by HELEN HARDT
The woman who Derek Wolfe—and that priest from yesterday—had been hunting somewhere in the basement of the Wolfe Building.
I raked my fingers through my hair. My body throbbed with nausea, anger, disgust, repulsion. If it was negative, I felt it as my heart pounded like a jackhammer.
I’d just walked into chaos.
Fucking chaos.
But I’d deal. I’d deal because I loved Riley. I wanted the best for her, and I’d do anything I could to help find out who truly offed Derek Wolfe so Riley could be at peace.
“You can walk out, no questions asked,” Riley said. “I wouldn’t blame you.”
I placed my hand over hers. “Nothing doing.”
“Are you sure?” Rock asked. “You look a little green around the gills.”
“Can you blame him?” Lacey said. “It was a lot for Charlie and me as well. But this family, all of you, are worth it.”
I nodded. “You are. I’m fine.”
Rock went on, “You seem like a hell of a good guy, but we’re dealing with some major shit here. We don’t know what’s going to come up. Someone killed our psycho of a father, and we have no idea who. He had thousands of enemies. It could seriously be anyone.”
“But it’s not anyone in this room,” I said. “I believe that with my whole heart.”
“You don’t even know us,” Reid scoffed.
“Do I have to tell you to fuck off again?” Rock said.
“Sorry, bro, but I’m the one who learned this business at Dad’s side, and one thing I learned was never to trust anyone.”
“If you trust me, you can trust Matt,” Riley said.
“It’s okay, baby.” I squeezed her hand. “He doesn’t know me, but I’ll prove worthy of his trust. Of all of your trust.”
“Good enough,” Rock said. “Reid and I have to fly to Vegas first thing tomorrow to deal with some contract issues on the hotel. This holdup is costing us millions per day, and we need to get it taken care of.”
“Why don’t we all go?” Roy said. “How about it, silver? Want to go to Vegas? We can take in a show.”
Charlie Waters, Roy’s girlfriend, smiled. “It sounds great, but there’s a lot of work to be done here too.”
“You know what?” This from Lacey, Rock’s wife. “I think we could all use a break.”
“What break?” Rock said. “Reid and I will be working.”
“True,” she said, “and so will I. But Roy and Charlie should take some time. And you too, Riley. You deserve it.”
“How are we supposed to take time off when all of you are persons of interest in this case?” Charlie asked. “I don’t think I can.”
“I can,” Roy said, “and if I can, you can, silver. We need it, especially after that farce of a funeral yesterday.”
“I just got back from vacation,” Riley added. “Remember?”
I squeezed her hand again.
“We’re all going,” Rock said. “I’ll have Jarrod book everything. Suites for everyone.”
“If you say so,” Charlie said. “I can take care of this instead of Jarrod, if you want, since I’m in the know about all you guys are going through.”
“That’d be great, Charlie,” Lacey said.
“Then it’s settled,” Rock agreed. “Vegas, here we come.”
41
Riley
Tingles.
I got tingles watching Matt react first to the Wolfe private jet, to the glitz of Las Vegas, and finally to the suite Charlie had reserved for us at the Wolfe Premiere.
The Wolfe Cinquième Hotel and Casino was supposed to break ground three months ago, and apparently a local regulation was causing a hold-up, along with contractor issues. I didn’t know or care. That was Rock and Reid’s problem.
My problem at the moment was erasing the crap inside my head so I could have a few beautiful days in Nevada with Matt.
“Baby, I can’t afford any of this,” Matt said to me softly.
“Did anyone ask you to pay for it?”
“I can’t just let you—”
I placed two fingers over his full lips. “I want to. I want these few days with you. We can begin where we left off in Sumter Falls.”
He laughed then. “Riley, this is so not Sumter Falls.”
“True. It’s Las Vegas. But we can find tons to do here. Do you like to gamble?”
“Luke and I play poker with a few guys at home. I’m pretty good at it.”
“Cool. We can set you up at video poker to test your skills, and if you’re that good, we head to the poker room.”
“And play against pros? I don’t think so.”
“Not pros. They stay at the high-stakes tables. You can play at the regular tables.”
“With others who are really good.”
“Some are. Some aren’t. Some get drunk and make stupid moves.”
“So you know poker, then?”
I paused a moment. Then, “I watched my father play many times.”
Matt stayed silent for a few moments.
“It’s okay.” I touched his arm. “I have to be able to talk about it. It’s just poker.”
Finally, he nodded. “Was your father any good?”
“The best. A regular iceman. He had the best poker face I ever saw.”
He chuckled. “You haven’t seen mine yet.”
I didn’t doubt Matt was good, but my father had been ruthless. He took big losses in order to make the smallest gain overall. He was frigid. Icy. Unstoppable.
Just like he was about everything in his life.
I doubted Matt could hide his emotions the way my father did.
Because Matt actually had emotions, and my father didn’t, so frankly, he’d had nothing to hide.
“You’re that good, huh?” I said.
“I don’t like to toot my own horn, but…”
I giggled. “Something tells me you love to toot your own horn.”
“Maybe. Just a little. I have to prove worthy of the beautiful Riley Wolfe.”
“You’re more than worthy.”
Indeed, he was. I was the one not worthy of him, but I didn’t say it. I wanted these few days to be fun. A chance for us to get to know each other a little better. A chance to feel real love for the first time in my life.
“What shall we do first?” he asked.
“Whatever you want.”
“Well, then, I’m starved, but it’s pretty late.”
“It’s midnight in the city that never sleeps,” I told him. “We’ll find you some food.”
We took the elevator down to the main floor and found a twenty-four-hour sandwich shop. Matt ordered a turkey club with all the fixings, but I passed. I’d been eating like a pig the last week, and I still had my career to consider. Fredricka would kick my butt if I put on any more weight. I did have a bite of his sandwich, though. It was yummy. The first thing that tasted good since I got back from Montana.
“Now what?” I asked after he’d finished.
“I’m good and carbo loaded.” He trailed a finger over my cheek. “Now I want to go back up to our room and make slow, sweet love to you.”
I shuddered.
I’d begged him two nights ago and again last night. Instead, he held me, which was really what I’d needed.
Now? I was ripe. So ripe and wet and full of aching need for him.
“Please,” I said softly. “Please make love to me.”
Back in our suite, the king-size bed beckoned.
The white hotel sheets made me pause, but only for seconds.
This was now.
This wasn’t nineteen years ago. This wasn’t even a month ago.
This was now.
I was no longer enslaved to my father in that mind-numbing way.
I was free.
Free to make love with the man I loved.
“Tell me what you want,” he said. “I don’t want to overwhelm you.”
“I want you to overwhelm me. Please, Matt. Show me everything.”
He groaned. “God.” Then he clamped his lips onto mine.
The kiss wasn’t soft and dulcet, like his kisses had been during the past two days. No, this one was full of need and passion, and I met it with all the emotion coiled within me. All the emotion I’d never been able to let out.
We kissed deeply, with desire and passion that had pent up within us the last couple days.
Our lips slid together, our teeth banged, our tongues tangled, and we each moaned, we each groaned, we each hummed into each other as if we were a drug the other craved.
Drugs.
No more coke for me. Matt was my drug. Something I needed now and would never be able to live without.
He undressed me slowly, only taking his lips from mine to gasp in a breath.
Soon I was naked except for my panties, he still fully clothed, standing next to the giant bed.
My heart thudded, and fear swept into me.
Las Vegas.
I’d been here before.
With…
I pushed it away. “No!” I screamed.
“Baby?”
I shook my head vehemently. “I don’t mean for you to stop. I was pushing an unwanted thought out of my head.”
“You sure?”
“Yes. Yes, I’m so sure. I need you Matt. Please.” I unbuttoned his shirt and parted the two sides.
God, his chest. Muscled and fair, nearly hairless.
Matt was beautiful. I wouldn’t change a thing.
He went achingly slowly, and I knew why.
He was giving me a chance to change my mind. To say no.
Wasn’t going to happen.
Finally, he stood naked, his huge cock jutting out from the light brown triangle of curls. I sucked in a breath at the sight.
This was Matt.
Matt.
No one but Matt.
Matt, who I loved.
“Lie down, baby,” he said.
I obeyed and lay down on my back.
“You’re so beautiful,” he said, his breath catching. “I’ve never seen anything so beautiful in my life.”
“I’ve never seen anything so beautiful as you.” I stared at him, taking in every inch of his spectacular body, every piece of his beautiful soul.
Matteo Rossi was a man worth fighting for, and I would fight the good fight. I’d get over what my father had done to me so this man and I could have the life we deserved.
I’d start by banishing all thoughts of my past from my mind—at least for this beautiful moment.
Matt and I both deserved that.
He lay down next to me, at my side, and lightly trailed one hand over the swell of my breasts. My nipples responded immediately, hardening.
“So beautiful,” he said again, softly. “So damned beautiful.” He leaned over and sucked a nipple between his lips.
I gasped as a bomb nearly exploded between my legs. This was Matt. Matt who loved me. He loved my body, and because he did, I did.
No longer was my body something I detested.
I adored it as he adored it. This was what my body was made for. This and only this. All other crap I’d endured had been at someone else’s choosing and not mine.
This moment was my choice.
My moment.
My love.
He continued sucking my nipple. I threaded my fingers through his silky blond hair, the feeling against my skin so exquisite.
My whole body was in flames, especially that hidden part between my legs.
My pussy.
God, I needed him. In my pussy. Tongue, fingers, cock.
All of him.
“Please,” I whispered. “Please.”
He dropped the nipple from his lips. “Just tell me what you want. Anything. I’ll give you anything.”
And then I knew.
I wanted to suck his dick.
I wanted to do it because I wanted to do it. Not because he wanted it.
I would take the power, as he suggested.
And I would take that power to give the man I loved pleasure.
“I want to put my mouth on you,” I said, my voice low and breathless. “I want to touch every part of you with my lips and tongue, and I want to suck your cock.
“God,” he groaned. “Are you sure?”
“More sure than I’ve ever been. Please. Let me do this for you. Let me do this for me.”
He rolled onto his back. “Tell me where you want me.”
“Right there is fine. So fine.” I rolled to my side and brushed my lips over his. “I love you so much, Matt.”
“I love you too, Riley. So fucking much.”
I kissed along his stubbly jawline, down his neck to his broad and muscled shoulder. His skin was warm beneath my lips. Warm beneath my exploring fingertips. I kissed his chest, following along the lines of the muscles and sinew, until I flicked my tongue over a coppery nipple.
It hardened beneath my lips, which turned me on even more.
He responded to me.
To my touch.
I continued my assault on his chest, moving toward his abdomen, sliding my tongue over each indentation of his sixpack. God, he was magnificent. And God, I loved him so much.
His triangle of curls beckoned, and I dived into them, inhaling his musky and masculine scent. I was a mere inch from his cock.
That beautiful cock, a shade darker than the rest of his fair skin, and darker still where blue veins marbled through it.
His head was a shiny knob, and a drop of fluid glistened at the tip.
I gathered my courage and licked it off as he shuddered beneath me.
“Fuck, Riley. Fuck.” He squeezed his eyes closed.
“No,” I said. “Open your eyes. Watch me. Please.”
His eyelids fluttered and then he opened his gorgeous blue eyes. “Whatever you want, baby. Though if I watch, I might not last long. Hell, I’m not going to last long anyway.”
“Doesn’t matter.” I swiped my tongue over his cock head once more. “We have all the time in the world.”
And we did, as far as I was concerned. Matt and I were in a time warp, and time had no meaning. If he didn’t last long, we’d simply begin again.
And again.
And again.
For this was what I wanted.
He whimpered softly as I moved down from his dick to his muscular thighs. I kissed them, caressed them, appreciated them with my gaze.
Such hard, firm, muscular thighs.
I moved downward still, kissing his knees and calves and then the instep to his foot. I kissed each toe, and then massaged his feet lightly with my hands.
“Damn, Riley.”
I didn’t reply, simply kissed back up the other leg and then parted his legs slightly so I could settle between them.
His dick throbbed in an invisible rhythm. I felt its warmth even before I touched it.
So warm and inviting.
This was love. Loving all of a person, wanting all of a person, pleasing all of a person. Not just the physical but the emotional. The spiritual.
I took him between my lips and sucked just the head.
He sucked in a breath. “Fuck. Riley. Fuck.”
Warmth coursed through me. Pleasing someone you loved—there was nothing like it. It was the ultimate high. The ultimate reward. Giving pleasure instead of receiving it.
I trailed my lips over his shaft down to his balls, which were already scrunched toward his body. I inhaled their muskiness, kissed the soft hair on them, and then sucked one into my mouth.
He groaned, shivering against my flesh.
I released his testicle and sucked on the other, and then I turned back to his dick and stroked its length with my tongue. Its warmth and its miniscule movement, the blood rushing through it pulsing lightly against my mouth.
Until I reached the head, and I sucked all of him into my mouth, as far back to my throat as I could.
Which wasn’t far, but that was okay. This was about both of us, not just him.
What he wanted and what I wanted, and I knew he’d be pleased no matter what.
I pulled back and sucked him again, and then again, until—
“Riley, stop. Stop now. I don’t want to come yet.”
I was tempted. Oh, so tempted to keep going, to take the ultimate control over him, but this wasn’t just about me.
It was also about him.
I let go of his dick and then met his fiery gaze.
“Take off those panties and sit on me. Take me into your body.”
I was ready. My fingers were under the waistband…
And then I remembered what in my passion I’d forgotten.
The burns. The scars. The evidence of my self-mutilation.
I couldn’t.
“Now,” Matt said, “or I’ll rip them off you. Right in two, the way you ripped those sheets.”
“No, please…”
But it was too late. He’d already torn them from my body.
My pubic hair had grown in, but not enough to completely hide what I’d done.
Matt’s eyes grew wide. “Oh, Riley. No.” His voice was laced with sadness. With pity.
“No!” I cried. “Don’t pity me. Don’t ever pity me!” Tears welled in the bottoms of my eyes.
He reached toward me. “Honey, those cigarettes. I never saw you smoke.”
I slinked away, curled into a fetal position on the other side of the bed.
His arms wrapped around me, and although they warmed me, still I shivered with the chills knifing through me.
And I wondered how a man like Matteo Rossi could love such an object of pity.
42
Matteo
I held her close, tried to ease her shivering.
How could I not have known?
That night back at the cabin, it had been dark in the bedroom. I’d been so full of lust and desire. I hadn’t looked closely. Eagerness, need, had controlled me, when I should have been thinking about her. About Riley.
“Never again,” I whispered against her silky neck. “Never again will anything harm you. Not even you. Got it? I won’t let you.”
She trembled against me, choking back tears.
“Shh,” I said. “It’s okay to cry if you want to. If you need to. Let it out, baby. Let it all out.”
She turned toward me then, snuggling into my arms.
