, and even grabbed the black comforter, and pulled it up high over her head. Then, she could ignore the fact it was morning … or pretty damn close to it, anyway.
“Liliana.”
His voice was muffled, now.
She pretended she didn’t hear.
“Liliana.” A beat of silence passed, and then, “You asked for it, donna.”
Liliana didn’t know what exactly she asked for, but she hoped it was something good. Knowing Joe, it probably would be.
Nope.
No, it wasn’t.
It was him ripping the fucking blankets away.
Even the sheet!
That left Liliana naked on her bed, chilled from the cool air hitting her exposed skin, and glowering at Joe from her back on the bed. At the footboard, Joe just grinned in that smug way of his as he held her blankets in one hand.
“You ass,” she said.
Joe shrugged one broad shoulder, naked but for the boxer-briefs he wore. “Time to get up, I said.”
It was only then that Liliana noticed that it was the light in her bedroom that had been turned on, and not the usual sunlight filtering in from the window. In fact, by the looks of the darkness shadowing the slightly open curtains, the sun hadn’t even rose in the sky yet.
Jesus.
Liliana rolled to her stomach, and reached for the alarm clock. Sure enough, the time showcasing how early it was made her want to scream. “It’s five in the morning, Joe!”
“Yep—time to get up.”
“Are you crazy?”
She snatched a magazine off the bedside stand, and tossed it at him. Joe gave her a lopsided smirk as he easily caught the magazine with his hand, and then with a flick of his wrist, threw it to the foot of her bed like it had never been a problem to him in the first place.
“I have to go,” Joe said.
Liliana sunk into the bed. “What?”
“I have to head out, and I didn’t think you would appreciate it very much if I didn’t at least wake you up to let you know.”
Damn.
She probably wouldn’t have reacted well; she couldn’t help the way even the idea of a slight from this man made her want to run for the hills. She understood that wasn’t his intention, but her only way of protecting herself now was to just … well, run.
“Figured you might want to say goodbye—it’ll be a bit before we’ll see each other. Business, you know.”
Liliana’s brow furrowed. “What business?”
Joe only smiled. “Some things to finish up, that’s all.”
“Oh.”
“So, are you getting up, or what? Because I didn’t make breakfast for it to fucking go cold, donna.”
She laughed, and pushed up from the bed. “When you put it like that …”
Joe’s hand smacked hard against her ass as she passed him by. She didn’t jump from the surprise, but she did give him a little wink over her shoulder as she headed for the bathroom. He only grinned right back.
This man …
What was he doing to her?
Whatever it was, Liliana liked it.
A lot.
“And put on some clothes, you’re going to have a guest shortly,” Joe called just as she slipped into the bathroom.
“What, who?”
“Not important.”
“Joe—”
“Food is getting cold, Liliana.”
Fine.
Once she had made use of the bathroom, cleaned up a bit, and put on something moderately appropriate considering the time of day—and the fact someone was coming over—Liliana found Joe getting three plates ready in the kitchen.
“Pancakes are my favorite,” she told him.
“Good—you’ll have to find whatever you want to put on them.”
“Jam for me.”
He grinned. “I would have thought whip cream, or something.”
Liliana nodded. “Sometimes.”
He’d gotten dressed while she was using the bathroom, too, it seemed. Although she’d pulled on simple sweats and a beater, he was dressed back in his entire outfit from the night before. Leather jacket included.
That was Liliana’s first sign he wasn’t going to be there for very much longer. Her second was when he rolled up a pancake, and took a bite off the end. He probably wasn’t going to be there long enough to even eat with her, apparently.
Joe, seemingly noticing how quiet Liliana had turned, finished off the pancake, and then reached for her. She let him drag her into his embrace, and then he pressed a sweet kiss to the very top of her head.
“You trust me, right?” he asked.
She didn’t even have to think about it.
Liliana leaned back, and stared up at him. “Yeah, I do, Joe.”
“Good. Promise me you won’t ask too many questions today. Just do what you’re told—it’s all done because it’s for the best, love. It’s what’s safe. Once everything is settled, one of us will explain everything because it won’t matter then. Okay?”
The entire time he spoke, Liliana was quiet. A knot had formed in her lower back, though. A ball of tension that said more shit was going on around her than she realized. She was not, however, a stupid woman.
“This is all about Rich, isn’t it?”
“Questions, questions,” Joe said, cocking a brow. “And maybe that’s not one I can answer right now.”
She sighed.
“Fine,” Liliana returned, “after it’s done, will it be about him, then?”
Joe barked out a laugh. “No, everyone will be so over him by then, Liliana. Take that however you want, love.”
She didn’t need to.
He gave her the answer.
It was a knock on the apartment door that sent the two moving apart. However, that lasted just long enough for Joe to grab another pancake, and then press a quick kiss to Liliana’s lips.
“I have to head out now—you eat that food, and enjoy it, too,” Joe murmured against her mouth.
She couldn�
�t help but smile. “I will.”
“And no questions.”
Liliana tipped her hand back and forth as if to silently say, We’ll see.
He chuckled, and kissed her again. “I’ll be seeing you soon, Tesoro.”
But how soon?
Liliana didn’t ask.
She was a little scared of the answer.
Joe left her side when another knock on the apartment door echoed. She didn’t think to be bothered by whoever was at her place this early, but only because Joe said someone would be coming over. She didn’t turn away from her plate of pancakes on the counter until she heard Joe greet the person waiting.
“Morning, Lucian.”
“Joe. Give me a call when you can.”
“You got it.”
Liliana turned around in just enough time to see Joe’s eyes connect with hers before he disappeared out of her apartment door. And only then did she glance at her father who was closing the door behind him.
“Daddy.”
Lucian smiled. “Morning, sweetheart. A little early for us, isn’t it?”
“That’s what I told him.”
Her father only chuckled.
She couldn’t help but notice how Lucian didn’t question why Joe was at her place, or anything like that. Then again, he never had been the type to do that with his daughters. He let them live their lives, and only stepped in when things were unsafe.
“Joe made you a plate,” she said, waving at the pancakes beside hers.
Lucian crossed the floor, and picked up the plate with an appreciative nod. His gaze darted back toward the door where Joe had left only moments before. “I like him—a little. That’s more than I can say for a lot of other people.”
Liliana grinned, but hid it by taking a bite of her pancake covered in jam. “What are you doing here, anyway? I think I remember hearing you tell Ma once when someone called for you early in the morning that you don’t roll out of bed before eight for less than a hundred grand.”
It was one of her fondest memories, and she had no idea why.
Lucian chewed on a bite, and shot her a sly grin. “That did happen, too. You were probably … maybe, six. And you remember that?”
She shrugged. “I keep hold of the good things, Daddy.”
Because there had been bad things, too.
Scary things.
